Speaker 1: Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed by doubt or distraction,
Speaker 1: struggling to focus on what truly matters. In today's Quick
Speaker 1: Win episode, we are joined by Olympic gold medalist Libby Trickett,
Speaker 1: who shares the transformative advice she received as a young athlete,
Speaker 1: discover how a simple power phrase cannot only guide you
Speaker 1: through the pressures of elite sport, but also be pretty
Speaker 1: damn helpful if you don't happen to be an Olympic athlete.
Speaker 1: My name is doctor amanthe Immer. I'm an organizational psychologist
Speaker 1: and the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and this
Speaker 1: is how I work a show about how to help
Speaker 1: you do your best work. On today's quick Win episode,
Speaker 1: we go back to an interview from the past and
Speaker 1: I pick out a quick win that you can apply today.
Speaker 1: In today's show, I speak with Libby Trickett about one
Speaker 1: of the best pieces of advice she has ever received. So, Libby,
Speaker 1: what's a piece of advice that you have received and
Speaker 1: applied that has immeasurably improved your life.
Speaker 2: I think something that I've realized just recently that I
Speaker 2: actually the advice I received probably when I was about
Speaker 2: eighteen from my swimming coach, and I was just competing
Speaker 2: at my first World Championships as my first A Shane team.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 2: I actually dealt a lot with asthma as a swimmer.
Speaker 2: I not as much injury, but I had definitely a
Speaker 2: lot of asthma and bronchial infections and things like that.
Speaker 2: So when I was going to my first World Championships,
Speaker 2: I was really sick. I had a really bad bronchiitis infection.
Speaker 2: I was dealing with a pool environment that was not
Speaker 2: really congutive to goog good asthma standards, I guess. And
Speaker 2: so in that process, my coach kind of gave me
Speaker 2: the advice of creating a power phrase. And so, you know,
Speaker 2: other people might call it affirmations, some people might call
Speaker 2: it mantras. We called it a powerphrase because you know,
Speaker 2: athletes are cooler, and so we, yeah, together we kind
Speaker 2: of created this powerphrase, which was I'm strong, I'm fit,
Speaker 2: I'm healthy, therefore I'm fast. And so when I started
Speaker 2: to have that self doubt creep in, when I started
Speaker 2: to worry about how my asthma was going to be managed,
Speaker 2: how I was going to be able to perform, I
Speaker 2: just kept diving in and repeating that power phrase in
Speaker 2: my head, and that eventually grew over time. Two in
Speaker 2: two thousand and six, I added I'm strong, I'm fit,
Speaker 2: I'm healthy, therefore I'm fast, no doubts, no regrets. I'm
Speaker 2: just here to have fun. And I just think it
Speaker 2: took me a while to kind of work out a
Speaker 2: new power phrase for after swimming, but once I started
Speaker 2: to kind of translate that work into life after sport,
Speaker 2: you just realize the power that having something simple to
Speaker 2: repeat to yourself when you're feeling that doubt, when you're
Speaker 2: feeling down on yourself or overwhelmed or whatever it looks
Speaker 2: like for you, that that can, for one block out
Speaker 2: the noise. I don't know if other people get this,
Speaker 2: but I get quite noisy in my head sometimes, and
Speaker 2: so to be able to just focus on one positive
Speaker 2: thought really helps lift my mood and helps me focus
Speaker 2: on what needs to be done at this stage.
Speaker 1: So what's your current power phrase?
Speaker 2: Yes, good question. So at the start of the year,
Speaker 2: I actually created a new one. So it's currently I
Speaker 2: am light with my being and I'm intentional with my energy.
Speaker 2: So it's just those reminders. Right, So, like life is
Speaker 2: so hard at times, it's so busy, it's so overwhelming.
Speaker 2: There's so many moving parts that I just want to
Speaker 2: be able to focus on what I need to which
Speaker 2: is what that intentional with my energy. You know, we
Speaker 2: get we can get so distracted, But how do you
Speaker 2: want to spend your time? How do you want to
Speaker 2: intentionally create the life that you want to live.
Speaker 1: If you're looking for more tips to improve the way
Speaker 1: that you work, I write a short fortnightly newsletter that
Speaker 1: contains three cool things that I've discovered that helped me
Speaker 1: work better, ranging from software and gadgets that I'm loving
Speaker 1: through to interesting research findings. You can sign up to
Speaker 1: that at Howiwork dot co. That's how I Work dot co.
Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing part of your day with me
Speaker 1: by listening to How I Work. If you're keen for
Speaker 1: more tips on how to work better, connect with me
Speaker 1: via LinkedIn or Instagram. I'm very easy to find. Just
Speaker 1: search for a method Imba. How I Work was recorded
Speaker 1: on the traditional land of the Warrangeri people, part of
Speaker 1: the Kulin nation. I am so grateful for being able
Speaker 1: to work and live on this beautiful land, and I
Speaker 1: want to pay my respects to elders, past, present and emerging.
Speaker 1: How I Work is produced by Inventium with production support
Speaker 1: from Dead Set Studios, and thank you to Martin Nimba
Speaker 1: who did the audio mix and makes everything sound better
Speaker 1: than it would have otherwise.