Today’s guest is Dr. Vanessa Shannon (@cardinalmindset). Vanessa has served as the Director of Mental Performance for the University of Louisville Athletic Department and Norton Sports Health since October 2015.

Prior to moving to Louisville, Vanessa spent two years at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL, where she served as the Mental Conditioning Coach for several programs, coordinated Psychological Test Preparation for IMG’s NFL Combine Training Program. 

She also has experience as an Assistant Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology at West Virginia University, and prior to that was the Department Chair of Exercise and Sport Sciences at Tennessee Wesleyan University.

She holds a PhD in Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sports Studies with a specialization in Sport Psychology and concentration in Counseling from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and competed as a member of the Women’s volleyball team while attending Rice University.

This episode, we deep dive into the necessity of emotional agility. Vanessa outlines the consequences of neglecting these important tools, and we spend a ton of time laying out an approach to developing higher levels of emotional intelligence. There is so much packed into this episode - if you’re looking for links to any of the books, talks, and concepts we discuss, you can find the show notes at mtl.academy.