He told the Collegiate players that in preparation for games they should only focus in the job they have to do.
"Do that as well as you can do and don't focus on anything else," he said.
"You're going to have a better chance at playing really well if you're not focusing on anything else that is out of your control."
An example he gave was the toll an extensive travel schedule took on the Highlanders during this year's finals series.
"All those sorts of things were physically draining on the players but we didn't talk about that because we thought if we talked about that we'd end up throwing in the towel before we had started playing.
"(And) that's no different at the Highlanders level than it is at your level."
He also talked about playing against quality opposition and attacking it like a boxing match by breaking it down into 12 rounds.
"You might not have a knockout punch but you will have mental ability to keep fighting for the whole 12 rounds."
Joseph also encouraged the students to keep studying if they wanted to and not to rely on a rugby career which could come to an end overnight with a serious injury.
"That's why you can't put all your eggs into the rugby basket, that's for sure."
