Lindsey Vonn high fives after completing the Streif at night.
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Wingsuit Flying
The learnings we can all take from elite athletes' strategies for success
Mind Set Win guests including Max Verstappen, Siya Kolisi, Elena Rybakina and Marco Odermatt share their mental tactics for success. Here's a selection of what we've learned from the podcast so far.
By Matt Majendie
15 min readUpdated on
Mind Set Win is the podcast uncovering the mental techniques used by elite sporting personalities and helping everybody apply them in their daily lives to become more successful and fulfilled.
Hosts Cédric Dumont and York-Peter Klöppel have been guiding us through new themes every week ranging from emotional control to finding your 'why', and many fascinating topics in between.
With two seasons now complete, here’s a look at just some of the practical exercises you can action right away from a selection of the highlight episodes. And don't forget, in addition to this, there's also a number of extended uncut episodes available wherever you get your podcasts!
01

Trusting the process

“I like a laidback, chilled approach,” says three-time World Champion Max Verstappen of how he deals with the pressures of Formula One, a sport where every millisecond counts. The Dutchman’s ability to maintain such flawless consistency in his performances is down to trusting the process and not overthinking or overanalysing every situation, a method he’s embraced since his karting days. And while we may never be able to drive like Verstappen, here’s how we can apply his way of thinking to our own daily lives.
  1. Thinking about the end goal and the final outcome can be overwhelming, so try to focus your mind on the present. What can you control at this very moment?
  2. Familiarise yourself with the acronym WIN – What’s Important Now. Referring back to this in daily challenges can help you refocus.
  3. Every day, try to pinpoint a task that’s achievable that day and take it step by step until it’s complete.
  4. Trust in your own ability and focus on techniques that have been successful for you in the past.
02

Finding your ‘why’

South Africa rugby star Siya Kolisi’s inspiring sense of purpose has driven him to captain his nation to two consecutive World Cup victories. Born into a humble Port Elizabeth township, Kolisi’s ‘why’ has always been about more than himself, it’s about his country, his team-mates, his family – and being a beacon of hope to people at every corner of his nation. Knowing his ‘why’ has driven him to become the best version of himself, and it could be for you as well. Here’s an exercise to help point you in the right direction:
  1. When watching the news tonight, or thinking about your job at the end of the day, ask yourself what resonated with you the most. What excited you the most? What carried the most meaning?
  2. Make a note of it and stick it on your fridge door, or keep it in an accessible place.
  3. When you’re having a down day or a difficult time, look at the note to remind yourself what your ‘why’ is.
  4. Let the reason why you do what you do in life be a source of energy for you and a motivation to keep going.
03

Tactical body language

Elena Rybakina has well and truly perfected the art of the poker face. Whether winning or losing on the tennis court, a game she describes as “active chess”, the former Wimbledon champion remains unflustered and in total control of her emotions. This ability to remain calm during match-defining moments of extreme pressure and stress is a skill that frequently confuses her opponents and gives her a mental advantage. Here’s how you can use body language as a way to gain back control of a situation:
  1. Firstly, try and get a recording of yourself standing in front of people, maybe when you are presenting at work or talking within a group of friends.
  2. Look at your body language and analyse what message you were sending. Were your arms folded? Was your head up? Were your feet apart and parallel? Were your shoulders broad and relaxed? All these are examples of a positive and powerful body stance.
  3. Every day, stand in front of a mirror and practice just for two minutes holding yourself in this stance.
  4. Remember, the more you practice, the easier it will be to take back control of a situation through your non-verbal communication.
04

Using your anchor

In the 10 minutes before he’s due to take the start gate at every race, skiing phenom Marco Odermatt pictures in his mind what’s about to unfold. It doesn’t matter what’s happened up until that point, tapping into his pre-race routine provides him with comfort and focus. Klöppel describes the reigning World, Olympic and FIS Overall champion’s visualisation technique as his ‘anchor’, the thing he always goes back to when preparing his mind and body for going “all-in”. Here’s some useful advice when trying to discover your own anchor:
  1. Ask yourself what routines help you perform at your best on any given day. Maybe it’s a cup of coffee in the morning? Or kissing your family members goodbye as you leave the door?
  2. Finding your anchor is about practice, patience and trying out new things. A routine and anchor that works for someone else might not work for you. So as Cédric explains: “You have to test and experiment."
  3. Remember, it’s not the duration or type of activity that’s important, but the effect it has on you. What makes you feel comfortable? What makes you feel good?
  4. Once you’ve identified a strong anchor, you can begin to consciously refer back to it the next time you face some adversity. Use it to ground yourself, return to your comfort zone, and perform your task to the best of your ability.
05

Meditation

“Meditation has definitely helped me a lot to know my body," says Fernanda Maciel of the Vipassana technique that first became part of her daily life in 2006. For the Brazilian ultrarunner, meditation has taught her how to efficiently filter between her negative thoughts and positive emotions while taking on gruelling challenges of more than 100km. In the episode, Klöppel aims to change our perceptions of meditation and explains the four main types that vary in intensity and duration. Let’s look through them:
  1. The type of meditation that sometimes happens by accident. We enter a state of flow while doing something, like running or hoovering at home and it becomes a form of meditation.
  2. A more intentional form of meditation, but only for brief moments throughout the day. A couple of minutes here or there.
  3. Very intentional, where you reserve specific time in the day to meditate. Many people like to do it in the morning, for up to two hours.
  4. The type of meditation that requires you to go to a retreat or classes where you spend 7-10 days or longer, specifically for meditation.
06

Avoiding mental overload

What contributes to mental overload? What long-term effects can it have on our body? And how can we avoid it? These are the questions answered in this episode with Toronto Raptors and NBA All-Star Pascal Siakam. To avoid mental burnout during a relentless 82-game regular season, the Cameroonian needs to find time to rest and recharge his mind as well as his body. And this is easier said than done in the digital age, so Klöppel outlines how we can all reduce the amount we trigger our brains with information.
  • Firstly, understand the signals your body can send if the brain is overloaded. Symptoms could be things like repeated headaches, not sleeping, waking up feeling unrested and stopping finding enjoyment in daily activities like walking outside.
  • Secondly, learn what activities require high-frequency Beta brainwaves that are strenuous on the brain and other activities that use lower-frequency Alpha brainwaves and help the brain rest, recover, and recharge. For example, watching TV and scrolling through social media is strenuous, while light exercise and talking to a friend is more relaxing.
  • Lastly, remember that a mental break can last just a few seconds, or for many days. During a busy day, finding a little moment to switch off just for a short moment can be very important for our mental health.
07

Reverse planning

Marc Márquez’s positive mentality has helped him return to the MotoGP™ grid after some “nightmare” injuries. One beneficial technique he adopted in his recovery was reverse planning and setting a series of realistic goals in an achievable order instead of instantly focusing on his ultimate goal of winning. Learn how you can take advantage of this way of thinking as well.
  1. Firstly, write down a specific goal and by when you want to achieve it.
  2. Now ask yourself, what is the last thing you need to achieve just before reaching that goal?
  3. Now think about your second to last goal. What do you need to have done and by when?
  4. Keep repeating this process working backwards from the previous step and remember to set a date every single time.
  5. This will help you work out which tasks need to be done, but also the steps that require the most effort. It will also help you plan your time accordingly.
08

Developing patience

Patience is often described as a quality not compatible with modern living, but it can be essential to the achievement of our long-term goals. For German middle-distance runner Konstanze Klosterhalfen, learning to pace herself and attack at the right moment has been integral to many of her greatest performances. Read on and uncover how you can develop your patience levels over time.
  1. If you’re able to do so, the first step is simply to close your eyes and remain still for 30 seconds. Maybe set a timer or an alarm to help you.
  2. When the 30 seconds is up, open your eyes. Ask yourself how did it feel? Did you get restless? Was it tempting to open your eyes and look at your phone?
  3. To help you get used to being still, we now need to push you further.
  4. Your challenge is to regularly take breaks like the above, but instead of only being calm for 30 seconds, go for longer: a minute, five minutes or even half an hour of just doing nothing.
  5. By practising being with your own thoughts and resisting the temptation to constantly do things, gradually you’ll begin to feel the benefits.
09

Bouncing back from failure

As tennis player Matteo Berrettini explains, taking positives from your losses and learning from defeat can be easier said than done. However if you can master it, you'll be better placed to achieve your goals. The following exercise from Courtney is one we can all adopt to help us negotiate moments of disappointment and build a plan so we’re better equipped to deal with these situations in the future.
  1. Firstly, think of an occasion where things didn’t go as you hoped.
  2. Then, list all the things that actually went well despite the negative outcome.
  3. Now, list all the things that didn’t go well, but were IN your control.
  4. Next, list all the things that didn’t go well, but were OUT of your control.
  5. Once you’ve made your lists, think about which category was hardest or easiest to find items for.
  6. Finally, look back at the things that didn’t go very well, but were within your control; these are the things you can work on, and this is how you can improve.
10

Learning to compartmentalise

Chris Matthews aka Lethal Shooter has learned a lot from his life on the basketball court both as a player and a skills coach to the elite stars of the NBA. And it’s through learning how to compartmentalise effectively that he’s able to process his emotions to positive effect. The exercise in this episode looks at how we can all constructively address our emotions when needing to focus on a present task at hand.
  1. Firstly, find a moment to close your eyes and imagine a filing cabinet.
  2. Next, visualise opening one of the drawers from the cabinet and emptying all the emotions you’re feeling into it.
  3. Now imagine closing the drawer (it could also be a box, or an imaginary cloud you push away to the side, whatever works for you).
  4. This process of imagining actually filing your emotions away for a short time helps you stay in the present, and divert focus back to the task at hand.
  5. Remember though, you must return to these feelings later on after the event, let them out, and start addressing them constructively.
11

Resetting and refocusing your mind

When Swiss triathlete Daniela Ryf was stung by a jellyfish seconds before the 2019 IRONMAN World Championships, she had to reset quickly and refocus her mind on the race in front of her. Managing her negative thoughts constructively allowed her to keep moving forwards, finish strong and claim an unlikely victory. This reset routine based around assessing, adjusting and acting can help you refocus like a champion as well.
  1. First, to better understand the challenge now in front of you, you need to assess and analyse what just happened.
  2. Second, you need to adjust. This involves coming back to the present moment, making changes to your plan and determining the right next step.
  3. Finally, it’s time to act. Take a deep breath or say ‘reset’ out loud to help you to flip into action mode. This is where we put all our focus on the next right step.
  4. Remember, the more you practise, the more it will become second nature.
12

Finding enjoyment and satisfaction

We learn how for Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner, finding enjoyment and satisfaction in his work, regardless of the outcome, enables him to consistently lead his team to success. Here’s a way of thinking provided by Dumont that can help you find added satisfaction in your successes as well.
  1. The next time something is at stake, try and put the end result to one side and concentrate on being in the moment.
  2. Kickstart your senses by trying to take in the smells, the sights and the sounds.
  3. Ask yourself questions like these: How much effort have you put into being there? What have you learned along the way? Have you already achieved part of the goal in getting this far? Are you solely responsible for being in this moment, or have you worked as part of a team?
  4. See if you can already find satisfaction in the experience and feeling of doing something you’re good at or enjoy, regardless of the eventual outcome.
13

Developing a growth mindset

Pole vault champion and world record holder Mondo Duplantis tries to improve his mental strength every day by even a fraction. How is that achievable in our own lives? Here are some tips from Dumont to help you refocus your approach and develop a growth mindset.
  1. Grab a pen or open the notes app on your phone and write down a goal or something you want to achieve.
  2. Once the goal is set, really think about what you need to turn that goal into reality. Break them down into smaller micro goals and things you can already achieve in the coming days, weeks or months.
  3. Think about the manageable targets you can hit to stay on course and write them down. What aims can you set yourself and can you measure your progress over a short period of time?
  4. Remember, the clearer the process is, the easier it is to track the progress.
  5. Analyse your achievements and remember to reward yourself after progress has been made, this leads to added motivation and commitment.
14

Finding your flow state

Attaining a flow state can be hard to achieve. When tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas pulls it off, he describes it as “playing with your soul”. So how can we all experience this feeling? Dumont shares some expert tips. It starts with:
  1. Determining a clear goal in your mind and practising the task – be it a guitar solo, reciting something from memory or cooking a meal – until you become familiar with it.
  2. Being aware of potential distractions and focusing on being present, nothing else.
  3. Avoiding the temptation to force it, your flow won’t come instantly.
  4. Repeating the task on a daily basis, consistency is key.
15

Cultivating persistence

For mountain biker Kate Courtney, persistence is the foundation to success and a key way to building and maintaining her levels of persistence in training and on race days has been by creating a mantra. If you're keen to find and create a mantra of your own, remember these steps.
  1. Think of something you want to get better at and brainstorm a phrase to help you succeed.
  2. Keep the phrase short, positive, actionable and in your mind at all times.
  3. Write it down so it physically exists and say it out loud, the more you say it, the easier it will become.
  4. In challenging times, remember to visualise your mantra for support.
16

Developing grit

Lindsey Vonn had to demonstrate inspiring levels of grit to recover from multiple serious injury setbacks during her illustrious career. While there’s no magic formula to instantly instil these levels of grit into our own daily lives, Dumont offers two equations from Vonn’s favourite book Grit by Angela Duckworth, to teach us how to avoid plateauing.
  • The first is: talent x effort = skill. When you apply effort to talent, you develop your skill.
  • And the second is: skill x effort = achievement. To reach your goals, you need to keep on working hard and using your skills.
Find out more – including simple exercises to do at home – in Mind Set Win.
Part of this story

Cédric Dumont

A vastly experienced skydiver and BASE jumper, Belgium's Cédric Dumont is always travelling the world in search of new adventures.

BelgiumBelgium

Kate Courtney

With a cross-country World Championship and overall World Cup already in the bag, Kate Courtney is on the fast track to becoming one of the sport's greats.

United StatesUnited States
Wingsuit Flying