Wee Chats With Brilliant People is a series of wee (short) interviews with high level performers.
This series explores the mental training techniques that top performers use every day to help them reach and stay at the forefront of their careers. You will learn about how they think and feel, what strategies they use to achieve success and the techniques they use to help them perform Brilliantly under pressure. You can learn from these Brilliant People whether you’re struggling with your own performance or simply want to get better at what you do.
Host, Alison Rhodius, uses her expertise as a Professor at JFK University in Sport Psychology to tease out these mental strategies for high level success in diverse fields.
These Wee Chats all happen over a cup of tea.
So, if you want to learn more about Brilliance for Success, then sit back, subscribe to the series and you’ll be informed of new interviews as they get developed and posted (podcasts and full versions of all interviews will be released). Enjoy the ride!
In this Wee Chat we talk with Elin Manahan Thomas, classical singer and Royal Wedding singer (by royal appointment!) for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle AKA the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. She covers many topics around the psychology of performing including being in the zone, the different colours of being in the zone, expressing emotions through music, her own performance anxiety challenges, performing without judgment, meditation and so much more!
In this Wee Chat we talk to John Craigie, singer-songwriter musician.
John describes music as a “necessary expression” and a great release. He goes onto talk introspectively about his thoughts and feelings about his performances, how he reads the audience, copes with nerves and the joy it clearly brings him to be on the road and live and breathe his music.
Being in the present moment is a key aspect for his successful performances and something we know is important for many other top performers.
This was a really fascinating wee chat and we hope you love it as much as we did chatting to John Craigie.
Tweet something to us one you have enjoyed this podcast @WeeChats
Check out http://weechats.com/john-craigie-singer-songwriter for more information about John Craigie.
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In this Wee Chat we talk again with 3xoff-road World Triathlon Champion, Lesley Paterson, and about the XTerra Worlds in Maui. If you didn’t tune into Part 1 yet, check it out on WeeChats.com first.
Check out http://weechats.com/lesley-paterson-3xoff-road-world-triathlon-champion-part-2 for more information about Lesley Paterson.
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In this Wee Chat from the vault from 2012 we talk with Lesley Paterson, three-time off-road World Champion triathlete as she reflects on her second world championship win in Maui.
As an elite triathlete, Lesley has found her passion, competing and winning throughout the world, with her best events now coming in the off-road arena. She specializes in the Xterra races consisting of a lake or ocean swim, off-road biking, and a trail run. In 2015 alone she accrued five 1st place Pro Women Xterra finishes, with winning both the men’s and the women’s division in the Laguna Beach Xterra course, she’s totally amazing!
Check out www.weechats.com/brilliant-people/lesley-paterson-3xoff-road-world-triathlon-champion for more information about Lesley Paterson.
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In this Wee Chat we talk with Jessie Barr, Irish 2012 Olympian in the 4 x 400m relay team in London, and Irish National 400m Hurdle Champion from 2011-2013. She participated in various sports from a young age and competed in track as just part of her normal sport and social routine, until she began to realize her current and potential ability, and that she could compete at a high level on the world stage. During her final years as an undergrad at the University of Limerick, and continuing on past graduation, she has purposefully continued to pursue personal best. She’s now combining her elite level training for greatness with studying for a PhD in Sport Psychology. In this Wee Chat Jessie talks about gaining confidence through her later years of competing at the university and how important having that attitude is to her. Although racing against others, her focus has consistently been on trying to improve her personal best, and she believes this outlook is part of what has served her well. Jessie speaks of the mental skills she uses such as reminding herself why she is competing and all of the work that has gone into her training when she feels doubtful of her ability. She also addresses the routines that allow her to prepare for a race, with visualizing what aspects will potentially impact the course as she runs. Jessie also talks of being aware of what her “auto pilot” is when competing, how she needs to fully focus during competition, and mentally what she has done in order to shift her focus back in that trajectory when it is thrown off.
She comes from a family of accomplished track athletes as her brother and also a Wee Chat guest, 2016 Olympian Thomas Barr, competed in the finals of the 400m Men’s Hurdles in Rio! He broke his own personal best, broke the national record and came 4th, which was such a great achievement and had the whole of Ireland jumping up and down.
Enjoy this Wee Chat with Olympian Jessie Barr.
Check out www.weechats.com/brilliant-people/jessie-barr-track-olympian