3 Teachings I Learned from my Workshop with Elvis

Recently I had the incredible opportunity to facilitate mental training sessions at a workshop with Elvis Stojko. Growing up a skater in the 90’s Elvis was one of my idols so it was exciting to be asked to speak at a workshop where he was coaching. He was known for his mental strength and ability to focus during competition….as well as his mind-blowing technical ability! I hoped I would have the opportunity to “talk shop” with him! Turned out he heard about the success of my sessions on the first day and wanted to join in on day 2. Of course, I jumped at the chance to have him share his story with the skaters.

There were so many nuggets of wisdom he shared but 3 in particular stayed with me.

1. Create a Challenger
2. Make it your best on the day
3. Take Ownership of You

Create a Challenger

Elvis shared that he imagined a challenger, his nemesis, out in the world somewhere. This was some guy who trained all day, never required sleep or food to survive, and was like a machine. This was going to be his competition and his goal was to beat him! Imagining him created a fire inside Elvis to work and train harder everyday.

Make it your best on the day

Elvis had so many “best” performances! The key was to not compare himself to his very best, when he won the Worlds or skated to silver at the Olympics, but rather skating his best that day. This would help him to reconcile how each practice went and take small steps forward everyday, ultimately propelling him toward achieving his goals.

Take ownership of you

When you take ownership of you, how you act both on and off the ice you are empowered with the ability to make changes where you need to. If an action or habit is not serving you, you have the ability to change it. Focusing on what we can control, not what is outside of our control, is an important shift in mindset for all athletes to adopt.

Learn more about the mental training programs I offer, check out Work with Rebekah