Foundations of a World Champion - Gergely Siklósi - Learning, Feedback, Focus & Improvement

The World Championship Fencing in Men’s Épée was a truly spectacular bout where within the last minute Gergely Siklósi made an incredible comeback from a 3-score deficit. If you want to see a high-pressure situation, this is it. Besides discussing the final of the World Championship, Gergely shared his thoughts on his mental development and the key components which eventually made him victorious. This again is one of the longer episodes but truly worth the listen, we discussed the influence of personality in sport, how to make the most of feedback, mentorship, flow and Gergely shares his mental process after a loss. As always enjoy and let us know what you think of the episode!

0:30 Introduction

2:47 Start of Conversation

3:28 Gergely on Weapon Choice in Fencing

6:40 Overview of Different Weapons & Influence on Play

8:18 The Influence of Weapon Choice on Your Development

10:26 What Came First - Nature Vs. Nurture?

11:36 How Epee Influenced Gergely Growing Up

15:36 Development of Confidence as a Young Player

17:47 Development of Personal Style

18:48 Influence of Nationality

20:34 Gergely's Approach to Personal Style

23:14 Setting Traps for the Opponent

25:32 Being in the Moment & Flow

28:31 Flow & Process Orientation

29:40 Gergely's Thoughts Development & Flow

31:18 Quality of Attention - Deliberate Practice

34:00 Gergely's Mental Relaxation Practice

35:35 How to Deal with a Loss

40:21 Benefits of Guided Meditations & Body Scans

41:38 Balancing Mental Practice & Technical Practice

41:55 Asking for & Processing Feedback

45:15 Being Okay With Making Mistakes

49:05 On Growth, Struggle and Pay-Off

49:54 Short Term Pain of Looking at Mistakes, Ego and Growth

51:32 Ego or Confidence?

54:33 A More Broad Approach to Growth

55:14 Lonely vs. Aloneness

57:33 The (in)Effectiveness of Social Comparison

58:42 Intermission - Extra Thoughts on Aloneness & Social Comparison

1:01:11 The Power of Acceptance

1:03:26 Gergely on the Importance of Mentors

1:06:24 Finding Opportunities to Improve In Spite of Disadvantages

1:11:53 World Championship - Home Crowd Advantage

1:13:31 Breakdown of The Championship Bout

1:17:16 The Last Crucial Minute

1:20:25 Consequences of COVID

1:25:01 Gergely's Experience of Getting COVID

1:31:29 Gergely's Favorite Mental Skill