Sport Psychology Consultanting
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.
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.
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.
Channeling of our most precious resource
Jun 3rd
Channeling ones energy in a constructive way has become of huge interest for me with the work that I do. I have observed athletes and non-athletes alike waste massive amounts of energy directing their attention (energy) onto variables that have little, or even detrimental impacts on their daily performance. Once an individual directs their attention in an approach (“can do”) way, it breaks the cycle of avoidance (“can’t do” or playing the game of life not to lose). This “can do” mind set propels activity in productive ways that can have staggering enhancements in performance. Which brings me to my main point. The channeling or directing of one’s attention to a “can do” mind set is best executed through the wise use of time. When we allow our focus to drift off to thoughts about tomorrow, next week etc, we inadvertently weaken our focus and displace our energy by spreading ourselves to thin. In addition, we waste energy on abstract concerns that are not real. Meaning they exist in our minds hence they are not real. There are so many possible variations to what could happen beyond the current day, that even contemplating the possibilities is exhausting. When we focus our energy to the present our resources combine, creating a oneness that can be a very powerful tool. Achieving our goals and ultimately our dreams become a part of everyday life. Overcoming adversity becomes an almost (I hesitate to say this) enjoyable part of everyday life in stark contrast to looking at adversity as life destroying. In closing, the channeling of one’s energy is the key to higher performance.
Often times Closure is the reward for trusting ourselves
May 26th
Through the years of studying higher performance, I have learned that trusting your inner promptings is a key component to high performance. A great deal of the work I do involves helping individuals get out of the way of themselves, so they can hear those inner promptings and feel their way through performances rather than thinking their way through the performances. This is how individuals get in the “zone.” What is interesting to me is the times I feel prompted to do something, I do it, but the result is not always (or often for that matter) what I anticipated. I always anticipate a good result when I follow my inner promptings, however, that good result is more times than not an answer of what not to do, or closure to some unresolved thought or issue. For example, I have felt prompted for some time now to drop off one of my books, “The Fearless Mind,” to a certain individual. When I finally got around to following this prompting, the feeling afterwards was one of ”why did I do that.” This feeling was not what I expected, I wasn’t thinking about anything prior or while dropping it off so I don’t believe my mind perpetuated this feeling. I will be interested to see if I get any follow-up in the future. In closing, following your inner promptings doesn’t always lead to bigger and better. Often times it leads to knowledge of a more closure nature.
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 Training: Avoid choking under pressure.
Apr 14th
I read an interesting study that was done by James Dimmock, psychologists at the University of Western Australia. He took 20 golfers and had them play a round focusing on cue words. Some focused on outcome cues, some focused on irrelevant cues and some focused on positive adjectives cues. There was not much difference between the players focusing on the words, but what they did find is that those golfers who were able to reduce anxiety with their words performed the best. Reducing anxiety during practice or a competition can set you up for the best results.
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.