093: How Self Confidence Lets You Be the Best That You Can Be with Sally Gunnell OBE

Do you often find yourself inhibited from making progress by a lack of confidence in your own abilities? Are you unsure of what strategies to implement to improve your self-confidence and maintain it when the going gets tough? What is the correlation between good physical health and mental wellbeing? In this episode of the Insurance Broker Podcast, we’re honoured to be speaking with Sally Gunnell OBE, champion athlete and holder of Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles in 400m hurdles and 400m relay. Sally now gives talks to businesses about positive mindset and productivity, and in this episode she shares her advice for maintaining good physical health and mental wellbeing. In conversation with Boston Tullis’ Sarah Myerscough, Sally explains the importance of setting achievable goals, the power of visualisation, and strategies for combatting and overcoming low self-confidence and negative self-talk.   Quote of the Episode “The difference between being okay at what I did and actually excelling was around self-belief, belief in your inability, that whole power of visualisation, and mental strength… I often used to say, when I was running, there wasn't a lot between all of us in that final, when it came to technical side of it, or strength or speed, but the mental side was massive. And that's what allowed me to win on those four major championships.” Throughout the episode, Sally frequently reiterates the power of visualisation as a tool not only for progressing towards your goals, but also achieving them and continuing to excel beyond them. She argues that taking five minutes out of your day to visualise the achievement of your goal, whatever it might be, not only serves as a huge boost to your motivation, but also hardens your resolve and boosts your self-confidence. This emphasises that your success is not just possible, but achievable through continued effort, and thus it serves as a powerful tool for combatting negative self-talk and a lack of belief in your abilities.   Key Takeaways However, Sally also notes that visualisation cannot be solely focused on achieving the perfect outcome. As with all things in life, and the insurance industry is no exception, you will inevitably encounter setbacks and roadblocks to your success. As such, your visualisation process must include the prospect of these setbacks, but also your perseverance through them and achieving your goal in spite of them. Yet, we cannot foresee everything that might occur as we strive towards our goals; it is impossible to visualise every possible series of events. Sometimes unexpected setbacks occur. Sally suggests that positive thinking is crucial to persevering through these. It is essential to accept when setbacks occur and issues arise, and to maintain a positive outlook. You cannot allow yourself to lose sight of your goals because of external circumstances you can’t control. As such, you have to learn to trust yourself enough to recognise when you’re facing a tough situation, and continue to keep sight of your goals and identify silver linings that can help you to continue moving forward. For Sally, goalsetting on both large and small scales is very important to maintaining a positive mindset. In setting yourself small goals throughout your day of things you want to achieve, you will gain a sense of fulfilment upon completing them, giving you the drive and energy to work towards your broader, long-term goals. She also emphasises the importance of not overloading oneself with too many goals at once. Your goals need to be realistic and achievable, and you can’t set yourself too many within a short time frame, otherwise you are effectively setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration, which will counterbalance the otherwise positive impacts of establishing goals for your wellbeing. Sally offers three main top tips for optimising your wellbeing and productivity: Exercise – frequent exercise is scientifically proven to impro