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.”
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.”
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.
What Fatigue Can Do To Our Focus
Apr 17th
At this time of year, it is interesting to see the effect of fatigue on individuals. Working at BYU as a Sports Psych Consultant I see a lot of high performing athletes struggling with keeping their focus at this time of year. Fatigue can be the ultimate interference factor in high performance even for the most disciplined mind. The problem with collegiate students is they are sooooo busy with school and their respective sport schedules. In addition, young adults think they are invincible and don’t need that much sleep. The truth is, it doesn’t matter how disciplined a mind we have, if we don’t get enough sleep we won’t be able to execute the necessary mental skills to perform at high levels. A note of advice. When we are fatigued it is easy for us to direct our tired, frustrated energy onto others. We need to do our best to avoid doing this. It is our fault we are tired. When we feel frustrated and grumpy find ways to reserve our energy. Take a quick nap, stay focused in the present (preserves energy) or simply keep your mouth shut. Remember it is better not to say anything if you have nothing good to say.
Mental Skills: Confidence, it changes the game.
Apr 1st
Confidence is a mjor part of sports, in fact it is the number component that leads to high performance, and at its simplest form, if you don’t believe you can do something you wont. If you believe you can do something then you will. A large component to developing confidence is having a previous successful experience.
Let me share a story about the building/development of confidence and how it can change the game. I have worked with an athlete his who is a pole vaulter, we will call him Chris. Chris has a lot of natural ability, he is pretty fast on the open track and he is pretty strong in the weight room, but the one thing that he lacked was belief in himself, or a little confidence. He would often times tell himself and tell other people that he had confidence and he believed that he could jump high, but where his lack of confidence became evidence was when he actually got on the runway to jump. He did not believe he was fast enough, to get on big poles and jump as high as he wanted, until something interesting happened. Chris decided he wanted to run the 100 meter dash as part of his training for one particular meet. Chris went and ran 11.02, which for a pole vaulter is pretty quick. Once Chris discovered that he was actually pretty fast, he began to improve dramatically. In practice he began running faster down the runway, and as a result of that he began to get on bigger poles. In his first outdoor competition he tied his lifetime best. That week in practice we moved him to a longer pole. The second competition he Improved on his lifetime best by 4 inches, and nearly 3 more inches on top of that. In the sport of pole vaulting inches make a big difference. Now Chris has the second highest mark in the nation.
The interesting point here is that Chris had it in him to jump this high all along, he just had to believe it. Once he had the successful previous experience that suggested that he was pretty fast, he began running faster, because he had confidence that he could run faster, and the result is that his performance when up dramatically. Physical ability is a large part of being a good athlete, but the mental skill of confidence or the mental ability is what allows for the physical ability to be effective. You never know what you maximum ability may be if you don’t learn the Mental Skills that allow you to reach your maximum ability.
Learn more about these skills in the book The Fearless Mind, begin learning these skills with a Performance Journal, this will set you up for success.
The Fearless Mind
Mar 26th
The Fearless Mind, is a book that was put together to help individuals improve their lives. Life is a performance, no matter what we are performing in, parenting, sports, business. The Fearless Mind has 5 essential steps to high performance. All of the athletes that I work with learn the skills that I teach in the fearless mind. They also use a performance journal that was put together to help people channel their energy in the right direction and not get distracted by negative feedback and interference. The fearless mind book and the performance journal go hand in hand with each other. You can learn the skill from the fearless mind and then you can apply the skills when using the performance journal and these two books are the key to high performance. Athletes that have used these books and these skills, have won national championships and finished in top five and ten in major competitions. These skills have helped athletes improve state, national and world rankings as high as number one in the world. Some athletes have even won Olympic Medals using these skills. Most recent was Jaret “speedy” Peterson who won the silver medal these last Olympics. Applying the skills found in the fearless mind can help anyone improve their lives in what ever aspect they want.
Lifting the level of mental toughness to the match the level of adversity
Mar 25th
I am increasingly moving further and further aways from what I would consider being in shape. Over the last couple of months I have regressed to the point to were I am only doing pushups every other day to maintain some level of fitness. Last Monday I got down and started to do some pushups. I have my goal of what I want to get to (my objective) and I usually focus on technique (process) to achieve my goal. After the first couple of pushups the thought popped into my mind “ohh….I am tired and heavy to today…” I quickly stopped what I would deem to be a mild doubt as to whether I could reach my goal or the day. It didn’t take alot of mental toughness to override the doubt so I continued on my way, getting into a rythm and knocking out some sets. About 2/3 of the way through a stronger doubt popped into my mind “I am really tired today you should probably stop.” This time I had to lift my level of mental toughness to again override the doubt. This took more energy than prior but nothing extra ordinary. Again, I continued to go through some sets. About 5 pushups short of my goal number a strong doubt popped into my mind, “you are sick, it’s okay to stop today, you have done enough, just stop.” This time the doubt was intense, so I had to lift my level of mental toughness, “I got this, I can do this” to the point I was almost yelling to myself, inside my head of course not externally. I was able to complete my desired number of pushups and it felt great. Not because I was possibly physically stronger but the feeling of overcoming doubt, the feeling of being able to achieve what you what is empowering. It feels like you can do anything when you overcome doubt. I know it is just pushups but I believe this applies across varies fields of life.