Dec 29, 2021
Welcome to the Aww Shift Podcast. Our guest in this episode is Jeff Heggie. He is an entrepreneur and success coach with a passion for helping others achieve their biggest dreams. As a coach, Jeff starts with a focus on mindset. Taking his client or their business to the next level always begins with the right mindset. He enjoys using his extensive experience in the banking industry, over 20 years as an entrepreneur, and his training and experience as a coach to help his clients break through the mental and physical barriers holding them back. Today, he will talk about the relationship between life and athletics and how mental health is a big part of being successful.
[1:05] Where is home for you?
Home has always been Southern Alberta up in Canada. About five years ago, we moved to Arizona, so I’m in Gilbert, Arizona now.
[1:34] Why should I listen to you?
I want to help. That’s one of the things I’ve learned from my coaches growing up. When you’re looking out for others and looking for ways to help others, it comes back to you. And I think that’s one of the things that I like to do. That’s one of the reasons I’ve liked coaching basketball for the last 20 years is because I like helping young athletes develop into something nice.
[2:18] How did you get into the realm of athletes?
Since I was as young as I can remember, I just wanted to be like my big brother. Whatever sport he played, I played. Basketball ended up being his sport, and he was great at it. And so, I wanted to be great at basketball. And so, growing up, that was my sport.
[3:29]
I ended up going through the ranks and ended up being a professional wrestler for several years. After high school, I got into actually helping my brother coach and then grew from there and moved to another community. I ended up coaching his rival team. And it’s just been something I’ve had the pleasure of continuing with. I had the opportunity to coach my daughter from a young age up to her senior year a few years ago.
[4:00] Did you have a battle with Confidence in Athletics?
I wish I knew then what I knew now. I remember that when I rodeoed, visualization was a big thing to me. I would go through all the processes, and I do all the things that I knew how to do at the time. And even as a coach, I’ve used visualization and goal setting and all those different things. But I didn’t know how to do it. In that process, I’ve started to work a lot on mindset and to work on the different mindsets and helping entrepreneurs that way.
[5:16]
All athletes put so much effort into the physical aspect of their sport. And they don’t spend enough time on the mental game. And that’s when I started to look more and thought that this is valuable.
[6:11] How do you build confidence?
A lot of it’s done ahead of time. It’s in the proper preparation and execution. It’s everything from your self-talk, your body language, all of those things. But really, it’s preparing yourself. Many people look at the confidence aspect as something that they got confidence in one day and don’t have it the other day. Your confidence is there. Your play might go up and down, but the confidence shouldn’t change.
[7:45] Lifting Weights and Building Confidence
Lifting weights makes you stronger. Once you’re strong, you don’t quit lifting weights. Confidence is the same thing. You’ve got to continue to work on it. You’ve got to continue to build it. I think it continues to grow as you continue to focus on it and build it.
[8:20] Where do you enter with Younger Athletes with this kind of work?
In my Confident Athlete Program, the kids go through a course on their own. But every Monday night, we have a group call. And in that group call, I’ve got everything from kids in middle school to Division 1 athletes. There are different conversations when I’m having those one-on-one conversations. But overall, I think it’s great to have all these kids combined.
[10:15] Dealing with Mental Health issues
My daughter struggled with some mental health issues. As a coach, I didn’t know how to deal with that because I had never dealt with it. I always sucked it up and got in line. I think many older coaches don’t appreciate it and don’t understand a lot of those things.
[10:35]
It’s the same thing when you’re looking at an open mindset or closed mindset. People with a closed mindset have a hard time getting to an open mindset because they already think we have it. They don’t know that they’re in a closed mindset. And so a lot of it is educating them on that. Many older coaches don’t want to be educated on, they’ve got their ways, and they work.
[11:20] Where do you find the best place for your work to go?
Most of the athletes in my program are either football or basketball players. But I have soccer players, baseball players, and I have a young kid that’s just joined who is a motocross champion. It goes across all sports because these are life lessons too. Every sport has a mental game into it. It’s all about understanding how to deal with that.
[12:35]
I don’t think it’s necessarily better for boys better for girls. I think it’s equal. It’s not talking about feelings and stuff. But there’s sometimes the guys will think, “No, I don’t need this.” But it is a valuable asset to add to your arsenal.
[14:02] Doing hard Things
I’ve got a module in the course where we talk about mental health. But I’ve also got a module in the course that we talked about doing hard things. You’ve got to do hard things. You can’t do these hard things as a mental health thing. You deal with it. But on the other hand, mental health is a serious issue that you need to understand.
[14:25]
To become the best that you can do, you’ve got to be able to overcome those hard things. That’s one of the things I’ve always taught with my teams, whether it’s conditioning or whatever you’re doing when you can overcome those hard things.
[15:03] What is the Future of your Work?
The more people that can impact, the better it is. And the more athletes that I can say that I touched their lives and helped become a better athletes, that’s what my desire is. Whether it’s working with them one on one or working with them in their team aspect, that’s what I’m loving. A great way to do that is I’ve been able to start working with people to spread it more through affiliates and different people that will work with me because I can’t get all over the nation by myself.
[16:31] What do you think is the biggest roadblock you got to face?
I think a lot of it is buying into it. Looking at the athletes in it right now, it’s the ones that are serious about what they’re doing, and they want a future in what they’re doing. One of the roadblocks right now is athletes who think they don’t need a mindset or don’t need to have a mental game. They don’t want to spend time looking at these kinds of things.
[20:12] What promise did God make to the world when He created you?
I was going to leave it better than I came in.
Key Quotes:
[5:57 – 6:00] “Some of the best athletes in the world have coaches that are working with their minds.”
[6:59 – 7:02] “Your play might go up and down, but the confidence shouldn’t change.”
[9:12 – 9:15] “Athletics is just a reflection on life.”
[10:40 – 10:47] “People with a closed mindset have a hard time getting to an open mindset because they already think we have it.”
[14:25 – 14:28] “To become the best that you can do, you’ve got to be able to overcome those hard things.”
Learn more about Jeff Heggie on:
Website: https://jeffheggie.com/
Facebook: http://fb.me/JeffHeggieCoaching%20
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffheggiecoaching/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffheggie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeffHeggieCoach
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgCsdx29eQcOBKPnopS2SA?view_as=subscriber
Learn more about his podcasts at https://jeffheggie.com/podcasts/