Building Lasting Confidence and Peak Performance – An Interview with Coach Nassim Ebrahimi
- 18 hours ago
- 5 min read
Nassim Ebrahimi, PhD, a developmental psychologist and mental performance coach, helps individuals unlock their full potential by training their minds to handle pressure. This article explores her unique approach to coaching, including practical techniques to build confidence, resilience, and mental clarity, whether for athletes, professionals, or parents. Through structured reflection and science-backed strategies, Nassim empowers people to perform with greater consistency and less internal friction.
Nassim Ebrahimi, Developmental Psychologist, Mental Performance Coach, Author, and Speaker
Who is Nassim Ebrahimi?
I’m a developmental psychologist, mental performance coach, author, and podcaster who works at the intersection of psychology, performance, and human development. My work focuses on helping people understand how their mind operates under pressure and teaching them how to train it intentionally.
Across sport, leadership, professional life, and parenting, I help individuals build clarity, confidence, and consistency so performance becomes sustainable rather than stressful.
What inspired you to start Becoming My Stronger Me and help people strengthen their mind, body, and heart?
The inspiration came from both my professional training and my lived experience. I spent years studying human development and working with high-achieving individuals who were doing everything right yet still struggling under pressure.
At the same time, I was navigating my own transition away from a traditional executive career path and asking deeper questions about identity, fulfillment, and performance. I realized that many people are taught what to do, but very few are taught how to think, respond, and recover when things do not go as planned.
Becoming My Stronger Me was created to close that gap and to help people build strength that is not just physical or external, but psychological and deeply human.
How would you describe your coaching philosophy in one sentence?
Train the mind with the same consistency, structure, and compassion that you train the body because performance follows patterns, not personalities.
What are the most common challenges your clients face before they find you?
Most people come to me feeling capable and committed, yet inconsistent, undisciplined, or lacking confidence. They are often performing below their potential under pressure, struggling to trust themselves after setbacks, or tying their confidence too closely to outcomes.
Many believe they lack confidence or discipline when, in reality, they have never been taught the mental skills required for their environment. What they are experiencing is not a character flaw. It is a training gap.
How does your mental performance coaching help athletes or professionals perform at their best?
Mental performance coaching helps people understand what is happening internally when the stakes are high cognitively, emotionally, and physiologically. From there, we train skills such as attention control, emotional regulation, self-talk, and recovery.
When individuals learn how to respond intentionally instead of react automatically, performance becomes more consistent regardless of the setting.
What tools or techniques do you use to help someone build confidence and resilience?
Confidence is built through evidence and trust in oneself. I help clients track preparation, reflect on process, and evaluate performance using skill-based standards rather than emotion-based judgments.
Resilience develops when people learn how to interpret setbacks accurately without catastrophizing or attaching mistakes to their identity. That shift alone often changes how they show up the very next day.
Can you share an example of a transformation you’ve helped a client achieve?
I have worked with individuals who once avoided high-pressure moments and now actively seek them out. One client came to me after repeated setbacks that had eroded their confidence.
Through structured mental training and reflection, they rebuilt trust in themselves not by thinking positively, but by learning how to respond when things did not go as expected.
The transformation was not just improved performance, it was a shift from fear-based execution to skill-based confidence.
What results can someone expect when they work with you or follow your coaching?
Whether I am working one-on-one with an athlete or professional, supporting a team, or facilitating sessions with parents or coaches, the outcome is the same: people gain clarity, self- trust, and consistency when under pressure.
They develop confidence rooted in preparation rather than emotion. They learn to regulate stress instead of fighting it and to separate who they are from how they perform. That separation is what makes growth sustainable across seasons, roles, and stages of life.
You’re also the author of The Stronger Mind. How does the book fit into your overall work?
The Stronger Mind was created as a direct response to the needs of the athletes and clients I was already working with. I initially developed special topic episodes on the Becoming My Stronger Me podcast to share mental performance concepts and tools they could return to between sessions.
Over time, clients shared the same feedback. While they valued the conversations, they wanted a written format they could reread, highlight, and take notes. The book grew out of that feedback. To further support the transition from understanding to application, I added guided reflection questions to each chapter. The goal was to help readers move beyond simply learning about mental performance and begin integrating the skills into their daily training, work, and life. In that way, the book functions as both an educational resource and a practical companion to the coaching process.
Alongside The Stronger Mind, I also co-authored Baller Goals, which applies the same mental performance principles to fundamental technical skills and soccer and helps young athletes and their parents understand how sport teaches skills that extend far beyond the sport.
What unique approach do your podcast and coaching programs offer that others don’t?
My work bridges science, lived experience, and reflection. Everything I teach is grounded in psychological research, but it is shaped and refined through conversations with current and former athletes and coaches across levels.
Through the Becoming My Stronger Me podcast, I regularly interview athletes and coaches about their journeys. These conversations focus not just on what they achieved, but on how they handled pressure, setbacks, identity shifts, and transitions. They reveal patterns that show up far beyond sport and apply directly to leadership, work, and life.
That insight informs my coaching and content. I do not oversimplify performance, and I do not overcomplicate it either. I take a developmental approach that recognizes people evolve, environments change, and performance is never static. This perspective allows room for growth and improved performance.
Who is your ideal client, and how can they know they’re ready to work with you?
My ideal client is reflective, motivated, and ready to take ownership of their development. They do not need to be struggling. They simply want to perform with more intention and less internal friction.
They are ready when they stop asking what is wrong with them and start asking what skills they need to train.
What’s one simple action someone can take today to start becoming their stronger self?
Notice how you respond after something does not go as planned. Pay attention to your heart rate, what you say to yourself, and where you focus your attention. Begin shifting all three to a more productive place.
That moment, not the outcome itself, is where mental strength is built. Awareness is always the first step toward change.
