Finding a way to coach yourself with challenge and grace can be an extraordinary unlock for performance.
Mikaela Shiffrin is an Olympic gold medalist and the winningest alpine ski racer in World Cup history. We first released this conversation in 2023. Since then, she has won Olympic slalom gold at Milano Cortina and her sixth overall World Cup title, tying the women’s record, and what she describes in this conversation is the inner work that was already well underway.
Mikaela and Mike get into the performance anxiety that had her sick at the start gate years into her career, the self-coaching habit she developed to put her own assessment first, and the race she lost at Killington that she calls the most free she has ever felt in her career. She is open about how long she let the outside world dictate how she felt about her own skiing before she reclaimed that for herself.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
- Why her parents sat her down every year and asked if she still loved skiing
- The performance anxiety that had her sick at the start gate after her first Olympic gold
- The question she asks herself at the bottom of every run, before the video and before her coaches
- Losing at Killington, and the freedom in not needing the win
- What clarity feels like to her when she is at her best
Coaching yourself well is incredibly difficult, and Mikaela shows us in this conversation what becomes possible when you do it in a world-class way.
Enjoy the conversation.
“The good life for me is listening to my own voice before I listen to others and always looking for the best way to be a better coach for myself.” — Mikaela Shiffrin
Links & Resources
Mikaela Shiffrin’s Website: linktr.ee/mikaelashiffrin)
Mikaela Shiffrin’s YouTube Series: Moving Right Along, on her channel youtube.com/@mikaelashiffrin
Mikaela Shiffrin’s Podcast: What’s the Point with Mikaela Shiffrin: listen here
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