“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”

- William James

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Here are some of the key concepts and ideas from sports psychology mental training. These lessons apply to high performance living both inside and outside sport.

1. Setting goals

Description: You can set personal goals, goals for winning or goals that simply ask you to give one hundred percent. The fact is that goal setting works! Research studies have shown a direct link between goals and enhanced performance in both sports and business. Earl Nightingale put it this way, “People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It’s as simple as that.”

Applying it: Goals help you stay motivated. You should have a goal for everything, from a project due next week to a promotion a year down the road. There’s only one catch when it comes to setting a goal: It needs to be attainable.

2. Responding to failure

Description: You can learn from your mistakes, but once you get the lesson, let it go, or you’ll dwell on it. Just remember that there is no failure for the one who gets back up each and every time he falls down; rebounds like a rubber ball; persists when every one else gives up and who pushes on when every one else turns back.

Applying it: Maybe you blew a big assignment. It happens. Own it and forget about it. It’s sounds simple, but it can be tough to forgive yourself. Remember that what is in the past is beyond your control. In other words, you can’t do anything about it, so stop worrying.

3. “Getting in the zone” routine

Description: Many high level athletes develop routines that help them to focus their minds and block out distractions. These may involve complex and detailed rituals that involve preparation, detailed dressing rules, or precisely executed warm-ups. Routines help you get into a zone. And anything that can help you focus will work.

Applying it: For you, it could be as simple as that cup of coffee in the morning - or maybe there’s something else that just gets you going. Work that mental routine into your day. If you think better with a pencil behind your ear, make sure there are pencils on hand.

4. Concentration

Description: Concentration is mostly a matter of controlling your mind and telling it to block out distractions. For athletes, this often means practice above all else. If the athlete lacks concentration then their athletic abilities will not be effectively or efficiently applied to the task.

Applying it: OK, so you don’t practice work, but there are ways to get better. If you receive a new software program, play with it until you master it and you’ll be a whiz at crunch time. Take a page from the pros and practice the essence of what you do at work. If you’re a lawyer and your job is all about relating to a jury, you need to practice and concentrate on your public-speaking skills.

5. Kokoro

Description: This is a martial arts term for indomitable spirit. Simply refusing to accept defeat. It goes beyond simply enduring a situation, to throwing your entire spirit into the effort of defeating the challenge.

Applying it: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up! If someone tries to put you down, use that as fuel to get you to your goals. If you get rejected, keep trying. Pursue your goals with passion and confidence, and you?ll succeed in whatever endeavor you take on.

6. Visualization

Description: Visualization is a technique in which the athlete imagines performing various tasks. It deals not only with the visual but also with ‘feel’. A runner might, for example, imagine and experience an efficient, smooth stride while running up a long hill. A triathlete might rehearse the sequence of steps required for a quick transition. The imagery should be what the athlete would experience from the first person perspective, not what he would see watching from the sidelines.

Applying it: You can help yourself by picturing the flow of a presentation (before you give it) or imagining a meeting with a client. Don’t focus so much on the words you’ll use; instead, try to think about the big picture. If you find yourself slipping up at a key step, it’s probably something you need to work on. If the visualization goes smoothly, do it again and again, so that when it counts, it’ll feel like second nature.

7. Centering

Description: Centering during sports is critical to stay focused and avoid distractions. It helps an athlete stay in the moment and release past and future thoughts, worries and plans. Sports psychologists recommend centering techniques to reduce anxiety and stress. These techniques allow athletes to pay attention to their body and breathing, redirecting their focus from the negative- or anxiety-causing event to the present task.

Applying it: The first aspect of centering involves focusing on the rate of breathing and maintaining a slow, steady pace. Breathe in through the nose, and feel the air fill your lungs. Exhale through your mouth. It may help to have a key word (mantra) to repeat that helps you refocus on what you want to do. This process aims to keep you in the present, help you drop any baggage you carry about performance anxiety, expectations, or “what-ifs.” If you develop an automatic relaxation response, it will change how you feel about what you are doing.

8. Building self-confidence

Description: Confidence results from the comparison an athlete makes between the goal and their ability. The athlete will have self-confidence if they believe they can achieve their goal. When an athlete has self confidence they will tend to: persevere even when things are not going to plan, show enthusiasm, be positive in their approach and take their share of the responsibility in success and fail.

Applying it: Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. The good news is that self-confidence really can be learned and built on. Here is something you can do right now:

Relive your life so far, and list the ten best things you?ve achieved in an “Achievement Log.” Perhaps you came top in an important test or exam, played a key role in an important team, did something that made a key difference in someone else?s life. Put these into a smartly formatted document, which you can look at often. And then spend a few minutes each week enjoying the success you?ve already had!

9. Monitoring your self-talk

Description: Athletes talk to themselves as a way to focus and keep their confidence under pressure. The way you think is strongly linked to the way you perform. So if you want to perform better, gain greater control and enjoy your sport more, start planning today because in this sphere the thoughts really do count.

Applying it: You can do this too. You don’t have to literally talk to yourself - just listen to the voice in your head. If it sounds negative, back away and focus before you continue. That voice inside you is the best tool you have to tap into your psyche, so you need to listen to it.

10. Relaxation

Description: Getting proper rest is the key. But it also means taking timeouts during your day to rise above the stress. Athletes use everything from video games and music to quiet time alone.

Applying it: You might not always have time at work to relax, but at some point during your day, you need to make some time for yourself. Try yoga at the gym or pick up a hobby. If that’s too much, take a walk at lunch. Anything you can do to take the pressure off will help you when it counts.

11. Having “on-site” psych plan

Description: The idea of the On-Site Psych Plan is to prepare you for any reasonable eventuality, so that you can deal with the inevitable distractions that will occur as rapidly and effectively as possible. This helps to ensure that you are in a positive and focused frame of mind for the start of your event.

Applying it: To prepare the plan, list all the physical and mental steps that occur between arriving on site and the start of the performance. List every distraction that might reasonably occur during this time. Next to the listed items, list what to do if these occur or go wrong and why you will do it. Next to that list what you will do if that goes wrong.

There’s no reason to only limit these sports psychology techniques to sports. There are all kinds of ways in which this approach can enrich your everyday life as well. Just give them a try!