This is part two of turning a head case into a powerhouse athlete. Coach, your athlete is a human being with all sorts of things going on in his or her life. You must remember it all times that these are kids who have not figured out their identity or their personal power. They're going through all sorts of crazy physical changes. Some have been bullied. Some have major family problems. Some are dealing right now with the biggest stressor of all for all kids not fitting in. Now you don't have to be an amateur child psychologist. However, it's to your advantage to listen to and address the issues that you notice them without feeling like you have to solve all their problems. You don't. I think the only thing that holds coaches back from doing more of this kind of work I'm talking about is the idea that they think they don't have to or that it's too hard or they don't know what to say. Well, the fact is the more you do it, the better you get at it and the better your athlete's performance is. And that's what you care about, right? So start out by being flexible and letting go of your ego when you're trying to help your athlete with mental issues. Now, this is this flexibility. It's the hallmark of all great therapists. And what it means is that you have to be what your athlete needs you to be at any given moment if you want their peak performance. In other words, you'll be ten times more effective. If you don't try to force feed every athlete to go along with your model of the world, this means that you don't try to force your favorite things down their throat when you can clearly see that it's not working. Yes, you can do that at higher levels, professional, maybe top collegiate sports because there's more talent than positions and everyone is expendable, right? What you want to do instead is seek to listen to what's going on inside their head. Just be empathetic and ask yourself, what does this person in front of me need to hear from me right now to make him or her feel powerful and confident and give me their all? That's what you want as a coach, right? Now what most coaches do is they hear a problem, they check into their memory banks and they ask themselves, well, what has worked for me in the past? And then they apply it without even thinking. Every athlete is totally different and unique. Slow down. Open up your possibilities. Trust your intuition to say just the right thing. Instead of just go with those knee jerk pat responses, you've always used in the past. Not trying to fit square blocks into round holes. Your way isn't always the most efficient way. Flex with the player's personality. Some of them are mean and loud and passionate. Go with that. Some of them are quiet. Go with that. You know, managers have big corporations have long ago learned that each employee responds to different motivational techniques. Business world figured this out. Make a clue from that world because billions of dollars have been spent on studying to find out how to get greater productivity from human beings in the workforce. Last I checked your athletes are humans too. Performance is performance. You hold a magic wand as someone they look up to. It's time to start using it. Now I've got tons more ideas here, right here in the mental toughness academy to help you out. That air and locks you sports coach program as well. If you want that competitive advantage for your young athletes, learn the mental game, be flexible on how you apply it and start using it. Let's do this. I'm Craig Siggle, your mental toughness trainer.