Rachael Popcak Isaac developed the Success and Performance Coaching Program and is our guest on this episode. Rachael grew up as a competitive figure skater and dancer, so she knows the love of competition. She has also experienced the intense pressure, anxiety, and stress inherent in sports or any high-pressure endeavor and this is the part of competition she did not like. Early in Rachael’s career, she leaned on her faith and the love God had for her, and something shifted in her spirit and this new perspective changed her life. Rachael was able to enjoy and flourish in her God-given talents.

Rachael is the daughter of Dr. Greg Popcak, founder of CatholicCounselors.com and the Success and Performance Coaching Program is a division of her father’s company. Rachael is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and uses her skills and experience to help people who are in highly competitive, high-performance, high-pressure, high expectation, and/or high stress professions. Her clientele ranges from high school to professional athletes, dancers, doctors, lawyers, executives, anyone who has a position with high responsibility and high expectations. Common among these are people who have unbalanced competitive professions where stress and anxiety are the norm and which, if left unchecked, can lead to unhappy, anxious, and stress-filled lives apart from their field of endeavor. That is where Rachael’s new program can help.

Like the other services offered on CatholicCounselor.com, the Success and Performance Coaching Program uses tele-services to help clients achieve their goals. Unlike sports psychologists or other secular counseling services, CatholicCounselors.com bases their services on St. John Paul II’s teaching on the Theology of the Body. Rachael explains the importance of integrating mind, body, and spirit in the life of a competitor. Disintegration in a competitor can lead to failure, stress, and frustration in their endeavor and can spread to other areas of a person’s life. Integration can lead to a sense of calm and confidence that can make success much more attainable and offers a more fulfilling life outside a person’s field of endeavor. Rachael explains what to expect in counseling and the benefit of incorporating faith in the process. An added gem, Rachael explains her favorite definition of “confidence” and why it’s important in the life of a competitor (or anybody). Rachael also talks about how most competitors experience unique pressures, expectations, experiences, and their language might be a little different than people with other counseling needs and that’s the niche the Success and Performance Coaching Program aims to fill.

For everyone who enjoys participating in sports, or those who enjoy watching sports, Rachael suggests fostering and maintaining healthy relationships around sports is most important. Rachael ends with a heartfelt story where she experienced a time when fierce competition got in the way of enjoying her God-given gifts and those of others. It’s summed up in her adopted motto “I have nothing to prove and everything to share” and where it should lead us all… toward true confidence in relationships with others. It’s a motto that works everywhere, on or off the field.

Links:

Success and Performance Coaching - Catholic Counselors

Home - Catholic Counselors

https://catholiccounselors.com/playing-for-glory-how-theology-of-the-body-transforms-the-way-athletes-compete/

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