If you've been around me for a minute, you know that resilience is one of the most essential mindset skills. The reason, of course, is that "stuff" happens, and our dog lives don't always go according to plan. And that means we have to be good at recovering so we can focus on what we have to do next...

I consider February my anniversary month. I don't remember the exact day I launched The Q Coach, but I know it was this month, eight years ago! (Wow!)

There were two things I knew I wanted to address in the dog handler community: goal-setting and the mental game. Goal-setting because every handl...

When I think about what "takes me out" at a trial, it's usually because I've allowed my attention and energy to wander off in a not-so-good direction. Examples include: the time I obsessed about a fellow competitor's parking choice, letting myself get twisted up about my ring conflict and what the j...

Oh, the power of the downward spiral! Something "bad" happens in the ring, and then we come out and can talk about nothing other than the mistake. The emotion of the error spins up a frenzy that seems to leave an emotional mark long after the run. It takes on a life of its own, and down into the spi...

This past weekend, I gave a seminar to a small but powerful group of handlers. Eventually, the subject of confidence emerged. I shared my belief: the opposite of confidence is not insecurity but rather vulnerability.

It's potentially a hot take and likely not the definition the dictionary would ...

I spent the weekend glued to AKC.tv, trying to catch my clients' runs. If you were there, know that my dogs thought I'd unlocked a new level of insanity since I was simultaneously cheering and crying at the TV in between yelling about the livestreaming issues. (I'm complex, okay - ha). I was INVESTE...

This month in the membership, we aren't talking about dogs at all. Okay, maybe we are a little bit, but it's not the focus of our mindset work. Instead, we are getting our life-life in shape because of how much it impacts our dog-life.

It turns out we aren't robots. We can't shut off one aspe...

When it comes to competition, maintaining a positive mindset is often championed as the golden ticket to success - after all, nothing positive comes from a negative mindset! But is there such a thing as "too positive?" Or "too grateful?" Sorta. Both positivity and gratitude can go to the toxic dark ...

On the heels of what ended up being a very impactful podcast last week on fun (who knew?!), I heard about "The Rule of Thirds."

While I'm sure there are other versions out there, the one I heard was from the perspective of an Olympic athlete being told about the Rule of Thirds by her coach. The ...

We are anthropologically wired to look for the bad stuff. To look for the danger, the things that might go wrong. This behavior has kept us safe from bears, and fire, and toxic cave-people (I assume). When we scan our environment for danger to find none, we can then focus on the task at hand - but w...

My social media post for today was "Don't forget to sing when you win." It's a line from the opening song in the show "Welcome to Wrexham."* 

I LOVE this reminder. At some point, nearly every coaching call includes interrupting my clients to celebrate something they just told me. In their mind, ...

Last week, I didn't send a newsletter (did you miss me?), and as a result, I beat myself up. I enjoy writing to you weekly, just as I enjoy recording my podcasts, yet missing one week had me feeling guilty.

It was easy to tell myself it was no big deal in the scheme of things, yet it reminded me...