Key principles from [[Michael Gervais]]'s Finding Mastery practice. See also [[🎙️ Finding Mastery Podcast]].

## From my notes

- **Mindset is a filter.** It dictates how I experience anything and how I make sense of what is happening around me.
- **Set vs. settings.** "Set" is my internal mindset; "settings" are the environment (people,…). The goal is to set my mindset on how I want to experience myself, e.g. aggressive, competitive, calm during competition. See [[📝 Set the Mindset by Michael Gervais]].
- **Get clarity first.** Decide what I want in any given environment.
- **Practice in easier environments.** Train the mindset in training before I need it in competition. Rinse, repeat.
- **Two questions for athletes.**
    - How do you plan to do what you intend to do?
    - How do you feel? (self-awareness of mental state)
- **Form vs. formless.** Warm-up practice has to be structured, but I need to be prepared for the unstructured.

## Broader principles

> [!note] Source
> This section was written from general knowledge of Gervais's work, not from my own listening notes. Verify against the podcast or the book before quoting.

- **Three things I can train:** craft, body and mind. Most people neglect the third.
- **Personal philosophy:** articulate in a sentence or two the principles that guide me, so thoughts, words and actions line up under pressure.
- **Mastery of self over mastery of craft:** the craft is the vehicle; the real work is knowing and governing myself.
- **Control the controllables:** put attention on what is 100% under my control (preparation, effort, attitude, response), not outcomes.
- **Present-moment focus:** performance happens only in the now; mindfulness is the core training tool for getting back to it.
- **Trainable mental skills:** calm (breathing), confidence, optimism, focus and resilience are skills, not traits.
- **Confidence comes from self-talk:** built by what I say to myself, backed by credible evidence from my preparation.
- **FOPO (fear of people's opinions):** the central idea of *The First Rule of Mastery*. Worrying about what others think is the biggest constraint on potential; the antidote is an identity built on purpose and values rather than performance.
- **Recovery is part of the work:** sleep, nutrition, movement and downtime make the stress of growth sustainable.

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Tags:: #mentalmodel #mindset #onepager #reference 
Author:: [[Michael Gervais]]
Hub:: [[📇 Mental Models]]