Train Your Brain.

Too many athletes (and many coaches) go through the motions in practice. Although these athletes show up for assigned practice times, they are not fully present mentally. These athletes may never miss a practice but certainly miss an opportunity.

When you are physically present in practice, your conditioning may improve and your technical skills may get better but if you are not specifically training mentally. If you are not training your mind to compete, then under “stress” of competition you will make the same mental mistakes over and over again.

Minimizing mental mistakes starts with mental skills training and training your mind to compete.

Have you ever asked yourself: “How can I practice better to compete?”

The best athletes have the self discipline to value and embrace repetition and small steady improvement, both physically AND mentally.

We developed the A,B,See,S program so coaches and athletes would have an daily easy to follow, quick, PROVEN, method for integrating mental skills training into your practices and games. Life skills good for athletic competitions and the hallways of life.

P3 Thinking

It is a fact that successful people think differently. Athletes who have a true desire for success are willing to do things that most other athletes won’t do. They have belief systems that support their success and they actively work to manage their thought patterns. Every athlete who has conditioned themselves mentally will have readily practiced methods or strategies that support P3 thinking.

P3 Thinking (Vealy, R. 2005) is a mental training tool that focuses on the uniqueness of our self-talk, internal dialogue or cognitive awareness. It can either be purposeful, productive and positive (P3), or not. The not is likely to be characterized by more random thoughts, reactive in nature and restrictive in both range and usefulness.

How do we use the mind in the most effective manner? We’ll it’s important to recognize that there are direct links between an athlete’s thoughts, emotions, physical state, and resulting performance. Once we recognize that this relationship exists, we ultimately start taking advantage of these connections. 

Ineffective thoughts could be: this is "too easy”: and you relax, or your thoughts take you out of the present moment into “what ifs”.

Maybe you are already celebrating in your head. You become too lax. Apathy, sets in and your body is not prepared to start the game. Your attention is not where it needs to be and you miss something, You lose focus. Or you start flat and then Your performance suffers.

With a bad experience in the forefront of thought, The experience of tension, apprehension, fear, worry and doubt, follow naturally and inevitably from these worrisome and doubtful thoughts.

In turn, negative emotions and feelings result, and this leads to a compromised physical state with overly tense muscles and all kinds of debilitating chemicals being pumped through the bloodstream and the nervous system naturally leads to less-than-optimal levels of performance.

Controllables

STRESS. This interaction is a fact of human nature. We can’t change it. But we can work with it by altering the one element where we DO have some control. Ourselves.

Understanding how your Thoughts Affect Your Performance, learning how to direct your Attention, managing your Energy, will assist in regulating the emotions which in turn will create the physical state (the optimal muscle tension and chemicals in the bloodstream and nervous system) most conducive to high performance breakthroughs.

Our best chance for consistently high-caliber performances is to take advantage of how to regulate it (stress). And that is done through mental skills training.

What “stresses” you the most?:

Self-Awareness

Athletes spend hours mastering their bodies. They train their bodies to be stronger, more resilient, agile, and functional. The elite ones also spend hours mastering their mind.

After completing one of the best statistical seasons in the history of baseball, Alex Rodriquez was once asked about his goals for the upcoming season. He didn’t mention winning the world series or earning a MVP trophy. Instead he said, “My only goal is to learn how to play one entire game in the present.”

We bring every past moment to the present moment. This is both good and bad. Thankfully, we carry all of our hard work: Every game we have played and each step of the training and practice. We also take the last mistake we made, such as a swing at a bad pitch or the pass you just dropped. This is why playing in THIS exact MOMENT is vital.

We need to let go of the mistakes (flush) while focusing (Refocus Routine) on the positive stuff, What’s Important Now (W.I.N.).

Psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert found that almost half of the time we operate on “automatic pilot” or unconscious of what we are doing or how we feel, as our mind wanders to somewhere else other than here and now. Self-aware people tend to act purposely (P3) rather than react passively (R3). At P3 Performance we know these are skills which can be learned and improved.

Sport Psychologist Dr. Ken Ravizza (2017), believes that self awareness “empowers people because they are now conscious of performance.”

The ability to monitor & identify PATTERNS in our emotions and thoughts from moment to moment (TAP) is key to understanding ourselves better, being at peace with who we are and proactively (P3) managing our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

A high self-awareness score has been found to be the strongest predictor of overall success. No doubt, the way we think and feel affects our physical bodies.

What happens when we our minds drift into the future? ____________________

What happens we focus on an error in performance? _______________________

Energy

Breathe, it’s the Magic Elixir. The magic of diaphragmatic breathing is that in order to perform optimally one must effectively mobilize and restore energy (physical activation levels) & maintain composure. Develop strategies to perform, recover & enhance sleep.

Imagery

See the Success you Want. Often referred to as visualization or mental reps. Learn to use the senses to create or recreate an experience in one’s mind. Program the mind (neuropathways) to perform automatically. Enhance performance & Build confidence.

Self-Belief

What you think about yourself affects how you perceive a situation. You are not always aware of your thought patterns. It is important to identify the thoughts that affect your belief in your ability to master things.

Confidence -Say your Affirmation.

Focus on strategies to think deliberately and intentionally to set the conditions for a consistent optimal performance. Learn the four sources of confidence, A.I.R3, & self-talk to build, sustain, and protect confidence.

Affirmations are statements that reflect positive attitudes or thoughts about oneself. Think of it as a statement about what you may want, but phrased as if you already have it. 

The most effective affirmations are both believable and vivid. You want to capture a feeling of a particularly satisfying experience. Each one should express a personal , positive message of something that is happening in the present. 

Examples: I am a strong outside hitter. I play well under pressure. I love taking the shot when the game is on the line. I'm faster than lightening. No one works harder than me. 

An affirmation can work as it has the ability to program your mind into believing the stated concept. This is because the mind doesn't know the difference between what is real or fantasy. When you watch a movie and you start to laugh or cry your mind is empathizing with the characters on the screen even though it is only Hollywood magic. There are both positive and negative types of affirmations. I'm sure many of us can remember as a child being told by a teacher, parent or coach that we didn't have the ability to do something, or we were fat, clumsy, etc. These unwholesome statements can stay with us in the conscious or unconscious mind, which we then reinforce throughout our lives.

For example, the fear of failure, according to Heinz Kohut, the grandfather of psychology of the self, when we fear failure, we tend to overestimate the risk we're taking and imagine the worst possible scenario. We avoid opportunities for success, and then, when we fail, the unwholesome affirmation we unwittingly re-confirm is "Success just isn't written in my stars" or "It's just not in my karma!“

If an unwholesome belief is deeply rooted in our unconscious mind then it has the ability to override a positive affirmation even if we aren't aware of it. This is why for many people affirmations don't seem to work as their afflicted thought patterns are so strong that it knocks out the effect of the positive statement. So how can we add more muscle to an affirmation so it has the power to triumph over our negative thinking? Here are some suggestions on how to make them work for you.

Elements of an successful affirmation –

Create affirmations that are not just words… make them incantations leading to mind & body belief and a reaction (creating a physiological response). The affirmation is a repeated message in your mind, combined with say a “power pose”. Believe the mental message to be “real” leading to a state of “being”.

1)Short, easy to remember, powerful

2)Emotion (need to involve emotion or entice a physiological response)

3)Present and immediate future tense

4)Positive!

5)Repetition

6)Realistic / be “yourself” or “genuine”

7)Don’t get caught up in current situation

8)Consistency is key

5 Steps to Say (Affirmation)

Step 1: Using the Self-Talk “Bully” worksheet, focus on the positive opposite that counteracts those negative beliefs. OR – create an affirmation for the state of being you want to achieve. For example, you may often think, “I make so many mistakes.” In this case, you would write an affirmation like, “I am capable and experienced.” Try to use evidence to replace the negative self-talk.

You can include any criticisms others have made of you that you've been holding onto; whether it's something your siblings, parents, peers, or coaches used to say about you. Don't judge if they're accurate and remember we all have flaws. This is one of the beauties of being human. Simply make a note of them and look for a common theme, such as "I'm unworthy." This will be a great place to start making a shift in your life. When you write out the recurring belief notice if you holding on to it anywhere in your body? For example, do you feel tightness or dread in your heart or stomach?

Step 2: Using the Self-Talk “Bully” worksheet and the Strengths worksheet, now write out an affirmation on the positive aspect of your self-judgment. You may want to use a thesaurus to find more powerful words to beef up your statement. For example instead of saying, "I'm worthy." You could say, "I'm remarkable and cherished."

After you have written your affirmation then ask a close friend to read it to see if they have any suggestions to make it stronger.

Step 3: Regularly practice you’re A,B,See,S. Speak the affirmation out loud for about 1-3 minutes three times a day - morning, mid day and evening. An ideal time to do this is when you're putting your make up or shaving so that you can look at yourself in the mirror as you repeat the positive statement. Another option that helps to reinforce the new belief and would be easy to do at school is to write out the affirmation several times in a notebook.

Step 4: See the Success you want. Use Imagery to anchor the affirmation in your body as you are repeating it. Also "breathe" into the affirmation while you are saying or writing it. As you reprogram your mind you want to move from the concept of the affirmation to a real, positive embodiment of the quality you seek.

Step 5: Get a friend or coach to repeat your affirmation to you. If you don't have someone who you feel comfortable asking then use your reflection in the mirror as the person who is reinforcing the healthy message.

Priming

The mental game is contagious… routines direct focus and energy. Thoughtful and consistent use of self-talk and particular language by coaches, parents, & teams can reap great mental toughness benefits with a team first culture.

Authors note:

This workbook only covers a fraction of the skills, competencies, and depth of benefits that are available for those wise enough to devote time to strengthening their mind. Good sport psychology consultants devote years of their lives studying human performance, nothing will replace working one on one with the right professional.

Our team is ready to work with you.

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