Tell Us A Bit About Yourself... I work as a Peak Performance Specialist, training and developing coaches, players and parents to achieve their highest potential. I have spent about 25 years in the Personal Development industry, initially within the physical development field and in the last 15 years within the psychological and energy development fields. I work with elite tennis players predominantly and have recently developed an integrated model of peak performance development. |
What Is Your Book About? My book Achieving Peak Performance in Tennis is about how we can use our mind and energy to create better results and achieve peak performance. It is psychology made simple so that people can easily understand how they are functioning mentally and what they can do to change it. Helping players to understand what they are experiencing and parents/coaches to support players, the book was written to give a broad perspective on development, hence the inclusion of energy psychology, rather than sticking with traditional sports psychology thinking. The reason I wrote it in this way is because my belief is that you need to address issues at the level of identity, values and beliefs, rather than just behaviours, for lasting change to take place. |
Who Is It Aimed At? The book is aimed at coaches, parents and players involved in tennis, and it is also an easy read for anyone not involved in tennis who wants to understand how the mind works and how we create our results - whether we realise it or not! |
What Inspired You To Write It? I was inspired to write the book because of the lack of psychological (people based) knowledge and awareness that I experienced from people in the tennis world and I wanted to help them to understand people better so that they could get better results. I am inspired by raising human awareness. |
What Would You Like Your Readers To Get From Your Book? I would like my readers to think more broadly and understand the complexity of human psychological functioning so that they can cut themselves some slack! I hope that readers can see what it means to be human, that we are all pretty similar underneath it all and that there is no need to keep trying to prove ourselves right and others wrong - that it is okay for different perspectives to exist and that no-one is any more or less superior or inferior to anyone else. |
When Did You First Realise That You Wanted To Write This Book? I had never thought about writing a book until it occurred to me about 3 months before I started writing. I suppose I had never thought it would be possible to publish a book - that was something writers did and I didn't at that time see myself as a writer in the traditional sense. |
What Gave You The Push To Get Published? The fact that I knew I could publish it meant it was worth doing for me. It doesn't matter to me how many I sell, it was more important for me to express my thoughts, views, experience and understanding and share that with people who might pick up the book. |
Did You Have Any Difficulty In Getting Published? I didn't have any difficulties because I immediately went down the partnership publishing route, which cuts out all the editorial criticism and decision making. This is my work and I wanted to publish it and didn't want a big publishing arm telling me it wasn't good enough - why because they are coming from a money making marketing perspectives and not a knowledge sharing perspective! |
What Hurdles Did You Face Whilst Writing & How Did You Overcome Them? Having taken the decision to write and finding a great publisher to use, the only hurdle I came up against was a personal one, I realised as I was writing I was putting myself on the line for criticism from others, out in the open world. That was a bit scary for a minute or two, but I got over it when I put other books into context - there is no real right or wrong, there are different perspectives and I was sharing mine. I was sharing my experiences that have worked with my clients so it cannot be wrong, but that doesn't make it right for everyone. Some people will get it and some won't. This was a greatly liberating thought and experience. |
How Did It Feel Seeing Your Book In Real Life For The 1st Time? It was great to see my book in print. I still wonder how I wrote it, how I managed to get the information from my brain and onto the page. But I did, one step at a time and it happened. It was great. Having said that, I am even more impressed by my second book, Changing Mindsets & Developing Spirit, for reasons I will share with you later. |
Do You Have Any Tips For Our Budding Authors? My only advice for budding authors is just to go for it! Partnership publishing couldn't be easier and with Live It Publishing you get a very human and caring experience. They really want you to succeed and they work with you to get your book to print. Don't worry about what others will say about your book, do it because you want to express yourself and enjoy the process. |
What's Next For You? Having written a second book, and with others in mind, writing is now a part of my life. I love it and will continue because I enjoy the process, and who knows, one day maybe I will make some money at it! For more information about Helen's work please http://www.spiritinsport.co.uk |
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