Emma talks with former Clinical Psychologist David Galbraith. 

Join me while I talk with former clinical psychologist and mind coach, David Galbraith. David is a fascinating human being and his story of how he got on the path to becoming a psychologist (spoiler alert initially it was to follow the ladies, but in the end, it is what saved him). With all that is going on in the world, I wanted to talk to David about Courage. 

David Galbraith – aka HOGman (Habit Of Greatness-man) – believes in a world and future driven by passion and in ‘people acting from courage’ is the way to get there.

Through public speaking, his book Unleashing Greatness and his work with teams and individuals he encourages and equips people to discover and express their true selves, which results in people living their most extraordinary lives.

David shares with me how he barely made it to be a psychologist after struggling through uni with terrible grades. He finally found a uni that would take him for his masters. Perseverance was vital for Davids success. He explains how being mentored by top psychologists such as Nigel Latta and how that influenced him to be one of the best in his field. His initial experiences in forensics and criminal behaviour helped him find a new path that would eventually flow into how he showed up in the world. 

One of the critical elements in our discussion is that relationships are one of the key variables in all that we do. David talks about a mentor that said to him “Clients will not remember what you did or asked them to do. They will remember how they felt.” Connecting with people in whatever we do is what matters. 

What resonated with me in this conversation was the idea of doing things inside out. It’s how I have lived my life, and it is how David has lived his. 

He retired this year from psychologist and has gone back to his roots as a farmer. 

His distress in his 20s is where his inside out framework is looking at courage as a keystone. He learned that anxiety has masks, and we move along an emotional spectrum. A turning point was listening to Tony Robbins Personal Power program. If his fear was that big, he figured he had to work on balancing the opposite of fear, which was courage. To be one with anxiety, he had to build courage. 

The science is now backing up that if we have a courageous perspective during a time of crisis, we can change the way our brain and our body reacts to adversity. Coward is deciding a place of self-doubt and stepping away from potential. How often are we doing that in life? What we should be doing is stepping into our selves and our identity. 

The way that David looks at it is 

   Identity x Courage = Authenticity

With COVID people were getting lost in the unknowing. Poverty and health are the key catastrophes that we are currently dealing with, and for many, this was the first major adversity they have experienced. 

Knowing your identity and where you come from is critical to step through life moments of adversity courageously. When I listened to David and reflected on our conversation, I couldn’t help but think about how that lack of identity and knowing who we are has impacted our youth and our mental health stats in New Zealand. Under the moment of most significant pressure, we need to fall back on where we come from and who we are to give us courage to step through and be our authentic self. 

When you reframe things, COVID can be an opportunity and catalyst. To do that we need demask, be authentic, vulnerable and step with courage into change. How are you going to reframe your mindset and create more courage in your life?

David Galbraith has been a New Zealand Registered clinical psychologist for more than 20 years. He specialised in performance psychology in the sporting and business arenas. Retiring after 20 years he now embarks on a journey of sharing the message of the power of courage. DG in a nutshell:

• Sports psychologist to Super Rugby (recently retired after his 11th campaign)
• Also to All Black Sevens Team (11th campaign)
• He is in his 3rd Olympic cycle with High-Performance Sport NZ.
• Worked with several elite athletes and teams including Lisa Carrington, Sarah Walker, Mike Dawsen and Magic Netball
• Works with the Japanese Rugby Team at the World Cup in Japan and continues through to the 2023 World Cup in France.
• Author of the book Unleashing Greatness

He still supports individuals, teams and businesses to establish robust and productive cultures based on personal and collective excellence.

You can also check out David podcast with his podcast with Golf Coach Jay Carter, Talking Performance. On the podcast, Jay and David discuss mental skills and how they relate to coaching, sport, business and life. They have guests on the show from time to time to get their world view on these topics. https://podtail.com/en/podcast/talking-performance/

I have loved listening to the podcast and tuning into the live recordings on their Facebook page Talking Performance. 

To learn more about DG and find his book Habit Of Greatness go to https://www.habitofgreatness.co.nz/about/

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Emma Ferris