Cont’d
My work as a Performance Coach is an expression of the three passions that have shaped my life: a commitment to sports at the competitive level, my vocational calling in the field of nursing and therapy, and a love for language and a belief in the power and importance of listening and good communication skills.
My involvement in competitive soccer as a teenager helped me learn about much more than sports. Athletes are used to hearing how ‘it’s all in the mind’ but when I was introduced to relaxation for sports, visualization and other mental techniques, I actually experienced the benefits of mental training and preparation at a young age and realized the power of performing from a place of relaxed calm. This proved to be of great help later when I moved into endurance sports and has enhanced all aspects of my professional life: as a nurse, as a Project Manager in the Swedish Health Service, and later as Head of International Business for Phayathai Hospitals when I moved to Bangkok when my wife was posted here from the Swedish Foreign Service.
Another benefit of playing in international youth soccer tournaments in different countries was the way they brought me into contact with people from all corners of the globe. This gave me the opportunity to begin to communicate across cultures and I found the diversity and the stories of participants from different continents fascinating.
It was this interest in other people which drew me to the nursing profession. I chose to train and work as a paramedic for my national service and then train at the Red Cross College in Stockholm and Madrid. After graduating in 1999, already in my early years working with prisoners and psychiatric patients in Stockholm, I began to realize that I had a particular talent for establishing a safe and non-threatening relationship for productive dialogue through a calm, patient presence and uncommon listening skills. This was reinforced during my years working in the corporate world, when colleagues would often turn to me to help clarify misunderstandings.
Training for the Ironman was hard work, but I loved it. It deepened my appreciation of the importance of goal-setting and stepping stones. I have realized that I can reach a goal by being relaxed about it, looking at the time available and planning wisely, then executing the plan to realize the goal: whether it is becoming an International Marketing Manager in Asia, or qualifying for the 70.3 Ironman World Championships.
My experiences preparing for Ironman events have also proved to me that one doesn’t need to take away from one area of life to excel in another and that there is no reason to focus effort in directions which do not nourish a sense of achievement and well-being.
My work as a performance coach and therapist allows me to harness my particular skills as a listener while doing work that benefits others and is in harmony with the values that me and my family want to live by.