THE INVICTUS PROJECT

Introduction Sports performance is a multifaceted phenomenon that includes physical, mental and social skills. Sports psychologists have theorized that it's possible to use a simple colour theory to understand the emotions behind different aspects of sports performance. The key to understanding Sports Performance is recognizing the importance of these three components: Physical Skills, Mental Skills and Social Skills. Sports psychology has shown us how important it is for an

Introduction Ego is a significant factor in sporting performance. It can be the difference between being good and being great in many cases. However, if left unchecked, the ego will destroy sporting performance as demonstrated by athletes such as Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods. Here we will explore the psychological impact of an excessive sense of self-importance and what it means for you. How ego can be both a benefit and a detriment to sporting performance. Ego can be both

Introduction There are many mindsets people can have when facing a challenge or threat. A mindset is a set of assumptions, ways of thinking and feeling that determine one's reactions to events. In order to deal with things effectively, it's important to be aware of the mental state you're in and how this may affect your responses to situations. We should all strive for a challenge mindset-a way of looking at something that views it as worth tackling instead of being fearful a

UltraX Jordan 250km What do you think of when you hear the words "Running" and "Athletics"? For many, it's all about beating personal bests, new championships and medals. However, sometimes it can be far more than that. It can be about something bigger than the self. I had the opportunity to be a part of the UltraX Jordan event in Wadi Rum this year. It was a 250km trail run across Wadi Rum desert from 7am on the 4th October to 1pm on the 8th October 2021 over 5 days in a bal

Sport, as like life, will always present different "challenges". A lot of the time, we are challenged by things outside of our control, an illness, injury, environment or situation. What makes a big difference is how we view things. As an athlete, husband, son, brother and now father, I was pretty quick to identify the negative of a situation and focus on it. What this taught me over time was to focus on the problem, it became a nasty cycle when attempting to perform and ex

Being burnt by success

How often do we find ourselves applying effort and time to a cause only to see us take two steps forward one step back? Sometimes the ratio can be even worse and the more we practice something, the worse you're getting, whilst other teams and athletes are leaping forward. There are days that it feels sublime, others that feel like a living hell. I have seen this happen time and time again in sport with teams and individuals fluctuate up and down with what they are capable of

Over the last few years, I'd had some the opportunity to work with World Champion athletes and World Class Teams. Seeing things from the other side of the fence gives you a very different perspective. I know when I was an athlete all I was obsessed with was winning and beating people. Then doing that at the highest level possible. What I didn't see where the things that would eventually hit me from my blind side. Why is it important to know what could bring you down? Firs

This year has been a steep learning curve. Jumping from working on a purely 1-1 basis to working in schools let me see how things are functioning on at ground level. I work across the spectrum of schooling, working in private schools and also secondary schools what i realised the gap couldn't be getting any wider. Private schooling In the private schools the support that the students have is incredible. However it is extremely competitive. Kids are in a constant battle in s

I work with a huge range of pupils from some of the leading private schools in the country to some of the most deprived state schools. The schools are moving forward in this area. But like many large institutes some things take time to implement and adapt. Our mind is a funny thing. The experiences we have of certain situations can heavily influence us and impact us for the long term. This could come off as a good consequence or equally a bad consequence. The thing is tha

After spending many years practising doing things the "more challenging way," I figured out you didn't have to bottom out before asking for help. Most people don't access how they may think, behave or what they do on a day in, day out basis. Then bang something happenings, and the whole world comes down. Or in other scenarios, it can be a small problem to begin with, that you don't care much for and then over time this problem grows and grows and grows until the thing that

A lot of the work I do is problem-solving. However, the long-term effect is that those I work with start to solve their own problems. I know that was a huge culprit of heavily focusing and immersing myself with any problems I had. Sometimes I'd complain, moan, slag off, avoid or run at it as hard as I could. These were not the most strategic methods of best dealing with the problem even though they worked up to a point. In the long all it did was pull me in a direction, I did

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to go and talk to a group of around 100 students in a school in north-east London. They listened to me ramble on who I was, what I did and the problems I solve and what my aspirations where. Following this, they got to fire questions to me. Some great questions came from the students. Why do you do what you do? I think everyone has the potential to be world class in something. The limiting factor is them. I saw how much I limited myself from

I was a huge culprit of being able to perform when there was no pressure and at times perform when I needed to. What I didn't realise was how to keep consistency. This happened even when I was an athlete in the National Rowing team. We still see it happen at this level across multiple domains. Most of the time you hear people saying, "well hopefully today will go well" or "good luck". I'm not a huge fan of these statements. It doesn't teach me what I'm doing well or how

I see this happening day in day out. I was a major culprit of this. One minute you'd be nice as pie to someone's face and next minute you'd be slagging them off as soon as they turned the corner. What I didn't realise at the time was how destructive this way of thinking was to me. It meant that I was just as bad as everyone else. Many of us are quick to judge and to point the finger and try and shift blame. We'll spend lots of time complaining and bad mouthing other peopl

One of the first things I do when working with anyone is asking them what their problems are. I know especially when I was an athlete I would drag my problems around with me, sometimes complain, moan and reinforce "how crap" my problem was. Sometimes people don't let go of these things, and they spend more time fighting their problem. By focusing purely on the problem (not the solution) what it can tend to do is consume us. All our thoughts, spare time and persona take on t

As I immerse myself more with my work, I see more and more that we humans are extremely habitual with our behaviour. With this trait, it can sometimes get us into sticky situations. I know at the time if I was in a tricky situation (e.g. disagreement with parents, teachers, sports coach) I'd either vent verbally or turn on my heel and run. Another one of my favourites was to complain and moan about how bad the problem was following it. Since then things have moved on a litt

I'm the first to put my hands up and say I was the first to blame and point the finger as to why things may not have worked out for me. I've thankfully moved on from this way of thinking. A lot of us tend to justify our behaviour to ourselves by saying, it's ok for me to behave in a certain way because of the "situation" I was in. What many people struggle with is gathering perspective on their problems. The majority of the time we only ever see things from one perspective.

When do you think you lose control of your mind and thinking? We've all been there when we literally can't think straight because we're in an emotional hole. I know on many occasions when I was rowing as a full-time athlete I'd self-destruct now and again. Mentally lose control for one reason or another, I remember we were training for a domestic race where I was competing with some of my fellow squad internationals, we also had a few good club rowers on board. I had a sl

There can never be progress unless you change something. Over the last few years, I've seen people with abilitiy and talent get pretty high up and hit the top. The limiting factor as to how long they stayed there was their character. When you compete, and you're at the sharper end of the spear it get's harder to climb again and improve upon what you've done before. The people that think they can just turn the magic on when they need to will get found out and be passed out. Th