Why work on your mental game?
It’s not hard to convince athletes to dedicate time and effort to build their fitness and physical skill set. However, fewer athletes dedicate the time needed to strengthen their mental game. If you’ve ever experienced things like performance anxiety, lack of confidence, or choking, then you’ve seen just how powerful the mind can be. A deficit in mental skills can quickly become a barrier to tapping into the physical abilities that you have so diligently practiced and trained. When your mind is tied up with negative or unproductive thoughts it becomes difficult for your body to perform the way you have physically prepared for it to. If you’re striving to perform at your best you simply cannot leave mental skills out of the equation.
Mental Skills Training
It takes time, effort, and intentional practice to perfect a physical skill, and the same is true for mental skills. When you’re in a performance situation productive thoughts and emotions need to be habitual and rehearsed, freeing up your mind to focus on what is necessary to perform at your best. Below are just a few of the areas that I believe are most important to performance excellence and are cornerstones to my mental skills training programs.
Meaningful motivation
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Identifying the values, personal fulfillment, and desires that fuel your daily training is critical to a successful and healthy athletic career. Building a deeper connection to your sport leads to the sustainable but passionate relationship necessary to reach performance excellence. What is the “why?” behind your participation in sport?
emotional and psychological resilience
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Failure, disappointment, and setbacks are inevitable in sports. Some would argue that it’s the sometimes unpredictable nature that makes sports so enjoyable and exciting. There are no guarantees. Are you spending time developing the skills to be resilient through setbacks and to continue to strive towards your goals despite them?
focus
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When the stakes are high, attentional control is crucial to ensure you’re only putting mental and emotional energy into things that are serving you well. Are you aware of where your attention and focus need to be to perform at your best? More importantly, are you able to control and direct your attention there when it matters most?
self-awareness and activation control
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Astute self-awareness is a necessary component to reach performance excellence. To perform at your best, you must have the ability to “switch on” and “switch off” based on the demands of the competition environment. This is a skill that can be learned, but it must be practiced and perfected. Are you aware and in control of your activation levels?
