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.
GUESTCara StawickiFounder, Be Brave High Performan...
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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