Inspiring Leadership Lessons from Top Athletes: Insider Secrets to Mental Toughness and High Performance from a 2x Olympic Medalist | Katie Zaferes

Welcome to the Courage of a Leader podcast. This is where you hear real life stories of top leaders achieving extraordinary results. And you get practical advice and techniques you can immediately apply for your own success. This is where you will get inspired, and take bold, courageous action. I am so glad you can join us. I'm your host, Amy Riley. Now, are you ready to step into the full power of your leadership and achieve the results you care about most? Let's ignite the courage of a leader.

Katie, thank you for being here. Katie is a two time Olympian and a two time Olympic medal winner. I'm excited to talk to you today about the courage that it takes to perform and compete at the highest level of competition.

Thanks. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk about what I've learned over the years.

You're so open and generous on social media with all aspects of your journey as an athlete, and now also as a mom. And it's inspiring to hear all sides of the story. Right? The highs, the lows, the mental side of it, the joys, the struggles. I know that you told me that you very intentionally decided to tune into the mental side of the sport after your experience at the Rio Olympics. Will you tell us about that decision?

tell us how much how much time between those two races Katie some weeks

if if that it was it was either two weeks or less. And my coach is actually just reflecting on looking back about before that race he's like yeah, you weren't even swimming really? I mean, you're swimming with no arms. So it was worth

going on your in your mouth. I mean, you had so many stitches. Yeah,

that's, that's amazing, Katie, we can all have a strong mental game when the results are there. Right? I'm working on whatever we're working on in work and life, and the results are showing up and some things are coming to fruition, that can create some mental momentum. But you're talking about coming into a world championship race, two weeks after a major bike crash. So that was not great results, that you're coming off of the situation primed for doubting, bike skills, and you're able to come in and believe that mantra, I know how to do this. And I'm hearing you not only use the mantras, but doing the things that improve your mental game, you know that focusing on strengths, you have evidence, these are your strengths and races, focus on those, and also the prep, knowing the course practicing what you're going to do on the course doing that real preparation helps with the mental game. Anything you wish that

also been surrounded by supporting people who are nice in in those moments, they don't create more tension or stress than necessary. I always think my coach Joel Filliol, he's a huge reason that after Tokyo, between Tokyo and between the grand sinal, he never freaked out. He never put a lot of emphasis on being world champion or the outcome of the next race, it was only focused on how can we get you in the best condition to do well in that race. But we never talked about to a great extent like it might have been like a fleeting conversation of like, yes, we are aware, this is a bit of importance, there is something behind it. There is like substantial aspects to it. But that wasn't the most constructive path to go down. Because ultimately, the result is just going to come from the process. Right. And we know that and when you talk to a sports psychologist, anyone in the mental game, they'll the I would say one of the big the biggest parts is focusing on the process and not the outcome. And so for, for Joel to really just be pong and not create more tension or stress around the next race. I think really, that's one of my favorite reads. That's kind of that's that's it. coaching in general, because there's no like, super high or super low. And I really like that. It's that consistent and calm. Yes,

yes. And what a support. What creates the right energy for you in that moment? That's a lesson to underscore for leaders or support folks anywhere, right? Yeah.

Um, for sure. That also comes from family and friends as well. Like, my husband, my, my parents were in Lausanne, and they just want to make sure you're okay. Well, and that's, that's the most important part.

Yeah, it's been great.

It was more the belief and the conviction of saying such as like, I could run down my resume of racing. And, yeah, but

it's whether you're just like, saying

it. Yeah. And trying to convince the other people on the other side and yourself. That not Yeah, that is supposed to be or you're saying it and believing it and owning it. And that was the difference was, how I was relaying my feelings to them, and realizing how strong those feelings were, and how calm how much confidence I had in them. Especially because I would say leading into that conversation, I didn't necessarily always feel that confident. Or maybe it was, I guess, in a way, it surprised me when I talked to them and was so strong, in my opinion, that I would be that I would be good to go.

Thank goodness, that moment arrived, and you fully let it in. So another courageous choice that you have made Katie is to decide when you're at the top of your sport to become a mom. And we know that that has some effects on the mom's body, and her athleticism. So tell us about that choice to decide to start a family? Well, the only goal I've

ever had in life is to have have kids have a family and for it to be. I don't want to say a successful family, but happy family, you know? Yeah, that was, that's the main goal I've ever had the kind of more of the performance achievements have been surprises and really pleasant surprises. But that's not that hasn't been a dream since I was a little girl, whereas having a family probably has been. And so the goal was always after Tokyo, that we would hope to start a family and obviously, there, you really don't know how that's going to go or what that timeline is. No, we also

fully in charge of that. No,

think that's a really great catch Katie to realize that the thoughts in your head were circling too often around. This is hard, right? I'm up against this, if only this and now we have these details. And now the point and dadadada da, Katie, I caught myself recently. It's a busy time of year for me. Right? Right. So I couldn't get into a it's busy. This is my busiest time, like, I don't have time for this and man and data data. And we can create a whole narrative around that. But catching that, right and knowing that, oh, I don't want to get any into anything that's sounding like a victim mentality. Right? That's not been your your way of operating. So I think that's really wise to catch that.

Yeah. And my coach recommended a book to me. And now I feel like it's Ryan holidays, book obstacles, like obstacle, obstacle is the way and it's basically changing perspective than just lists. I think I had it on audiobooks. I was listening to it. And I was like, Oh, this is so good for me to listen to right now. Because I feel like sometimes when I'm mentally feeling a little off, I do this kind of crash course, in reading more books on the mindset or trying to re instill things that I'm, I'm lacking and just basically reminders, I like to read these books and be like, oh, yeah, okay, this is me, or this is how I want to think and it just allowed me to catch myself. And it's crazy, how fast you can switch your perspective from one that isn't benefiting you at all. Change it, and I'm sure it goes both ways. So I'm talking about the way that was really beneficial for me because I had spoken to you it was after session I had and I was walking back and I was feeling really overwhelmed when we were when we were planning this podcast to come on and you were saying about being courageous or I don't know if I'm gonna be a good, good person for this because I'm not feeling that way. right now and then basically a bit within a couple of days after that, I felt like I completely switched in my perspective of how to view these opportunities that I'm being given. And also I kept thinking, with coming back from Kimble, I kept thinking, oh, like, I need to try and replicate the way I was in the past. And the way I did things in the past, which really is hard to do when you have a baby in your life, and everything has kind of changed, or a lot has changed. People were telling me I was doing a good job. Like outsiders were telling me I was a good job, but I would just kind of brush it off. And I realized that I should really just start taking that in and saying, Thank you. Yeah, and kind of really feeling. What I didn't want to rely on what other people were saying. But I also didn't want to brush it off as much as I had been years,

there's a wider pool of strengths, you're demonstrating that you can focus on.

Exactly. And so I think between those things, because ultimately, like Kimble wise, I am so happy with how I am as a mom with him, whether it's being on the road or at home. I didn't feel much mom guilt in going after my goals and, and doing that and having. I mean, when we go away, we have support come with us, whether it's my mom, my cousin, my high school, cross country coach, my dieticians, my best friend from high school, like, we have this group of people who has have really been supporting us. And I've really enjoyed watching him with be a part of all of it from being at track lessons to exploring the countries and towns that we've been in. So that part I was actually pretty good with. But it was trying to figure out how it's going to be the athlete that I envisioned myself being I will be a worse athlete before I let that take away from Kimble, Claire, but I realized I can do both. You and I can do both. Well, yeah. And then figure it out. I love

most Yeah, and the most important. We will be rooting for you from Chicago and watching your journey. And wishing all the best to Katie and thank you again for your time today.

Thanks. Thanks, Amy.

Thank you for listening to the Courage of a Leader podcast. If you'd like to further explore this episode's topic, please reach out to me through the courage of a leader website at www.courageofaleader.com. I'd love to hear from you. Please take the time to leave a review on iTunes. That helps us expand our reach and get more people fully stepping into their leadership potential. Until next time, be bold and be brave because you've got the courage of a leader