Tag: Self-talk

Performance psychology, Sports Psychology

Bad Day: What’s in a Name?

Dr. John Panepinto

A level to aspire to as an athlete floats above dichotomous thinking. In the heat of execution, black and white thinking can turn the mental aspect of play into a pinball machine. And in the important growth activity of reflection, dichotomous thinking can stunt progress and leave the wheat for the chaff.

Above this good/bad mindset is one that acknowledges the reality of the continuum of complexity. Life and sports are open dynamic systems and to pin a result or situation down to a simple explanation ignores the opportunity to learn more about ourselves and our sport. And both of these are open-ended in terms of growth.

Here’s a simple system to hold in mind regarding performance. If we use this 5-point scale…

  1. Low
  2. Below Average
  3. Average
  4. Above Average
  5. Superior

… and consider the possibilities between each interval (for example, the leap from level 3 to level 4 goes through 3.5, etc.) rarely will be at the same level of performance for long stretches of time. The numbers are arbitrary and simply a way to make sense of the moment and to make any adjustments. If you think of “who you are” in the moment, most of the time you hover around a 3. It does not mean that you are average.

As a matter of fact, if you are consistently a 3, you are performing pretty close to how you practice. Average means the average performance levels over a stretch of time, based on performance ability. It’s a self-comparison, not one compared with another. Aaron Rogers’ average performance will look different than a backup quarterback’s average. And Steph Curry’s will look different than the last guard on the depth chart.

Average, or the level we’ve called “3”, is the expectation we all have and what we refer to when we say, “I’m not playing my best,” or “I’m shooting lights out.” It’s a self-comparison based on the build-up of recent play and practice–your most recent sense of “who you are.” If you look back one or two years, you may notice your average level 3 is better than it was back then. That’s a sign of well-thought-out goals and attention to detail within practice sessions.

Anyone can execute well and win at a level 5. But it doesn’t happen often, a few times a year at best. Can you add value to a team at a level 1 or 2? Can you win an individual event at a level 2?

The title of this article refers to the dichotomous thinking of good days and bad days. This appraisal does not respect the truth that we are both change and continuity in all realms of being. With self-awareness, we can find out who we are at this time and on this day. All athletic endeavors require resiliency and a keen ability to adapt. Asking that simple question, “who are you,” allows you to get the most from the moment and to keep in the growth process—which includes the ups and downs of performance.

Try the simple system above. And adapt based on who you are (the inner sense of your performance) on any particular day, practice or event. You can always find resources within if you don’t cut off the source with the judgement, “It’s a bad day.”

If you would like more structure to take your mental approach to the next level, consider picking up a copy of my sports psychology workbook: Above the Field of Play. Or to learn about other sports psychology services (including an assessment of your present mental approach), visit my website at DrJohnPanepinto.com.

photo credits: Jordan Rowland; Unsplash.com

Performance psychology, Sports Psychology

Dealing with Fear: 3 Concepts to Master

Dr. John Panepinto

In the last post we raised two questions about practice and performance. The essence of the inquiry is the sense and feel of these two activities. Both are a form of playing. You could argue that the outcomes may differ as we aim to improve in practice, and we aim to win at the end of performance.

But maybe there is more to it. Maybe an expectation or idea underneath the activity changes the way it feels. Maybe fear or lack thereof changes the feel in the moment and effects performance. With that idea, here are 3 important concepts to master when dealing with fear.

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Valence: Our mindset reacts to experience very quickly and on a deep internal level. Our sense of safety is always activated and for good reason. Therefore, we assign a valence—first unconsciously—to what we are experiencing as either positive or negative. On a very primal level and in the blink of an eye this sense evaluates whether to approach or avoid what is confronting us.

We rarely notice subtle positive experiences because of the alignment with our expectations of how the world should work. A feeling of being OK or content doesn’t garner much awareness. Not typically true for subtle negativity which activates our awareness to assess the situation. The problem with this reaction during performance is that it impacts sustained focus and attention. Past experiences or negative pieces of narrative can come into mind and now you are no longer in the present, no longer in flow.

The required skill is emotional mastery. This involves self-awareness and the ability to sense shifts in states, to make sense of the emotional message, and to regulate the energy of the emotion (more on this later). We can’t turn off our connection to the environment. We have emotions, otherwise we would be numb. Understanding valence allows us to quickly make sense of shifts in states without pushing beyond the stress we can tolerate.

Loss: Fear is an intimate friend of loss. Yet in competition, loss (just like a win) is an outcome at some time in the future. Performing is a process, linking together actions in the present. A competition is the process of competing and the outcome is determined by this process. While this may seem a play on words, it’s critical to learn to be engaged in the present.

When loss seeps into the mind, fear engages the fight, flight or freeze response by ramping up the sympathetic nervous system. This energy is not the state of calm alertness required for fluid execution. The skill is to allow thoughts of loss to come and go without engaging, judging, or fighting them. The mind is a master storyteller always trying to weave a coherent narrative. Learning to let go of losing, losses, and projections of future outcomes is critical to maintaining flow states within the sweet spot of performance.

Regulation: Part of emotional mastery is the ability to manage states. But understanding comes before managing—a process that cannot occur in the reverse order. Emotions, feelings and thoughts ebb and flow. You can’t stop thinking. You can’t stop feeling. And the source of this is experience—and you can’t stop experiencing. Experience lives at the intersection of our inner and outer world, the connection between out mindset and the environment. This reveals why we first have to understand the process before we can manage it.

One of the most important aspects of mental toughness is the ability to regulate the cognitive load between our situation and our inner resources. Emotions can overload our capacity and wreak havoc with attention and focus. Composure is paramount and the ability to regulate the flow of information and energy requires self-awareness and emotional mastery. Like a regulator, we downshift or upshift our intensity, accelerate or brake in order to meet the moment. We emote, make space, make meaning, and move on.

Staying within the Zone of Optimal Performance requires regulating the ebb and flow of experience, a process that fear distorts and upsets. Emotional mastery requires this regulation summed up by:

  • Emote: acknowledge and allow the arc of the feeling
  • Make space: do not become the feeling, rather keep it as object distant enough to observe (you will still feel the emotion)
  • Make meaning: what is the message and purpose of the emotion? What actions and decisions follow based on what you value?
  • Move on: return actively to the process in the moment

Like all psychological tools, they require practice. Just like performance skills, the muscle memory builds and becomes efficient over time–and part of the performance process.

 

If you would like more structure to take your mental approach to the next level, consider picking up a copy of my new sports psychology workbook: Above the Field of Play. Or to learn about other sports psychology services pricing (including an assessment of your present mental approach), visit my website at DrJohnPanepinto.com.

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photo credits: Photo by Felipe Giacometti) on Unsplash (unspash.com)

Performance psychology, Sports Psychology

What Do You Hear?

Dr. John Panepinto

An important part of performing under pressure is to make sense of the voices in your head. In certain situations, they may seem louder that others. When things are going well, they can be particularly encouraging. Maybe not so when things are not going well.

Such is the nature of self-talk, and important aspect of self-regulation during performance. If you haven’t worked on making self-talk positive and productive, you are missing a key aspect of elite performance.

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Simply put, your self-talk needs to serve you. You get to decide whether your thoughts are facilitating or hindering the pursuit of excellence. Without doing the up-front work, there can be many characters up there telling you different things at different times.

Starting off, self-talk can be much like handling the trash-talkers in any sport. They try to push your buttons, get you thinking of things that you shouldn’t be thinking of. A change of state ensues, and focus is gone. But a resilient competitor finds the way to make sense of this one way or another so that nothing effects your composure.

So, what do you hear? And when do you hear it? Consider the guideline of: positive and productive. First, positive is not necessarily the cheerleader’s voice. Positive means clear, affirming, and without negatives. Our mind does not do well with negative commands or prompts (Example: Don’t think of a purple rabbit… what happened?). And productive means moving along the proper path or process towards a goal or objective. Thinking about failure is not productive.

Self-talk affects state. It can be your internal coach, guide, and friend. Or it can cause chaos and degrade performance. Here are three ways to improve self-talk during practice and competition.

  1. Notice any negative self-talk. Don’t fight it– notice it and take it apart. What is it that you want in that moment? Consider how you would coach a good friend in that moment. What would you say?
  2. Script particularly stressful situations. Have a stock phrase that keeps you composed and on track. Keep it short and sweet.
  3. Don’t get caught up in outcomes. Self-talk is about the process such as effort, focus, guiding, planning in the moment, etc. Avoid shoulda, woulda, coulda conversations in your mind.

Then…practice, reflect, and refine!

If you would like more structure to take your mental approach to the next level, consider picking up a copy of my new sports psychology workbook: Above the Field of Play. Or to learn about other sports psychology services pricing (including an assessment of your present mental approach), visit my website at DrJohnPanepinto.com.

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photo credits: Morgan Sarkissian (unspash.com)