Brian Levenson on The HoopHeads Podcast

What We Discuss with Brian Levenson

  • His lunch with Julie Elion, mental performance coach for Phil Mickelson at the time, and how that got him started in the field of mental performance

  • Why he loves the blending of sports and psychology

  • Seeing the good and bad side of a profession when working with a mentor

  • Mentors can be formal or informal

  • Mentoring is a two way street with benefits for both parties

  • Servant leadership

  • Why a two way dialogue between players and coaches

  • A great question is often more powerful than a great answer

  • His favorite questions are the ones that he legitimately doesn’t have the answer to

  • Transactional vs Transformational Leadership

  • Great coaches have elements of both leadership styles and need find the right balance for them, the level matters

  • Helping others enjoy success

  • Why he loves watching coaches after a championship and watching how much they credit their guys versus how much they talk about themselves

  • There are brilliant coaches at every level from youth to the pros

  • You have to be clear on what your value system is, what your mission is, what your philosophy is, what your vision is, and you have to be able to communicate that to your people.

  • Be humble in our preparation and confident in our performance

  • How he developed the shifts from preparation to performance that became the basis for his book, Shift Your Mind

  • Analysis vs Instinct

  • Perfectionism vs Adaptability

  • The best coaches find ways to adapt

  • You do the analysis and preparation. It actually allows you to step into instinct

  • “Choking” is focusing too much on the potential outcome and losing your presence and coming out of the present

  • Trust in your own competence, in your ability to do the job

  • Focus is directed attention – Your focus can be internal broad, internal narrow, external narrow, or external broad depending on the situation

  • Why meditation and mindfulness can look different for different people

  • His new book Shift Your Mind

Brian Levenson