The Brave Athlete Quotes

“When the suffering begins, our brain pleads with us to not think too far into the future. I can’t endure 60 minutes of this, but I can do 10 minutes. I can’t get through 8 weeks of solid exercise, but I can get through today. The neurological beauty of segmentation is that once the segment is completed, you get a mini-squirt of dopamine (pleasure juice) that resets the coping clock.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“High self-esteem and confidence come from experiencing adversity and accomplishment. In other words, confidence is earned, not given.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“The reason that success boosts confidence is that it changes your brain’s production and receptiveness to testosterone and dopamine—two chemicals that increase the impulse to try it again.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Powerful neurotransmitters in the brain can increase pleasure (dopamine), lead to feelings of happiness and positive mood (serotonin), reduce stress and alleviate pain (endorphins), and enhance a sense of trust and intimacy (oxytocin).”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“If we can just stick with new routines long enough to start cranking out the happy juice (serotonin) or find a way to make the experience intrinsically pleasurable (dopamine), we’ve got a much better chance of it becoming a long-term habit.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“In contrast to dopamine-fueled feelings of pleasure, feelings of happiness are caused by another neurotransmitter—serotonin. Serotonin also helps create feelings of contentedness, significance, and importance. Among other functions, serotonin is a mood stabilizer. Sure, dopamine will give you the quick pleasure rush, but serotonin will keep you happy in the long term—a positive upbeat mood that chases the blues away.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Plans fail. Actions fail. People are not failures. The critical point is what we do with our failed actions and plans (or the thought of failure).”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Working with Lesley and Simon has been one of the biggest life-changing experiences.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. —ANAÏS NIN”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“As Dr. Steve Peters recommends, you can simply ask yourself this question: Do I want to think or feel like this? If your answer is no, your Chimp is in charge. If your answer is yes, your Professor is in charge. It’s really that simple.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“If there’s one book that every athlete should have on their bookshelf, it’s Dr. Peters’s book, The Chimp Paradox.7 It’s”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Being more forgiving of their bad decisions, or assuming their intentions must be good.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Adopting a “power pose” for one minute increases testosterone, decreases cortisol, and increases feelings of power and tolerance for risk—important biological determinants of confidence.A power pose is simply body language that is open and expansive, with chest out, shoulders back, and eyes looking straight ahead. Think Superman stance or William Wallace stepping out from the front line as if to say, “Come at me, bro.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“So when we talk about sky-high confidence, we’re not talking about those peeps. We’re talking about the athletes who are willing to put themselves out there, who can handle failure and criticism, take risks, rarely panic, and enjoy the challenge of getting stuck in. Developing self-confidence is an important first step in becoming a brave athlete.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“It should come as no surprise that stressful situations become less stressful the more you get used to them. Psychologists call this cue desensitization—the process by which you experience a lower emotional response to a stimulus after repeated exposure to it. It’s the reason that seasoned pros can still perform well in front of thousands of spectators, why public speaking becomes easier and easier, and, ahem, why it only feels kinky the first time you do it. So stop avoiding things that scare you. The goal is to seek out opportunities to experience pressure and confront it head-on.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“The most powerful predictor of self-efficacy is “mastery experience,” a posh way of saying “actually being successful.” Successfully doing something, even if just once, has a tremendous effect on your self-efficacy. The reason that success boosts confidence is that it changes your brain’s production and receptiveness to testosterone and dopamine—two chemicals that increase the impulse to try it again.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Sometimes your chess pieces attack other pieces, and sometimes they defend.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. —HELEN KELLER”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Uses powerful neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, acetylcholine, and noradrenaline to get your attention and move you to act.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“The simple act of smiling makes you feel better because it causes dopamine to be released, the brain’s pleasure juice.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“There is now good scientific evidence that expressing appreciation for what you have has a remarkable effect on your self-judgment system and your overall well-being, most likely because it confronts negativity and increases the production of dopamine—your brain’s pleasure juice. Scientific studies have also revealed that the simple act of looking for things to be grateful for is as important as finding them.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Concentrating on the little things hidden in your daily routines and actions that you might otherwise take for granted. These positive droplets create a micro-squirt of dopamine (pleasure) and serotonin (happiness).”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“One of its primary roles is in motivation and reward. You probably know of dopamine because of its reputation as the brain’s pleasure juice. When you feel pleasure, you are getting squirted on by dopamine.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“We can influence dopamine production through our diets. You can’t actually eat dopamine, but you can eat the thing that makes it—tyrosine. It is a nonessential amino acid, meaning that you must consume it in your diet because your body doesn’t make its own. However, before you start rushing out to the supermarket to get a cart full of tyrosine—cheese, soybeans, beef, lamb, pork, fish, chicken, nuts, seeds, eggs, dairy, beans, and whole grains—research shows that it really only helps if you’re deficient to begin with.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Reward. The feeling you get once you’ve done or are doing the behavior. For new behaviors that aren’t intrinsically pleasurable, you might need to pair a separate reward (something that does provide a dopamine squirt) with the new behavior so you still feel good after completion.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“For some people, the reward is the driving force behind the habit. We’ve already established that powerful neurotransmitters cause a chemical reaction to reward the ritual and increase pleasure (dopamine) and/or feelings of happiness and positive mood (serotonin). However, other neurotransmitters may also be involved, like endorphins (which reduce stress and alleviate pain) or oxytocin (which increases a sense of trust and intimacy).”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Classical or gentle massage (i.e., not the teeth-clenching, punchy kind) causes a surge in oxytocin that reduces anxiety and pain perception. Massage causes brain neurochemistry to change so you feel better emotionally. After massage, dopamine is up 31 percent and serotonin 28 percent, and the stress hormone cortisol drops. Simply put, massage is brain therapy for the injured athlete. So when you’re feeling especially crappy, schedule a massage. The gentler kind.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Breaking through the fear barrier is a big deal. The dopamine hit that comes with completing a previously insurmountable goal or getting through a shit-scary challenge is indescribable. Aside from the neurological benefits, you walk a little taller immediately. Confidence grows, and you redraw the boundary of what you think you can do in the future.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“A great way to open the dopamine floodgate is to watch and listen to inspirational stuff about the activity you are prone to quitting at. Unlike meme-turds, videos are a more immersive sensory experience, and virtually all capitalize on the dopaminergic power of music. Music has the ability to not just arouse pleasurable feelings but also increase craving or wanting—two critical elements of sports motivation.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“The neurological beauty of segmentation is that once the segment is completed, you get a mini-squirt of dopamine (pleasure juice) that resets the coping clock. Use this principle to your advantage by exploiting how your brain reacts to completion and accomplishment.”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion