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empowerment academy

 knowledge + action = empowerment

What is Empowerment Academy?

It simply is just a place for you to find sources to develop yourself as an athlete and as a person. I am listing my favorite sources that have taught me so much and/or I know that have helped others as well – goal: athlete empowerment. It is like your little learning nook.. And when you are ready, book a call and let’s chat about where you can start your journey 🙂

athlete empowerment content

Approach

See, knowledge is power and by scrolling through the material on this page, you can find what you need without wasting time, skipping past some of the trial and error.

Results

 If and when you are ready to get better and want to quench your thirst for improvement and learn how to do it efficiently, here we go! Athlete empowerment academy at your service! 🙂

Books to read
Empowerment podcasts for athletes
PODCASTS TO LISTEN
Empowering movies for athletes to watch
VIDEOS/MOVIES TO WATCH
Empowering people to follow for athletes
PEOPLE TO FOLLOW

Are you an athlete?

Test how strongly you identify yourself as an athlete with

this free, simple, and fun test! 

“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” – Kobe Bryant

“I don’t think it’s about who you play, I think it’s about who you are.” -Nick Saban

Empowerment academy for athletes

About Practice

Peak – Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool

“This book is a breakthrough, a lyrical, powerful, science-based narrative that actually shows us how to get better (much better) at the things we care about.”–Seth Godin, author of Linchpin

The Sports Gene by David Epstein

Epstein dispels many of our perceptions about why top athletes excel. He shows why some skills that we assume are innate, like the bullet-fast reactions of a baseball or cricket batter, are not, and why other characteristics that we assume are entirely voluntary, like an athlete’s will to train, might in fact have important genetic components.

Kindle version: https://amzn.to/35oErBC

 

Athlete empowerment podcast

The Learner Lab Podcast 

Learning is a skill and it is a skill we can all get better at. There is a lot of science that shows us how to do that. If something is leading to athlete empowerment, it is learning to learn better because you also see results and what could be possible! This podcast unpacks a ton of that learning for you. Check out their website too! 🙂

About Mindset

Empowering books for athletes to read

Heads Up Baseball 2.0 by Ken Ravizza & Tom Hanson

This book is the best! It gives you so many tools to conquer the mental hurdles and become unstoppable instead.. Because it has so much information, it also might feel overwhelming, so there’s that. But I call this my bible of the headgame 🙂 

Psst. Kindle and Audible versions are more affordable…

 

The Mindful Athlete – Secrets to Pure Performance by George Mumford

This one is more basic and a great starting to point to understand more how much your mind affects your performance and how to start training it to become more successful as an athlete. Your mind is the key to empowerment. You can have more control over your performance.

Kindle version here. 

 

The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey 

This book is a game changer for many athletes and coaches, it was for me for sure! Understanding the unconscious and conscious mind more fully and how to use them better… Priceless!

About Leadership

Want to be a better leader? Well, leadership starts within. Know yourself. Lead yourself. Know others. Then you can lead others in a credible way. Athlete empowerment is a part of that move. The athletes today will be the leaders of the authentic leadership in the future..

Fake leaders won’t last. Fake cultures won’t last. Authentic people, authentic leaders and authentic cultures do because they are stronger. They base on humans. You know the ones who then create that culture… Hence these books 🙂

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

My favorite book of 2020.. Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. “A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others..”

Emotional Intelligence Collection by Harward Business Review

This compilation was so worth it. Different angles on smart management and packed with results from research. My favorite ones were Authentic Leadership and Self-Awareness. I can’t wait for more and more leaders to get stronger in emotional intelligence and create true wellbeing and cultures of authentic excellence around them. 🙂

Drive by Daniel Pink

Leaders are supposed to motivate others, right? This book dives into the topic that really makes you think twice about how to create motivation. I love his way of thinking! The external reward isn’t a lasting motivation.. It needs to be something bigger than that to truly matter and get more out of people.

Email Gang Invitation to Curious Individuals 

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you like this content, find it useful, or even just a bit intriguing… My emails include weekly resources that I have found helpful either in the past or I am now going through now.. So if you prefer to keep yourself updated in this space, come join us!

Best Podcasts For Athletes

Best podcasts for athletes

Finding Mastery with Michael Gervais

This podcast is my all-time favorite! The interviews are just mindblowing at best when you can dive into the inner life of the top performers. Pretty rare treat and you can always find something interesting to listen to. Try, for example, the episode with Tianna Bartoletta  or Sue Enquist… 

Best podcasts for athletes

The Impact Theory

If and when you want the knowledge about human potential, how to get better and start unlocking yours.. This is it for you! My second favorite and does leave me often feeling empowered! So many awesome guests and extraordinary interviews! Check out for example David Bauer, Michael Gervais (!!) and Joe Dispenza.

Best podcasts for athletes

Coach Your Brains Out with Gold Medal Squared

Yes, this podcast is targeted to coaches but listen, I think everyone should listen these two amazing athlete stories and their lessons learned… Courtney Thompson  about redefining failure and Nicole Davis about mindset, part 1 and part 2 here. Enjoy!

Podcast recommendations for athletes
OK one more.. Because this is another one that I have listened to for years and has so many different aspects of how we can become great… A couple recent favorites to mention to get you started with are with Jay Shetty  and Kerri Walsh-Jennings . Maybe listen to this one about getting better at managing pressure with Sian Beilock.

About motivation…

Sometimes we need something to kick us back up. We all face some struggles along the way and sometimes a little extra motivation could be needed. This is my favorite… Put your headphones on, listen to the words and messages. One of the clips in this compilation has to get you going again. They are excellent!

Best motivation video Tom Bilyeu

About Creating Success 

Books for athletes to read

Growth Mindset by Carole Dweck

This is really one of the cornerstones of the development of your abilities and therefore also your success. How do you develop a more successful mindset and grow? How do you manage mistakes and failures?  

Books for athletes to read

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Success is consisted of the tiny habits you have and create. When you get even slightest wins, the empowerment factor shows up:) If your system is in place, your likelihood to achieve remarkable results is much higher. You need only one book about creating habits and it is this one (if you ask me) 😊

Books for athletes to read

High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard

Many people swear by this book. I think it is a little too long for the points that this book is making and a little too many stories of his excellent customers but there are some really good ideas in this book that we can learn from and understand what high performance is and requires. I enjoyed specifically the downsides and dangers of being or becoming a “high performer”.  

Books for athletes to read

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza

Want to become a new version of yourself? That’s necessary if you want to succeed, the version of who you are now needs to change so you can become better. This book is the exact script on how to create your future-self and bridge the gap between current you and the future you. 

Get Coaching!

You know I have read all these and plenty more… If you wish to get the accelerated pat towards your greatness, shoot me a msg, book a call and let’s chat more!

Email Address
saana@saanakoljonen.com
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About The Bigger Picture

Need to get the bigger picture in place and learn some

harmony and authenticity in your life..? Check these out.

This one offers a great look to what we can learn from the monks and to prime our mind, body and spirit. There are lessons that also make a lot of sense for many athletes to learn from, for example how you wake up and set your morning.

Dig deeper, dig in to the history to learn from the greatest minds of Stoicism and how their lessons still just really hold true nowadays. You don’t need to be an ancient philosopher to understand this book and its message 🙂

This is an Audio book and you can try Audible for free from here. This book tells you how you can also organize your inner life so you can live more authentically in all areas. I was just nodding when I listened to this 😃  I know I am biased because I basically just love everything that Michael Gervais and Pete Carroll do and represent but this book is a great compilation of their lessons for a broader audience.

Well this one is just a classic. If you struggle with anxiety or you tend to overthink or worry, this one is helping you to understand the power that the present moment has. The lessons are so powerful that it really forced me to rethink everything twice before letting my mind dictate the mood of the day. Each moment is special and the present one is often the safest one. ❤️

Latest Blog Posts

I write about these topics on my blog utilizing the experiences and packaging the lessons for you

Skin Deep: Discovering Authenticity and Resilience in High Performance

Skin Deep: Discovering Authenticity and Resilience in High Performance

Explore ‘Skin Deep: Discovering Authenticity and Resilience in High Performance,’ a compelling blog post that delves into the unique intersection of skin health and high performance. Uncover how embracing vulnerability transforms into a powerful form of authenticity and resilience. Join us on a journey from struggle to strength, redefining what it truly means to excel and thrive in the face of adversity. Discover transformative insights for athletes and high performers navigating their own paths of personal and professional growth.

 Awesome People To Follow on Instagram

 

There are many people we can follow and I suggest you to follow the ones who provide quality value and empower you to be better, not feel bad about yourself.

Here are my picks from whom I love to soak some information and inspiration from all day long! 

 

Instagram accounts to follow for athletes

Mark Manson

Author of Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

His Instagram account is a representation of important stuff with humor and real life approach. It makes me smile and think. 🙂 

Athlete empowerment daily

Daily Athlete

 Athlete Mindset Coach /Derek Thiessen

I like this account because it has quotes, cool graphics and just doesn’t post the same tired old quotes that we have seen thousands of times already. And, that journal really is a great one!!

Athlete empowerment

Dustin Watten

Professional volleyball player 

Dustin shares pure value about volleyball, nutrition, sports life, mindset and meditation. Doesn’t disappoint! 🙂

Athlete empowerment

Some philosophical lessons have been crucial to my development as a human being. Questioning what I am, why I am and what I do, why I worry. This one of my favorite texts from Alan Watts, in a YouTube form:)

“You have to regard yourself as a cloud, in the flesh, because you see clouds never makes mistakes. Did you ever see a cloud that was misshapen? Did you ever see a badly designed wave? Heh, no they always do the right thing! But if will treat yourself for awhile as a cloud, a wave, and realize that you can’t make a mistake, whatever you do. Because even if you do something that seems to be totally disastrous, it all come out in the wash somehow or other. Then through this capacity you will develop a kind of confidence, and through confidence you will be able to trust your own intuition.”

Other Useful Stuff

Headspace

Empowerment Academy Saana

Managing yourself, your thoughts, your emotions, the moments in our lives and be able to be more present more often is crucial to high performance. This is my favorite app for meditation! It teaches you how to do it and then you can choose the topics based on what you need and want to learn. And you can try it for free!

One Softball Library

Empowerment academy

Sue Enquist is a former softball coach who has been wildly successful and her site has a ton of great content that you can search by topics. Try for example mental game or performance and watch a couple of the video clips that sound good to you!

Compilation video from Jordan Peterson

Empowerment Academy Saana

15 minutes of wisdom.. 10 rules from Jordan Peterson on how we can get more in life and all of these lessons are so applicable also in the sports world. Watch it if you want get empowerment lessons in 15 minutes!:)

The Best Movies/Documentaries 

Empowerment Academy Saana

I know many have already probably seen this documentary but it would be a mistake not to include this here. I enjoyed the storylines, real events, connections and mindset pieces that came up in this documentary like a lot! 

This documentary shows the incredible power of human mind, visualization and focus.. I also love the interview Alex Honnold had with Michael Gervais. You can find that one here.

Empowerment academy Saana
empowerment academy

Ok this is not that important for the mind but it is just a fascinating story and tells interesting results about doping… Couldn’t believe how the story unfolded! 

Also, if you dig this, follow me on these platforms, ok? Great!!

I do my best to create meaningful content mixed with an authentic vibe of who I am.

Join now!

Feedback time! 

 

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