‘The off season is one of the best times for elite athletes to be working on their mindset’ says International Sport Psychologist Gareth J. Mole
The best athletes in the world are almost always the ones with the best Off-Season Mindset.
What Is Your Off-Season Mindset?
The “Off Season” is an odd sporting term. It typically implies that athletes and coaches from around the globe only have two gears. “On” during pre-season and the competitive months where they give everything. And then “Off” for the rest of the year when everything stops.
This Black and White / Either Or / Binary way of conceptualising the sporting year is counterproductive. Certainly from a mental standpoint. Almost without a doubt, the origin of the term Off Season comes from a bygone era when training was regarded as almost entirely physical. So these athletes would’ve overdone it physically for eight months and hence required complete rest and recovery for four months.
However, this whole idea falls apart pretty quickly when you look at modern-day high-performance preparation whereby a lot of improvement requires little or no physical movement whatsoever.
The Five Pillars
Anyone who has completed our online Mental Toughness program – Metuf – will know that “preparation” can be broken down into 5 pillars: Physical Capability (PC), Mental Toughness (MT), Tactical Wisdom (TW), Technical Consistency (TC) and LifeStyle Choices (LC).
If we assume these 5 pillars are of equal importance then really only Physical Capability (PC) requires more body than mind. The other 4 pillars are “above the neck” processes, needing little or no physical exertion.
So for highly demanding physical sports (for example CrossFit, rugby union, rugby league, American Football, AFL and endurance sports – to name the first few to come to mind) then it’s only Physical Training that might want to be reduced during the gaps between the end of the competitive season and the start of the next preseason.
But even this is questionable. If the physical demands are adequately managed during the season then the necessity of an off-season of little or no physical effort is reduced.
A Season Is A Long Time
Part of the work that we do as one of the biggest independent groups of sport psychologists and performance psychologists in the world is to pass on invaluable “mind hacks” to our monthly clients. One of these is to tweak the way we think about time.
We encourage our 1-on-1 clients to use months and weeks rather than seasons or years. In summary, use weeks to plan and review efforts. Use months to monitor progress (KPIs etc). And if you must only use periods longer than this to set goals.
Start with a week-by-week approach. Think about a week as a block of 168 hours. Add your ideal sleep-in first. Not just amounts but bedtime and wake-up time too. Then add the stuff you have little or no influence over. For example, school or medical appointments. Finally, fill in the gaps with a healthy mix of process blocks across the 5 pillars.
This typically results in 52 weeks of “the right amount” of effort instead of 40 weeks of overdoing it followed by 12 weeks of undergoing it (oh, how very common this is).
The Biggest Clue
One of the biggest clues is how you feel mentally and physically at the end of the competitive season. If you are desperate for the break then there is a good chance you’ve been overextending yourself. Many individuals involved in elite sports believe that the primary purpose of an off-season is to recover from burnout. But the sports science is clear now. Burnout harms performance consistency, so we should be designing our preseason and the season to prevent burnout. Sometimes, less is more.
The concept of best-kept secrets is a bit of a cliche in sport. But having said that some things genuinely seem to separate the best from the rest. One of these is not so much the amount of time spent on training but the way it is designed and implemented. Not all 60-minute training sessions are equal. Some will be outstanding, whilst others can be damaging (it would have been better if they had not taken place at all).
Need A Hand?
If you feel like you might benefit from a professional helping hand in developing a smarter way of going about your preparation then why not get in touch? Regardless of how you contact us, we will attempt to get back to you within a couple of working days and talk you through the unique way in which Condor Performance goes about our sport psychology consulting.
Some big philosophical questions will come up at some point, if they have not already. For example, ‘Who am I?’, ‘What am I meant to do here?’, and ‘What am I trying to achieve with my life?’
I have always been intrigued by the concept of purpose. We go about our daily tasks, but when asked why, most of us are stumped.
At this point, we may think about things of meaning or significance to us. For example, an athlete may find meaning in playing a leadership role in their team. Or a sports coach may love helping an athlete achieve their goal.
But This Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg
Richard Leider, an international bestselling author and coach, describes purpose like this.
“The deepest dimension within us- our central core or essence– where we have a profound sense of who we are, where we came from and where we’re going. Purpose is the quality we choose to shape our lives around. Purpose is a source of energy and direction.”
Our purpose is the reason we do something or why something exists. It is having a clear direction or goal that drives our choices and actions. The Japanese call it ikigai, – a person’s reason for being.
A real sense of purpose is one of the most fundamental human needs. It is vital in shaping our lives and bringing us satisfaction. It is the subjective perception that one’s daily life is worth living and full of energy and motivation. There are three core components of purpose:
Goal orientation
Personal meaningfulness
A focus on aims beyond the self
Purpose Is Unique
There isn’t one definite area that needs to be fulfilled to live a more meaningful life. People derive purpose from various activities. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger continued to pursue his plans to become a great bodybuilder despite reservations from his parents and others.
For the Okinawan community, a sense of purpose involves working in their garden to bring vegetables home, working a stall in the morning market, or giving social support to the elderly.
Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, explored the idea that purpose is essential for human well-being and resilience. Even when faced with extreme suffering and adversity. He suggested that having a purpose gives people a reason to keep moving forward, providing a sense of direction, motivation, and fulfilment.
Purpose is unique and arises from one’s values, passions, and sense of responsibility.
Why Purpose Matters
Research has shown that having a sense of purpose is connected to experiencing less conflict when making decisions and can help overcome stress, anxiety, or depression. It is also shown to increase health and decrease mortality rates. In the Netflix documentary Live to 100, having a sense of purpose is believed to be one of the most influential factors contributing to individuals’ longevity.
Companies driven by purpose are also shown to have better growth, increased employee productivity, and higher success rates. A sense of purpose in life has ripple effects on most areas of life.
Benefits of Purpose for Sports Performance
Greater goal engagement:Setting goals that motivate you to work hard towards achieving them helps to provide a sense of purpose. This old but still helpful article by the Founder of Condor Performance, Gareth J. Mole, delves into this topic in more detail.
Higher emotional resilience: You will inevitably encounter challenges and tough moments during your sporting career. This makes it even more important to return from these testing times more robust than before. Having a clear sense of purpose helps us remember our reasons for doing what we are doing and continue working towards becoming the athlete and person we want to be, even after disappointing performances.
Higher levels of internal motivation and passion: Having a strong sense of purpose can help maintain a high level of internal motivation that draws on the core reasons you became involved in your sport and your inner desire and enjoyment when feeling that sense of achievement. It may help to reinvigorate your passion for participating in your chosen sport and spark new areas for achievement. It has been suggested that when athletes can play sports and live their lives with a sense of purpose, they feel connected to something bigger than themselves.
Why Don’t I Know My Purpose?
Knowing about purpose and its benefits doesn’t automatically result in knowing yours, and often, people will struggle to define their purpose in life. This is because we are usually distracted from our goals or pressured to follow a path away from our core passions.
It is estimated that only 20% of adolescents report having a sense of purpose. And that 59% of American adults felt they had found a purpose and meaning in their lives. This suggests that developing a sense of purpose is complex and may take a long time. Our sense of purpose needs to be discovered, and it is only by working on purpose and consistently asking ourselves, ‘Why do I get up in the morning?’ that we inch closer to finding the answer to this question. We must commit to discovering our sense of purpose, as without purpose, we will find ourselves lost and far away from our true fulfilment in life and work.
It goes without saying that there will never be a substitute for working one-on-one with qualified sports and performance psychologists (like the growing team at Condor Performance*). However, I have compiled some quick tips below that may at least help you get started.
5 Tips To Help You Find Your Purpose
Explore what is personally meaningful to you about sports.
Set personal goals that align with this meaning.
Explore what is beyond self-motivation. For example, I want to improve the life of my family or be a positive role model for children.
Share your thoughts with others in your inner circle (e.g., family, friends, coaches).
Live your purpose by exploring how you can bring it to life.
Excuse-Making and Mental Toughness – Are They Opposites?
Excuse-Making: An Interesting Concept
The human mind is remarkable and fascinating. It is capable of so much, maybe too much. This short opinion piece will explore the concept of excuse-making. More specifically, it will try to untangle the difference between excuses and genuine reasons as it might relate to the mental side of competitive sport and performance.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines an excuse (noun) as “an explanation that frees one from fault or blame.” So, excuse-making is the act of doing this, and habitual excuse-making is doing this a lot. When I read this definition, I was a little surprised. I was expecting it to be more about facts versus fiction. But apparently not. It appears as if excuses are more like the opposite of “taking responsibility” than about accuracy.
From a sport psychology and performance psychology point of view, it’s essential that we also separate excuse-making into the outward and inner types. By this, I mean saying something just to oneself (e.g., thoughts) designed to free the thinker from fault or blame is not the same as an excuse that is vocalised to another person (or group).
Spoken Words Are Actions, Not Thoughts
Technically speaking, when you open your mouth, and words come out, these are actions. Yes, these words probably started as thoughts. And yes, the time gap between having the thought and then doing the talking can feel so quick that we believe they are the same. But they are not the same. The reason why it’s so important not to confuse them comes down to the vastly different ways we want to handle thoughts, feelings, and actions, as explained in the video below.
Thoughts, Feelings and Actions Are Different
If you take this explanation and put it into the context of inner excuse-making, then really, what we, as sport psychologists, are suggesting is to become more aware of just noticing these cognitions. Ideally, with practices like mindfulness and journaling, we can all become better at lengthening the gaps between the stimulus (the autonomic thought we have little influence over) and response (which action, if any, to take).
Because I am a diehard advocate for Psychological Flexibility as a better approach to sport, performance, life, and everything else, it’s easier to assume that I have no interest in influencing thought processes. This is not true.
Let Me Explain
Consider thoughts as either past, present, or future-oriented. The first two categories are ideally treated with extreme acceptance. Changing a past thought is impossible, and changing a present one is complicated and unnecessary for the critical stuff (actions) anyway, so leave them be.
But future thoughts are different. They have not taken place yet, so there are actions we can take that might lessen the burden on our psychological flexibility later.
Some clients will know I am a big fan of using swimming as an analogy, not just swimming but swimming in the ocean. One way to become a better ocean swimmer is to become more adept at doing your strokes whilst waves are smacking you in the jaw. We can do thousands of things to become stronger ocean swimmers. But at some point, we’d need to accept that looking at future sea conditions – to avoid the most extreme conditions that mother nature can throw at us – is also intelligent. Reduce the probability of extreme burden despite excellent preparation.
How do we reduce the burden on our psychological flexibility? There are many ways to do this, but there is no substitute for monitoring our efforts in the context of learning to make fewer excuses.
Example Please!
Peter has decided he wants to improve his short game in golf. So, instead of smashing balls at the range (which he finds much more enjoyable), he plans to use this time to work on this chipping instead. He decides to get specific and designs some drills that take 40 minutes, and he adds them to his time management plan to do this three times a week.
In simple mathematical terms, he’s aiming for 120 minutes a week of intentional effort. However, the amount of actual effort can range anywhere between 0 minutes and 120 minutes. Of course, it could go above 120 minutes, but this is less likely as Pete is somewhat of a “do what’s necessary kind of guy.”
Peter creates a simple chart to measure how many minutes he does each week. When this number is below 120 minutes, there is a space for him to put why he fell short. Below are three hypothetical entries – can you identify which (if any) are excuses?
Are These Excuses?
~ The practice pitching green was shut for some kids’ lessons on Wednesday evening, so I could not do my standard drills when I arrived. So, I went to the range instead and fell 40 minutes short of my short game practice this week.
~ I just experienced a considerable dip in motivation for my overall Golf, not just my short game. I played poorly on the weekend, so the idea of investing even more time into a pursuit that is so inconsistent seems ridiculous. Maybe a couple of weeks off is what is needed. I got 0 minutes done this week, 120 minutes less than my commitment.
~ Blast, I picked up a slight shoulder niggle whilst playing touch footy with the guys on Monday night. The physiotherapist instructed me to practice at least 20 minutes during every session (half my usual amount). I didn’t quite manage to double the number of sessions to get to the 120 minutes, so I managed 100 minutes this week instead of 120.
Instead of sharing my insights about which of the above contains more legitimacy than others, it might be more attractive to ask our loyal readers. Please add your comments in the space at the bottom of this article, and I will endeavour to reply to every one of them as they come through. Which of the above (if any) do you believe is an excuse and why?
The Mind Is Not So Different From The Body
Both benefit from some very similar rules. One commonality between the parts above and below the neck is that they both require repetition for changes to become permanent.
This simple monitoring process described above is the most effective method I have ever encountered during my 20 years as an applied sport psychologist in assisting future thoughts to become less burdensome. Let me reiterate something fundamental here to prevent the flurry of comments about me contradicting my preference for psychological flexibility while wanting my clients to have more beneficial future thoughts. Because they are future thoughts (yet to happen) and are potentially influenced by present actions, there is no risk of what we call meta-cognition “distracting” the performer during the present moment.
Ideally, weekly reflections on why an athlete or performer fell short build greater awareness of how they can creatively work towards greater consistency of practice in the future. Maybe the very simple little internal dialogue is something like this.
“It’s gonna be hard for me to practice this week due to the weather. What can I do instead of letting these adverse weather conditions reduce our intended practice? Maybe I could do something inside or practice in the rain, knowing my skin is waterproof. Better still, maybe this poor weather practice will help me when I have to compete in similarly adverse climatic conditions.”
Accepting Thoughts, Especially The Crappy Ones, Is Hard.
So, we’re looking to reduce the workload required for methods such as mindfulness. Developing great psychological flexibility is fantastic and will serve you very well in the future. Still, it is not a magic bullet that makes all future endeavours bulletproof against all challenges.
At the beginning of the article, I clarified that dialogue related to why we don’t manage to do what we intended to do is not the same as when we say this to another individual. What does this second version most commonly look like?
In a sporting context, it is probably most common in elite developmental sports programs. Imagine a softball team with athletes aged between 14 and 17. The coach helps the squad design a combination of group-based practice and tasks that the players must do independently.
A simple self-monitoring system allows the Coach to see which athletes are doing the individualised practice. For the players who don’t enter this data or enter numbers far less than what was agreed upon, conversations can occur about why.
Why would an athlete use an excuse verbally when, in their mind, they know it’s far from a legitimate reason? There are potentially many reasons, but the most common is a lack of sound team dynamics, as described in these past articles here and here.
If you are a sporting or non-sporting performer and would like some professional help with making fewer excuses, then contact us now via this Enquiry Form. One of our team will get back to you within a couple of days.
For me, potential in performance is one of the most fascinating topics to debate in modern-day sports psychology. This article is my opinion on the subject. If you take the time to read my ramblings below, you’ll see that I lean heavily towards the view that there isn’t really such a thing as potential.
From a performance psychology perspective, I would even say that it can often be detrimental. But this is just my viewpoint. Please add your counterargument below in the comments section for those who read and disagree. Debating these topics healthily and respectfully is crucial to improving our understanding. So don’t be shy.
“You Have Some Much Potential”
The word ‘potential’ is used extensively across sports and other performance domains, such as music, art, performing arts, and academics. It is used so frequently that it will almost always be regarded as ‘real’. The context in which it is most commonly heard is to describe an individual performer. Someone who can and should be much better in the future based on current or past ‘glimpses’. For example:
“Our starting quarterback has so much potential but often falls short on game day.”
In other words, according to the individual who said these words—let’s say the coach—this athlete has done things that suggest they could be much better later on but are not right now.
All too often, this is down to moments of brilliance. Maybe it’s moments of brilliance during a practice session with little or no competitive pressure. Or perhaps it was one or two unforgettable moments in a game that made everybody sit up and take notice.
The issue with these moments of brilliance is that they are only moments. Even the sports that last the least time (e.g. 100 m sprint) are made up of dozens of moments. Some sports, like cricket, comprise tens of thousands per match. So, if only a few of these moments are brilliant, then it suggests the rest were not, which is the definition of inconsistency.
So, if consistency is the most sought-after aspect of performance (as my colleague Chris argued in this brilliant article), then moments of brilliance count for diddly–squat.
Genetics and Potential
Not always, but often, potential in performance is used to describe genetic or inherited advantages. In other words, if you go back to the good old nature versus nurture debate, we often label performers as having ‘huge potential’ when they have all the genetically inherited ideals for that sport—a naturally taller basketball player or a heavily set forward rugby union forward.
In these scenarios, being labelled as naturally talented can often be a significant handicap from a mental toughness point of view.
Think about it. Our effort is one of the few areas of performance over which we genuinely have considerable influence. Therefore, consistency of hard work (in the right areas 😬) would have to be the most significant predictor of future success in sports and performance.
Imagine that from the age of seven, you have been told by all the significant people around you that you have genetic advantages. “Tommy has so much potential and natural talent”. If I were Tommy and I heard this repeatedly, it would be easy to believe that I don’t need to put in the same level of effort as some of my competitors to succeed. When you combine this with humans naturally wanting to take shortcuts (see more here: Principle of Least Effort), Tommy is in trouble. His dreams of making it to the top are pipe dreams.
Inside Knowledge
One of the absolute joys of working as an applied sports psychologist is that many of our loyal clients are already competing and performing at a high level. We had/have the privilege of helping some of them get there. For others, we have joined them and their team while they are already at the pointy end, and we have been brought in to help increase the probability that they stay there.
Irrespective, we have conversations with some of the best athletes and performances in the world virtually every day. As I am only one member of the current Condor Performance team, I can’t speak on behalf of all of our uber-elite clients worldwide, but the ones I have worked with rarely talk about potential.
Most of these exceptional athletes were not told they had potential or natural talent during their developmental years.
Due to this, they developed a rock-solid belief system that consistency of effort was the number one ticket to the top. Hard work was above everything else. This work ethic became a habit, and as the years rolled on, it became a much more critical ingredient to performance consistency and excellence than anything else.
Practical Takeaways
What does this mean regarding practical takeaways for those reading this article? I will leave you with some straightforward and hopefully game-changing advice on this subject of potential in performance.
If you’re a coach, I would cease to use the terms potential and natural talent. Just ban them from your vocabulary. If you are an athlete or non-sporting performer, I would encourage you also to move away from these dangerous labels. When you think you are full of potential, notice those thoughts and return to work. If others tell you it, thank them and get back to work.
Consider this if you have been labelled as someone with huge potential. Does hearing this make me want to work harder or not? If you’re one of the lucky few who views your potential in a motivational way, then make sure you have strategies to continue working hard even when those around you stop describing you in this way.
Amount of Influence
From a mental toughness point of view, one of the most fundamental ideas is how much influence we have on stuff. When we look at this in the context of time, it is elementary.
We can not influence the past at all.
We have a vast amount of influence over the present.
We have some influence over the future (due to the amount of influence we have over the present and the impact the present has on the future).
Potential in performance, as well as in any context, is a future-orientated construct. It is a prediction about the future. So, in the same way that putting a considerable amount of mental energy into the past is detrimental (“things were so much better last season why Coach Bob was around”), so too is focusing too much on the future.
So, we want to spend most of our energy in the present moment. My response to working with an athlete who believes they have enormous potential is the same as when consulting with an individual who believes they have absolutely none. Ask yourself the following:
“What is my plan for this week, this training session, so that afterwards, there is no doubt that I have improved in one or more meaningfulness areas.”
Permission granted to write this on your bathroom mirror.
Sport psychologists Coaching The Coaches is becoming more and more normal as competitive sport finally starts to understand what we do.
Who coaches the coaches? We do …
Coaching Is Also A Performance Area
One of our great professional delights here at Condor Performance is the opportunity to work alongside sporting coaches. We are privileged to work with coaches across many sports and levels of competition. Most of this consulting is one-on-one, whereby we help them improve their mental toughness and mental coaching skills. Of course, these two areas are related but far from one and the same. So, coaching the coaches really means coaching the coaches mentally.
Collaborating with coaching staff provides a range of challenges and rewards distinct from working directly with athletes. It is immensely satisfying for us to help coaches redirect some of the vast amounts of time and energy spent on their players back into improving their own performance.
That’s right. Coaches are performers, too, even if they don’t actually put on the boots.
An Unlimited Appetite for Learning
Increasingly, coaches at the elite level of sport are taking off-season trips. The idea is to ‘pick the brains’ of other organisations and bring new perspectives back home. Study tours are fascinating exercises with a host of educational benefits. However, they’re not exactly cheap, and that thing called ‘life’ can get in the way.
We are huge advocates for these study tours but accept that they will not be possible for most coaches. Luckily, there is a workaround. You can start working 1-on-1 with a qualified sports psychologist or performance psychologist from the comfort of your own home.
Of course, when it comes to the practical application of coaching tasks and responsibilities, the coaches themselves are the experts, not us. But we become involved in providing mental skills trainingto the coach, not to start developing game plans or overhauling training regimes.
Five Key Questions
Below are five key questions for coaches that are directed at their own performance, not that of their athletes.
HOW ARE YOU PERFORMING OUTSIDE OF THE PLAYING ARENA?
Before we discuss the mental side of your coaching performance, let’s take a moment to look at the bigger picture. Improving your performance in areas that don’t at first appear to be directly linked to the ‘nuts and bolts’ of coaching will, in fact, directly benefit your work with your athletes.
Attending to ‘off-field’ matters will help to increase your physical and mental energy and availability. It will sharpen your focus when coaching. It will enhance your enthusiasm for your duties. Furthermore, it will promote enjoyment of your role and contribute to your general well-being. Finally, it will help to address (prevent) burnout in the longer term. The major targets for improvement for any coach, from a lifestyle perspective, are:
Nutrition. You’re undoubtedly encouraging your athletes to put the right fuel into their bodies. And while you may not be running around on the court with them, it’s important that you do the same. This isn’t just necessary for general health but also for enhancing your mood and improving concentration. Taking care of your nutritional needs seems fairly obvious at first glance. But that’s why it often takes a back seat to other tasks that seem more urgent at the time.
Sleeping is a skill, something that can be improved or neglected.
Sleep. Unfortunately, this is not an exact science and a great night of shut-eye can’t be guaranteed. There are various factors that can get in the way of sleep. So anything you can do to increase the chances of a good night’s rest will benefit life and sport. Taking basic steps to plan for and implement good sleeping habits sounds sensible enough. Like nutrition, sleep can be one of the forgotten components in the grand scheme of coaching performance. See this great PDF for more details.
WHAT DOES MENTAL TOUGHNESS LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
The mental qualities you hope to see in your players are easier to picture. But what does mental toughness actually look like for you personally? What skills are you seeking to keep improving to perform at your best? Below are some points that keen-eyed readers will recognise fall along the lines of the Metuf model. These are all areas we often discuss when coaching the coaches.
Motivation
What are your reasons for coaching and wanting to do it well? The immediate response may be that you love your chosen sport. However, it’s helpful to clarify this passion further. Why exactly does coaching appeal to you, and what rewards do you get in return for your efforts? Knowing what matters to us in terms of our chosen sport means that we can keep these values as non-negotiable aspects of our sporting lives.
Emotions
How well are you able to manage your emotions? That term – manage – is used deliberately and does not result from the growing ‘business-speak’ in modern society. Although the term ‘control’ is thrown around freely in sports, we cannot control our emotions as we cannot guarantee them. What we can guarantee are the actions that we take in response to our feelings. Developing competency in recognising and better understanding one’s own emotions – and the impact of these emotions on performance – benefits the coach in their work and enables the coach to teach their athletes similar skills.
Thoughts
Do you spend most of your time worrying about aspects you have little or no influence on, such as your opponents? How to approach thinking is arguably one of the biggest mental mistakes made by performance worldwide. There is a common and very dangerous belief that to perform well, you need to think positively. One of our favourite quotes, to the right, begs to differ.
Unity
How well do you communicate your message to others? Are you able to receive and interpret messages well from others? How effectively can you communicate your message to yourself? Communication is a hugely underutilised skill. Normally, this is due to lifelong habits we develop in everyday interactions. Even minor modifications can yield powerful changes in tasks such as teaching biomechanics or managing different personalities. You can read a lot more about the topic of Team Unity here via this excellent article by my colleague Madalyn Incognito.
Focus
How well can you focus on what is most relevant and useful in your role as a coach? Improving your attention in preparation and competition is equally important. Are you prioritising one over the other at present? The art and science of helping anyone improve their focus is a highly individualised process, so it’s difficult for us to provide generic advice. If you are a sporting coach and struggle to focus, get in touch today so we can start correcting it.
Are You Developing Your Sporting IQ?
Out on the playing surface, tactical wisdom refers to knowledge about the sport. It’s about decision-making skills and knowing when to do something and why. There is an enormous difference between ‘how to’ shoot for a goal (technique) vs. determining if a shot or a pass is the best goal (tactics). Developing decision-making skills is something that the vast majority of coaches I’ve encountered have revelled in. I enjoy helping them teach their athletes how to become smarter and read the play. How to be proactive rather than reactive.
Off the playing surface, these same principles apply to coaches, too. We want to encourage them to continue learning, to seek new knowledge, and to gain deeper insights into their sport. Tactical wisdom for coaches isn’t restricted to coming up with new game plans. Instead, tactical wisdom is looking at the bigger picture and planning how to acquire and utilise knowledge for the benefit of your athletes. As a coach, if you can recognise your strengths and weaknesses knowledge-wise, you’ve immediately begun filling in any gaps and strengthening the existing foundations.
ARE YOU REFINING AND UPDATING YOUR TECHNICAL SKILLS?
When discussing technical consistency with an athlete, we would discuss their ability to execute movements and apply skills the way they want to repeatedly across all conditions in competition. That is, ‘how to’ do something. One of the primary concerns of a coach is to help teach athletes these skills. So, to improve your performance as a coach, it is worthwhile considering ‘how to’ teach your charges.
It is one thing to demonstrate to a javelin thrower how to launch that piece of equipment. However, it’s another to pass on that knowledge effectively and of greatest benefit to that individual athlete. It’s hugely useful for coaches to break from habit where possible and review how they execute their skills in their role as coaches.
How effectively are you teaching your athletes, and how satisfied are you with your current ability to pass on skills/knowledge/information to others? As with all the previously mentioned pillars of performance, the goal here is ongoing improvement in the ‘how to’ of coaching players, regardless of which technical elements are areas of strength for you as an individual.
If you are a sporting coach and you’d like more information on how we can work with you, please contact us via one of the methods below.
Send an email to [email protected], and make sure to include lots of background information, such as your sport, your location, your coaching goals, and your challenges.
Self-compassion is understanding our pain and demonstrating kindness and care towards ourselves. It involves accepting our flaws and shortcomings. Self-compassion in competitive sport is not the same as complacency. Athletes may worry that demonstrating self-kindness following a mistake may make them complacent or lazy. However, research has shown that self-compassion usually does the opposite. It makes us more honest with ourselves and more motivated to follow our goals. Self-compassion involves having an inner voice that resembles a blend of a kindly coach and your closest teammate.
What is Self-Criticism?
Self-criticism involves an inner voice that evaluates and scrutinizes oneself harshly and punitively. A tendency toward self-criticism can result from strict parents, peer pressure at school, and demanding authoritative figures. Self-criticism can result in strained relationships, as people who are highly self-critical may withdraw from connections or constantly voice their inner harsh critiques, which can be taxing for the receiving person. Self-criticism can also distract individuals from progress and self-improvement. Research has demonstrated that self-criticism reduces athletes’ self-regulation, emotional recovery, stress management, and performance.
Is Self-Compassion In Competitive Sport Common?
Athletes frequently believe that self-criticism is required to prevent complacency. There is an expectation of toughness and a common belief that harsh criticism is vital to motivate improvement. Self-compassion is growing in momentum as an empirically based mental skill. Since 2004, growing research studies have demonstrated that self-compassion in sports leads to better outcomes and psychologically healthier athletes.
Is Self-Compassion In Competitive Sport Beneficial?
Athletes constantly put themselves in physically and emotionally demanding situations. They regularly experience setbacks, whether it’s a missed goal in a penalty shootout or an extra second in a 200-meter sprint. If athletes treat themselves less punitively and put mistakes in perspective, they can experience adaptive coping and a healthier stress response.
Research has demonstrated that individuals who are kinder to themselves have less fear of failure. When an error does occur, they are more likely to try again. Athletes who demonstrate self-compassion have more adaptive thoughts, emotions, and behavioural responses to stress. Self-compassion has also been found to increase athlete’s motivation to learn and grow.
What Does Self-Compassion Look Like?
Self-compassion involves three main facets:
Self-kindness,
Common humanity and
Mindfulness.
Self-kindness involves treating yourself as you would a good friend. Self-kindness encourages self-warmth and acceptance rather than a critical or disparaging inner dialogue.
Common humanity involves the recognition that mistakes are a common part of human life. This helps us acknowledge that everyone is in the same boat and that life’s challenges and personal failures are all part of what it means to be human.
Mindfulness is about being present in the moment and not letting our thoughts drift off to the future or the past. It involves a curious, nonjudgmental stance.
Techniques for Greater Self-Compassion
Several techniques can help athletes to develop their self-compassion. These include compassionate letter writing, compassionate imagery, self-compassionate thought records and encouraging self-compassionate behaviours. These practices involve expressing concern, non-judgement and genuine caring towards the self. It requires sensitivity to one’s pain and suffering. It includes sympathy for one’s struggle. Thought processes may shift from “I always make mistakes, I’m a terrible athlete”to “everyone makes mistakes, I work so hard, and my mistakes are an opportunity for me to learn”.
Acceptance Commitment Therapy techniques can also help people let go of self-criticism. Athletes who fuse with a harsh inner dialogue can be so focused on their thought patterns that they make even more mistakes. This often facilitates a nasty cycle of distraction and continued errors.
Defusion is a process that allows individuals to see thoughts for what they are, a string of words that we can choose to pay attention to or not. Thoughts do not have to be necessary or accurate, nor do they need to be threatening. They cannot boss us around, and they are not reality. When one recognizes this, one can get some distance from one’s thoughts and be present in the moment, which leads to improvement in one’s chosen sport.
Athletes can insert “I notice I’m having the thought that” in front of their self-critique. Or they can sing their self-critique to a catchy tune. They can imagine their harsh judgement being spoken by a funny cartoon character like Sponge Bob Square Pants!
How Can Coaches Help?
It should come as no surprise that sporting coaches are best placed to foster self-compassion in athletes or prevent it. And guess which coaches tend to be better at the former? Yes, those who practice S-C on themselves. If you are a sporting coach and want to learn how to do this, amongst other mental skills, fill in this quick 10-minute questionnaire. One of our team will be in touch with your results and basic details about how you can start working with one of our performance psychologists/sport psychologists.
Raising young elite athletes is no walk in the park. Sport psychologist Gareth J. Mole, a 20 year veteran of working with elite sporting teens, provides some tips to Mums, Dads and Guardians.
A Quick Guide For Parents / Guardians
Raising Young Elite Athletes – No Walk In The Park
Introduction
A significant number of the regular readers of our Mental Toughness Digest blog are the parents or guardians of young athletes. Some are the guardians of current or previous youngsters we’ve worked with. Others are just Mums and Dads who have realised that sound psychological processes can help the whole family. Raising young elite athletes (well) is no walk in the park. This blog is an amalgamation of advice I have provided the parents of my younger sporting clients over the years.
With very few exceptions, I have generally found that the parents of our young sporting clients have acted impeccably. By this, I mean they have helped us help their son(s) or daughter(s). Almost all are readily available but tend to respect the psychologist–athlete relationship. Most parents tend to give their child (or children) plenty of space and privacy.
Considering all the young athletes I have assisted over the last twenty years, I can only think of one ‘bad egg’. Only on one occasion with one client did a parent ‘block’ my attempt to help their child. Basically, the toxic relationship between parent and child scuppered my attempts to help the youngster.
The Relationship Is Key
What is far more common is that the relationship between the young athlete and their parent(s) benefits from some spit and polish. In other words, it’s okay and functions, but it could – like most things – be that little bit better. Remember, [most] parents are not qualified experts in complex psychological concepts such as emotions and motivation.
Here are some examples of some great questions that I have had from some of my younger sporting clients over the years:
How do I explain to my father that I would prefer it if he did not attend my competitions because of his win-at-all-costs mindset?
I would like to have a boyfriend, but I know that Mum would see this as me getting distracted from my long-term sporting goals. Can you help me with this?
My folks put so much pressure on me. I don’t think they mean this, but they do. Should I tell them to take it easy?
I want my Mum and Dad to be my parents, not my coaches!
When providing advice to these kinds of difficult but important questions, we rarely try to change the parents’ way of being. Let’s take the “win-at-all-costs” question above as an example. It’s unlikely that I would attempt to explain to that parent directly why that way of thinking might not be ideal.
Instead, I typically prefer assisting their offspring in understanding why many parents are so “outcome-focused” and how they can, as the athlete/performer, manage this better.
This Makes Sense, Tell Me More …
First, we prefer to spend most of the flexible consultation time that comes with our various monthly options with the athlete. Although we’re happy to have the occasional brief conversation with a parent, we rarely have the luxury of extra time to have extensive discussions with anyone else outside of the well-defined consulting process. This is where email/text messages have revolutionised sport psychology services. It allows parents/guardians to share concerns or ideas with their son or daughter’s psychologist without using the 1-on-1 consultation time that is so critical during the mental conditioning process.
So, the advice that we generally give in these scenarios is roughly along these lines:
Genuine mental tests come in many packages. One of the most common is that the people you spend time with will not always make what you’re trying to do easy. Sometimes on purpose (e.g. hypercriticism) but more often by mistake managing both family and non-family relationships is tough. The mental training process will remain incomplete until this is something you can manage regardless of who you spend your time with.
If a family comes up as an “issue” during the mental conditioning process, this gives us a golden opportunity 🥳 to get some genuine mental toughness training done. In other words, instead of trying to make a situation mentally harder on purpose,we can use these “natural issues” to practice our newfound mental skills. Imagine this. A huge family argument the night before a big competition can work in the long-term favour of the teenager who, with the proper psychological support, has to learn not to allow this to impact what they do the following day.
How Much To Push?
Maybe the most challenging part of raising young elite athletes is knowing how much to push. One of the Mothers of one of our clients recently asked the psychologist working with her daughter if he had any advice on this. In other words, given the added demands young athletes face, how much pushing, nagging, and cajoling is necessary? And when does it become too much? This is an excellent question.
The clues to many psychological dilemmas are often “somewhere in the middle”. In other words, trying not to end up at either extreme can be helpful. An analogy of water temperature can help. When running a bath for your baby son/daughter, we ensure the water is neither too hot nor too cold.
Think of pushing too much as being the same as water temperature that is too hot to bathe in (40 degrees, ouch 🥵). And not bothering to push (remind, nag) at all is the same as water temperature that is too cold (10 degrees 🥶). Parents – aim for somewhere in the middle (25 degrees 😉).
From a psychological point of view, most qualified sport psychologists will be more than happy to do some of the pushing for you. Parenting is hard enough as it is without you also having to try and motivate your youngest(s) without any formal sport psychology training.
Degrees of Freedom
From my point of view, this is the ideal guide for the parents of young athletes. The younger they are, the more I suggest you reduce the possibility of extremes and try to control the degrees of freedom. For example, for elite athletes under ten, maybe you tryhard not to have that colossal family punch-up the night before. For those between ten and fifteen, if an argument happens organically, let it happen. Older than fifteen, maybe start an argument on purpose once in a while to give them an extra opportunity to implement their ever-increasing mental toughness.
Let’s use the preparation of equipment as another example of this. Very young; get all their stuff ready by yourself and let them sleep. Slightly older; remind them to do it and help a little. Older still; hope they do everything themselves and accept that if they don’t, there will be a consequence, and they will learn from it. You get the idea, no?
8 ‘Quick Wins’ for The Parents Of Young Elite Athletes:
1) Communicate with your child to show you are more interested / invested in their effort (highly influenceable) than their sporting results (somewhat influenceable).
3) Your relationship with your son/daughter will always be more important than their sporting success. Try not to sacrifice the former for the latter.
4) Be there for them during the good and not-so-good times. Let them ride the ups and downs that come with elite sport. Avoid being a ‘conditional parent’ where you are only there for them in the excellent/easy times.
5) Try not to assume what is best for you is best for them. Telling them what to do consistently with few / no choices should be a red flag.
6) If you want to be a ‘parent-coach’, then first discuss the pros and cons with them. When all parties are happy, clarify the dual role on paper before you jump in.
This 12 minute article is a ‘must read’ for anyone vaguely interested in sport psychology and/or human performance enhancement.
Are You Trying Too Hard?
SAMARA RUSSIA – MARCH 10: Nathan Jawai of BC UNICS gets ready to throw from the free throw line in a game against BC Krasnye Krylia on March 10 2012, in Samara, Russia.
Theories Galore
One of the best and worst aspects of modern-day sport psychology is our sheer number of theories. Wow, there is a lot to choose from. The upside of having so many frameworks to draw from is it’s rare we encounter a challenge without at least some empirical guidance. Struggling with your confidence? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Finding yourself in the middle of a motivation rut during the middle of the season? Easy Peasy, we’ve got about a dozen processes specifically designed to help with that.
But of course, there is a downside as well. Information overload! Due in part to the fact that we employ several sport psychologists and performance psychologists and, therefore, are ethically obliged to agree with one another to a certain degree, we have always been interested in organising these theories in some way.
A Theory For All The Theories
By organising, I mean sorting them into different types. For example, which of them contain useful and useable processes? When you examine many of these models properly, you’ll be surprised how many don’t contain applied advice.
Let’s take the Theory of Internal And External Motivation as an example. It is a great concept but falls short regarding practical tips. So, for example, running a workshop on types of motivation for a group of athletes rarely impacts their actual motivation.
Then, there are some theories that virtually nobody has come across. And yet, without too much creativity, they are packed with usable recommendations. The Law of Reverse Effect is just one of these.
Have You Heard About The Law of Reverse Effect?
The Law of Reverse Effect is sometimes called The Law of Reversed Effect (with a ‘d’ at the end of reverse) or The Law of Reverse Effort or The Backwards Law.
Classic psychology, we can’t even agree on the thing’s name!
Anyway, The Law of Reverse Effect suggests that “the greater the conscious effort, the less the subconscious response” or “whenever the will (conscious mind) and imagination (subconscious) conflict, the imagination (subconscious) always wins.”
Non-psychobabble takeaway?
At some point, when your motor skills are automated enough (muscle memory has been established), then trying hard to hit the ball, stick the dismount, or make the right incision (surgeon) will have the reverse effect and potentially make you worse. It would be like trying hard to walk better.
Neuroscience Time
How is this possible? Surely, putting in the maximum effort is universally beneficial. Wrong.
To explain, we need to tap into a little bit of neuroscience. When you complete a body movement, your basal ganglia and cerebellum attempt to learn how it was done. The more you repeat the same movement, the stronger the memory of the muscles becomes. After a while, the movement becomes automatic. In other words, it can be done and prefers to be done without conscious effort. One of the best examples is walking for able-bodied people.
Thinking about how to complete this body movement acts as a circuit breaker for this automatic process. Muscle memory is blocked, and your body returns to a novice/learning mode. The prefrontal cortex overrides the basal ganglia and cerebellum. As you can imagine, in the work that we do, this is very useful information. It informs us that it is not that trying too hard is the problem but rather what type of effort is best avoided.
Have You Worked It Out Yet?
That’s right, it is the mental effort related to the technical aspects of what you do. The biomechanics of the putt, punt, pass or pivot. In essence, the last thing we want to think about when you are lining up to take the corner kick is how to kick the soccer ball.
So, if we spare ourselves from the technical or biomechanical elements of effort when we are under pressure to perform, what does that leave us with? It leaves us with mental effort about something other than technique.
For example, saying to yourself “trust your processes or stick to your processes” doesn’t interfere with the neurones involved in automatic muscle memory. So these cognitions can coexist quite happily with allowing your body to do what it’s learnt how to do.
The same applies to reminding oneself about tactical aspects. Let’s use the previous example about taking a penalty in soccer/football. The decision about where to aim the shot is both necessary and non-interfering of muscle memory.
These mental and tactical endeavours are already occurring in the conscious front part of the brain. Therefore, by their very nature, they are completely out of the way of the basal ganglia and cerebellum. No short-circuiting is taking place.
Thoughts Are Not Essential
Of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention in an article of this type that there is no need to have any pre-meditated thoughts before or during one of these memorised body movements. The basal ganglia and cerebellum will do their job whilst you are thinking about almost anything other than how to do that skill.
Please note that this is only for expert performers whose skills are already automated. This does not apply to novices learning the skills for the first time.
To cut through all of this psychobabble, I often give advice to my sporting clients as follows. Put all your effort eggs into the preparation basket, and then come competition time, turn up and let it happen. And yes, this also applies at the highest levels of competition, such as world championships and the Olympics. It’s, in fact, even more important in these kinds of high-pressure situations.
Interested But Need A Hand?
Has this article piqued your interest in improving either your mental health or mental aspects of your sport/performance? Then Get In Touch via one of these methods: ⏩ Email us directly at [email protected] and let us know more about you and how we can help. ⏩ Fill in one of our four Mental Toughness Questionnaires and tick the box at the end when it asks if you’d like to receive info about our services.
Mental Skills are often confused with the methods aimed to help improve mental toughness. One of our sport psychologists sets the record straight.
Mental skills play a monumental part in sporting success.
Mental Skills Are… umm … Skills
The term mental skill (or mental skills) is one of the most misused in elite sporting circles. In fact, it’s used incorrectly almost everywhere in my experience. And here’s why.
The skills are the outcomes, not the processes yet most people accidentally refer to them as the latter.
When we talk about an athlete who is technically skilful we are referring to the amount of technical skill (ability) they already have. We are not referring to how they became skilful only that they are skilful. So with the technical side, it’s quite easy to separate the outcomes (ability) from the processes (how).
Let’s take a soccer (football) player as an example and consider the skill of dribbling the ball. Because the most common way to become better at dribbling is by actually dribbling a ball then the skill and the process got mixed up along the way.
But actually dribbling is NOT the only way to become better at dribbling.
As I explain in this 2020 visualisation video imagining yourself dribbling can be just as effective. So what we end up with is a variety of “methods” that can be used to become more skilful. And these skills are not limited to technical skills. They can and should include physical skills, tactical skills and of course mental skills.
The main reason that the term mental skills is used incorrectly is it is often used to describe the methods when it should be describing the outcomes.
Let’s All Use The Correct Terms
If I were in charge of the “sports science dictionary” so to speak I would insist on the following. All processes (activities) should contain the word ‘method’ or ‘process’ and all outcomes (abilities) should use the word ‘skill’. So for example catching a baseball is regarded as one of the technical skills of baseball. But there might be dozens of processes that coaches use to help their players hone this particular skill.
How This Plays Out For Mental Skills
There are two main reasons why this doesn’t happen for mental methods and mental skills as much at the moment. First, the mental side is less visible and less tangible than say the physical and technical aspects of performance. Secondly, there is very little agreement within the sport psychology community pertaining to exactly what are the most significant mental skills for optimal performance. How many are there? What are they called?
At Condor Performance, we have been diligently working away behind the scenes to come up with our own consensus. It is still too early for us to publish these findings, but I am happy to reveal exclusively to the subscribers and readers of the Mental Toughness Digest that we believe there are, in fact, six primary mental skills. And these six in actual fact all contribute to a seventh, the mother of all mental skills … consistency.
Inspired By Physical Skills
The area of sports science that does the best job of separating methods from intended outcomes is the physical side. Try to finish these sentences off by just using what comes to mind …
I could improve my flexibility by …
To improve my cardio fitness I could …
A great way to improve your upper body strength is by …
In these three examples, the word in bold is the skill – the thing you’re aiming to improve. Therefore the processes need to be added at the end. For example:
I could improve my cardio fitness by running, skipping, rowing, walking, cycling and/or swimming.
One physical with many physical methods. Probably hundreds if we really did some thorough brainstorming.
Now let’s see how you go with the mental side of performance by me revealing two of the six mental skills I alluded to above.
I could improve my composure by …
A great way to boost concentration is to …
Not Quite So Easy Is It?
Remember composure and concentration are the mental skills here. So the question is what processes might help improve them? Or maintain them if they are already excellent?
All in good time my friends, all in good time. As many of you may know in the past we have attempted to put some of our core ideas online for anybody to access. Imagine the explanation part of sport psychology consulting only, without the conversation part or the individualisation aspect. We are on track to replace all of these self-guided courses with updated ones by the end of 2024 and our followers will get first access when they are ready. In the meantime, the old version of Metuf is still available to trial for free online via this link here.
And if you want to access the full course you can do so via a whopping 60% discount using this code until the new versions become available:
newmetufcoming2024
Just copy and paste the above at the checkout where it says “Have coupon?” and away you go.
Athletes have been using music for sport psychology purposes for decades. But what type of music is best? Gareth answers this and more …
Sport Psychology and Music – A Great Combination.
Music and Sport Psychology -Intro
Music is very emotional. So is the world of competitive sports. So it makes complete sense that they might be able to work together – and they do. Music and sport psychology have gone hand in hand also ever since the field was first invented over a hundred years ago.
Things really ramped up when athletes were able to listen to music via a portable playing device. For readers over the age of 40, they might remember the Walkman. Walkmans were then replaced by Discmans. MP3 players such as iPods (do they still make those?) took down Discmans. Fast forward to 2023 and the combination of a smartphone and platforms such as Spotify now allow us to listen to virtually anything at any time.
Technology And Sport Psychology
At Condor Performance we are big believers in taking full advantage of the wonders of modern technology.
We were delivering sport psychology consultations via Skype years before the term ‘Telehealth’ was coined. My very first session via webcam took place in 2006. Skype was only created in 2003! Obviously, nowadays we are spoilt for choice. Zoom is still the preferred option for most of our psychologists. But Google Meets and Microsoft Teams have both improved their features recently.
And it’s not just sessions themselves where technology is changing how sport and performance psychology services are delivered. Ever since moving to a monthly approach to our service delivery, we have allowed and encouraged our clients to contact us between sessions. Emailing, texting, and messaging via Whatsapp are ideal for small questions and reminders between sessions.
And of course, finally, there are the Apps. Such is the explosion of Apps designed to improve mental health and performance that we are currently working on a blog post dedicated to just this topic. If you are yet to get reminders after each new article is published then add your details here.
What Type of Music is Best for Sport Psychology?
Probably the most common mistake made in this area is the assumption that fast-paced energetic type music (such as rock and Punk) is naturally best to listen to before the big game. What if you are already very energised, for example by the organic importance of the competition that is about to begin? Do you really need to listen to Tina Turner’s Simply The Best when you’re struggling to keep down your breakfast?
One of the cornerstones of our shared consulting framework is that it is better to learn to perform regardless of your current thoughts and feelings. In other words, if you hold onto the belief that you can only play well when you are relaxed, then you’re in trouble. Why? Thoughts and feelings are not that influenceable.
But music can genuinely change feelings. So how about you try this instead? If you’re listening to music as part of a pre-competition routine, then just pick songs that you like. Keep it simple. Also, remember that because the music is coming through a device and that devices are not guaranteeable you need to have a backup in case the battery dies or you leave it at home.
But some music helps us relax and other types do the opposite. This is true. If you are looking to try and change your arousal levels (not that type 😜) then do so as part of training not before you compete or perform. Ideally, if you have embedded some form of mental training into your preparation then part of this wants to be learning to “do” whilst feeling a wide range of emotions. There are not too many better ways to do this than through music.
Calming Music Playlist
Recently I created a couple of playlists on Spotify for my monthly clients. The first is a collection of calming-type songs. These songs would be ideal for an athlete who feels like they need to be hyped in order to perform well. Listening to these songs before training, to lower arousal, might lead them to change that belief for the better.
Calming Music for Sport Psychology
Energising Music for Performers
The songs below are designed to do the opposite. They are fast-paced and upbeat so should increase arousal when listening to them. So these tunes are well placed to be used in training for those who feel like they need to be relaxed to do well but know that the chances of them always feeling like that are basically zero. So pump yourself up in training and become psychologically more flexible.
Energising Music for Sports Psychology
And as always, if you need a hand with any of this or any other mental aspect of your performance then get in touch. Our Intake Team will always try and get back to you within 48 hours.
