The IBE Framework
Train the mental muscle behind the result.
One process. Five capacities. A small library of tools underneath — and only the part that applies to you.
Start here
Show me the version that applies to me
You compete. You want the mental side to hold up when it counts.
- 01
Take the scorecard
Five questions. You get a score and the capacity that is costing you most.
- 02
Get your pathway
One pathway is selected — not six. It names the first thing to train.
- 03
Build the response
Learn one tool well enough to run it without thinking.
- 04
Apply it in competition
Use it in a real game, then review what actually happened.
How the work runs
One process. Seven stages.
Everyone moves through the same seven stages. The highlighted ones are where your path spends the most time.
- 1
Scorecard
Measure where you stand today.
- 2
Identify
Name the capacity costing you most.
- 3
Pathway
Get routed to one starting point.
- 4
Build
Learn the tool until it is automatic.
- 5
Apply
Run it under real competitive pressure.
- 6
Track
Log what changed, not just what happened.
- 7
Reassess
Re-score and open the next layer.
What gets stronger
Five capacities.
IBE does not train "mindset" in the abstract. It develops five specific capacities — in a person, a pair, a team, or an environment.
Notice
Recognizing what is happening — in the body, in the thought, in the room — early enough to do something about it.
A midfielder feels the jaw tighten two possessions before the turnover, instead of finding out afterward.
Regulate
Bringing arousal, emotion, and internal noise back into a workable range so skill is still available.
A swimmer behind the blocks exhales long and gets heart rate back under the line where their start still works.
Direct
Placing attention on the one controllable action that matters right now, and committing to it.
A pitcher with the bases loaded stops managing the scoreboard and narrows to the glove, the grip, the next pitch.
Connect
Communicating and staying in relationship — with teammates, staff, family — when stress makes withdrawal easier.
A basketball team down eight keeps calling switches out loud instead of playing five separate games.
Adapt
Adjusting the plan when conditions change, and carrying the lesson into the next rep, game, or quarter.
A product team whose launch slips a month rewrites the sequence in one working session instead of relitigating the miss.
Trained at four levels
- Individual
- The performer's own response between the mistake and the next action.
- Relational
- The pairs that carry performance: athlete–coach, athlete–parent, leader–report.
- Team / group
- The shared standards and communication a roster runs under pressure.
- Organizational
- The environment itself — how a program or company rewards and corrects.
The tools
A small library. Not a curriculum.
You do not need all of them. Your scorecard decides which one comes first. Filter by capacity, then open a tool to see how it works.
How the work is delivered
The IBE Practice Model
Click any stage to see what actually happens there.
Stage 1 of 6
Environment, wellbeing, and physical load come first
Before any tool is chosen, the situation is read: the culture around the performer, how they are doing emotionally and socially, and what their training load is doing to them.
- Environment — culture, expectations, schedule, people
- Wellbeing — non-clinical; referred out when indicated
- Physical load — volume, fatigue, recovery, injury
Feel it first
Train a capacity in 60 seconds
The concentration grid puts Notice, Direct, and Regulate under a live clock so you can see how your focus behaves under pressure.
Test Your Focus Under Pressure
Try Focus Under Fire, then use the Scorecard to identify what to train next.
Try Focus Under FireReady to train these?
Start with a free conversation with Philip about which capacity matters most right now.
Related reading
- Mental performance trainingThe core training cycle, skills, environments, and scope of practice.Read
- Mental training for athletesSix trainable skills, scored against your pressure response.Read
- What a mental performance coach doesFounder-led, consultation-first — and how it differs from therapy.Read
- How to develop mental toughnessRecovery speed, attention control, and standards under stress.Read