Cara Stawicki won gold in the Lightweight Women’s pair at the 2019 World Championships, but as a high school swimmer, a walk on to Lehigh University’s rowing program, and even as she moved into international competition, Cara struggled with confidence. A well-meaning phrase: “you have so much potential” was repeated so often she wondered why she wasn’t reaching that potential. Today, as the Founder of Be Brave High Performance, she facilitates peak performance and well-being in athletes, coaches, and industry leaders through mindset training and personal development.

GUEST

Cara Stawicki

Founder, Be Brave High Performance

3x US National Team member

2019 World Champion, LW2-

QUICK LOOK

00:00 - Episode intro

01:56 - Cara’s rowing week on a scale of 1-10

02:36 - The Huddle

04:01 - Hot Seat Q&A

06:07 - Cara’s rowing origin story

09:22 - Defining moments that helped shape Cara’s path

11:26 - Working through setback and challenging times

13:46 - Building a community of trust

18:19 - Love affair with the pair

22:00 - Cara’s transition to coastal rowing was “freeing;” the opportunities coastal brings 

27:44 - Be Brave began as a blog to give back to the rowing community

29:49 - Performance doesn’t happen in isolation: considering the whole athlete

36:29 - Rituals and mind set on race day

40:22 - How Be Brave High Performance is helping athletes

43:11 - Self-talk and the inner critic

44:17 - Advice to Cara’s younger self

44:51 - Steady State Network news and notes

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To get links to the people, clubs, and events mentioned in this episode, check out the show notes on our website.

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This episode was made possible in part by Breakwater Realty, iCrew, RowSource, and our Patrons.

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Steady State Podcast is hosted and edited by Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan. Tara provides additional audio engineering, books show guests, and is our sponsor and donor coordinator. Rachel writes our scripts and e-newsletter, and manages the website and social media. Our theme music is by Jonas Hipper.

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