Obtaining the Inner Game Mindset for Sports Performance
In this week’s sports psychology tip, I’ll continue to the topic of performing with trust in your skills…
Please note that I define trust in your skills differently than confidence. Confidence is knowing you or your athletes can perform well or execute your skills. Trust is relying on your practice to execute you skills and putting your mind on autopilot.
Okay, your mind is not really on autopilot, but your skills are. Think of your game as two mindsets that help you play to your potential in competition…
The first is the practice mindset, which you use in practice when trying to improve your game. You work on technique and try to get better.
The second is the performance mindset, which you use in competition. This is when you try to get the most out of your skills–and you are not caught up in how to perform a skill.
According to Tim Gallwey, author of “The Inner Game of Tennis,” you get in your own way when you over-coach yourself with too many verbal instructions during competition. I call this being stuck in a practice mindset.
You get in your own way because you are giving your body too many instructions or “verbal commands” such as how to follow through properly, Tim Gallwey argues.
To find the flow, he says that you want to simplify your thinking when you perform. You have to trust in the learning process from practice and rely on motor memory.
Translation: You study hard (via practice and training) and then take the closed-book test in competition. You test the skills you have trained in practice during competition – you don’t continue to “study” in competition.
This is another tough one for perfectionists because they tend to:
- Continue to practice and improve their skills in competition
- Over analyze mistakes and try to fix them at the wrong time
- Focus on future improvement, instead of performing great today
- Want their performance to feel, look, and be perfect
What can you or your athletes do to have more flow and trust in competition?
First, you have to separate your practice, when you are improving, from the times when you are performing. Know when to turn off the learning mindset and just play.
Second, Gallwey says athletes need to shut off the “verbal instructions” they give themselves to allow their performance to shine. Less thinking and more reacting is the key.
Third, stop trying to be perfect in competition. Perform with a functional mindset: Be okay with a play, shot, or skill that turned out okay and got the job done. Brad Gilbert calls this winning ugly in his book, “Winning Ugly.”
Does this mindset based on trust in your skills really work?
Here’s what one professional ballerina said about our work together using these principles I also teach in
“It was amazing!!! Before the show, I really felt like I was becoming the part. I stayed focused in each moment, remained calm, and actually did the difficult tricks better than I ever have! My coaches said I looked so comfortable. This is the result of my work with you! You gave me the tools to tackle this huge mountain of a role, step by step! I am beyond happy!”
~Professional Athlete
If you didn’t know yet, you can get all of The Confident Athlete CD series on digital download today. That means no shipping costs and you download it the same day! Check it out here:
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Your Mental Game Coach,
Dr. Patrick Cohn
p.s. We also help lots of perfectionists learn how to improve their flow in competition via our person mental coaching programs. Please check out the one-on-one coaching programs here:
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The top program we have for fearless performance is:
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Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Use Mistakes to Improve Performance
- Why Should I Work with a Mental Performance Coach?
- How Hard Work Translates to Performance
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Mental toughness is what separates the winner from the loser in any competition. Champion athletes train hard in practice, perform without fear in competition, and trust their skills in crunch-time.
The Fearless Athlete program is ideal for any athlete that wants to overcome fear of failure and uncover inhibiting perfectionistic traits; or for any coach or parent who wants to teach athletes to perform with trust and freedom in competition.
It is indeed important to stop trying to be perfect not just in sports competitions. When you try to be perfect, you tend to focus on the end result. And oftentimes, you tend to forget to enjoy the present. We will only succeed in competitions if we know how to accept and deal with our weakness and imperfections.