Mental Performance Coaching for the Performing Arts
The Performing Arts are dynamic and require not only excellent physical abilities, but also a resilient mindset.
Dancers, gymnasts, & figure skaters need to have the ability to execute challenging choreography & tricks. Musicians and Singers need to have the ability to keep rhythm & hit the right notes. These and many other skills need to be emotionally expressed while making it seem effortless.
Whether on a team, in a band or performing solo, an artist needs to believe in their capabilities and perform with full emotion. If an artist holds back, they can fall off their leg, have a voice crack or hit the wrong notes.
The pressures of being an artist is often amplified in competitions, auditions or showcases.
We work with Artists to improve their mental game so they can block out all of the external noise & focus on the task at hand – performing. Here are the most common situations we help artists with:
SUPPORTING YOU IS OUR TOP PRIORITY
We know how challenging performing arts can be
In the performing arts (i.e., gymnast, figure skater, dancer), nothing feels heavier than when you don’t perform at your capabilities. And over time, that frustration can drain the enjoyment from the experience. At CEP Mindset, our proven approach clears away the noise holding you back and helps you develop the mental skills to thrive when it matters most. By guiding you through our personalized and practical strategies, you’ll build confidence, embrace pressure, and rediscover your passion for self-expression—while achieving the Consistent Elite Performance you’ve been striving for.
IT’S EASY TO GET STARTED
Follow these 3 steps so you can improve your mental game
500+ FIVE STAR REVIEWS
Don’t take our word for it – check out our proven track record
THE CEP MINDSET SYSTEM
How our programs work in the performing arts
The CEP Mindset System combines practical strategies with a personalized approach.
This ensures our programs follow a repeatable process while allowing us to be innovative and customize the strategies for reliable and optimal results for each client.
Our system follows 3 simple steps that have helped 100’s of individuals in the performing arts perform with more confidence:
Step 1 is use the CEP Assessment and identify your priorities.
You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint – and in the same manner you shouldn’t seek to improve your mental game without first knowing what to work on.
The CEP assessment breaks down your mindset into the 7 Mental Skills that you need to develop in order to build a strong foundation and win the mental game.
This breakdown not only helps us determine which mental skills to prioritize in your program, but also ensures we keep you accountable to making progress.
Now that you can see what you will be working on, let us show you HOW you will work on it in step 2.
Step 2 is about personalizing the practical and proven strategies.
A good blueprint won’t help without the right tools. For example, you may have tried the cookie-cutter advice perpetuated by sport culture like ‘be positive, forget about it, or don’t worry about it.’
But when you build your mental game by patching together all these fluffy quick fixes – it’s like building a house out of straw – it is not sustainable & will fall apart in the face of adversity & pressure.
Instead, you need to build your mental game – like you would a brick house – out of practical & personalized strategies that deliver reliable and repeatable results.
We have 3 sets of tools – you might not need to use all the tools, but you do need to build your personalized mental toolbox based on your blueprint and current needs. Here are the four fundamental strategies we go through with every client:
Step 3 is about optimizing your mental toolbox for long-term results.
Implementing steps 1 and 2 can get you results quickly, but if you stop doing the work you will gradually stop getting the benefits.
Similar to how a brick house needs be maintained and modified – the mental game requires constant work and refinement. It never ends.
It is a constant process of self-awareness, self-discovery, and growth.
As time passes you will need to evolve & upgrade your alter ego and reset routine.
You should also constantly tweak and tinker with their personalized scorecard, imagery scripts, and core priorities to match your ever changing landscape.
At CEP Mindset, we like to use our 5 Milestones to make the mental game more tangible and help keep you committed to the constant upkeep and upgrades.
Every season you start from square one and have to put in the work to reach each milestone.
Note that the numbers above are generic and are altered depending on the sport. We use 95% plus in the zone to avoid the trap of perfection.
When you join our programs, you will stop under performing and start achieving Consistent Elite Performance.
CONFIDENCE IS THE MISSING PIECE
The only way to perform at your capabilities is to play with confidence
WHO WE WORK WITH
Similar Process – Different Context
Our programs are effective for Youth, Amateur, & Professional Athletes. Similarly we also work with high-performing business executives from a variety of industries.
We follow a similar process regardless of the context. However, you can find out more about the nuances of the main categories of client we work with:
We work with many athletes 12 years old and younger. In these programs the parents are more heavily involved. Generally attending sessions with the athlete and or having 25-75% of the program hours spent working directly with the parent. We have worked with athletes as young as 8 years old.
The rollout and involvement of the parents in these programs is dependent on the maturity of the athlete more so than the age.
One of the great benefits to working on an athlete’s mental game at a young age is that they develop a solid foundation that will serve them as they progress through their athletic career.
The pace of the program might be slower than an older athlete, but the athlete is generally more open and receptive. So this gives the athlete the opportunity to strengthen their mindset now, instead of waiting till they are older where more is at stake and the current mindset has only cemented further.
The majority of our clients are amateur athletes aged 13-18.
This is a crucial time period in their development as an athlete and as a person. It is also the time period where the pressures and adversities can pile up, but often the athlete lacks the tools to effectively cope.
This can be frustrating because all the hard work can go out the window if they can’t get their head in the right place. It also can be costly to their long term goals — as one or two poor months, let alone a poor season, can be hard to bounce back from.
We take a lot of pride in the impact we have with these amateur athletes because every CEP coach was once in these exact shoes. Our own struggles with the mental game in this age range is the main reason why every CEP coach got into this profession.
As such, we are able to relate, understand, and effectively guide them through this crucial time period.
Professional athletes are at another level when it comes to pressure, distractions and adversity.
Often these athletes have experienced so much success as they have risen the ranks because of their superior athletic abilities and skills. So the challenge becomes being able to maintain their confidence and focus while success becomes harder to achieve competing against the best athletes in the world.
With so much at stake they need to be able to block out the noise from friends, fans, and the media.
The cost of not having the mental strategies, routines, and overall capability to repeatedly and reliably get dialed-in can be both significant from the results and financial implications as well as the athletes overall mental well-being.
Being a professional athlete is not all sunshine and rainbows. There is a lot of stress that comes with performing on the biggest stages and if they don’t develop the tools to manage that stress, then it can easily eat them up and get the best of them.
Therefore, most of the professional athletes we work with will have custom programs that include additional access as well as a commitment from us to track and optimize their performance.
High-performers in any area of life will face similar challenges as professional athletes — such as the incredible amounts of pressure, distractions and adversities.
As such, we apply the same principles that help professional athletes get dialed in, to help business executives excel in their professional and personal lives.
We have coached C-Suite Executives, Business Owners, Hedge Fund Managers, Surgeons, Pilots, and Fire Fighters etc.
We help them to stop stressing about their external goals and get clarity on how they want to show up, so they can be present, decisive, and in control of their career and life.
Like professional athletes, business executives have a lot at stake – often even more. Whether it be their own career, obligations to others, or the literal safety and well-being of people in our society.
They also have a slew of additional challenges around being able to unplug themselves from their work and emails, overcome the endless barrage of tasks and competing priorities, and the ability to navigate tough conversations within the workplace and build cohesive teams.
As such, there are additional strategies that we use with business executives that address their unique challenges and optimize their results in our 1-on-1 coaching programs.
CLICK HERE to Read More About 1-on-1 Coaching for Business Professionals
Blair has over 13 years of experience as a Professional Dancer, Assistant Dance Captain & Cast Manager, as well as an additional 17 years of training. Over the last 3 decades, she has lived and experienced first hand the highest of highs & lowest of lows that come with pursuing a career in the Performing Arts.
Sean Mahoney is a member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), and a Master’s candidate in the Sport and Performance Psychology program at the University of Denver. For as long as he can remember, Sean has been fascinated by human performance and how to gain an edge over the competition. For most of his athletic career, he focused on the physical aspect of performance but neglected the mental. Because of this, he struggled with performance anxiety, focus issues, and limiting beliefs pertaining to confidence and self-doubt. His lack of focus on optimizing his mental game prevented him from reaching his full potential.
As a former member of McMaster University’s women’s soccer team, Emilie intimately understands the demands and challenges athletes face on and off the field. Although she encountered many challenges as a high-level athlete, particularly struggling with self-doubt and overthinking, Emilie was able to make a remarkable transformation when she began to embrace the principles of sports psychology.
Danielle Hanus, MA
Monica Russell, MA
