I really enjoy watching athletes who are focused on executing their objective or the task at hand. I watched the Duke vs West Virginia game in the final four of the NCAA tournament. Even though I was cheering for WVU, I thoroughly impressed by how duke continually executed their plan each time down the court. They were focused, they were not worried about winning or losing, they were just focused on scoring the ball on one end and stopping the ball on the other end. Because they were focused on their objective there was no interference and when the time ran out, sure enough they had won the game.

On the other hand, you could see what had happened to WVU. In the second half when duke was up by 11 with about 10 minutes left in the game, players on the WVU team seemed to get distracted, perhaps thinking about the outcome of the game. Thinking “oh-no what if we lose this game, that would be devastating.” Their minds had shifted away from their objective of executing the play, to “we might lose.” I could see this fear in the players faces, I could see the slouching in the shoulders. Then WVU best player got hurt and it seemed like WVU just quit. They had not lost the game there was still a lot of time on the clock, but they did lose their focus and as a result their performance took a step down, turnovers, missed shots, no hustling around screens or contesting shots. Then sure enough when time had run out, they were on the losing end.

The challenge in this situation is can you say to yourself “did I give it my best?” Only each athlete can answer that, but I will say this, when your focus becomes outcome oriented or on the outcome of the game, that means that your focus is not on the task at hand. You may still win or you may still lose, but if you stay focused on the task at hand you will always come out on top, because you can say “I gave it my best.”

A performance journal is a powerful tool to help you set a clear objective that is in writing that will help you stay focused when interference enters your mind. As an athlete I have experienced countless times during a game or competition when a doubt or a fear or some sort of interference enters my mind, and every time this happens I just think back to what my objective was and then re-focus. Mastering this skill is something that will accelerate growth in practice and competition, thus allowing you to reach your true maximum potential.