Episode #69. Redefining the athlete: self-belief, comparison & the power of moving forward with Cara Cunniff
For years, Cara Cunniff ran ultra-marathons, Ironman races, and even six days across the Sahara desert, and still couldn't see herself as an athlete.
In this honest conversation, we explore:
• why so many of us feel “not good enough” even when we’re doing extraordinary things
• the pressure of comparison, to others and our past selves
• how identity shifts when injury, ageing or life changes
• why movement means far more than performance
• what self-belief actually looks like in real life
This episode is for anyone who moves, trains, walks, or simply tries, but still struggles to see themselves as capable.
It’s a reminder that you don’t need a medal to be a ‘mover’, you just need to appreciate yourself for keeping moving forward.
Chapters
00:00 The Journey to Athleticism
07:37 Defining Success in Sports
14:45 Mindset and Motivation in Training
20:26 Listening to Your Inner Voice
22:07 Embracing Challenges and Competition
25:05 The Journey to Self-Identification as an Athlete
28:18 The Importance of Self-Belief
34:53 Redefining the Concept of an Athlete
37:14 The Power of Movement and Mindset
About this week’s guest:
Cara Cunniff
Cara Cunniff is an Emotional Intelligence and Performance facilitator who helps leaders and teams understand the emotional forces that shape how they think, connect and perform in the moments that matter. Before founding The Business of Emotions, she spent years testing her limits in some of the toughest endurance environments on earth.
Cara has completed some of the most demanding endurance events in the world. This has included multi-day ultramarathons such as the Marathon des Sables, carrying all her own equipment and food to survive. She has also raced Ironman Triathlon and Escaped from Alcatraz, swimming from the former prison on Alcatraz Island to the mainland of San Francisco.
For a long time she did not see herself as an athlete. What she discovered was that the real work was not distances. It was her internal landscape that she had to navigate to keep moving. Doubt. Emotional noise. The moments where the mind resists and the body follows.
This insight now sits at the centre of her work. Cara teaches emotional confidence, the skill that helps leaders and teams stay steady, honest and connected when it matters most. She works with global organisations and executive education audiences who want to upskill and develop emotionally intelligent cultures where collaboration and connection drive performance.
Connect Here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caracunniff/
Website: www.businessofemotions.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CaraCunniff
Discover you EQ score: https://eq-performance.scoreapp.com.
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More about your host, Wendy
Wendy (51) founded Reclaim Movement after a running injury at 40 turned into 4 years of chronic pain. In her search for answers and to reclaim her own movement again she discovered natural movement. The philosophy of training real life practical movements to be able to keep using them as we age, coupled with the benefit of using strengthening and mobilising whole-body movement patterns that are underused in today’s modern world made her realise she had found a way to move for life.
Wendy’s aim is to help people embrace a movement-rich life, at any age, to improve mobility, strength and confidence to keep moving well and doing the things they love for as long as they want.
MovNat Level 1 certified & Functional Range Conditioning certified, she coaches online group classes live & by replay in the Reclaim Movement membership as well as online and in-person private coaching in Oxford.
Find out more about Reclaim Movement:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/reclaim.movement
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@reclaim.movement
Facebook: https://facebook.com/reclaim.movement
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