Ask Dr. Paul

When we talk about elite athletes, we often focus on physical ability. Speed, strength, coordination, and technique.

But physical ability is only part of the picture.

At the highest levels of competition, athletes also need to manage pressure, maintain attention, recover from mistakes, and make decisions in demanding situations. These mental skills play an important role in how athletes access their physical abilities when it matters most.

And they do not have to wait until an athlete reaches the professional level to begin developing them.

The Science Behind Mental Performance
Research in sport psychology shows that psychological skills can be introduced during childhood and adolescence. Techniques such as goal setting, imagery, self talk, relaxation, and attention control can help young athletes learn to manage the mental demands of competition.

A 2024 position statement from the British Psychological Society reviewed psychological skills training across childhood and adolescence, emphasizing that these approaches should be adapted to a young person’s stage of cognitive, emotional, and social development.

More broadly, a 2026 systematic review examining 189 studies found that sports participation was associated with a range of positive outcomes for children and adolescents, including stronger self esteem, greater psychological well being, and improved social connection.

The takeaway is important: youth sports can be more than a place to develop physical skills. When the environment is supportive and well structured, sports can also provide opportunities to develop emotional regulation, resilience, and confidence.

What Separates Great Athletes?
Mental performance is not simply about being tough or refusing to give up.

It involves several skills working together.

Attention control: The ability to stay focused on the task rather than becoming distracted by the crowd, the score, or the possibility of making a mistake.

Emotional regulation: The ability to recognize frustration, disappointment, or nervousness and respond without letting those emotions dictate the next action.

Mental stamina: The ability to remain engaged and make sound decisions even when a competition becomes physically or mentally demanding.

Adaptability: The ability to adjust after a mistake, respond to an unexpected challenge, and keep working when the original plan is no longer effective.

These abilities are not fixed traits that a child either has or does not have. They can be practiced and developed over time.

Just as young athletes repeat a movement to improve their technique, they can practice how they focus, respond to setbacks, and prepare for challenging moments.

Why Youth Sports Are an Opportunity
Consider a young basketball player who misses several shots in a row.

One response is to become frustrated, lose confidence, and carry that frustration into the next possession.

Another is to acknowledge the mistake, reset attention, and focus on the next play.

The difference is not necessarily talent. It may be the ability to recognize an emotional response, redirect attention, and return to the task.

That is a mental skill.

The same lesson applies to a young tennis player who loses an important point, a swimmer preparing for a race, or a soccer player who makes an error that leads to a goal.

These moments create opportunities to practice resilience in real time.

The goal is not to teach children to ignore their emotions or never feel disappointed. It is to help them understand what they are feeling and learn constructive ways to respond.

The Role of Parents and Coaches
Young athletes do not develop in isolation. The adults around them help shape how they interpret competition, mistakes, and success.

When every performance is judged by the final score, children may begin to measure their worth by whether they win or lose.

When adults also recognize effort, preparation, learning, and improvement, children have more opportunities to build confidence in the process.

Parents and coaches can help by asking questions such as:

What did you learn today?

What did you do well when things became difficult?

What would you like to work on next time?

How did you respond after making a mistake?

These conversations shift the focus from perfection to development.

They also communicate that a mistake is information, not a definition of who the athlete is.

Of course, mental training should be age appropriate. Young athletes need room to play, enjoy their sport, develop relationships, and discover what they love about competition. Building resilience should not become another source of pressure.

Building Skills That Last Beyond Sports
The benefits of mental performance training are not limited to the playing field.

The ability to manage frustration, focus attention, respond to setbacks, and work toward a goal can also support children in the classroom, in relationships, and in other areas of life.

As young people grow, these skills can help them navigate increasingly complex decisions and expectations.

In my work in psychology and performance, I see the value of understanding how people respond when circumstances become challenging. That process of recognizing patterns, developing strategies, and practicing new responses can begin well before someone becomes an elite athlete.

We should not expect every child who plays sports to become a champion. Nor should we make winning the only measure of a successful sports experience.

Instead, we should recognize youth sports as an opportunity to develop the whole person.

Physical skills help young athletes compete. Mental skills can help them respond to the demands of competition, learn from experience, and carry those lessons forward.

Mental resilience is not something young athletes need to wait until adulthood to develop. It is a skill set they can begin building today.

– Dr. Paul Weinhold

We make decisions every day.

Some are automatic. Others require careful thought. Some happen under pressure, when emotions are running high and the consequences feel significant.

But what is actually happening inside the brain when we make a decision? How do neural signals contribute to our emotions, our behavior, and the way we respond to challenging situations?

These are some of the questions scientists are working to answer, and a groundbreaking area of neuroscience called optogenetics is helping them get closer.

What Is Optogenetics?
In 2026, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for discoveries that made optogenetics possible.

Their work represents a major advance in our ability to study the brain.

Optogenetics combines genetic techniques with light to control the activity of specific cells, including neurons. Researchers use light sensitive proteins to activate or inhibit selected nerve cells, allowing them to study how particular cells and neural circuits influence brain function.

To understand why this matters, imagine trying to understand how a complex electrical system works. You can observe the lights turning on and off, but observation alone does not tell you which switch controls which circuit.

Now imagine being able to activate one specific switch and trace what happens next.

That is part of what makes optogenetics so powerful.

Researchers can stimulate selected neurons and investigate how that activity affects other cells, neural circuits, and behavior. This allows them to examine cause and effect in ways that were previously much more difficult.

The Scientists Behind the Discovery
One particularly fascinating part of this story is where the research began.

Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel studied a light sensitive protein called channelrhodopsin, discovered in a single celled green alga. Karl Deisseroth helped transform that discovery into a method for controlling nerve cell activity with light.

This collaboration between researchers studying different fields helped open an entirely new path for neuroscience.

Today, optogenetics is helping scientists investigate how neural circuits contribute to memory, emotion, behavior, and neurological and psychiatric conditions.

This work also illustrates why fundamental scientific research matters. Discoveries that begin with a seemingly narrow question about a microscopic organism can eventually change how we understand the human brain.

What Does This Mean for Mindset and Decision Making?
For those of us interested in psychology, one of the most compelling questions is how the brain supports the decisions we make and the behaviors we repeat.

The prefrontal cortex, located toward the front of the brain, plays an important role in executive functions such as planning, evaluating options, regulating behavior, and making decisions. These functions are particularly relevant when we face competing priorities, emotional distractions, or situations that require us to think beyond an immediate response.

However, decision making does not happen in one isolated brain region. It emerges from interactions among multiple areas of the brain, shaped by experience, emotion, memory, attention, and our environment.

This is where neuroscience and psychology intersect.

When we talk about mindset, we are describing patterns in how we interpret situations, evaluate possibilities, and respond to challenges. These patterns influence our behavior, but they are not controlled by a single switch in the brain.

Research tools such as optogenetics help scientists investigate the underlying neural mechanisms. Much of this work involves animal models, so we must be careful not to assume that findings translate directly to human thought or behavior.

Nevertheless, the research raises important questions about how the brain supports the processes involved in learning, adapting, and responding to pressure.

From Brain Science to Human Performance
In performance psychology, we are interested in what happens when people need to make decisions in demanding circumstances.

Consider an athlete facing a crucial point in a match. A business leader navigating an uncertain decision. A physician working through a complex situation. Or a professional preparing for a conversation with significant consequences.

In each case, the person must interpret information, manage competing demands, and choose how to respond.

Psychology helps us examine the thoughts, emotions, habits, and experiences that influence those responses. Neuroscience helps us investigate the biological systems that make those processes possible.

These fields approach human behavior from different but complementary perspectives.

The more we learn about the brain, the more opportunities we have to ask better questions about how people learn, adapt, regulate their responses, and perform under pressure.

That does not mean a scientific discovery will immediately tell us how to improve every decision. It means we are building a more detailed understanding of the systems involved in human behavior.

And that understanding matters.

Why We Should Pay Attention
The Nobel Prize recognizes more than an impressive scientific achievement. It draws attention to the researchers whose curiosity, persistence, and collaboration have expanded what we can investigate about the brain.

Their work reminds us that some of the most meaningful advances begin with questions we cannot yet answer.

How does the brain turn neural activity into behavior? How do memories and emotions influence our decisions? What happens when the systems that support these processes do not function as expected?

Scientists are continuing to explore these questions, and tools such as optogenetics are helping them investigate the answers with increasing precision.

For anyone interested in psychology, mindset, or human performance, this is an exciting area to follow.

Understanding ourselves begins, in part, with understanding the systems that make our thoughts and behaviors possible.

The science is still developing. But the questions are profound, and the discoveries ahead may deepen our understanding of how we think, feel, decide, and respond to the world around us.

-Dr. Paul Weinhold

We all have an idea of who we want to become.

The athlete we want to be. The leader we want to become. The career we want to build. The life we want to create.

But having the dream is only the beginning.

The question is: What are you willing to do to make that dream possible?

At this year’s US Open, we have seen some powerful examples of what happens when talent, opportunity, preparation, and grit come together.

Consider Frances Tiafoe.

Tiafoe’s story is remarkable not simply because he became a professional tennis player. It is remarkable because of the circumstances he came from and the determination that allowed him to take advantage of the opportunities he did have.

His parents immigrated to the United States from Sierra Leone. His father, Frances Sr., worked as head of maintenance at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in Maryland. Tiafoe spent time at the facility as a child and began playing tennis there. His father’s job gave him access to a sport that otherwise may have been difficult for his family to afford.

But access alone does not create a champion.

Tiafoe still had to show up. He had to practice, develop his skills, keep going when the path became difficult, and he had to turn an opportunity into action.

We saw a similar combination in the story of Venus and Serena Williams. Their father, Richard Williams, created a deliberate plan around their tennis development and positioned his daughters to pursue opportunities that were not always readily available to them. The family trained on public courts in Compton and took a different path from the traditional junior tennis system.

Their stories remind us of something important about achievement.

A dream needs a pathway.

Talent matters.

Opportunity matters.

Support matters.

But there also has to be a willingness to work.

That is where grit becomes so important.

Grit is not simply working hard when things are going well. It is the ability to continue working toward something meaningful when progress is slow, resources are limited, setbacks happen, or the outcome is uncertain.

In my work with athletes and high performers, I have seen that willingness to stay engaged with the process become one of the defining differences between having potential and actually developing it.

The US Open has given us another powerful example this year.

When Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton stepped onto the court for their semifinal, two Black American men were competing against each other on one of the biggest stages in tennis. It was the first Grand Slam semifinal in the Open Era between two Black men.

There was history in that moment.

There was pressure.

There were years of preparation behind both players.

And there were two athletes who had turned their dreams into action.

Shelton ultimately advanced to the final, becoming the first Black American man to reach a US Open singles final since Arthur Ashe.

The lesson is bigger than tennis.

We often focus on the outcome when we look at successful people. We see the championship, the promotion, the company, the award, the stage.

What we do not always see is the accumulation of small actions that made the outcome possible.

The hours nobody watched.

The practice nobody applauded.

The decision to keep going.

The willingness to learn.

The ability to make something out of the opportunities that were available.

That is the psychology of achievement.

You do not become who you want to become simply by imagining it.

You become that person through repeated action.

So ask yourself:

What is the dream?

What action is required to move toward it?

What resources or opportunities do you need to create or pursue?

And perhaps most importantly:

How willing are you to keep working when the path is not easy?

Your circumstances may influence your starting point.

They do not have to determine your commitment to the process.

Dreams give us direction.

Opportunity gives us access.

Action moves us forward.

And grit helps us keep going.

Request a consultation to learn how to build the mindset, resilience, and performance habits that help turn potential into progress.

-Dr. Paul Weinhold

We often talk about pressure as something we need to manage.

Something to reduce.

Something to overcome.

But what if we looked at pressure differently?

Billie Jean King famously said, “Pressure is a privilege.”

Those words capture something psychologists working with competitive athletes are constantly trying to help them understand. Pressure does not necessarily mean something is wrong. In many cases, pressure means you have earned the opportunity to be in the moment.

You put in the hours. You prepared. You trained. You sacrificed. You worked to develop your abilities.

Now you have the opportunity to show what you can do.

That is a privilege.

The US Open is a perfect place to see this idea in action. Walk into Arthur Ashe Stadium and the pressure is enormous. The crowd is watching. The stakes are high. Every point matters. But the players on that court have spent years preparing for the opportunity to compete on that stage.

The goal is not to eliminate the pressure. The goal is to accept it.

If you can accept pressure, you do not have to fear it. And when you stop fearing it, you can start using it.

We saw this in the quarterfinal between Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton.

Shelton was facing one of the best players in the world on one of the biggest stages in tennis. Alcaraz was competing at the US Open for the first time since returning from a significant wrist injury. Both players had plenty of reasons to feel the weight of the moment.

Instead, they competed.

They adjusted. They responded. They kept playing through momentum shifts, physical fatigue, and the enormous stakes of the match.

Shelton ultimately won in a dramatic fifth set tiebreak, but what stood out was not simply who won. It was the willingness of both players to stay engaged with the pressure rather than allowing it to define the moment.

That is an important distinction.

Pressure can make you smaller, or it can make you better.

When you embrace pressure, you give yourself an opportunity to grow. You learn more about how you respond when the stakes are high. You discover where your preparation holds up and where you still need to develop.

And that lesson extends far beyond sports.

Think about the executive preparing to present to a room full of senior leaders. The surgeon entering an important procedure. The entrepreneur pitching a business idea. The attorney stepping into the courtroom. The performer walking onto a stage. The professional interviewing for the opportunity they have been working toward for years.

These moments can all create pressure. But they can also represent something else.

An opportunity to show what you have prepared to do. The mindset shift is simple, but it is not always easy:

Instead of asking, “How do I get rid of this pressure?”

Ask, “What is this pressure giving me the opportunity to do?”

When you change the question, you begin to change your relationship with the moment.

Pressure is not proof that you are unprepared. Sometimes, pressure is proof that the moment matters. And sometimes, the moments that create the most pressure are the same moments that give us the greatest opportunity to grow.

Pressure is a privilege.

The question is whether you are willing to accept it.

Request a consultation to learn how to build the mindset and resilience to perform when the pressure is on.

-Dr. Paul Weinhold

We often talk about pressure as something to manage.

Something to reduce.

Something to get through.

But what if we looked at it differently?

In sports, business, and life, some of the most meaningful opportunities are also the most challenging. The moments when the stakes are higher, expectations are greater, and there is more to prove.

That is where preparation matters.

A business coach might look at a problem, develop a strategy, and create a plan for execution. The same is true for an athlete. Preparation is not just about knowing what to do. It is about building enough confidence in your preparation that when the moment arrives, you can trust yourself to execute.

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz has talked about this idea in the context of pitching. He described not experiencing the kind of nervousness you might expect in high pressure situations because he felt prepared. He welcomed the opportunity to be put in a challenging situation because it gave him a chance to execute what he had trained to do.

That is a powerful shift in mindset.

Instead of thinking, “What if I fail?”

The mindset becomes, “I have prepared for this. Let me show you what I can do.”

That does not mean doubt never exists. It means you do not give doubt the opportunity to take over.

We see this in sports all the time, but the principle extends far beyond the playing field.

A presentation to senior leadership. A difficult conversation. A job interview. A new business opportunity. A major career transition.

These moments can create anxiety because we focus on everything that could go wrong. But preparation gives us something else to focus on: the opportunity to perform.

The goal is not to eliminate pressure. It is to change your relationship with it.

What if the difficult assignment is an opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned?

What if the challenging conversation is an opportunity to practice your leadership?

What if the biggest stage is actually an invitation to show what you are capable of?

There is something powerful about approaching a challenge with enthusiasm rather than apprehension.

The best performers do not necessarily have fewer difficult moments. They have learned to welcome them.

They understand that challenging situations are where preparation becomes performance.

So the next time an opportunity feels intimidating, try asking yourself a different question.

Not, “How do I avoid messing this up?”

But, “How have I prepared for this, and what can I do with the opportunity in front of me?”

Everyone deserves the opportunity to shine.

Sometimes, you just have to be willing to step into the moment.

Request a consultation to start building the mindset and resilience to perform when it matters most.

-Dr. Paul Weinhold