Georgie-May Walker
A high-level martial arts fighter learned the secret to minimising his anxiety through re-programming his mindset, and he now trains Olympians like James Magnussen to do the same.
John Novak is Australia’s number one sports mindset coach, with over 25 years of experience in harnessing athlete’s mental toughness.
“I was involved in martial arts from the age of eleven… I retired from fighting in 2000 and then went full-time as a performance coach,” Mr Novak said.
“I wanted to be a world champion in karate, and I suffered from anxiety or worry concerns.
“And I was really annoyed at some of my performances where I went against me.
“I didn’t realise I was getting in my own way.”
Mr Novak remembered being at the height of his fighting career and missing his second world championship before realising he was using negative self-talk.
“I came across a work on who was considered the father of positive psychology.
“And I looked at it and thought, ‘Oh my goodness,’ I was using self-defeating thoughts.
“I was entrenched in thoughts that weren’t enabling me to grow and flourish.”
After a few years of self-reflection, he returned to his fighting career, determined to be crowned a champion despite being less physically fit than his competition.
He described being mentally tougher than his competition because of his fixed mindset from his program “The Boomerang Effect”, detailing how athletes can be successful.
He has worked with thousands of amateur, elite, and professional athletes of all ages from over forty different sports.
Although it is difficult to summarise his life’s work as a sports mindset coach, he most notably works nationally and internationally with Olympians and Commonwealth Games medallists.
Australian swimmer James Magnussen is a client and friend of Mr Novak’s who came to him after losing a race at the London 2012 Olympics by one-hundredth of a second.
“What happened was quite controversial, It was the race he should’ve never lost.”
But Mr Novak helped rewire Magnussen’s mindset by changing his self-talk and language with trigger words to help him during his performance.
“He said, ‘If I would’ve had these three words… I would have won that gold medal.’”
Some of Mr Novak’s generic trigger words for clients are saying simple words or phrases over and over – like ‘trust’ or ‘believe’.
“I have used thousands of words with different people depending on what works for them.
“It’s so simple – where their energy goes is where the energy flows.”
“He (James Magnussen) then went back-to-back world championships working with me – multiple gold medals.
“Since he worked with me – from that time, he started after London – he became the Usain Bolt of the swimming world because his record was never beaten in five years.
“He was the most consistent swimmer ever, more than Michael Phelps in 100 meters.
“Well, that’s why we’re talking about this anxiety thing… we’re anxious, worried, concerned, or apprehensive about what could happen.
“I repair someone’s performance by helping them focus on things in their control – by focusing on their own power.
“It might be a word, it might be an image, it might be a song, it might be anything that triggers their greatness.”
Mr Novak said his published books give resources for athletes to improve their mindset, with each chapter teaching new techniques.
He questions his athletes with positive reinforcement by challenging their limiting perceptions.
“I say, by the way, did you know you are limitless, and they look at me and say, ‘Why would you say that?’”
“So, we do an acknowledgment exercise.
“You have a responsibility to remember your body never forgets.
“When they say ‘I can’t do it’ – that’s not true – your body is trained, you’ve meticulously trained it to get to this point.
“It never forgets because of muscle memory… that’s unfair to your body and a construct of your mind. We will defeat this together because you are limitless.”
“They (elite athletes) focus on their inability to do things sometimes, but for them to be where they are, that means there is that ability to get them there.
“What they focus on is what they manifest.
“That’s what gets in their way, thinking about a problem instead of casting the net wider and knowing they have something special.”
Mr Novak describes his athlete’s successes as ‘little miracles’.
“People ask me, ‘Why are you so happy?’
“I see people who do things, and it’s like little miracles for me.
“And I see the miracles do in and day out with clients worldwide in 60 different sports for over 30 years.
“It’s not a job, by the way; it’s a passion, and it’s something that I believe in.
“I’m doing this because I know that people can change.
“Because when I was at the height of my career, there was nothing I could simply read (to help me with my anxiety), yet it was so simple.
“Most athletes are handing away too much energy, but the logic is to focus on you, and then the systems will do the work.
“Faith, trust, and belief is confidence, and it comes from realising and recognising and then going back to the obvious – I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”
If you need help, talk to a GP or health professional, or contact Beyond Blue (1300 22 46 36), Headspace (1800 650 850) or in life-threatening situations, dial 000.