032 Dr. Haley Perlus - Reaching Peak Performance NOW: No Opportunity Wasted

Episode Summary

Dr. Haley Perlus is a sports psychologist with knowledge and personal experience as an elite athlete, coach, fitness professional, and entrepreneur. An overall wellness enthusiast, Dr. Haley Perlus provides her clients with the necessary mental toughness tools to quickly and consistently achieve their highest level of performance. Today, Whitney and Dr. Haley talk all about how we can believe in ourselves, get and maintain confidence, and overcome our mental blocks.

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Key Takeaways

00:55 – Whitney Heins welcomes Dr. Haley Perlus to the show to share the remarkable story of her inspiration to pursue sports psychology

13:07 – Your ‘Three Best Words’ and giving yourself grace

20:57 – Best practices for moving on from a bad day

27:08 – Quiet confidence, achieving ‘flow state,’ and pressure

35:14 – Overcoming anxiety and mental blocks

46:06 – Three solutions for overcoming mental blocks

56:19 – The reality of sports

57:50 – Whitney thanks Dr. Haley for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can connect with her

Tweetable Quotes

“Usually when athletes call me it’s because they’ve tried everything else. They’ve tried their nutrition. They’ve tried their skillset or their conditioning. They’ve tried all of these things and nothing is helping them perform better or overcome that one thing.” (10:46) (Dr. Haley)

“You can gain the experience and the tools by doing. If you’ve been running for fifteen years without seeking out sports psychology, I guarantee you learned some mental toughness along the way. Or, you could just listen to Passionate Runner and listen to you and get educated so that you can get out on that training path and out on your run and start to utilize the tools immediately.” (11:35) (Dr. Haley)

“If you can bring back your three best words, at least one of them, often that allows you to push through a little bit more. And then, after that, if you find yourself not having your best performance, to me that’s still a sign that you put forth your best effort. And then it’s time to give yourself some grace. There’s a big difference giving yourself some grace and letting yourself off the hook.” (16:04) (Dr. Haley)

“Being upset tells me two things. It tells me, one, that you really care. And it actually, in my opinion, is a sign of confidence. If you’re upset, it means that you thought you could do better. And if you think you can do better, that’s a sign of confidence.” (21:57) (Dr. Haley)

“Pressure is earned. We don’t put pressure on ourselves for things we don’t think we’re good at. We don’t put pressure on ourselves for things we don’t care about. When we do the work - when we put in the time and the effort, and develop our skills, and see the progress - we put pressure on ourselves. It’s earned. We need to embrace it.” (34:00) (Dr. Haley)

“A mental block is also fear of success. This is huge. If you achieve a good performance, now you’ve got to keep doing it.” (45:19) (Dr. Haley)

“Every time we have a thought, we plant a neural pathway in our brain; it’s like a seed. But it’s just a seed. It’s just a thought until we start fertilizing it and giving it tender loving care. So, you have to repeat the thoughts that you like, the thoughts that help you. Repeat them and, with frequency and repetition, that seed - that neural pathway - grows. It’s a process called myelination. It grows and grows and grows and becomes your more dominant thought.” (51:11) (Dr. Haley)