Building A Growth Mindset And Mental Fitness – Exclusive Interview With Dora Kurimay
- Jul 15, 2022
- 6 min read
Dora Kurimay is an author, coach, and mental performance coach. She has been interested in psychology since a young age. Since her dad is a psychiatrist, she heard about the theories of Freud, Jung, and Fromm by the time she was in high school. As an introvert, observing people and wanting to analyze and understand their behavior came naturally to her. When she played for the Hungarian Table Tennis National team, she came to realize the importance of the mental game and she also had a chance to work with a sports psychologist. In the process of working with a sports psychologist, she learned about the concept of “flow”, developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi about how she can perform her best effortlessly, which turned out to be transformative for her as a player. Along with the technique of visualization, these two things helped me to become one of the top players in Europe under age 18. Having experienced sports psychology’s ability to personal empowerment and professional success firsthand, she knew that after her sports career, she would transition into the field of psychology and sports psychology. Which she did.
She is the founder of Dora Kurimay Inc. She works with athletes, professionals, teams, and anyone who seeks fulfillment and well-being in their mind, body, and spirit. Dora's effective training programs are designed to reduce stress, successfully manage internal and life balance, and maximize performance.
Dora Kurimay, Performance Coach
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
I’m Dora Kurimay, an author, athlete, and performance and mental coach. I was born in Budapest, Hungary, and studied for my MA degree in Psychology and played professional table tennis there but, I am a die-hard New Yorker now! For fun, I love running, yoga, traveling around the world, and finding hidden spots around Manhattan. In my practice, I am passionate about helping people realize their goals and their best selves.
What is your business name and how do you help your clients?
My business, Dora Kurimay Inc., is a New York-based company that offers in-person and online mental coaching services in the US and all over the world. I work with athletes, professionals, teams, and individuals who seek fulfillment and well-being in their mind, body, and spirit. My effective individualized training programs are designed to reduce stress, successfully manage life balance, and maximize performance. Much like a sports coach, a mental coach helps professionals improve their abilities to increase their performance. Developing strong mental skills is often the differentiating factor between what makes an athlete or a professional into an elite performer. I offer individual and group coaching consultations and workshops to help my clients achieve their personal and professional goals. The objective is to focus on clients’ potential (their unrealized and/or underutilized abilities, and skills) by leveraging clients’ strengths, uncovering obstacles and stressors in their way, and targeting the areas they are most interested in addressing to help them reach their goals more effectively.
My methods are structured around constructive conversations as well as video training sessions and my publications are intended to inspire new thinking, perceptions, and behavior that actualize clients’ potential, improve their performance, create focus and directional clarity, support the achievement of their personal and professional goals, and enhance their quality of life. Different areas that I focus on include the following topics: goal setting, motivation, stress management, coping skills, increasing self-confidence, teamwork, self-awareness, identifying patterns, helping manage emotions, and overall improving well-being.
What kind of audience do you target your business towards?
I target my business towards both high-performance athletes, especially young and developing athletes, and leaders in business.
What are your current goals for your business?
I’d like to continue to develop my online performance enhancement and well-being programs in addition to my in-person sessions, in an interactive and engaging way to be able to reach a broader clientele. I’m also the chair of the USATT Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and our mission are to create a welcoming and encouraging environment for all table tennis players. We aim to build an inclusive culture within USATT, which benefits from the differences among its constituents. These differences include but are not limited to, race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, LGBTQ+, age, religion, language, and physical and cognitive abilities. Through education and action, we are committed to promoting diversity, inclusion, and equality to ensure all voices are heard.
What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future?
One of my goals is to create more programs and create more collaborations with other organizations—especially, learning communities (high schools, colleges, etc.) and sports and psychology organizations.
Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?
I have been inspired first and foremost by my parents and grandparents—who not only modeled high performance in their professional and sporting lives but did so in a caring way.
What is your work inspired by?
In addition to my personal life experiences, my work is inspired by the innovative and interdisciplinary fields of psychology, sports psychology, positive psychology, and sociology. I’m inspired by Flow by Csikszentmihalyi, the work on mental toughness, mindfulness, and the concept of always looking at the “why” regarding people’s motivation. As these fields have demonstrated growth, creation, and transformation can be learned and improved upon.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
My greatest career achievements are my books. Growing up I never imagined becoming an author. I wrote Get Your Game Face On, Get Your Game Face On Like The Pros! and My Stories of Mental Toughness On and Off The Table. These books are about how to gain a psychological edge, build mental toughness specifically how to build rituals between points, and create healthy lifestyle choices and life skills. In my latest book, I also share my personal experience that I learned about as a young competitive player, theories that I have used my whole life, and that I have taught to successful athletes and professionals. I’m also proud of my table tennis achievements especially, winning a European Championship and earning my M.A. degrees in Psychology and Sport Psychology. However, I believe my greatest achievements are the successes my clients have in increasing their performance and well-being!
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
I’d like for psychology and sports psychology to be more integrated into American sports and especially, youth sports. The benefits of the field are well documented—increased performance, better recovery, mental resilience, toughness, and mindfulness just to name a few—I wish that more coaches and organizations would see the mental aspect of the game to be as important as practices, lifting, and healthy eating. Building a growth mindset and mental fitness could be a game changer in youth education.
Dora Kurimay, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dora Kurimay is an author, coach, and mental performance coach. She has been interested in psychology since a young age. Since her dad is a psychiatrist, she heard about the theories of Freud, Jung, and Fromm by the time she was in high school. As an introvert, observing people and wanting to analyze and understand their behavior came naturally to her. When she played for the Hungarian Table Tennis National team, she came to realize the importance of the mental game and she also had a chance to work with a sports psychologist. In the process of working with a sports psychologist, she learned about the concept of “flow”, developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi about how she can perform her best effortlessly, which turned out to be transformative for her as a player. Along with the technique of visualization, these two things helped me to become one of the top players in Europe under age 18. Having experienced sports psychology’s ability to personal empowerment and professional success firsthand, she knew that after her sports career, she would transition into the field of psychology and sports psychology. Which she did.
She is the founder of Dora Kurimay Inc. She works with athletes, professionals, teams, and anyone who seeks fulfillment and well-being in their mind, body, and spirit. Dora's effective training programs are designed to reduce stress, successfully manage internal and life balance, and maximize performance.
