Positive Mental Approach to Maintaining Consistency
What are the keys to greater consistency in sports performances?
Many factors, such as injuries, over training, lack of preparation, unrealistic expectations, contribute to inconsistency. Each of these factors is impacted by your thoughts.
Your thoughts heading into a competition affect your confidence, focus, and performance.
The following are thoughts that contribute to inconsistent performances:
- “I’ve been up and down all season. Can I perform well today?”
- “I’m so nervous that I will lose.”
- “What if I make the same mistakes as the last competition?”
- “There is so much pressure on me. I hope I don’t choke.”
- “I played great in the last two games. I’m bound to lose today.”
- “I’ve been so sore from training. There is no way I can be my best.”
These thoughts create doubt, fear of falling apart, increased pressure, and difficulty focusing. Your thoughts hurt your mental game by overwhelming your mind with ‘what ifs.’
In addition, disruptive thoughts set in motion a prolonged stress response. Physiological responses, such as shallow breathing, tense muscle and rapid heart rate interfere with the body’s ability to function efficiently.
The solution is to avoid focusing or thinking about outcomes such as potential mistakes, winning or losing, placing in the Top-5, achieving a personal best, beating a rival, making the playoffs, and a host of other result-oriented thoughts.
How do you avoid disruptive thoughts and improve consistency? The answer is simple but not always easy to apply in competitive situations.
You must manage thoughts or focus your attention on the present moment. Instead of ‘what if’ thoughts, consciously think ‘what now’ thoughts. What should I focus on now in warm-up?” “What is my strategy right now for this point?”
You may not be able to stop disruptive thoughts, but you can choose to focus on productive thoughts. When you mentally train yourself to manage your thoughts constructively, you will increase the likelihood of consistent performances.
During the NFL 2022 preseason, Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus preached the importance of consistency. Eberflus has an intriguing philosophy about consistency.
“As you have seen over the course of training camp, a lot of things have changed. There’s a lot of adjustment going on. So, it’s about guys that can sustain the performance, that can sustain execution, and then take that to the first week.”
Eberflus uses the term “sustain.” In other words, athletes should sustain an effective thought process. Athletes should sustain their focus on execution. Athletes should sustain the way they prepare.
You will be more consistent in your play when you sustain a positive and productive approach to competitions.
To maintain consistency, you must sustain a positive approach:
You can accomplish this feat by asking yourself the right questions: What thoughts can I focus on now in practice to build consistency in my game?
What can I add to my pregame preparation that will lead to consistent performances?
Consistent mental and physical preparation leads to consistent performance. Be sure to apply the same approach to each competition.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Harness the Power of Consistency
- Strive for Consistency, Not The Zone
- Use Your Mind to Improve Your Consistency in Competition
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The Focused Athlete
It’s probably no secret that you have many opportunities to become distracted in sports. Athletes are bombarded with both internal and external distractions everyday in practice and competition. Focused athletes are able to get the most from their skills because they are more efficient with practice and more concentrated in competition. Athletes who lack focus let distractions run wild through their mind and don’t know how to adjust or refocus.
The Focused Athlete was developed for any level coach, parent, or junior to professional athlete who wants to improve performance and gain a competitive edge. It does not matter if you are a fledgling junior athlete; or a seasoned professional, plagued with distractions; or you just wanting to learn how to improve concentration…
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