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.”

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

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.”

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.

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.

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.

I spoke with a pole vaulter the other day who has graduated.  Just some background here, this athlete was a very good jumper, top 5 in the NCAA, and two years in a row he no height-ed in the first round of the NCAA championships, (no height means, he did not make the height) He was ranked so high and was so talented that all he had to do in the first round was make one height and he would advance.  I asked him what was going through his mind during both of these competitions.  He told me that he was fixating on “all I have to do is make one bar, I have to make one height.” When he focused on these words his anxiety went through the roof and he said that he did not make good decisions. There is a direct relationship between anxiety, confidence, focus, and decision making, as anxiety rises, confidence, focus and decision making all decline.  The same happens in reverse, as anxiety declines, confidence, focus and decision making all rise, which results in a great performance.  This particular athlete was focused so much on the outcome of the event, that he almost forgot how to jump, he stopped executing specific skills that help him make the height.

The way that you can avoid choking in pressure situations is to reduce anxiety, by focusing on specific skills that will allow you to be successful, for pole vaulting it could be have a tall take off or run relaxed. Focusing on skills takes your mind away from focusing on the outcome.  In tennis if you focus on playing the entire match hitting the ball out front, and executing that skill on every shot will give you the best chance for success.  So again just to reaffirm what will help you avoid choking under pressure is, focusing on specific skills will and not the outcome will lower anxiety, thus raising confidence, focus, and decision making, allowing for a great performance.

There is one more key component here, it helps a great deal to ad a reassuring phrase to your game.  One that is popular is “I can do this!” or “I got this!” I have also heard “Today is my day!” These phrase when said just before performing really help to build confidence, concentration, and decision making.

I recommend that when you are doing mental skills training you use a performance journal, or a mental skills journal, to log the skills you will focus on and to write down your reassuring phrase.  When you write it down it becomes more powerful and real.

Another aspect to staying in the present is blocking out interference when it sneaks in.  Interference can be a number of things, worrying about the next play or perhaps winning the game, or dwelling on something that you did wrong or a mistake. These forms of interference can sneak in at any time during a competition.  Interference can also be external, perhaps thinking about stress at home, school or work, just life in general can be a form of interference  unless you learn how to stay in the present.

Now there has been a lot of talk about tiger woods lately and how will he play during this masters tournament.  I will just share how I feel about the matter, tiger is a great athlete, who is also human and makes mistakes,  but many have been saying that he will not be able to perform well because of the distraction from the media about how the public is treating or viewing tiger, but the fact of the matter is, tiger is a great athlete and he was very good at performing at a high level when he had this big secret about is lifestyle that he was keeping from everybody.  Now everybody knows about it, still the same situation, if he stays in the present he will perform very well.  Elite athletes who know how to use the skill staying in the present they are very good at compartmentalizing their life.  In tigers case, when he is on  the golf course he in on the golf course only focusing on hitting the next shot.  He does not let interference sneak in, he doesn’t worry about poor previous and he is not worried about how he will put if he is not on the green.  Only the next shot.  His life is his life but off the golf course.

This is a tremendous skill to develop that will help you perform at a very high level, because you are able to maintain focus on your objective and not worrying or being afraid or distracted by other aspects of life.  Tiger is very good about staying in the present even when he was trying to fix his life after everything hit the fan, he stepped away from golf for a minute and then fixed his life to the point that when he stepped on the golf course he would perform well.