One of the international cricketers I work with recently asked me this question during a session. “What is the difference between a pre-performance routine and having some superstitions?” So good was the question that I decided to expand the answer that I gave her into this feature article on Sporting Superstitions.
Sporting Superstitions Versus Routines
In our work as sport and performance psychologists, we frequently use routines. I suspect I use them more often than my colleagues at Condor Performance due to my extreme “you can’t control your feelings/thoughts” approach to consulting.
For a much deeper dive into routines, it’s probably better if you read these articles here and here, but here is a quick summary. Routines are basically just premeditated series of actions. I tend to leave thoughts out of the equation. These action sequences vary primarily in duration and timing. Some routines are very short (a few seconds) whilst others can take hours.
And we try to name them accordingly. For example, the routine that tennis players might use to get mentally ready to receive the ball could be labelled a Pre-Point Routine or a Pre-Receiving Routine. However, the longer routine before the start of the competition might be called a Pre-Match Routine. The middle part of this can be changed depending on the sport. For example, combat sports athletes might have a Pre-Fight Routine.
Guaranteeableness (Made Up Word)
But despite these differences, good routines have one thing in common. They are built around actions intended to be guaranteed. I typically prefer the word “guaranteeable” to “controllable”. Because the actions are guaranteed, they can be entirely relied upon in any and all situations.
This is especially true when they are practised frequently and become automatic. And it is here that the majority of the benefit is found for this particular mental skill. In highly pressurised situations, knowing that you can execute these predetermined actions amidst the chaos is the biggest contributor to composure. And composure is the biggest contributor to consistency. And consistency is the biggest contributor to sustained excellence.
Whether to include premeditated thoughts, such as cue words, in these routines is a contentious issue in international sport psychology circles at the moment. My issue with including any cognitive steps in these routines is that they simply are not reliable. It’s all good and well in the calmness of practice to say to yourself, “watch the ball”. But can you guarantee to remember to think this when you are feeling nauseous from nerves?
Actions Are Far More Reliable Than Thoughts
Instead, I’d rather my clients include the more reliable step of “widening their eyelids” (not saying to themselves ‘widen eyelids’, actually completing this micro action) in this example.
This way, the cue word “watch the ball” becomes a bonus and not a requirement. If it’s used, then great. If it’s not used, then no biggie. In doing this, we avoid what is known as metacognition. Metacognition is the process of thinking about your thoughts. Basically, worrying about being worried. And it can snowball. Worrying about worrying about being worried, etc.
So, for the above example, metacognitive worry might look like this. “Oh bugger, I forgot to tell myself to watch the ball”. Suddenly, attention to simply completing the actions is diverted to a cognitive process that is completely unnecessary to perform the motor skill. You don’t need to have any dental-related thoughts before, during or after brushing your teeth. You just need to complete the action.
A Difference In Flexibility
One of the major differences between sporting routines and sporting superstitions is flexibility.
Most sporting superstitions are concerningly inflexible. Because good routines are designed (not accidental), flexibility can be embedded from the very start. For example, in the longer Pre-Performance Routines, there will not be a set order for the actions. So they may have a checklist of several activities they want (not need) to complete. For example, listening to some music or maybe doing mindfulness. But the duration and order of these can change if required.
For sporting superstitions, not so much. If an athlete feels they need to put the left sock on before the right to play well, then there’s not much wiggle room in that. In this example lies another clue about the difference between sporting superstitions and routines. Although routines are certainly designed as a performance optimiser, we are quick to point out that they’re not magic. In other words, the routine doesn’t cause a good performance – there is simply a correlation. The difference between correlation and causation is brilliantly explained in this four-minute video. Most athletes who use sporting superstitions do so because they actually believe it will lead to better performance. This is mentally damaging on all sorts of levels. If you are one of these performers, then it might be worth getting in touch with us.
