Want more mental strength plays? Pick up a copy of ⁠The Mental Strength Playbook⁠.

Have you ever had a big moment coming up, like a presentation or an interview, and spent the final few minutes frantically cramming? We often tell ourselves if we just review our notes one more time, we’ll feel confident when we walk in.

But research shows that last-minute cramming is probably making you perform worse, not better. And if you’re a crammer like I am, I have good news—there’s a much better way to spend those final few minutes before a high-pressure moment.

Some of the things I talk about are:

• Why cramming before a big moment quietly raises your Anxiety instead of lowering it—and the interview that taught me this the hard way.
• The play that works for athletes at the foul line and for the rest of us before a sales call, a performance review, or dinner with the in-laws.
• The three science-backed reasons a simple ritual calms your nerves and sharpens your focus (no lucky socks or magical thinking required).
• My own two-step pregame ritual—and how I leaned on it when Good Morning America gave me less than an hour’s notice to go live on national TV.
• The three pieces of a ritual that actually works
• The one mistake that makes most people make

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• 278 — The 3 Mindset Shifts You Will Help You Grow Mentally Stronger This Year
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠318 — How to Turn Anxiety Into a Competitive Advantage With a 2-Minute Play That Tricks Your Brain

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Amy Morin Therapist, Bestselling Author, Host of the Mentally Stronger Podcast

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, international bestselling author and the host of the Mentally Stronger podcast. Her books on mental strength, including 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, have sold more than 1 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages.

She’s practiced therapy for over 20 years and she’s a sought after speaker whose TEDx talk, The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong, has become one of the most popular talks of all time with more than 22 million views.

Amy lives on a sailboat in the Florida Keys.