Your Mind Dos & Don'ts

Once you learn how to physically and technically play the game (whatever game is yours), often the one thing that gets in the way of performance is your mind. Maybe you think too much. Maybe you think about the wrong things. Maybe you think about things that, whether you know it or not, cause stress and pressure.

So what are the right things to think about? How do you block out the other stuff? Since the mind controls the body, the first step is to understand that you need to tell your mind what you want it to do. Your mind understands DO's but it doesn't understand DON'Ts, so you need to be specific and clear in what you want TO DO. Think of your mind as a GPS; tell it what you want it to do (where you want to go), avoid telling it what you don't want it to do.

Here's an easy technique that can help you focus on the right things. When you focus on the right things, you'll perform better. Before your next performance, write out the three key areas in your game that are critical to a successful performance. For example, a goalie might write:

During your performance, play your game as you would, and if/when your mind wanders, comes back to focusing on your three keys. Basically, bring your mind back to what you want it to do. This keeps you from over-thinking and allows your body to do what it's been trained to do. Do this before each and every performance (training and competition) and see what happens!

Mental training takes practice and repetition. If you try this only once, you may get some benefits, but if you do it consistently over time you will get results!