Stand Tall: How Body Language Rewires Your Mind For Success - S2E6

The moment you step into a new room, or onto a new field, your body tells your brain how this will go. Shrink and brace, or stand and belong. We unpack a practical, proof-in-the-dirt approach to confidence that starts with posture, breath, and gaze, and ends with sharper decisions and stronger execution. 

I share the real story of walking onto fields where no one knows my name, and how years of coaching turned a nervous shuffle into a grounded stride. Along the way, we dig into embodied cognition, the two-way link between body and mind,and why affirmations fail when your physiology is screaming retreat. You’ll hear what I look for in players who want to disappear despite real talent, and the exact cues I use to unlock presence: shoulders back, feet planted, eyes up, slow inhale, longer exhale, clear voice. The transformation is visible, immediate, and repeatable.

If this helped you step forward with purpose, follow the show, share it with a teammate who needs it, and leave a quick review so others can find their footing too.

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Chapters

• 0:34 Welcome And Team Mindset
• 1:01 New Fields And First Impressions
• 1:52 Body Leads Mind Into Confidence
• 2:51 Belonging Versus Hiding
• 4:28 Coaching Players’ Posture And Presence
• 6:29 Technique Sharpens When Posture Changes
• 7:09 Embodied Cognition Explained
• 8:49 Practical Reset And Power Break

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:17

Hey, come on in. Listen up. Bring it in. I'm Coach Mickey. And thanks for joining me here on my field. And if this is your first time, get ready to get some work done. We are here to celebrate you, lift you up as a team, and you are surrounded by like-minded people that are here to help you move on, move forward, and move up in everything that you want to do so you can reach the end zone of success into your life. And one of the things I want to talk about today, and I experience this every single year, and it's it just happens. So every time I walk onto a field, I usually have to address a brand new coach, or sometimes it's a brand new field. And I have noticed that over the years, I have had to bring myself on that field as if I own it. And it made me think about that today because today I actually went to the field and I was working with some of my guys, and there was a couple new coaches there. And I was surrounded. I was like, all right, these people don't know me. They've never seen me before. And instead, I remember years ago, especially when I first started, I was very nervous. I, you know, I could tell by my body language that my shoulders were rounded. I'd look down at the ground. I didn't really carry myself as if I knew what I was doing. Even though I knew what I was doing. Now, okay, now I was still starting out. I had a lot to learn, just like anything you do when you first start out. But over the years, and since I've been doing this for 18 years, I pretty much know what I'm doing. Uh, and I get out there and I work with my guys and I stand strong. So today, when I walked out in the field and I saw all this going on, I stood up straight, I threw my bag down, and I walked straight out to the field with my guys. And I held myself high. It wasn't my um mindset thinking what I had to do. It was my body telling my mind what I needed to do. And I thought this was really important because, you know, your body believes what your mind does. And if I felt like I was less than anything else than capable of doing this, I would have carried my body differently. So I wanted to ask you today when you walk into a room, do you enter it like you feel like you belong there? Or are you hoping that nobody notices you? Because that's going to make a big difference on how things transpire in your life. Now I know it can be scary, especially when you walk into a situation where you're brand new to it. But when you allow yourself to stand strong and feel confident, regardless of whether you are or not, your brain goes, okay, we've got this, because your nervous system actually kicks in. And one of the things that I realized through this process is that when we acknowledge through our body that we are confident about what we want to accomplish and what we are trying to do, then what happens is the neurological, the nervous system says to our mind, okay, we are ready. And a lot of times our bodies are not going, not going to lie to us because if we are tense and we're we're not feeling sure, then we're bracing ourselves and we start to breathe really shallow and our shoulders are rounded and we feel like our chest is pulling in. And that's really your nervous system saying, stay small, stay alert, and don't mess this up. And no affirmation in the world is going to override that. And a lot of times when we have to compare our body to our mindset, I don't think we really catch the connection. And let me give you an example. Over the years, I've coached many, many players. And a lot of times I'll see players that come on and I know they've got talent, but they're not sure of themselves because they're comparing themselves to other people. Where I've got other guys that are outgoing, some that think they're good and they still have a lot of work to do, um, and they'll get there. And but I think what happens is I will see someone that has got really good work ethic, that they uh can really do and fit the position that they're put into. But what happens is they don't believe like they belong. And that is one of the most common things I do and I see out on the field that I have got to work with. And when I see this, because they'll walk out and they're quiet, their body language tells everything. They go out there, they're not sure of what to do. I can tell they're looking at the ground, they're not really ready to go out there and execute what they need to do in full force. So I take whoever this person may be over the years that I have, and it's always one or two every season, and I change their posture and I make them stand up straight and I make them take a deep breath and I make them make their eyes forward without looking at the ground. And I usually tell them, okay, I want you to take a deep breath. I want you to stand up, I want your posture to be straight. I want your shoulders back, I want you looking, and I want you to step out with all the strength that you have. Now, when they first start doing it, it feels uncomfortable for them, just like anything else that we do, it feels uncomfortable. But once they start getting it, and once they start doing it, all of a sudden I can see the change. I can see the switch. I can see where they start uh shifting in their mindset. And what they'll do is they will all of a sudden become sharper. And I can see their techniques become stronger. And here is this once athlete that just wanted to disappear, are now making bold and decisive decisions and decisive plays. And nothing really changed. Their ability didn't change, it was just their body changed and it followed up with their mindset. And a lot of times what we do is we'll say, Oh, I've got this, or I've got this. But if your body is not saying the exact same thing, you can't pull it off. You have to, if you're going to be confident, you have to stand and be confident. And you've got to be able to breathe and move, and it's the tone of your voice. And a lot of times that um we will get going with things and we start second-guessing, that's when it makes a little difference. So, what is this called? And I just learned this myself. So it's called body embodied cognization. And what it means is that it's your mind and your body working together to be able to uh bring everything together where you can pull off things and execute them in a very confident way, and it's a psychological state. And a lot of this I didn't think about, and I really didn't know there was a uh term for it, uh, this embodied cognization, until I discovered the connection between the two that are going to be able to help us. So, what I'm telling you is that when you collapse your shoulders and you make small movements and you have a quiet voice and you're holding your breath and you avoid eye contact, that is just telling everyone and even yourself that you're unworthy. But when your body says, I've got this, you kind of open up your chest, you plant your feet, you take a deep breath, you clear your voice, and you got a direct gaze and a certain feel of saying, I've got this and I'm going to make this happen. And it's also gives directions to your nervous system that you have it. So I'm going to invite you today to just do one little thing. And maybe what we can do to help each other, and maybe next time you go out there and you're not prepared or you're not ready or you don't feel like you have this, or is this something that you have to retrain your whole nervous system is do this. Stand up straight, roll your shoulders back, plant your feet on the ground, take a slow breath in through your nose, and let out a very long breath. Exhale, and hold your head high and look straight ahead and know that you've got this. So I wanted to share this with you guys today. I think this is really important that we retrain our nervous system and know that we can handle this, and hopefully, this takes you to a place where you can make better decisions, speak more clearly, and go out there and just totally rock it. I know you've got this. So I hope this one little trick has helped you get towards your end zone to success. And uh I really appreciate each and every one of you. And today's power break word today is going to be strong, strong. So ready, let's break on me. Let's break on three, one, two, three, strong. I'm Coach Mickey. Let's go.