Mr Simon Mundie released Champion Thinking: How To Find Success Without Losing Yourself last month. He is also a speaker, BBC broadcaster and host of The Life Lessons Podcast. “Dr Albert Ellis founded REBT, a precursor to CBT, based on Stoicism,” he says. “He believed that all of our self-induced suffering is created by three irrational beliefs. ‘I must do well’. ‘Others must treat me kindly’. ‘The world must be easy’. As long as we believe these, we are out of line with reality. They are nonsense. Let go of them.”

“We all have an inner critic, but find your inner cheerleader,” says Ms Nadiyah Davis, a counsellor at The London Practice. “Imagine how you might speak to a loved one if they needed support. Approach your own self-talk with the same kindness and grace as you would them.”

“Take a moment at the end of each day to consider what has been your happiest hour of that day,” says Mr Luke Worthington, who is a world-leading personal trainer and has a consultancy role at Nike. “Write it down. The chances are it will be the simple things – walking the dog, a good conversation with a partner, playtime with the kids – rather than closing the deal at work or buying a new watch. Prioritise these things.”

Create your own playlist of positive songs to fire yourself up. “Keep it handy for moments when the mood is low,” says Mr Charlie Dark MBE, DJ and the founder of Run Dem Crew. “A midday dance break is always helpful for lifting the spirits and music can bring some sunshine into your life. I try and spend at least one hour a day either making, playing or listening to music. It’s me time.”

Dark recommends using a mantra to motivate yourself: “Mine is ‘I am enough’ and I repeat it to myself in the mornings while I’m getting ready for work. ‘I am strong, I am powerful, I am loved because I’m unique and I am me and I am indeed enough.’ It’s the first thing I say to myself in the morning and the last thing I say to myself at night.”

Ms Sheena Yap Chan is the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller The Tao Of Self-Confidence. “No matter how big or small of a success you achieve, it’s important to celebrate it,” she says. “You can do a little celebratory dance or give yourself a high five. This helps you build your confidence.”

Global keynote speaker Mr Jeremy Schwartz has been the MD at L’Oreal and director of marketing at Coca-Cola. “Simply shifting the dialogue in your mind from ‘I’m not good enough’ to ‘I love the person I am’ can be transformative.” But it comes with a caveat. “Don’t be a narcissist. Don’t arrogantly love yourself. Just change the voices in your head.”

Mr Nick Trenton is the author of Stop Overthinking and has an MA in behavioural psychology. “Our ancient ancestors developed physiological machinery to help them survive threat – a dangerous tiger prowling in the forest,” he says. “Modern man, however, has developed language, and this tool can evoke powerful physical and emotional states in us. We can read words describing a scary and threatening situation and reproduce in our bodies precisely the same fight-or-flight response as our ancestors. ‘Never exaggerate,’ said writer and philosopher Baltasar Gracián. ‘It is a matter of great importance to forego superlatives, in part to avoid offending the truth, and in part to avoid cheapening your judgement.’”

“How would you treat a six-year-old child in your care?” asks top life coach Mr Nick Hatter. “Would you let them stay up really late and give them junk food all the time? Would you let them skip their homework? Would you berate them if they made a mistake? Or would you be unconditionally supportive to them?”

“Getting enough sleep is so vital for quality of life,” Hatter says. “Sleep affects everything from immune system and impulse control to energy and overall mood and vitality. When we are tired, we are more likely to engage in self-sabotaging behaviours.”

Mr Blake Bauer is a spiritual teacher and the author of You Were Born Not To Suffer. “A large majority of men become addicted to numbing their thoughts and emotions because they’ve never learned how to have a healthy relationship with their inner world,” he says. “Alcohol, drugs, food and work can easily become escapes. Stop numbing and running from yourself. Find a coach or therapist and talk about your deeper feelings, thoughts, inner conflicts and goals.”

“Fear is just a figment of your imagination,” Schwartz says. “Yet it can feel real and stops us being the best of who we can be. As a mountaineer, I have learnt that we must access the courage inside ourselves to overcome our fears to then achieve great things. The fear at first does not diminish, the courage overwhelms it.”

“If we are too focussed on the end goal, there can be a tendency to ignore the present,” Worthington says. “Success is often derived from how much you sacrifice. However, it is possible to make positive changes that have long-term benefits while also enjoying the journey. Living 60 of your expected 80 years not doing things you want to do in the hope you might get an extra two at the end makes very little sense.”

Davis has some examples for turning negative thoughts into positive ones. “For instance, ‘there’s no way I’m going to get this job, so why even bother applying?’ might be reframed to, ‘there’s a fair chance I could get to the interview stage for this job, what have I got to lose? I’ll apply at least’,” she says.

Bauer says that self-respect is everything. He has some tools to achieve it. “Good questions to ask yourself daily – when facing important decisions or challenging situations – are: how can I handle this in a way where I’ll respect myself? How can I handle this without hurting myself or the people I care about? How can I speak and carry myself in this moment that will lead to self-respect?”

Mundie uses an example of an Iron Man athlete to suggest that goals aren’t everything. “You’re not your beliefs,” he says. “Some of the best things have come from not believing in myself. I like to tell the story of a female runner who was trying to achieve seven-minute miles. But her timer stopped working, so she ran in an explorative way. She ended up doing six-and-a-half-minute miles. Not by believing she could do it, but by getting rid of a belief. Exploration is the key.”

“Picture this: a serene lake surrounded by lush greenery, reflecting the clear blue sky above,” Trenton says. “Yet, amid this peaceful scene, your mind starts to wander. Suddenly, you’re engulfed by thoughts of potential job loss, strained relationships and uncertain futures. These are what Epictetus calls ‘imagined anxieties’. ‘Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems,’ he said. You are in heaven, but your mind makes you think you are in hell.”

“Through awareness and acceptance, you can identify your individual areas of development,” Davis says. “Instead of using this awareness as an opportunity to be self-critical, find ways to turn these into strengths. For instance, you may choose to practice the weakness until you feel more confident at it, or seek support from self-help tools such as podcasts, books or productive conversation.”

“Men emotionally default to anger as a way of expressing their hurt, frustration or overwhelm,” Bauer says. “But anger often sabotages relationships and goals. Anger itself is natural and healthy, but how you express it affects the environment around you. Here are some helpful phrases: ‘I feel hurt because…’, ‘I feel overwhelmed because…’; ‘I need you to understand…’ and ‘It’s important to me that…’.”

“Most of us are good at asking ‘What could this mean?’ but we latch on to the first answer,” Trenton says. “By simply asking what else an event could mean, we can unlock a world of possibilities and maintain a balanced perspective even in the face of negative events and create a healthy space between our experiences and reactions.”

Mundie uses a sporting success as an example of how we can master our inner critic. “Alistair Cook had his best-ever Ashes in 2011,” he says. “He had an inner critic, which is totally normal. He started to call it his gimp. Observe. Allow. Don’t resist or identify. Then you can act despite whatever your mind is saying. Don’t expend energy trying to change the thought. It’s just a thought. Out of the battle, thoughts stop being a problem.”

“Sometimes, the thing that hold us back is the trauma that we carry,” Yap Chan says. “You cannot show up as a champion if you are still holding onto the past. It’s important to be aware of your traumas and find ways to heal from them to become the champion you are destined to be.”

“Finding coping strategies isn’t easy,” Davis says. “Especially when we’re unable to confidently admit which strategies are healthy. Explore what works best for you – it may be exercise, journalling, playing sports or seeing a therapist. Whichever you choose, weigh up the benefits to ensure you have a safe and comfortable space to call your personal outlet.”

For Bauer, achieving goals is about understanding your emotions and learning to express them. “Men tend to internalise their emotions,” he says. “This comes from both insecurity and conditioning that’s been passed down from previous generations. Developing the ability to communicate your emotions is necessary if you want to succeed professionally or have healthy personal relationships. Over time, internalising your emotions out of pride, ego or a fear of vulnerability can lead to depression, addictions, unhealthy relationships and eventually physical health problems.”

“Emotional intelligence is our ability to understand what we’re feeling and have empathy for others,” Mundie says. “EQ is a better predictor of life satisfaction than IQ. The gold-winning 2016 GB women’s hockey coach Danny Carey developed his EQ. He came up with an EQ shortcut list. Where am I? Where do I need to be? Where are they? Where do they need to be? He could use this to change his mood. And do the same for his team. You can use this at home with your family. You can consciously lift your state.”

“It’s important to work on yourself every single day,” Yap Chan says. “The best athletes know that mindset is more important than the strategy. If you don’t think you are a champion, then you aren’t going to go out there and make things happen. Start by reading books, listening to podcasts or surrounding yourself with people who will lift you up. This is non-negotiable.”

Aim for consistency, Worthington says. “Any kind of self-improvement regimen should be aiming to create long lasting improvements to quality of life,” he says. “This means that whatever interventions we make should be those that we can reasonably sustain. We see real progress in the small things that we do consistently over time. I would rather see a client work at 80 per cent all year around than at 100 per cent for six weeks, then have to give up for two weeks because they’re ill, injured or fed up.”

“It’s easy to get bogged down in a negative way of thinking and become blind to the good things the universe is delivering,” Dark says. “If you keep complaining about everything the universe is not delivering, it continues to give you negativity. But when you tell the universe the things you appreciate, it rewards you with more. Your list can be as simple as, ‘Today, I’m grateful I got to feel the sun on my face, for the bird I saw in the sky and for listening to my favourite song on my headphones on the way to work.’”

“You might be self-sabotaging because you are simply too stressed and busy,” Hatter says. “High stress could lead to bad habits or procrastination, it could also lead to more distorted thoughts about yourself or others, known as ‘cognitive distortions’ in cognitive behavioural therapy. Thus, you might need to say no more, do less during the day, and most importantly, block out time in your calendar for yourself to have some fun.”

Dark believes that a small amount of movement can allow you to escape your thoughts. There are other benefits, too. “Going on a fitness journey and seeing the physical changes can be a great indication of how powerful you are when you focus on yourself,” he says. “Run Dem Crew allows me to spend a few hours every week with a positive group of people who come together to help each other be the best that they can be. Being around positive energy is infectious.”

Mundie suggests we need to ditch “success evangelism”, espoused by the likes of The High Performance Podcast and The Diary Of A CEO, etc. “In sport, people set out with a goal to win the World Cup,” he says. “In life, we think we’ll be happy when ‘x’ happens – the car, the promotion. People reach the top of their mountain and think, ‘Is this it?’ They feel empty. Johnny Wilkinson felt low after his famous World Cup win. Success is not synonymous with happiness. Flow, however, is inherently enjoyable. When we’re in flow, we merge with the moment and past and future disappear. Our sense of self goes. Sport, reading, conversation – there are various portals to this. The happiness we seek is not out there, it’s already in us.”

“Procrastination is a form of self-sabotage,” Hatter says. “Certainly, it’s no fun dealing with things like credit-card bills, taxes, disputes and so forth, for example. But not dealing with them could have serious consequences. Thus, as I mention in my book, The 7 Questions, ask yourself, ‘What’s the next smallest step I can take?’ – and then take it. Small steps are much less overwhelming than big ones. And small steps are how mountains are climbed.”

“You can notice that a thought is just a thought, irrespective of its content,” Mundie says. “You can try to resist it, ignore or supress it. This fuels it. Recognise the difference between the thinking mind and the aware mind. We’re not our thoughts, we’re aware of our thoughts. I’m aware of the thought ‘I am bad.’ There is now a space between you and the thought. Like the weather, the thought can simply pass.”