Ultimate success: Trainers say it's all in the mind.

• Author: Schwab, Robert
• Position: Attitude/Altitude - Maggie Conner - Brief Article

MAGGIE CONNER LOOKS GOOD ON TELEVISION, SHE LOOKS GREAT skiing, and she sounds very nice whispering from a compact disk that her listener, intended to be a golfer, must adopt the "mindset of a champion."

"You, with the mindset of a champion," Conner's voice coos on one of her "Golf Hypnosis Series" disks. Dream, she says, "of golf games well played."

Conner and Traci Brown, both champion athletes -- Conner in world-class mogul competition, and Brown in collegiate cycling -- have converted Conner's expertise at coaxing others to excellent performances into a business they call Ultimate Journey Productions.

They operate the firm from their homes in Boulder, mostly by traveling to professional and elite-athlete clients who range from NFL football players to women skiers to Ironman triathletes.

Channel 9 News, during its half-hour "Salt Lake City Live" series of Olympic wrap-ups before the news hour at 10 p.m. during the Winter Olympics, showcased Conner speaking with Olympic athletes Lisa Kosglow (snowboarding) and Courtney Zablocki of Highlands Ranch (luge).

Neither woman medaled at Salt Lake City but each was close behind the leaders in their sport. And Zablocki, who finished 13th in women's luge, endorsed Conner's teaching on camera, saying, "I think it definitely works."

Brown says Conner's teaching techniques are hard to describe, but the CD comes with a little flyer about self-hypnosis. It's clear as you relax into the soft sounds of Conner's voice that hypnosis is what she is about.

As sports psychologists have done for some time now, she suggests you visualize a best performance and allow that mental visualization to drive your body's movements in the heat of competition.

Brown says Conner's techniques can talk you into anything from not smoking to losing weight, although the pair is hoping to talk more corporations and CEOs into using their therapy to increase competitiveness and efficiency.

Personal coaching, not just with Conner's style but...