It’s been months of research, coaching sessions with poker players, talking to industry experts and getting feedback from them on every step of the development. It’s time to introduce you to the team behind Mindset Design – the platform for mental game improvement.
And today we start with our CEO and Chief Mindset Designer – Karina Karagaeva. Kari, as we call her, likes and surrounds herself with people who have a real “Skin in the game” attitude. She is passionate about the huge potential we have. And devotes all of her time to help people increase their self-awareness and unlock that potential.
Her professional experience as a corporate trainer includes companies such as IBM, Apple Inc., Xerox, Siemens, VMware, AIG, HP, Raiffeisenbank etc. She is a meditation teacher for 7+ years and an invited lecturer at a variety of business forums.
On top of being CEO and the mastermind behind the Mindset Design idea, Kari is largely responsible for our users’ well-being and overall experience in the community.
What was your inspiration for Mindset Design?
I’ve explored the topic of mindset and mental game for over a decade now. Back in the days, I started practicing meditation, studied a lot about philosophies like Buddhism, Daoism, Stoicism and others. I studied psychology, too. I was part of the online Academies of Yale and Harvard on development psychology.
After 400+ hours of practice with people from all around the globe, what still fascinates me the most are the non-debatable aspects of personal growth. Extreme honesty and ownership about who we are, curiosity, hard work, results. Therefore, I’ve spent most of my time studying and experimenting with a variety of approaches for mindset transformation.
This year, I got certified as a Neuro-Agility practitioner which added another layer on top of my previous psychological knowledge – the Neuroscientific perspective.
I know a lot about how our brain works and what’s the Neuroscience behind extraordinary performance. Now, I combine all of my discoveries into my own methodology I call “Mindset Design”.
Why did you choose professional poker players?
I was also a professional poker player for a while being part of a poker school. So I know exactly how much time and effort it takes to become really good on the strategic part of the game. But I also realised that it is not only about the strategy.
It’s about strategy and the Mindset. You can not be successful if you keep on tilting. Or if you don’t know what to do with your emotions after having a bad day.
I’m passionate about challenging poker players’ thinking and beliefs. To transform what their past experiences, parents, society, and media made them believe about who they are, what they are capable of doing and how the game of poker works in particular.
At Mindset Design, together with other professional poker players, we help people and players to improve their mental game. To overcome tilt or become emotionally stable.
How much sleep do you have and are you more the morning type or do you prefer to work in the deep of the night?
Definitely night owl. I’m usually up till 3-4am and get between 7-8 hours of sleep a night. To be honest, I am on my way to nail the most productive and effective hours – to be more operational.
This optimization is essential for me to balance with my on-going personal transformation as a coach. I spent hours in exploring the topic of mental game myself. I have my own coach, too.
And because I practice what I preach, I decided to share my personal journey with the community. I have tons of things that I want to improve in myself. I literally use Mindset Designing as my own boot camp and joined our first cohort.
Players will see how I spent my minutes for personal development every day, every week. What habits I am building and how I progress together with them. I believe this is path you can go through with other people, not only by yourself.
We are a community of people who want to work and improve our life and ourselves entirely. So, if you are a professional or semi-professional poker player who wants to overcome tilt or become emotionally stable. If you want to know more about yourself in general, join our Discord community.