Performance Psychologist DANIEL DYMOND reveals how elite athletes master their minds, overcome choking under pressure, and turn discomfort into unstoppable performance.
Daniel Dymond is a leading performance psychologist and Head of Psychology at the Victorian Institute of Sport. With over 16 years of experience, he supports Olympians, Paralympians, Golf Australia athletes, AFL umpires, and high performers across sport, business, and medicine.
He also runs a private practice helping athletes and professionals build mental resilience.
In this deep-dive episode, he explains:
◼️ What high-performance sports psychologists actually do and why mindset beats state of mind every time.
◼️ How to build a better relationship with anxiety, self-doubt, and pain instead of trying to eliminate them.
◼️ Why choking under pressure is a behavior, not an emotion — and how to stop regressing to safety.
◼️ The power of competence over fleeting confidence, and how to stay connected to what matters when it hurts most.
◼️ Practical strategies for ultra runners and endurance athletes: handling nursery-rhyme thoughts in multi-day events, letting go of control, and training the mind to keep going when the body says stop.
◼️ Why self-belief comes from blood, sweat, and competence - not feelings.
