Let's Go Mental!

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Podcast by Barbara Cortella

Let's Go Mental!

A podcast for young athletes and their parents to unlock the power of the mind: You have the talent—now let’s build the mental edge. Discover key pillars and get simple, actionable tools to kickstart your journey. Tune in for short weekly episodes, each month focused on one topic, perfect for the car ride to your game. Grab quick tips, worksheets, and join our community as we grow and level up together. Let’s Go Mental! I am Barbara, Family and Mental Coach. I am Italian and you will love my accent!

Latest episodes

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02 October 2025

2) Time: Block it! Mini-series

How do you fit school, sport, friends, family, sleep, and everything else into your day without going crazy? In this episode, Barbara introduces the Big Rocks system — a simple but powerful way to set priorities and protect your time.

You’ll learn how to:

• Shift your mindset: time isn’t a clock, it’s a choice.

• Choose your priorities so you don’t drown in distractions.

• Protect your time with tools like Pomodoro and Timeboxing.

• Find your MIT (Most Important Task).

• Build a weekly system that frees energy, reduces guilt, and gives you more control.

This episode is for athletes — but also for parents and anyone who wants to stop feeling “busy all the time” without moving forward.

Key Takeaways

Big Rocks first. Put your non-negotiables (school, sport, sleep, eating) in place before everything else.

Not everything is important. If everything is important, nothing is important.

Time is a choice. Protect it with focus blocks and boundaries.

System > chaos. When you create structure, you gain more freedom.

This Week’s Challenge

1. Do the Big Rock Exercise → list your rocks, pebbles, and sand.

2. Pick your daily MIT (Most Important Task): one school, one sport, one life.

3. Protect it with a time-box.

4. Share this system with your parents — plan your week together and see how priorities align.

Contact me: b_cortella@yahoo.it

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Be part of my Community

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25 September 2025

1) Time: Your Asset. Mini-series

Time is the one thing every single person on the planet gets the same amount of: 24 hours, 86,400 seconds. The difference between being successful or staying average is not how much time you have, but how you use it.

In this episode, Barbara breaks down why time is your most valuable asset as a young athlete. With a powerful story about the “Bank of Time,” she shows you how to see time differently, why awareness is your scoreboard, and introduces the Time Personality Quiz to help you understand where your time is really going.

🎧 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why time is the ultimate equalizer (and your edge as an athlete).

• How perception tricks you into wasting hours without noticing.

• The 4 Time Personalities and how to find yours.

• Why mastering your time means mastering your freedom, energy, and progress.

📝 Tools & Resources

• Contact me: b_cortella@yahoo.it

• Join the Let’s Go Mental community for support and tools.

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10 September 2025

Execution &. consistency with a daily checklist!

In this episode of Let’s Go Mental, Barbara closes the 3-part mini-series on setting and achieving the right goals. After starting with self-assessment (Episode 28) and intentional goal-setting (Episode 29), this final piece is all about execution and consistency.

Let's introduce the Daily Success Checklist—a simple, powerful system to help athletes execute!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why execution is the fun part of your system, and how planning reduces stress and future anxiety.

• The mindset that makes execution possible: control what you can control, let go of what you can’t.

• How to build your own Daily Success Checklist: start with 3 actions (physical, mental, lifestyle), write them down, and check them off daily.

• The importance of a weekly review & redirect to adjust and keep moving forward.

• How small daily wins add up to big season goals.

Challenge of the Week

👉 Create your Personal 3 actions Daily Success Checklist.

Resources & Links

Let’s Go Mental is the podcast where mental training becomes a lifestyle—so athletes can consistently progress and perform with confidence in sports and in life.

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04 September 2025

Your Intentional Goal for the new season.

New season, new goals… but are you setting the right ones? In this episode, we’ll uncover how to shift from chasing outcomes to building process goals that actually help you grow.

In this episode, we move to Step 2 of the Goal Builder System: setting your goals for this season. Not long-term dreams, not outcome trophies, but process goals—the daily actions that you can control and that actually lead to growth, performance, and eventually results.

You’ll learn:

• Why outcome goals (winning, more play time, medals) are not enough.

• The difference between outcome goals and performance goals.

• How to turn your challenges, guiding words, and Start/Stop/Continue into specific, inspiring goals.

• A step-by-step process to set 3 goals for this season that keep you motivated and intentional.

Because when you align your challenges, your words, and your actions—you’re not just preparing for a season. You’re building a system that you can use in sport, school, and life.

🎙 Telescope Goals

🔗 Download your free self-assessment Step 1

📧 Contact me: b_cortella@yahoo.it

📲 LinkedIn

📲Instagram

Step 2 Worksheet

Next episode: Step 3—Implementation: turning goals into actions and planning!

#LetsGoMental #ProcessOverOutcome #GoalSetting #YouthAthletes

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21 August 2025

New season: Your Opportunity to decide who you want to be.

New Season: Your Opportunity to Decide Who You Want to Become

A new season is exciting — but it can also feel overwhelming. New coach, new teammates, pressure to improve, school starting, social life… it’s a lot. And when that little “what if” voice sneaks in (“What if I’m not good enough? What if I get benched?”), it can take over before you even step on the field.

In this episode, we’re flipping the script. Instead of letting fear set the tone, you’ll learn how to take control of your mindset and decide who you want to become this season.

Here’s what we discover:

• A simple 4-step system to set the right tone for your season.

• Step 1: How to stop, take your location, and get clear on where you are right now.

✨ Plus: I’ve created a self-assessment for athletes to help you start this season with awareness and intention.

🎧 Listen now — and bring your assessment to the next episode. Together, we’ll turn your starting point into your advantage.

If you want to start the new season stronger, contact me, I will guide you to develop the mindset you need to breakthrough performances and consistent success!

b_cortella@yahoo.it

🔗 Download your free self-assessment

Stay connected with IG

If you have some questions and you want to help me shape the next episodes, please be my Co-editor!

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27 May 2025

Trust: Your Bridge between Training and Performance.

In this episode, I dive into one of the most misunderstood yet powerful concepts in the mental game: trust. You’ll learn why confidence and trust are not the same, how to switch from a training mindset to a performance mindset, and why most athletes get stuck in the transition between practice and competition.

Let's unpack a simple 3-part framework to help you build trust where it matters most: on game day.

What You’ll Learn:

• The difference between confidence and trust

• Why training and performance require different mindsets

• How to shift from control to flow

• A 3-step framework to train trust before, during, and after competition

Questions to reflect on:

1. How do you prepare for practice?

2. How do you prepare for competition?

Trust Framework:

Before performance: Prepare the mindset

During performance: Trust your work

After performance: Reflect, reset, and refocus

If you’re ready to dive deeper into your trust mindset, build your pre-game plan, or learn how to reset under pressure—reach out.

Let’s train the mental game, together.

Contact: b_cortella@yahoo.it

DM me on Instagram or visit my Community

Download the Trust Worksheet here

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