The Benefit of Mental Skills

My passion behind starting Fitvision stemmed from a love of understanding what helps performance across different domains. Not only this, but a question which always fascinated me was - how can we sustain performance when faced with a myriad of daily challenges??

As a professional athlete in my late teens and early twenties, I was physically at my peak. But mentally I often fell into the perfectionist mindset and pushed myself to emotional exhaustion, always trying to get that little bit better. I drove myself based on an inner dialogue of harsh criticism, no surprise at the age of 22 I retired from football, having lost the love of the sport.

I look back on my football career with gratitude today, as many of the traits I developed as a result, stand to me in business. However, one major skill I have acquired over the years through my academic career and daily practice is what we call psychological or mental skills. These skills certainly would have stood to my younger self, battling that unrelenting internal negativity. Mental Skills are the first of our nine areas we focus on in our leadership development programmes and I would like to unpack just what they are for you today.??

Psychological skills training has been referred to within the literature as the systematic practice of mental and psychological skills with the purpose of improving performance and enhancing enjoyment (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). The history of psychological skills in sport dates to the 1950’s with evidence showing one of the first countries to implement mental skills with athletes and coaches was the Soviet Union (Ryba et al., 2005). The earliest interventions by the Soviets included self-regulation of arousal, distraction control and goal setting (Ryba et al., 2005). The importance of mental skills has increased substantially in the past number of decades and is viewed as a crucial component to an individual's ability to cope with pressure, focus and showcase resilience in the face of adversity (Crust & Clough, 2011; Jones et al., 2002).?

When discussing mental skills, three areas which researchers in the performance psychology field have studied extensively and agree are important are concentration skills, coping skills and confidence skills (Beckford et al., 2016; Nicholls & Polman, 2007; Smith & Christensen, 1995). Additionally, it is of crucial importance to mention that mental skills such as concentration, coping and confidence can be enhanced and acquired (Moran & Toner, 2017). With many psychological skills interventions there has been evidence for the efficacy of a multimodal approach to improve an individuals confidence, coping and concentration skills. Psychological skills such as Imagery and self-talk as an example have been combined to enhance the beneficial outcomes experienced by individuals.?

Two of my favourite mental skills are imagery and self-talk. I gravitate towards both, as in any given situation they can be enlisted to great effect. For example, if I am preparing for a difficult conversation with a team member, I can use imagery to mentally rehearse how the conversation will go, this can enable a sense of calm and composure when it comes time to deliver for real. Self-talk can then be used to encourage personal perspective taking, as I remind myself that my identity in work does not wholly define who I am; an important point for us all to remember. Let me give you a brief overview of both Imagery and Self-talk.

Imagery

Imagery has been described as a cognitive process of simulating certain people, places, actions, and situations (Moran & Toner, 2017). Mental imagery involves harnessing the senses to initiate or recall an experience in the mind (Cumming & Williams, 2014). For decades athletes have spoken of the importance of Imagery with Jack Nicklaus all-time golf great stating that hitting a golf shot is fifty percent mental picture of how the shot will occur (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). As a technique, imagery has become a simulatory skill used universally in the pursuit of enhancing performance across many domains (Cumming & Williams, 2014; Slimani et al. 2016).?

Investigating the models within the area of imagery; The applied model of imagery use (Martin et al. 1999) is one which warrants further discussion. It consists of five main components, one being motivational specific, the imagery of goals and the behaviours accompanied around those goals, another known as motivational general arousal, where the individual might image the emotional experiences within a certain situation. Finally, there is motivational general mastery which is the ability to use imagery to cope and master challenging situations (Martin et al. 1999). The performance benefit of imagery has been tested extensively and a recent systematic review on twenty papers across twelve sports highlighted the positive impact of imagery training on sport performance (Lindsay et al. 2019). Imagery is one mental skill which not only benefits sport, it is evident from the brief examples above that it can assist in business also.?

?Self Talk

Hardy (2006) suggested a comprehensive definition of self-talk, stating it may be viewed as verbalisations addressed to the self which are multidimensional in nature, have interpretive elements associated within the content involved, are dynamic and serve either an instructional or motivational function. Motivational self-talk can be referred to as the use of confidence building cues whereas instructional self-talk refers to the process of focusing attentional cues and cues associated with technique (Murphy, 2012). Self-talk can also be both positive and negative. Exploring the negative side of self-talk, research supports that it can be anxiety producing and impact our ability to achieve the goals set (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). However, self-talk can further subdivide into spontaneous and goal directed (Latinjak et al. 2016). This may enable an individual to manage it more effectively. Spontaneous is unintended and it is normally non instrumental statements internally phrased in the moment (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). Goal directed self-talk however differs as it consists of phrases employed to solve the problem and are quite deliberate (Hardy et al. 2009). Using this classification researchers Latinjak et al. (2016) reported that goal directed is generally preferred in both anger eliciting and anxiety eliciting situations as it will normally create activated states, regulate behaviour, and focus us on positive predictions.??

Research by Theodorakis et al. (2008) supports enhancing concentration, increasing confidence and improving cognitive and emotional control as plausible outcomes for an individual utilising the psychological skill of self-talk. ?

So now that you know a little more about mental skills how can you start to use them yourself to enhance performance, sustain well-being and face the inevitable challenges life unexpectedly throws at us.

For imagery start with this - The next time you are faced with an upcoming difficult situation, find 10 minutes a day for 3-4 days before the event. During this 10 minutes do the following: Start with some calming breathing for 2-3 mins with eyes closed, for example breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds and then hold your breath for 4 seconds. This is known as box breathing and very effective to reduce feelings of anxiety. Repeat this cycle for 2-3 minutes. For the remainder of the time I want you to mentally transport yourself into the upcoming situation. Can you visualise the room - the person sitting across from you - are they calm or on-edge - are you calm or on-edge?

If you are, WHY?

Explore this with lack of judgement. This will help you to uncover differing perspectives from both your side and theirs. It will allow you to investigate the emotions that arise based on those different perspectives. As you move toward the back end of that 10 minutes, imagine in your mind a result that is fair and just for both parties and how you might accomplish this. Think of barriers that might arise through the conversation and how you will remain calm and composed in the situation. Finish your practice by once again going back to 3-4 cycles of your box breathing. This mental preparation 3-4 days in the lead up to a tricky situation can make all the difference.?

For self-talk start with this - Very simply when it comes to enhancing the mental skill of self-talk the first step is to increase your awareness. The fact is we are constantly talking to ourselves - can you notice when you are judgemental and critical in your self-talk?

Many of us tend to miss this!

It becomes an ever increasing loop, where we reinforce unhelpful thoughts which spur unhealthy emotions and unproductive actions. Practise catching yourself if you are becoming negative in your self-talk and aim to switch to a positive form of motivational or instructional self-talk.

Let me leave you with an example, you are playing your favourite sport, you go to hit your next shot and it ends up landing where you did not intend.

Very common, but what happens next?

We tend to internally verbalise our analysis, if you berate yourself you have probably increased the likelihood of an undesirable second shot. Alternatively you can opt for motivational or instructional self-talk, substantially increasing the chances of a positive outcome. I will let you take my example and apply it to your own domain.?

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