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BY Joel Junker
Episode 146 – What Transitioning from the NFL and the Military Have in Common
Transitioning from military officer to business leader is a big change. Military and business careers present different professional and personal cultures. For example, they compensate and promote differently, and although the skills and experiences relate across the domains, functional experience rarely does. It is a big change to leave the military and enter civilian life and a business career. Change equals uncertainty, and often uncertainty creates caution, doubt, lack of confidence and sometimes these mindsets lead to fear. This fear can then inhibit us from pursuing our authentic goals and, in this case, keep a junior military officer from taking the jump from military to business.
To address this challenge, I spoke with Dr. Amber Selking, author of Winning the Mental Game, The Playbook for Building Championship Mindsets which goes on sale TODAY! Amber holds a PhD in Applied Sport and Human Performance Psychology, where she did her dissertation on NFL players transitioning from their NFL playing career to the next phase of their lives. I connected with Amber to explore what she learned and find parallels between the transitions out of the NFL and the military. How could a junior military officer apply what she learned in her dissertation? I was amazed at how similar the transitions are. 
Amber shared her thoughts that a successful transition requires knowing your own personal identity. That a jersey and uniform do not give you meaning, yet we, I say we because I once wore the uniform and Amber played DI college soccer, attach so much meaning to it. We have to look inside of ourselves first, identify who were are, what’s important to us, what we value and what we are willing to do to protect those values and pursue our own goals. When we look outside of ourselves for the meaning and fail to look internally, we get lost. We meander, we start, we stop, we get frustrated. Amber shares how we can avoid this, find meaning and purpose and put our fears behind us.
Additionally, Amber is the Vice President of Leadership and Culture at Lippert, a leading manufacturer and supplier of highly engineered, high-quality components to the RV industry, marine industry, automotive industry and beyond. She knows about creating a winning organization and developing leaders as well as what truly gives meaning to our work.
We close the podcast with Amber sharing some insights from her new book, which describes the eight foundational mental steps in building a winning mindset, how your brain works, how it impacts performance, and how you can find your next layer of greatness. Her book also provides specific Championship Mindset Training that will allow you to navigate the demands of high performance and everyday life itself and build your own Championship Mindset. You can order Winning the Mental Game here.
Additionally, I highly recommend Amber’s podcast, Building Championship Mindsets. She just launched a new season. I highly recommend going into the archives for some gems as well! I listen to her podcast at least once a week. The episodes are short and always have an actionable item to becoming better. 
What Amber and Cameron-Brooks have in common is helping people make successful transitions, helping cultivate a winning mindset and making a difference with developing leaders. If you’re interested in learning more about how Cameron-Brooks helps with career coaching and interview preparation, contact us. We’d love to chat.
Cameron-Brooks is a Military-to-Business transition specialist that partners exclusively with Junior Military Officers to launch rewarding careers in Corporate America. Connect with us in the following ways.
“Master The Military Transition” Webcast
Above & Beyond Military Transition Podcast
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