John Haime - You Are a Contender!: Build Emotional Muscle to Perform Better and Achieve More In Business, Sports and Life

YOU ARE A CONTENDER!

YOU ARE A CONTENDER!

BUILD EMOTIONAL MUSCLE TO PERFORM BETTER AND ACHIEVE MORE IN BUSINESS, SPORTS AND LIFE

JOHN HAIME

YOU ARE A CONTENDER!

Build Emotional Muscle to Perform Better and Achieve More in Business, Sports and Life

Copyright 2016 John Haime. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN 978-1-60037-686-3 paperback
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932817

Cover Design by:
Paul Edwards Design

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

So many people are responsible for giving me the ability to give back. My parents, Dawn and Peter Haime, set the groundwork for my journey by providing a solid base of emotional stability during my early years. Their ongoing support is appreciated. Thanks also to Kevin, Lisa, Jake and Jackson for your support.

To Tricia and Aidanyoure the best and your great support and strength to keep me going is appreciated.

Special thanks to Robyn Spizman for getting this process started. Robyn lit the fire and made sure that I followed through.

Joanne Godin has done a remarkable job as an advisor. Her ideas, skilful editing and writing expertise were a big factor in making this project successful.

Paul Edwards added a great deal to the book by bringing ideas to life through his graphic talent.

Thank you to Scott Spreier and Bill Tredwell of The Hay Group for your thoughts and ideas.

Thanks to Izzy Justice of EQmentor for the enlightening conversations.

Thank you to Martyn Newman for agreeing to write the books foreword. Martyn is a world-class expert in his field and provided great insights. I look forward to further collaboration. I would also like to thank John Broderick, Martyns RocheMartin colleague in Ireland.

Many thanks to my great readers: Eric Kaufmanis, Chris Fitzgerald, Dana Tierney and Paul Lebreux who read with interest and provided feedback.

Special thanks to Angelo Boy, who contributed to my thinking on a number of areas of the book.

Working with the very capable team at Morgan James, especially my Author Relations Manager, Margo Toulouse, has been a positive experience.

Thank you all for your valuable contributions.

FOREWORD

How do the worlds best athletes and performers make it to the top and stay there? Talent and skill are not enough in themselves. Emotions run the show in elite performance.

To produce outstanding achievement in any sport, talent and skill are essential elements that get you in the game. But, once youre in the game, recent research in sports psychology has identified another set of factors that control the outcome. Athletes who have learned a particular set of skills to manage their emotions intelligently produce consistently superior performance.

Collectively these skills are referred to as emotional intelligence (EQ) and its EQ that determines whether you are mentally tough enough to remain self-motivated and sustain your competitive energy; whether you can take emotional control in response to frustration and disappointment; whether you can stay mentally alert and focused to deal with distractions and stress; and whether you can maintain the power of purpose that enables you to reach beyond your current limits and attain your highest goals.

Emotions really are the engine in the vehicle of performance, and the skills associated with using emotions intelligently are indispensible to achieving competitive advantage for elite performers. In this book, You Are a Contender! Build Emotional Muscle to Perform Better and Achieve More in Business, Sports and Life, John Haime has done a remarkable job of highlighting the key attribute of all effective performanceself-awareness. Becoming self-aware in a skilful way enables you to know yourself and your motivations and allows you to tap into those internal resources that make your talent dance.

I have been working with leaders in organizations worldwide for the past fifteen years. From my work with emotional intelligence and the Emotional Capitalist model, it is very clear to me that the skills that separate average performers from star performers are grounded in the ability to be self-aware. What is true of high performers in the corporate world is also true of top performers in the world of elite sport.

In recent years we have conducted extensive research in Europe and Asia using the Emotional Intelligence Sports Inventory (ESi)the worlds first scientific tool specifically designed to measure emotional intelligence and sports performance. The ESi has identified the key performance indicators that separate average and elite professional and top amateur athletes. Once again, the data demonstrates that self-awareness is the platform upon which the indispensible skills of emotional intelligence are built.

Johns book reaches the same conclusion, but from the perspective of a practitioner. Johns rare combination of skills, having played a professional sport at a world-class level, his work with top organizations and world-class performers and his engaging writing style make this book informative, practical and entertaining. While this book is filled with great information, it is not academic. It is packed with psychological insights and techniques that the reader can use immediately to improve performance and overcome those persistent errors that sabotage skill execution. The tone of the book comes from someone who feels what the reader does. John has had many ups and downs in his journey and has had close, first-hand connection with some of the worlds top performers and coaches. These experiences provide compelling illustrations of the power of emotions in all performance. The reader will immediately recognize many similar challenges in their own performance and gain new and valuable insights for overcoming common setbacks.

I wholeheartedly recommend You Are a Contender! Build Emotional Muscle to Perform Better and Achieve More in Business, Sports and Life, as a book that is long overdue. Personally, I am looking forward to working with John and his group to bring his message as well as the Emotional Intelligence Sports Inventory to coaches and athletes around the world. In the meantime, read this book today, commit to the ideas and practice the skills. I am confident that John has given us a roadmap to take personal and professional performance to the next level.

Martyn Newman, PhD, DPsych
President, RocheMartin