Sport Psychology Consultanting
Determination in the face of adversity
Jul 15th
I had an unfortunate experience a couple of days ago. The funny thing is I just blogged not long ago about how high performing individuals seem to focus their energy on what they can do and don’t appear to waste energy on what they can’t do or on judging others. They are busy working hard on creating; skills, providing a service, etc that they are too busy to whine and complain.
I have spent years studying high performance in the attempt to understand how to help people become happier and healthier. It is disappointing to me to come across individuals that only see what they want to see. That are so threaten for some reason they have to pull others down.
I am guessing we all come across individuals like this from time to time in our lives. What I have noticed from these infrequent encounters is that it always seems to only strengthen what I am doing. Although in this most recent situation, I found myself at times feeling emotionally charged. It just makes me more determined to keep my head down and work harder then ever. To control what I have control over.
Misery loves company what else can I say.
Young Phenom stays Calm amid Hype
Jul 14th
In the modern era, sports have become a lot more then a recreational past-time. The pressure to perform can be very intense. The stakes have gotten so high in specific arena’s that individuals will do almost anything to get an edge. A side effect that often comes from individuals dealing with large amounts of stress is high anxiety. Yet, it is not hard to find young phenom’s, as we like to call them, dealing with this stress with aplomb.
How do these “phenom’s” manage to keep there attention where it needs to be in order to perform at such high levels. Lets take a look at major league baseballs Jason Heyward. Jason has soared through the minor league system to make the major leagues at a very young age. Here are some comments made by Jason and some of his teammates.
“I think he’s always going to be like this,” “He’s got that head on his shoulders and he’s very mature. He knows what he has to do on the field, and he’s always going to stay calm. He doesn’t want to get out of his zone.”
Further when asked if he shared some of the assumptions being drawn by the many who expect great things from him, he calmly said, “My only assumption is that I’m hitting seventh and playing right field today.”
“The fact that he doesn’t want to think about it just shows his maturity,” outfielder Matt Diaz said. “He just wants to think about today. I think that’s one of the reasons he is able to walk around so calmly, because he’s really only worried about things he can control.”
I have seen this pattern in numerous high performing individuals. They refuse to worry about variables outside of their immediate control, namely the future or more specifically outcomes (winning or losing). Because they maintain a focus on taking life one day at a time it enables them to stay more attuned to the reality of what is really happening. Hence, they are able to channel their energy more effectively to do what they need, what they can do.
Jason’s last comment was “it’s just fun, that’ really all it’s ever been.”
Another form of Interference-homesickness (Part 2)
Jul 13th
Homesickness has a couple of effects on our performance. First, homesickness directs our focus to what we don’t have in our lives, namely our family, friends, familiar environment etc. This unfamiliarity creates a feeling of a lack of control. Whenever we don’t feel like we have control anxiety goes up and we start to approach life with an avoidance tendency. Focusing on what not to do, playing not to lose. Motivation, takes a huge hit and we start to develop feelings of helplessness.
Once we are in this mental cycle off of the performance arena, we typically carry this attitude over to our on court/field performances. As has been discussed in previous posts, once we are focusing on what not to do, there is no way we can maximize our potential or the effort that we put in. In fact, I have witnessed and experienced tremendously poor performances when homesickness has hit.
Back when I was playing on the pro tour at the age of 18 I found myself terribly homesick and wanted to go home. I didn’t, but I found myself lost and confused. I still remember the state of mind I was in. The majority of the time I was whining and complaining to myself. I was down and feeling sorry for myself. During matches I was going through the motions, questioning why I was even there. I realize now how I was sabotaging my own performance. In practice I would work extra hard, to the point of throwing up. This was an attempt to compensate for what I was doing during match play.
What do we do to get over homesickness? First, we need to stick it out. Going home only reinforces quitting. Second, we need to stay focused on what we CAN DO. Meaning the skills required to compete, our strokes, footwork, strategy etc. We don’t need to be callus or cold, like a lot of pro athletes try to do to cope with homesickness. If we channel our energy in the right direction we can avoid this form of interference. Lastly, with the technology available, it is easier to stay in touch with loved ones. Email, Skype, text, call, use whatever works to stay connected to avoid the loneliness that is at the root of homesickness. It isn’t easy, so don’t feel like a wimp, but it CAN be overcome.
Another form of Interference-homesickness
Jul 12th
Obviously achieving high performance is not solely about just the physical components of whatever it is that we do. In fact, the interference that takes our focus away from what we need to do, what we CAN DO often comes from directions we least expect, and sometimes from bizarre directions.
He is an example, quiet a few years back I was working (teaching tennis lessons) with a talented kid. He was progressing well and wanted to give the pro tour a try at some point in the future. I had some friends still coaching and playing on the pro tennis tour at the time and asked a friend to let this kid train and tag along to see what it takes to play at that level.
I started going on about how talented this kid was, how I thought he would be able to keep up in practice and give the guys a good work out. My friend stopped me cold and said, “I don’t care about his tennis skills, playing tennis is the easy part. What sort of person is he? Is he coachable? Will he work hard? Can he learn?” And then he asked what I thought at the time was the strangest question, “is he going to get home sick?” I was surprised, I remember thinking, “what, what does that have anything to do with anything?”
All these years later, I realize how homesickness can be a huge interference factor that prevents us from maintaining the right mind set that allows to maximize our potential and the effort we put into whatever it is we do.
Continued tomorrow
Conclusion to the Barry Zito article (Part 3)
Jul 10th
After talking about the root of his problem which is summarized best as he was setting himself up for failure with the goals and expectations he was putting on himself. He talked about hitting rock bottom. He said “I almost took it too seriously instead of just playing baseball.” When we are in an interference cycle, focusing on what not to do, playing not to lose. Doubts are building, second guessing is getting more prevalent, hesitation is becoming more pronounced, muscle tension is becoming tighter, and ultimately fun has gone out the window and been replaced with misery.
Barry then says, “the nature of players is to make mechanical adjustments. But a lot of times success comes when you relax and just have fun.” Focusing attention on the mechanics, is often a great way to re-channel energy out of interference cycles and back on the CAN DO path. However, if the depth of the interference cycle is too deep focusing on mechanics way not be enough, which is why sometimes this works and other times does not. The most significant part of Barry’s statement is relaxing and having fun part.
When we are having fun, we unavoidably focus our energy on what we CAN DO. Hence, we are more likely to performance, or pitch in Barry case with confidence. Barry states, “If you pitch with confidence, your pitches are better. If you pitch with doubt, your pitches aren’t as good. I can’t explain why or how, but sometimes they just break better.” Obsolutely!!!
To close out the article Barry says the turnaround came when he, “learned to trust myself and my instincts and stop worrying about what everyone thinks of me. Ultimately, it’s none of my business; it’s just their projection on to me.
This year has been a lot more fun, but I can’t ever say I’m back. I would never have the audacity to say that. The nature of this game is that the next game will put you right back on your butt.”
The Barry Zito article (Part 2)
Jul 9th
Barry then said “I was trying to control things that I couldn’t control—like what the batter would do. It was frustrating, to say the least. Now I know I can control only how I prepare for a game and how I throw the baseball. However hitters react to it, I have to just forget and focus on the next pitch.”
Control is an interesting word. It is a word that we would pass over without really ever noticing. But after reading this post my guess is you will have a greater appreciation for this simple little word. Control or a lack of it is at the root of many psychological issues. When we don’t feel like we have control anxiety goes up. When anxiety goes up focus or concentration goes out the wind. When our focus is all over the place confidence takes a massive hit and it becomes increasingly difficult to make good decisions hence our over all performance is far below where it could be.
In all my years of observing, studying, and analyzing high performance—understanding what we have control over and what don’t have control over is possibly the single most significant factor that leads to high performance. Those that channel all their resources into what they have control over, what they CAN DO and learn not to waste their precious resources on what they can’t do achieve incredibly high levels of productivity.
Here is an example from another baseball player, Albert Pujols. Albert is considered be many to be the best player in baseball. This is what he said a few years ago when he had won the MVP award for the National League. The reporter asked him how do you perform so well, so consistently? Albert’s response “I just DO everything I can to help my team win.”
You may think this simple response doesn’t reveal much. But lets break it down. First, he says “do”, which shows that he doesn’t over analyze, he is not over thinking and allowing his mind to get in the way of his performance. Second, he says “everything I can” which tells us he is focusing his energy on what he is doing and is not concerned with what others are or are not doing. Meaning he is taking responsibility for himself and not wasting energy judging others. Lastly, although his mindset is very much attuned to the process of what he needs to be doing, his efforts are directed towards winning. He is playing to win in contrast to many to play not to lose. Further, he is not playing for us own stats, for his own ego. His energy is directed towards the task at hand. Every great athlete I have studied always focus on the task and not their ego.
I told you it would take a while to get through this article. If you listen carefully to what people both verbally and non-verbally (body language) say we can tell a lot about what they are thinking.
Learning from the best
Jul 8th
In the June 11th issue of Sporting News magazine there is an article about Barry Zito, a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in major league baseball. The article is the perfect example of what happens to our performance when we start thinking the wrong way. Meaning what happens when we allow interference to enter our mindset.
I love these sorts of articles because I believe it is best to learn from the best. Yes, research is important and if you read any of my stuff you will hear me often say “research says. . .” But real life experiences, real individuals, real athletes DOING IT triumphs research for me. I will probably take a few days of posting to get through this article as I break down the psychological factors that are attributing to Barry’s performance.
First, Barry Zito signed a seven year, $126 million contract with the Giants back in December 2006. Coming from the Oakland Athletics Barry had been a star with a significant winning record and a Cy Young award (the top award for a pitcher in major league baseball). But through the first three years with the Giants he struggled terribly with mediocrity posting a 31-43 record.
This is what he described as the root of his poor performance. “I signed a big contract and put pressure on myself to deliver for the fans. It turned out to be too results oriented.” When you try to get results instead of going through the process, results don’t usually happen.” Absolutely results don’t come. When we start thinking about the outcome (results) we open the door for fear to come in. Fear only exists in the future, it doe not exist in the moment. In the moment there is only action. When we direct our attention/focus to the moment we rid ourselves of fear and anxiety. Anxiety is a watered down version of fear, and anxiety is never going to help us perform better. Anxiety alerts us to danger, but it is not helpful in allowing us to execute and perform the way we know we can.
When we allow anxiety to get a hold of us, we take our focus off of what we need to do right now and performance immediately takes a hit. Think about how much extra baggage we carry in our performances/lives when we allow ourselves to worry about all of the could’ve, should’ve in our lives. But these could’ve and should’ve are not reality, they have never happen, so why waste energy contemplating them? Our energy is better served getting busy making a difference in the present. If we can improve upon the present we will hopefully make the future a better place.
Fatigue is toxic to maintaining high levels of performance
Jul 7th
I had another post ready to go today, or at least I was close to having it ready to go when I felt prompted to go in another direction. I think the post today follows nicely off of yesterdays.
Fatigue messes with our performance no matter how disciplined/high performing we become. Researchers have spent large amounts time looking into the reasons why plane crashes occur. What they have found is not what movies portray, the dramatic, catastrophe, were the engine blows up and the plane takes a massive nose dive. This is not the cause of planes crashing on a consistent basis. Nor are crashes the result of negligent individuals that have a history of poor performance. What they have found across multiple crashes is that fatigue is at the root of the problem.
Fatigue undermines the normally high performing into making mistakes, and not just one mistake, but, several mistakes that all come together to cause an accident. At times fatigued pilots failed to noticed warnings ten to fifteen times. The same appears to try across the board in our lives. When we are worn out we do dumb things, we say dumb things. I can attest to this.
Just yesterday I had one of those days where I was scheduled to the minute it felt like. One delay and I was going to be behind and that is not good when you are giving talks and you have a whole camp of over a hundred kids and coaching waiting for you. Simply, I couldn’t be late. One of the tasks I needed to get done was drop packages off at the post office. While I was at the post office I grabbed a diet coke (clear sign I was running low). But in my fatigued state, feeling run down, I grabbed a 500 ml bottle for $1:50 instead of the 2 litre bottle for $1:00. Not that .50 cents is that big of a deal but I dislike (hate) making bad decisions on any level. It took me about ten minutes to put this lesson behind me.
Bye the way the lesson was to SLOW DOWN and think. When we are fatigued we tend to worry rather than think. When are not thinking we make bad decisions. Simply, when fatigue sets in we do dopey things.
Observation of High Performing Individuals
Jul 6th
High performance individuals spend their energy focusing on what they CAN DO. They spend very little if any time on putting others down. The reason I say very little, even the highest performing amongst us at times will “stick it” to there greatest rivals or adversaries at times. This lapse in focus from high performing individuals seems to happen when fatigue sets in. None of us are perfect but those who are always putting others down, looking for things to criticize in others are only attempting to cover up their own insecurities. Yes, we need to critic others to learn and grow. But criticism is one of the four horseman of toxic and corrosive behavior. Simply, stay focused on what we CAN DO.
Note: The three other horseman of toxic and corrosive behavior are defensiveness, stonewalling, and contempt.
Differences between practice and match play (Part 1)
Jul 5th
The difference between practice and match play for so many is a matter of time management. For example I had a tennis player a while back that was very talented and played extremely well in practice. She was close to the best player on our team in practice. But under pressure during match play—a different player would turn up.
This individual was taking the usual approach to try and control her mind better in pressure situations. She was seeing a counseling psychologist, doing visualization etc, but it wasn’t working. Finally, during a match were she had lost the first set 6-4 after playing very well to get to 4-4 and then choking the last two games because of nerves. I told her to step up one big step into the court to cut down the amount of time between each shot. I was hoping with less time she won’t have the time to worry so much and would be able to get out of her head and just play. I was shocked at the result.
Unbelievably, she started playing just like she did in practice. She was explosive, quick to the ball, and was making efficient good decisions without any hesitation. She was playing her game, dictating the play, and most importantly she was having fun. She won the second set easily which was great, but I wanted to see what would happen if the score was close. Would this approach stand up under pressure? I know, I know, I’m crazy, but understanding how the mind works, especially under pressure I thought would lead to more wins later. In the third set the score got to 4-4 again, her usual choking point. At this point she played several great points, intermixed with some points where her mind was racing and doubts were starting to creep into her mindset.
Though it wasn’t pretty at times, and we me hounding her to stay up in the court (she kept moving back when she got scared). In the end she got through it and had the biggest win of her career to this point. From this time on she played this way until she forgot about the advantages of cutting out time. Once she regressed back to old habits the anxiety came back just as fast as it had left. Unfortunately, I wasn’t coaching her at this point in time.