Student Leadership Approach (Super Hero)

What does Leadership have to do with Sportsmanship?

  • A Leader simply has followers - Hitler was one of the most effective leaders

  • Sportsmanship is a result of a “Centered” Leader - What keeps leaders, students, athletes from being “Centered”? Extreme emotions!!!

  • The power that we tap into in order to become “Centered” is the same power researchers have found to create a “Flow State” in performance, an “Ah ha! State” intellectually, and a “Self Healing State” in trauma therapy . This optimal performance state not only improves physical performance, mental acuity, and emotional awareness, but it also helps in our ability to avoid  situations that we regret later or that create irreversible damage. The hard part is that emotion is the same power that motivates us to do good and take action as well.

  • Therefore, “Centered” Self Leadership is not only key for sportsmanship, it’s also the core of…

    1. Personal Performance (Core Self)

    2. Healthy Relationships personally & professionally (Connections)

    3. Connecting to a tribe that can provide an ABUNDANCE of assistance even though additional help will not be critical (Community)

  • How do you become a “Centered Leader”? Accessing Flow

What is the FLOW STATE?

  • In positive psychology, a flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one's sense of time.

  • Anecdotal Examples of Flow:

    1. Phil Jackson used mindfulness coach George Mumford to help Michael Jordan & Bulls attain 6 championships and Kobe Bryant & Lakers attain 5.

    2. Lebron James & Steph Curry continue to raise the bar individually using the Flow State

    3. Bannister Effect - Nobody believed Roger Bannister could break the 4 minute mile, let alone that it could be repeated. Not only did he break the barrier, his record was broken within 30 days and soon even teenagers were breaking it. 

    4. Alex Honnold free soloing half dome in an hour and 22 minutes after preparing for years for the Flow State.

    5. Add other examples if needed/wanted.

What prevents the FLOW STATE?

  • The thing that motivates us is the same thing that prevents us from achieving FLOW, emotions.

  • What are extreme emotions or emotionally triggered states?

    1. Subconscious computer programs that, when activated, begin taking up resources and attention and also affect results 

    2. Example of Activity Manager on a Mac or Task Manager on a PC 

Changing “The Code” to access FLOW: Mindfulness

  • What is Mindfulness

  • What researchers have discovered about the simple, daily habit of mindfulness

  • Mindfulness Exercise

    1. Prep

    2. Audio Files

    3. Wrap Up

The Experience

  • An intense activity as a group that provides rules, equipment, mentors, teammates, prizes and/or consequences.

  • Rock Climbing/Rappelling

  • Hiking

  • Ropes Course

  • High Stakes Competitions

  • Orientation Activity

  • River/Lake  Experience

  • Team Obstacle Course

The Wrap Up

  • Give some time and space, more than at the initial training, for participants (youth and adult) to make connections with the content and the challenges they face. Focus on creating a safe space without judgment for minds and hearts to explore out loud. Being “Centered” yourself will be the key to providing a safe, yet challenging environment that inspires them to go where they wouldn’t normally go.

The “Super Hero” option of the training

Intro & Positioning:

For all of human history, we have always been drawn to stories of superheroes and their superhuman abilities to save regular humans in many crisis situations. Recent research has uncovered what some call “super human” powers and it isn’t on a distant planet. Is it possible that there really is someone that can save us from the ever complicated pain and problems we face in society today?



The Crisis & Opportunity:

Clark Kent (Superman) gets overwhelmed in school
https://youtu.be/FNmqYbkUEek 

Youth and adults alike are bombarded and usually overwhelmed in school and activities today with hot topics and emotional responses. Without hardly trying we find many potential crisis situations in society. Gender, race, gun control, COVID, and politics are only a few of the latest hot topics. Every day we hear more stories of emotional outbursts from adults and youth of many ages that “lose their cool '' and end up reacting in a way that hurts themselves and others and brings many regrets for many people involved.

  1. Nearly 1-3 teens age 13-18 has an anxiety disorder

  2. Less than 50% of teens reporting major depression receive treatment

  3. Suicide rates have almost doubled in the past 15 years and is the 2nd leading cause of death 10-24 years old. 
https://nihcm.org/publications/youth-mental-health-trends-and-outlook
 

Research has discovered a “SuperHero” in the core:

Natural “Human” Powers

The physical, mental, and emotional elements of the human being all have innate abilities that we don’t even have to think about. The physical body will heal a cut if we remove toxins and allow time. The mind is always working to solve difficult problems even while we sleep. As we see in children, the human heart also has a natural tendency to love and forgive if we allow it.



Flow State

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi introduced Flow State Theory in the 70s. With the physical, mental, and emotional elements aligned, the Flow State has been shown to create almost super human abilities in everyday people. 
https://www.flowresearchcollective.com/blog/history-of-flow 

  • Bannister Effect - Nobody believed Roger Bannister could break the 4 minute mile, let alone that it could be repeated. Not only did he break the barrier, his record was broken within 30 days and soon even teenagers were breaking it. 

  • Alex Honnold free soloing half dome in an hour and 22 minutes.


True Self


Around 1900 Sigmund Freud proposed multiplicity (Id, Ego, Superego). It has been progressively developed ever since until Dr. Richard Schwartz (IFS Institute) discovered that among all of our personality parts there is a part that is considered our True Self, or Core Self. 



When we access this part of us we instantly feel an increase in the 8 Cs (Clarity, Compassion, Courage, Confidence, Curiosity, Creativity, Calmness, and Connectedness). This “Centered State” has been shown to provide inspired, creative insight for problem solving,  emotional healing from serious trauma, and even helping improve anxiety, depression, and pain. 
https://ifs-institute.com/resources/research


Mindfulness

Though it came from an ancient Buddhist practice, 10-20 minutes of daily mindfulness has been proven in research labs around the world many times over to be better than any single pill to help humans reach a state of high performance, healthy well-being, and happiness with a lasting, long-term effect. Sometimes we refer to that as Chronic Success®…

UCLA Researchers found…

Harvard reported…

The National Institute of Health summarized some of the many benefits…

  • Improvements with life satisfaction, self esteem, empathy, optimism, depression, absent-mindedness, social anxiety, task performance, sustained attention, persistence, emotional regulation, and many, many more. 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3679190/
 

Mindfulness Exercise; The Power of Simple:

  • Preparation. 

    1. Sit up straight, with feet flat on the floor.

    2. Close hands (Don’t leave them open).

    3. Don’t rest head or slouch but make sure you are comfortable.

    4. RELAXED and ATTENTIVE.

  • 10 minute Mindfulness Audio/Video (Some options listed below)

    1.  https://youtu.be/fjOPk3Y3Otk

    2. https://youtu.be/sG7DBA-mgFY - from Headspace (Partnered with Nike)

    3. https://youtu.be/ZToicYcHIOU - from Calm (Used/Endorsed by Lebron James)

    4. Google 10 min mindfulness. There are hundreds of free ones available

  • Processing

    1. How do you feel physically right now?

    2. What changed (physically, mental, emotionally)?

    3. Can you tell me about your experience?

    4. Tell me about ______ (specific part).


The Experience: High Stakes Experience

  • Activities that are meant to trigger a high stress state in a safe manner can be hugely beneficial. If you cannot facilitate rock climbing/rappelling or activities similar then you can even do simple, competitive games with LARGE prizes and confusing or unknown rules and watch how the emotional environment plays out.

  • Processing the experience is partly up to the facilitator and partly up to the participants. Give them space and they will make connections you never thought about.


Additional Mindfulness Videos that may be interesting to Students/Athletes

Phil Jackson on Leadership “You have to follow your intuitive nature”. - https://youtu.be/raRS7UyiF5U