SPA Girls Podcast – Episode 123 – Interview With Nate Vella
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Using Sports Psychology To Help Your Writing
This week we talk with elite sportsman, Nathan Vella, about using tools from sports psychology to help writers. Nate has been a professional rugby player for the last seven years. In that time he has played in both New Zealand and Europe, and has amassed over 100 first class games, winning several championships. His strength besides his physical ability is his mental toughness.
Nate talks with Wendy, Cheryl and Shar about applying what he has learned in the competitive high-performance environment he thrives and works in, specifically:
- Importance of preparation
- The top two inches
- Visualization
- Why is Process the key?
- Dealing positively with negativity when you hit a challenge (or get a bad review!)
- Physical fitness goes alongside mental fitness
- Techniques for getting out of “the red zone” and into the (productive) blue zone
- Standing strong (literally)
- The importance of a great team culture – and how you can build that as a solo indie author
What’s the difference between Rugby Union and American Football? (no, it’s not just that we don’t wear protective gear!) : http://www.americanfootballinternational.com/9-differences-between-rugby-and-the-nfl/
Further reading about Sports Psychology and Business:
https://sportsandthemind.com/business-sport-psychology/
http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/applying-sports-psychology-to-business
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superheroes/201107/why-you-may-want-stand-superhero
TED talk with Amy Cuddy: https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are/transcript
Episodes 100 – 200 List
200 What we’ve learned so far…
199 Interview with Adam Croft – Mindset and Marketing
198 Find Your Sparkle – with Julie Schooler
197 Hack Your Muse – with Kelly McClymer
196 Public Speaking For Authors – with Alena Van Arendonk
195 The Magic Pill – with Laura Van Arendonk-Baugh
194 A Day In The Life Of A Writer
193 Keep It Simple
192 Interview with Skye Warren: Money Mindset and Facebook Ads
For Authors (Part Two)
191 Interview with Skye Warren: Time Management & Advertising
For Authors (Part One)
190 Dragon Wrangling with Scott Baker: secrets for
Successful dictation
189 Interview with Patricia McLinn: Writing by the seat of
Your pants
188 Interview with Morgana Best: Writing & Marketing
Cozy Mysteries
187 Interview with Geoff Symon: Wounds & Crime Scenes
186 Interview with Natasha Bajema, WMD for Authors
185 The Writer’s Detective with Adam Richardson
183 Facebook Advertising with Maria Luis ~ Part Two
182 Facebook Advertising with Maria Luis ~ Part One
181 Learn dictation with Kilby Blades
180 Interview with Brian Meeks, Mastering Book Descriptions
179 Interview with Tara Cremin, Kobo Writing Life
178 Interview with Larissa Reynolds – Newsletters Part Two
177 Interview with Larissa Reynolds – Newsletters Part One
175 Wrangling Facebook: How To Make It Work For You
174 How To Write A Regency Romance
173 How Do You Identify Your Writing Weaknesses?
172 Interview With Dan Wood, D2D
171 Interview With Serenity Woods
169 5 Goals You Need To Make In 2019
168 Jumpstart Your 2019 Marketing with 31 Quick To Dos for Jan.
167 Scheduling For Writing Success
166 Our 2018 Roundup
165 He Said, She Said: Creating Dazzling Dialogue
164 Interview with Steffanie Holmes: Reverse Harem
163 Interview with YA author Kelly St Clare
160 Amazon Excl v Wide – things to consider and how to market
159 Interview With Kathryn LeVeque
158 Some Like It Hot – Or Not. Heat Levels In Romance
157 Interview With Louisa George
156 The Kindness Factor: Helping You Achieve More and Stress Less
155 Editing
153 Characters: From Cookie Cutter to Kapow
152 Interview with Tina Dietz: Audiobooks
151 Interview with Grace Burrowes
150 Should You Prune Your Mailing List?
149 RWNZ18 Interview with Damon Suede & Geoff Symon
148 Interview with indie superstar, Bella Andre
147 Top Ten Traits for Success
146 Write Better Faster with Becca Syme
145 Newsletter Ninja Tammi LaBrecque
144 Looking After Your Creative Health
143 Interview with Carlyn Robertson from Bookbub
142 Personal Branding For Authors with Lauren Clemett
141 Ten Free Online Tools For Authors
140 Tempting Taglines & Heartstopping Hooks
139 Findaway Voices with Kelly Lytle
138 Get Your Writing Mojo Back
137 Interview with Toni Kenyon: facebook live & serials
136 Dealing with misinformation and change in Sp-ing
134 Interview with Kevin Tumlinson, Draft2Digital
133 Interview with Sara Rosett
132 Organization For Authors – how to keep track of your
research and book details without losing your mind
131 Interview with Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy
130 Critical Care: Leveraging feedback for success
129 Brand You
128 SAS Special: Interview with Johnny B. Truant & Sean Platt
127 Industry Insiders with Damon J. Courtney of Bookfunnel
& Christine Monroe of Kobo
126 SAS Debrief with Jami Albright
125 SAS Special: Interview with Michelle Spiva
124 SAS Special : Interview With Michael Anderle
123 Sports Psychology for Authors – Interview With Nate Vella
122 Using Sub Plots To Amp Up Your Writing
121 Interview with Scott King: Outlining Your Novel
120 Pen-names Pros, Cons and Possibilities
119 Reader Engagement with Nalini Singh
118 Writing the Small Town Setting
117 Handling Negativity and Naysayers
116 Tough Mindset Questions For 2018
115 Interview With Nicola Davidson: Sex and Sensibility
114 Tropealicious
112 Interview With Honoree Corder & Ben Hale: Write Like A Boss
111 Ten Health Hacks For Writers
110 Interview with Kathryn Burnett: Your Writing Audit For Future Success
109 Interview with Melissa Storm: What Readers Want
108 Interview With Zoe Dawson: Writing Across Genres
107 Interview With Dave Chesson, The Keyword King
106 Pros and Cons of Kindle Unlimited
105 Why YOU should do Nanowrimo
104 Ten Truths For New Self Publishers
103 Find 30 Minutes A Day EXTRA!
102 Your Christmas Presence: Maximizing the Holiday Season for Authors
101 The Writing Life: Interview with Katie Cross
100 100 Episodes! Retrospective with funny moments; changing AO title
Changing Your Mindset – with Wendy Vella
I like to think of myself as the glass half full type, but the thing is it’s not always easy to be positive in a world full of negatives. After the SPA Girls interviewed my son, Nate, about mental strength, I decided to spend the next few days assessing my mindset. The results were surprising, and I have to say, disturbing.
-Waking each day telling myself I was tired.
-Listening to the news and mulling over the negative stuff.
-Spending too much time reading negative posts on social media, especially those in the self-publishing community.
-Negative body issue thoughts.
-Self-doubt about my career/writing.
I wasn’t aware that so much of my thought process was taken up with negativity. So what was I going to do about it? As luck would have it, my son was staying with me at the time, so I was able to pick his brain.
Nate’s a professional rugby player who has worked with mental skills coaches for years. His outlook on his job and life is to think positive rather than negative. He believes you’re setting your self up to fail if you don’t, and it will impact on anything you do because of those negative thoughts, which in turn will hamper any career/personal growth.
He’s worked hard to be the man he is today, and to say I’m proud of him is an understatement… but we’ll keep that between us as his head is already big enough!
“Mom, you’re starting the day on a negative, and that can only work one way, it’ll send you spiraling downward.” – Nate Vella
Yes, we all get tried, and yes, it impacts on our lives, but the definition of insanity according to Albert Einstein is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Same goes for mindset. If you continually tell yourself you’re tired, you’re a failure, then you will be. If you tell yourself you can’t do something, then you probably won’t!
I have made a conscious effort to be positive since I realized just what the hell was going on inside my head. Believe me when I tell you it hasn’t come easy. I have a cynical side… yes, I know you find that hard to believe after listening to me on the podcast, I’m the fun one right? So I now think before I speak, and think about what I’m thinking about… that made sense right! It’s a significant mental shift for me, and it’s taking time, but I think I’m better for the changes I’m making. Like anything new we start, exercise or diet, it takes time to get the hang of it!
The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.
Some of the steps I’ve taken with my son’s help are:
Focus on what I want and the result. This gives my day direction before I get started, and keeps me on task so my mind doesn’t wander into gray areas. (I have plenty of those).
Start the day with positive thinking. I feel great. I slept well. I look great. The words will flow. You get the idea, and each of us will be different, but a short positive mantra that relates specifically to you can help.
Don’t dwell on what was, think about what is. Live in the now. ALL of us have memories that cause us stress and pain. Try and find a way to deal with those, and put them to one side when you feel them creeping into your head. Don’t let them lead you back down the rabbit hole of negativity!
I try hard to be grateful. It’s easy to want more, but sometimes you just need to look around you and be thankful for what you have.
Try to minimize contact with negative people, (extremely hard to do when they are family!) Don’t allow the negativity of others to infect your positive mood.
Don’t make your goals unobtainable. I am guilty of this, and have since reduced them, and made them more workable to fit into my lifestyle and stop me from working eighty hours a week!
Negative emotions narrow your mind. When you’re stressed because your to-do list is out of control, you may find it hard to start anything because you’re stifled by the volume of work to be done.
Negativity feeds doubt!
Positive thinking is about much more than just being happy or displaying a healthy attitude. Positive thoughts can help you obtain your goals, and help you increase your skill set to build for the future; they will help you to achieve a better healthier life.
You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind. -Joyce Meyer
