Discover the Power of Flow & How I Overcame Self-Sabotage to Help Athletes Unlock Their Potential
- Brainz Magazine
- Mar 5
- 4 min read
Tracey Hemphill founded Complete Athlete, a mental performance program designed for high-performing individuals. It focuses on helping people improve output, productivity, and results by teaching them how to access Flow States more consistently. Tracey is also a competitive swimming coach and authored the book Unlock Your X-Factor.
I remember the frustration like it was yesterday. The endless hours of training, the sacrifices, the unwavering commitment, only to find myself standing behind the blocks, weighed down by doubt, stress, and distraction. Instead of stepping into my potential, I hesitated. Instead of trusting my preparation, I overthought every detail. I was holding myself back and didn’t even realize it.
Looking back now, I see it for what it was: self-sabotage. It was the product of stress, lack of clarity, and deeply rooted frustration that I didn’t know how to process. Like many adolescent athletes, I had unknowingly built mental barriers that blocked me from experiencing Flow, the effortless state of full immersion where performance feels automatic and exceptional results follow. It wasn’t just about talent or training; it was about mental clarity, emotional regulation, and learning how to remove the roadblocks that kept me stuck.
The silent struggle: When your biggest opponent is yourself
As a young athlete, I knew how to work hard, but I didn’t know how to work smart. I could push through grueling sets in the pool, but I struggled with focus, self-belief, and emotional resilience. Instead of directing my energy toward my goals, I wasted it battling distractions, self-doubt, and internalized frustration. I didn’t understand the science behind performance psychology, and without that knowledge, I was unknowingly reinforcing patterns that limited my success.
This internal battle wasn’t just about sports; it was about how I approached challenges in every aspect of life. I bottled up negative emotions, let stress control my decisions, and spent too much time dwelling on things beyond my control. While I was physically present in training, my mind was often somewhere else, stuck in past mistakes or fearing future failures.
The turning point: Discovering flow and the mental game
It wasn’t until I stepped away from competition and began coaching that I started to see things differently. As I worked with young athletes, I saw my own struggles reflected in them. The same patterns of self-sabotage, distraction, and stress were holding them back. But now I had a new perspective; I was determined to find answers.
I immersed myself in the study of Flow, sports psychology, and high-performance mindset strategies. I learned that Flow isn’t something that just happens; it’s something we can train for. More importantly, I discovered that the biggest Flow Blockers, stress, distraction, negative emotions, and lack of clarity, were the very things that had held me back as an athlete.
I made it my mission to help others break through these barriers. I developed strategies to help athletes access Flow consistently, build resilience, and develop a mindset that supports, not sabotages, their success. The more I worked with athletes, the more I saw the transformation: frustration turned into focus, doubt into confidence, and pressure into opportunity.
Breaking through the flow blockers
If there’s one thing I wish I had known as a young athlete, it’s that success isn’t just about physical training; it’s about mastering the mental game. Here are four of the biggest flow blockers I see in young athletes today and how to overcome them:
Negative emotions: Unprocessed frustration, anger, and fear create mental clutter that blocks flow. Learning to regulate emotions through mindfulness, breathwork, and perspective shifts is key to unlocking high performance.
Distraction: Social media, school stress, and external pressures pull athletes away from the present moment. Training focus through deliberate attention drills and structured routines can help athletes stay locked in when it matters most.
Stress and anxiety: Pressure can either fuel performance or break it down. Teaching athletes to reframe stress as a performance enhancer rather than a threat is a game-changer.
Lack of clarity: Without clear goals and a strong sense of purpose, athletes drift rather than direct their energy. Setting high, hard goals and breaking them into daily actions helps create direction and momentum.
The complete athlete: Turning lessons into impact
Today, my work is dedicated to helping athletes take control of their mental game. Through my Complete Athlete Program, I guide athletes toward clarity, focus, and flow so they can stop standing in their own way and start unlocking their full potential. My goal is to give young athletes the tools I wish I had so they can step into competition feeling confident, present, and prepared.
Self-sabotage, stress, and distraction don’t have to define an athlete’s experience. With the right strategies, they can be replaced with trust, resilience, and flow. And when that happens, everything changes.
Ready to step into your potential?
If you’re an athlete looking to improve your mental game, or a parent or coach who wants to support young athletes more effectively, stay tuned. Over the next year, I’ll be sharing insights, strategies, and tools to help athletes build mental strength, maximize focus, and unlock flow.
Connect with me on LinkedIn and explore the Complete Athlete Program to start your journey toward high performance.
Read more from Tracey Hemphill
Tracey Hemphill, Transformation and Performance Coach
Tracey Hemphill is a performance coach, competitive swimming coach, and mental skills mentor with over twenty years of experience in the field. As the founder of Complete Athlete, she helps athletes and high-performing individuals break through mental barriers, access Flow State, and unlock their full potential.
She is the author of Unlock Your X-Factor: The Complete Athlete Guide to Peak Performance and is now an executive partner contributor to Brainz Magazine, where she shares insights on mindset, Flow State, and performance. Tracey is passionate about and empowers athletes, coaches, parents, and high-performance individuals to cultivate resilience, confidence, and long-term success—both in sports and in life.
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