Sports Psychology For Dummies. Leif H. Smith

you have an extended break in action during a practice, game, or workout, take a quick glance at your journal again. It is hard for all of us to stay focused for long periods of time, so good mental preparation can simply take the form of reminding ourselves what we want and need to be our best.

       After a game or competition, think about your great performance moments. Jot down the important details. Remember, it does not have to be an entire game or competition. It might be one wrestling move, such as a first period double-leg takedown that you hit, but those moments are the critical ones to focus on!

       Spend 5-10 minutes, 3-4 times per week, and reimagine these moments (see Chapter 7, on imagery). When you bring these images to your conscious mind and re-experience them in your body, you are training your body to become more familiar (and more comfortable) with this state of mind or being.

      Consider these additional ways to track and keep connected to these great mindset moments:

       Use voice notes on a computer or phone and simply describe in your own words what it was like.

       Listen to podcasts from great athletes about what it is like for them when they have those incredible moments.

       Listen to podcasts associated with this book about how to practice and learn your ideal zone of performance. Learning and improvement never stops.

       Discuss these great moments with teammates, coaches, parents, and friends. Every time you do so, your heart and body connect to this mindset and it becomes more familiar. This is when your ideal mindset starts to happen more consistently.

      Preparing your ideal mindset

      There is a difference between preparation and practice. In this case, your preparation is going to be learning and developing your awareness of your ideal mindset. You can do this using all of the different ways mentioned in this chapter.

      Practicing your mindset

      When you practice your mindset, you have already prepared your mind to understand what your ideal mindset is. Then, you can use the steps mentioned in the chapter to develop your own practice routines. These routines should incorporate steps in your training and practice schedule. Also, feel free to create your own individual style of doing things. Be curious. Be creative. No judgment. Reread this chapter as a refresher every few months. The key is to make practicing your ideal mindset as common and normal as practicing your sports skills. However works best for you, do it!

      Assessing and improving your mindset

      This practice drill can easily be done when you are journaling, listening to a podcast on mindset, reading this or another book on mental training, or talking with a mental performance consultant or psychologist. Every time you do these drills, you are bringing to mind the importance of mindset development. The more you can do this, the more these skills can help you become aware of what you are doing well and what still needs improvement.

      

It is important to focus on what you are doing well, and this mindset doesn’t come naturally to humans (remember how the brain has a negative, fear-based default setting?). Practice making your ideal mindset your competitive mindset. Ask others around you what they see in your mental performance. You will be pleasantly surprised about what they will notice and tell you, and you can use those insights next time you practice crafting your ideal mindset.

      Avoiding the mindset of perfection

      If you want to improve your mindset, you also need to work on accepting yourself as human and imperfect.

      In sports, athletes seem determined to pursue perfection at all costs. They talk and think about it so much that they actually start to believe that it exists. Here is an inevitable truth, however — perfection has not, does not, and will not ever exist. For you, or for others. You have high moments of excellence, but truly there is no perfection. So why keep pursuing it?

Rather than striving for perfection, what about the idea of pursuing “better”? Better performances. Better mindset. Better practice. Better technique. The idea of “better” is much more achievable, measurable, and doable than “perfection”! In sports, and in life, better equates to improved performances. It also leaves room for those moments when you aren’t performing at your best. In other words, it has all the upside and very little downside. So, instead of pursuing perfection as your ideal mindset, we encourage you to pursue “better.” You’ll see tremendous long-term results via this shift in thinking.

      When you can accept that you are “perfectly imperfect,” you will not get down on yourself so much when you make a mistake or do not perform as you hoped. One of the greatest lessons that anyone can take from this book is the fact we are all perfectly imperfect — as coaches and athletes and human beings. We were designed to be different, and to perform differently. In fact, your long-term motivation will endure when you accept this fact and are not constantly criticizing yourself.

      Slipping into the flow state or zone

      Many athletes and people ask us how they can get into the “zone” or flow state, where most of the top performances occur. This is when athletes seem to perform without thinking. You might see athletes appear to be “in the zone” when you watch them on ESPN or maybe even at a local high school game. Yes, it is possible for everyone and anyone to be in the zone. And not just in athletics. You can be “in the zone” when it comes to playing music, doing a presentation, being at a job interview, or simply having a wonderful session with an athlete. The fact of the matter is that we do not “consciously” find the zone, even though we all know what it is. Think about a time when you performed out of your mind — typically some words to describe it include feeling like you were in slow motion, or that time stopped, and that you knew things were coming together. We have all been there — albeit not as often as we would like!

      

The reality is that most athletes accidentally slip get into the zone. If you think about the zone as a subconscious state — or a state where no conscious thoughts are occurring — then your body is simply doing what you have trained it to do. The zone isn’t your ideal performance mindset. It is the result of you training and developing your ideal performance mindset. When you practice these mental skills consistently, you learn to develop your ideal performance mindset much more consistently. And when this happens, your odds of slipping into the zone or flow state of mind increase dramatically!

Chapter 3

      Setting Goals: Aiming High and Hitting the Bull’s Eye

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Setting effective goals

      

Establishing deadlines for each goal

      

Keeping track of your progress

      Most people miss the mark when it comes to goal setting, whether in sports or in life. The good news is, with this book in your hands, you won’t be one of those people! So, why do most people fail at goal setting? Because they were never taught the simple secrets that comprise the art of making your dreams a