"Who Else Wants To Know These Powerful Performance Secrets?"
Interview With
Book Title
The Inner Winner
First Published
Who is this book written for?
'The Inner Winner' is written for people who want to perform at higher levels and achieve more in their life. The performance psychology techniques in the book can be applied to business, sport and other fields of endeavour also.
How much did you know about your subject before writing this book? In other words, what qualifies you to write this book?
I have had a fascination for psychology which started when I studied it at school and then University. I developed a particular fascination with performance psychology when competing in karate tournaments when I was at University.
Subsequently I studied for a Masters Degree in the Psychology of Performance.
What makes your book different?
Everything in it is based upon extensive psychological research. It is based on facts not fanciful stories.
In addition I have been told that I have been able to explain powerful psychological principles in a very down to earth and easy to understand way.
Why did you write this book?
Because I was hearing and reading some absolute crap about the psychology of performance. I was getting frustrated at hearing people who did not know what they were talking about! For example, the amount of rubbish that exists about goal setting is unbelievable. When applied correctly goal setting is a powerful performance enhancer. When applied incorrectly it is just a waste of time! 'The Inner Winner' sets the record straight!
What kind of research did you do for your book?
My thesis for my Masters Degree involved in depth research into the psychology of performance. I did hundreds of hours research, reading the very best material available on the subject.
I used this research to write 'The Inner Winner'.
Tell us the single most important thing we'll learn from your book...
How to get a boost from the most powerful performance enhancer of all - your mind.
How would you describe yourself?
Energetic, positive, fun loving, down to earth and hard hitting.
What's your greatest achievement so far?
When I was a kid I nearly died. I was stupidly playing on a frozen lake with my friends when the ice broke and I fell into the water. Luckily a friend managed to pull me out, otherwise I wouldn't be here!
I was offered the opportunity to scuba dive under a frozen lake! I had never scuba dived before, and the prospect of going under the ice terrified me. However, I did want to test myself so I did the dive.
It was an incredible experience! Equally terrifying and exhilarating!
I subsequently learned to scuba dive in the Maldives where the dive instructor next to me on a night dive was attacked by a shark which was startled by his very bright torch. Luckily the shark only bit the torch and no-one was injured. However, as the shark bumped into me as it attacked I came pretty close to having to pay a soiling charge for my wetsuit!
Who are your role models/influences and why?
One of the elite performers I admire is Paula Radcliffe. She has incredible mental toughness. I have run a few half marathons and am training for my first full marathon - so I have some insight into how tough it must be to compete at international level!
What's the most exciting thing that's happened to you as a result of writing your book?
I spoke at a big martial arts event that was run to raise money to buy a special wheelchair for a martial artist who had been paralysed in a car crash.
A large number of legendary martial arts masters attended the event. It was like a 'who's who' of the martial arts! When it was time for my session I was quite frankly terrified at the prospect of speaking to such legendary people about how to improve their performance! Many of them were incredibly accomplished masters of their chosen arts!
Thankfully the speech was a big success and most importantly so was the event and the very brave Dave Lee now has the sports wheelchair he needed to carry on his martial arts training.
What are you working on now?
A new book that will give the self help / self improvement genre the kick up the backside it so badly needs!
What else do you do?
I am a martial artist. As mentioned before I have studied karate but have also trained in several other disciplines. I write for several martial arts magazines on the psychology of performance and as a result I get asked to speak to martial artists a lot. One of the strangest experiences was speaking to a group of cage fighters.
If you have ever seen cage fighting you will know that these guys are as hard as nails. And they asked me to talk to them about mental toughness!!
I have a little psychological track that I use as an illustration when I speak that literally drains all of the strength out of someone's body. They guy who volunteered to help me demonstrate weighed in at about 17 stone. I made him lose all of the strength in one of his arms and when the audience laughed out loud at the look of amazement on his face I thought he was going to thump me!
I have worked as a bouncer in the past but my fighting days are long gone and a 17 stone cage fighter was not my choice of sparring partner! I was relieved when he burst out laughing as well!!
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