Diving into The Mindset of a Champion: Insights from Nigerian-American Basketball Player, Ike Diogu
06/01/24 • 31 min
Welcome back to Season 11 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast! In Episode #334, host Andrea Samadi reconnects with Ike Diogu, a former Division I college athlete turned pro, whose impressive mental mindset left a lasting impact on her over 20 years ago.
Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/hvBHF4ectQI
EPISODE #334 with Nigerian-American Basketball Player, Ike Diogu on "The Mindset of a Champion" we will cover:
✔ Ike's journey from ASU to the NBA and Beyond.
✔ How his upbringing, influenced by his family shaped his mental toughness
✔ How his coach, teammates and personal values played a role in his success in the NBA and as the captain of the Nigerian Basketball Team.
✔ How Ike inspired Andrea, over 20 years ago, to continue working with students and social and emotional learning skills.
Discover the story of Ike's journey from Arizona State University to the NBA, and how his upbringing, influenced by a deep-thinking father and supportive siblings, shaped his mental toughness. Learn how Ike's coach, teammates, and personal values played a role in his success, both in the NBA and as a captain of the Nigerian national basketball team.
Andrea and Ike delve into the importance of mental preparation, goal setting, and the power of a supportive environment. Ike shares his experiences from the Rio 2016 Olympics and his ongoing passion for basketball and mentoring others. This episode is a testament to the power of social and emotional learning, and the impact of mental mindset on achieving extraordinary results.
Don't miss this inspiring conversation that highlights the intersection of neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and athletic excellence.
On today's episode #334 we meet with someone who caught my eye, over 20 years ago when I worked with athletes at Arizona State University. Sitting in front of Ike Diogu, years before his exciting career would unfold, I just knew he would be successful. I was in my late 20s, and hadn’t published my first book yet, The Secret for Teens Revealed, that was written with the purpose to help our next generation sharpen the skills that were integral for achieving goals (in school and sports). It designed to develop certain ways of behaving and more importantly, thinking, that would enable young people to achieve whatever it is that they want in life.
Working with elite College athletes at ASU, I thought would be a great place to test out the chapters of this book (Chapter 1- Developing a Winning Attitude, Chapter 2- Developing Your Mind, Chapter 4-Goal-Setting and Persistence, Chapter 5-Building Your Confidence Formula for Predictable Results for Success). You get the point here. So, one day, I asked Ike a series of questions to “feel out” where his mindset was, and I’m not kidding, he almost knocked me out of my chair.
Whatever I asked Ike, he had a well-thought out answer, that told me for certain that he didn’t need the book I wanted to publish. He had already learned these skills at a young age, that I knew would skyrocket his future success. I just remember thinking “where will Ike Diogu end up?” and while I didn’t follow his career over the years, I did see his photo on the wall one day, going down to the baggage claim at Arizona’s Sky Harbor Airport, and it was then that I thought back to the moment I knew this young man had everything he needed, for an exciting and successful life.
Of course I was going to look for him, and see if he would be open to coming on the podcast. We’ve learned about the Daily Grind in the NHL on EP #38[i], Accelerating Leadership in the NFL on EP #166[ii] but I knew I’ve always been missing the Mindset of the Athlete.
I’m honored, and so excited to connect back with Ike Diogu,[iii] who I’ve not seen face to face for over 20 years, and dive into “The Mindset of a Division 1 College Athlete Turned Pro.”
Welcome Ike!
Thank you for agreeing to meet up with me here, and filling me and our listeners in to what you’ve been up to the past 20 years!! I wonder, when I reached out to you, do you remember me from back at ASU? You wouldn’t know that that was my first official job in the US. I came from Toronto, Canada, with so many hopes and dreams for our next generation, and September 11th really made it difficult for me. Working with you gave me vision and hope during what I remember as my most difficult and challenging times in a new country. I used to look forward to those days at ASU, and knew you were helping me much more that I was helping you. It does come full circle sometimes when we get to tell those people who helped to motivate and inspire us. I’m so grateful to have had the chance to work with you back then.
INTRO Q: Before we get to where you ...
Welcome back to Season 11 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast! In Episode #334, host Andrea Samadi reconnects with Ike Diogu, a former Division I college athlete turned pro, whose impressive mental mindset left a lasting impact on her over 20 years ago.
Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/hvBHF4ectQI
EPISODE #334 with Nigerian-American Basketball Player, Ike Diogu on "The Mindset of a Champion" we will cover:
✔ Ike's journey from ASU to the NBA and Beyond.
✔ How his upbringing, influenced by his family shaped his mental toughness
✔ How his coach, teammates and personal values played a role in his success in the NBA and as the captain of the Nigerian Basketball Team.
✔ How Ike inspired Andrea, over 20 years ago, to continue working with students and social and emotional learning skills.
Discover the story of Ike's journey from Arizona State University to the NBA, and how his upbringing, influenced by a deep-thinking father and supportive siblings, shaped his mental toughness. Learn how Ike's coach, teammates, and personal values played a role in his success, both in the NBA and as a captain of the Nigerian national basketball team.
Andrea and Ike delve into the importance of mental preparation, goal setting, and the power of a supportive environment. Ike shares his experiences from the Rio 2016 Olympics and his ongoing passion for basketball and mentoring others. This episode is a testament to the power of social and emotional learning, and the impact of mental mindset on achieving extraordinary results.
Don't miss this inspiring conversation that highlights the intersection of neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and athletic excellence.
On today's episode #334 we meet with someone who caught my eye, over 20 years ago when I worked with athletes at Arizona State University. Sitting in front of Ike Diogu, years before his exciting career would unfold, I just knew he would be successful. I was in my late 20s, and hadn’t published my first book yet, The Secret for Teens Revealed, that was written with the purpose to help our next generation sharpen the skills that were integral for achieving goals (in school and sports). It designed to develop certain ways of behaving and more importantly, thinking, that would enable young people to achieve whatever it is that they want in life.
Working with elite College athletes at ASU, I thought would be a great place to test out the chapters of this book (Chapter 1- Developing a Winning Attitude, Chapter 2- Developing Your Mind, Chapter 4-Goal-Setting and Persistence, Chapter 5-Building Your Confidence Formula for Predictable Results for Success). You get the point here. So, one day, I asked Ike a series of questions to “feel out” where his mindset was, and I’m not kidding, he almost knocked me out of my chair.
Whatever I asked Ike, he had a well-thought out answer, that told me for certain that he didn’t need the book I wanted to publish. He had already learned these skills at a young age, that I knew would skyrocket his future success. I just remember thinking “where will Ike Diogu end up?” and while I didn’t follow his career over the years, I did see his photo on the wall one day, going down to the baggage claim at Arizona’s Sky Harbor Airport, and it was then that I thought back to the moment I knew this young man had everything he needed, for an exciting and successful life.
Of course I was going to look for him, and see if he would be open to coming on the podcast. We’ve learned about the Daily Grind in the NHL on EP #38[i], Accelerating Leadership in the NFL on EP #166[ii] but I knew I’ve always been missing the Mindset of the Athlete.
I’m honored, and so excited to connect back with Ike Diogu,[iii] who I’ve not seen face to face for over 20 years, and dive into “The Mindset of a Division 1 College Athlete Turned Pro.”
Welcome Ike!
Thank you for agreeing to meet up with me here, and filling me and our listeners in to what you’ve been up to the past 20 years!! I wonder, when I reached out to you, do you remember me from back at ASU? You wouldn’t know that that was my first official job in the US. I came from Toronto, Canada, with so many hopes and dreams for our next generation, and September 11th really made it difficult for me. Working with you gave me vision and hope during what I remember as my most difficult and challenging times in a new country. I used to look forward to those days at ASU, and knew you were helping me much more that I was helping you. It does come full circle sometimes when we get to tell those people who helped to motivate and inspire us. I’m so grateful to have had the chance to work with you back then.
INTRO Q: Before we get to where you ...
Previous Episode
Insights from Grant 'Upbeat' Bosnick: "The Neuroscience of Expectations" Chapter 8
Join us on episode 333 in the 11th season of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. Our mission, as always, is to equip you with actionable, scientifically supported methods to hone social-emotional learning skills, boost productivity and promote overall well-being. This episode continues our 18-week self-leadership series informed by Grant Bosnick's proven strategies. In this installment, we turn our attention to the crucial role of expectations in our lives.
Starting off the discussion in the engaging world of Grant Bosnick's book, we dissect the meaning and importance of expectations. We then explore the crucial aspects of emotion regulation, persuasive traits, effective time management, and the vast concept of change. This episode revisits key moments from our previous chapters, ranging from the neuroscience of goals to the significance of hydration on brain performance, AHA moments, creative insights, and more.
The highlight of the episode is an in-depth exploration of the science of expectations, underpinned by Grant Bosnick and David Robson's book, 'The Expectation Effect.' Here, we probe the profound influence of positive and negative expectations on our daily life, mindset, goal achievement, and even health. Inspired by teachings from luminary mentors like Bob Proctor, this illuminating exploration of expectations is designed to leave you with a fresh perspective.
Stories from an unforgettable seminar 20 years ago bring to life the immense power of expectations. Understanding the neuroscience connections, we further explore dopamine and its correlation with our level of expectations. Practical tips to apply these psychological insights in day-to-day life are provided as we take you on an intellectual journey from theory to practice.
Throughout the episode, you will discover how to better regulate your expectations to boost your happiness, productivity, and confidence. This intellectual journey will equip you with the tools to tap into the power of expectation and unlock a better version of yourself. Expect the best and join us to uncover the enormous potential within you.
Stay tuned for our next episode, 'The Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation', as we continue our intellectual journey.
Welcome back to SEASON 11 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to help us to APPLY this research in our daily lives.
On today's episode #333 we continue with our 18-Week Self-Leadership Series based on Grant Bosnick’s “Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership: A Bite Size Approach Using Psychology and Neuroscience” that we first dove into with our interview on EP #321[i] the end of January. The goal was that each week, we focused on learning something new, (from Grant’s book) that builds off the prior week, to help take us to greater heights in 2024. Today we cover Chapter 8, “The Neuroscience of Expectations” and l look at what Grant Bosnick covers on this topic, as well as a deeper dive into David Robson's book, The Expectation Effect.
We will cover:
✔ What is the meaning and importance of expectations?
✔ An unforgettable moment when Andrea first encountered the power behind our expectations.
✔ We will explore the science of expectations to boost your happiness, productivity, and confidence.
✔ 3 TIPS for applying The Neuroscience of Expectation to your daily life.
✔ Ideas to trouble-shoot applying this concept, along with belief, to achieve your goals and dreams.
I did need to take a short break from writing and recording since we last covered this book, the end of March, with new responsibilities in my work world. I’ve got my footing now, and missed researching, recording, and producing these episodes. The benefits that I personally receive from gathering this information, and sharing with it you, the listener, wherever you might be tuning in around the world, helps me in many different ways, but mostly, this work keeps me thinking, and making connections, neural connections, which we all know is important for cognition and learning. I did appreciate the notes from listeners of past episodes they have found helpful, and will continue to provide my best work here. We will resume the final 5 chapters of Grant’s book, based on Self-Leadership strategies, covering the topic of expectations today, then emotion regulation, persuade a...
Next Episode
Insights from Grant 'Upbeat' Bosnick "Emotion Regulation: The Neuroscience Behind Staying Strong and Clear-Headed" Chapter 9
Welcome back to Season 11 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast! In episode 335, we delve into the neuroscience of emotion regulation, a crucial skill for personal and professional success. Host Andrea Samadi continues the 18-week self-leadership series inspired by Grant Bosnick’s book, focusing on strategies to enhance our ability to manage emotions effectively.
We explore practical tips from Bosnick, such as labeling emotions, creating distance from them, and reframing situations to view them more positively. Additionally, we highlight the importance of sleep for emotion regulation, drawing insights from experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman and Dr. Matthew Walker. Discover how improving your sleep quality can lead to better emotional control and overall well-being.
Join us as we connect the dots between neuroscience, sleep, and emotional intelligence to help you achieve greater heights in 2024 and beyond.
On today's episode #335 we continue with our 18-Week Self-Leadership Series based on Grant Bosnick’s “Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership: A Bite Size Approach Using Psychology and Neuroscience” that we first dove into with our interview on EP #321[i] the end of January. The goal was that each week, we focused on learning something new, (from Grant’s book) that builds off the prior week, to help take us to greater heights in 2024.
For Today, EPISODE #335, we are moving on to Chapter 9, covering “The Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation” which showed up on my leadership self-assessment as a low, RED score, of 20%, but again, not because it’s not something I don’t need to pay attention to, this is something I pay attention to daily, right up there with physical health that is listed in Pathway Four of Grant’s Self-Leadership Map.
If you’ve taken the leadership self-assessment[ii], look to see if Emotion Regulation is of a low, medium or high priority for you to focus on this year.
Before looking at what Grant Bosnick has to say about Emotion Regulation in Chapter 9 of his book, I looked around to see what else I could find on this topic.
We actually have already covered this topic as one of the six social emotional learning competencies that we launched this podcast with, back in August, 2019[iii] and we called that episode “Self-Regulation: The Foundational Learning Skill for Future Success.” In this early episode, we defined self-regulation as “the ability to manage your emotions and behavior in accordance of the situation. It includes being able to resist highly emotional reactions to upsetting stimuli, to calm yourself down when you get upset, adjust to a change in expectations and (the ability) to handle frustration”[iv] In other words, it’s the ability to bounce back after a setback or disappointment, and the ability to stay in congruence with your inner value system.
HOW TO HELP OUR CHILDREN WITH EMOTION REGULATION:
We covered some tips on this early episode to help our children to practice this skill, and strengthen their “self-regulation” muscles, beginning with:
- Naming the emotion they are experiencing at a given moment, with a strategy (like stopping to take some deep breaths when something frustrates or overwhelms them) so they can keep working, and move forward. Uncovering what motivates each of us to develop intrinsic motivation that can help propel us forward. Taking brain breaks, or “unfocused moments” that allow for the brain to solve problems during these resting states.
WHAT GRANT BOSNICK SUGGESTS FOR EMOTION REGULATION:
Then we covered some tips to help us to continue to strengthen these self-regulation skills in the workplace, and I wondered what Grant Bosnick had to say in chapter 9 of his book on this topic. Within the second paragraph of this chapter, he explains the science behind emotion regulation when he outlines that “neuroscience has shown us that the exact same feelings we get from a physical threat also occur as social and emotional threats.” (Page 91, Chapter 9, Emotional Regulation, Bosnick). This took me back to working with children with this foundational learning skill, that determines future success, and the whole idea that “social and emotional threats” can impact us (stop us in our tracks) exactly as if there was a actual physical threat (like coming face to face with a bear in the forest).
In Chapter 9, Grant explains some different ways to regulate our emotions, and he uses a graphic to demonstrate how to move forward, while regulating our emotions, instead of spiraling out of control, downwards, and it begins with where we focus our attention. If we focus on the emotional aspects, he tells us “it will drive us into a downward spiral” but if we learn to “focus on the nonemotional aspects, or distance ourselves (from whatever it is that is bothering us) this is...
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning - Diving into The Mindset of a Champion: Insights from Nigerian-American Basketball Player, Ike Diogu
Transcript
Welcome back to Season 11 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity, and results using what I saw as the missing link, since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school, the application of practical neuroscience. I'm Andrea Samadi, an author and an educator with a pas
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