Episode Details

Stress, pressure and overthinking can change how your body performs long before you consciously realise it. In this conversation, mental performance expert Mon Brockman explains how to train your nervous system, manage stress and perform under pressure using lessons from elite sport, Special Forces training and psychophysiology.

From his experience in Special Forces to working with high-performance athletes, Brockman breaks down why stress often begins with how we perceive a threat, how the nervous system reacts to that perception, and why the same pressure can help one person perform while causing another to freeze.

The episode also explores practical ways to regulate the nervous system through breathing, attention training and biofeedback. Brockman demonstrates how small changes in breathing can influence heart rate and HRV, and explains why understanding your individual response to pressure is more useful than following one universal stress-management technique.

We also discuss:

• Special Forces mindset and mental resilience
• How stress and perceived threats affect the mind and body
• Heart rate variability and nervous system regulation
• Breathing techniques for stress and performance
• Biofeedback and measuring stress in real time
• Why people freeze, panic or lose focus under pressure
• Mental currency and where we waste attention and energy
• How elite athletes prepare for high-pressure situations
• Training attention, focus and emotional control
• Why embracing uncertainty can improve decision-making
• How to start the day with greater mental clarity

If you want to understand how elite performers stay composed under pressure, how your nervous system responds to stress and how to build better control over your attention, emotions and performance, this conversation offers practical tools you can apply to work, sports and everyday life.