Book Private Mental-performance Lessons with Coach Adam

A multi-sport background, capped with playing Division 1 lacrosse, lays a strong foundation for a lifelong commitment to athleticism and competition. This diverse experience not only builds physical skills but also fosters resilience, adaptability, and a deep understanding of different sports’ demands. Serving 30 years in the Air Force further enriches this background, combining athletic discipline with military precision and leadership. The combination of competitive sports and a distinguished military career underscores a lifelong pursuit of excellence, discipline, and continuous improvement. This unique blend offers a wealth of experience in optimizing performance and inspiring others to achieve their best.

My approach combines best practices in performance psychology, emotional intelligence, and self-awareness to help people achieve their peak potential. Performance psychology techniques focus on mental skills like goal-setting, visualization, and stress management to enhance focus and resilience in high-pressure situations. Integrating emotional intelligence means teaching individuals to understand and regulate their emotions, fostering better relationships, communication, and decision-making. By cultivating self-awareness, I help people recognize their strengths, limitations, and triggers, enabling them to make conscious choices that align with their goals. This combination empowers individuals to develop a mindset for continuous growth and adaptability. Whether working with athletes, professionals, or military personnel, I provide strategies for mastering the mental side of performance, overcoming obstacles, and staying composed under stress. Together, these elements create a holistic approach to optimizing performance that not only targets immediate improvements but also fosters long-term success and personal development.

A training session begins with mindfulness and grounding exercises to set the stage for focus and self-awareness. We start with guided breathing, encouraging my client to notice the breath’s rhythm, followed by a brief body scan to identify areas of tension and release them. This process helps to anchor the mind in the present moment, creating a calm and open state.

Next, we shift to understanding my client’s needs and desires. In a psychologically safe environment, I encourage open dialogue about their challenges, aspirations, and motivations. We explore the root causes of these issues, examining 2nd and 3rd order effects—considering not just the immediate problem but also how it influences other areas of their life.

Once we identify underlying factors, we transition to using specific tools, such as cognitive reframing, visualization techniques, or stress management strategies. Together, we work to develop practical skills and mindsets for growth, setting actionable steps to move forward while fostering resilience and sustainable progress.

In 7th grade, my coach instilled in me lessons that went far beyond the playing field. He emphasized that how you win or lose matters just as much as the outcome itself. Winning with dignity meant showing respect for your opponent, teammates, and the game, while losing gracefully required accepting defeat without excuses and finding ways to improve. He taught me that true strength lies in staying true to my internal principles, regardless of the situation. Whether facing victory or setback, maintaining integrity, sportsmanship, and self-respect was paramount. These lessons became a foundation for how I approached challenges, not just in sports but in life. They guided me through my years as an athlete, a leader in the Air Force, and a cognitive performance specialist. That coach’s influence helped shape the person I became, teaching me that character and values are the true measures of success.

I knew I wanted to a military pilot since third grade, so it was understood that I would join the US Air Force and since I was going to join the USAF, I would go to the USAF Academy. There were no conversations about alternative paths. Would I have taken a different path? There’s no way to know, since I didn’t consider other options.

It’s now my goal to help empower individuals with that insight – to realize they don’t have to live through the expectations others set for us – and I do that through coaching based in emotional intelligence.

I feel it’s important for everyone to avoid narrow thoughts such as:

· “I can only do this.”

· “I have to do this.”

· “I don’t have that capability to do (fill in the blank).”

There are always options and ways to adjust to achieve our goals, and I’ve seen lives change significantly when a person has this epiphany and learns to self-advocate.

Using emotional intelligence, I can prepare people to maximize the position they are in, as well as give them a leg up for whatever that next adventure is – to help them build resilience for and knowledge of how they will encounter challenges that can be overcome on their way to success.

I’m able to help the young person leaving high school make the transition and transformation to college adult. I coach people to help them transition from a school environment to a corporate or government career path.

It is the efficacy the person adopts, that will carry them on to success.

When I’m working directly with leaders and executives – we talk about what they are doing in their role and career, what they are happy with, what they are unhappy with, and where they’d like to go. It’s an exploratory, self-guided conversation that enables them to realize there are usually several ways to attain a goal.

I named my business ‘Bust Out’ to convey that we’re here, working inside this particular area of our lives, and through self-knowledge we can bust out and expand ourselves beyond the here and now.

I am happy to have a conversation about EI coaching for you or a student in your life.

We Are Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things