A
MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF PEAK PERFORMANCE SPORTS
Issue 76..............................................................................June 4, 2007
Welcome to Sports Insights Magazine
Welcome to Sports Insights Magazine! We are pleased to bring you practical, cutting-edge sports psychology and mental training tips to improve your sports mindset and performance. We thank you for being a subscriber of Sports Insights Magazine! If you enjoy our free newsletter, please forward it to your teammates and friends. Click here to subscribe to Sports Insights Magazine!
Join Us Live at The 2007 Peaksports Mental Training Bootcamp! Join myself and other top sports psychology experts for a jam-packed 2-day Mental Training Seminar. For Athletes, Coaches, and Sports Parents - July 28-29, 2007! The Peaksports Bootcamp will be a fun, interactive, live sports psychology boot camp held in Orlando, Florida. Register today and get 365 days of online mental training continuing education!
Get 365 Days of Mentally Training Online! Improve your confidence, focus, and composure rapidly! Get access to the world's most advanced online mental training program 365 days a year and learn innovative sports psychology strategies - designed for coaches, athletes, and sports parents. Coaches can preview our new programs for teams! Space is limited - reserve your spot today!
The Confident Athlete Series! Want to improve your confidence, focus, and composure for sports all in one place? Get all three of Dr. Cohn's new 14-Day Workbook Programs and save $30. Show me The Confident Athlete Series. NEW! The Fearless Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Unbeatable Trust! Read more about how to improve trust and banish fear of failure...
A Sports Parents Dream!Sports parents can benefit from our 15-plus years’ of work in sports psychology and sports parenting research. Now, you can tap into our secrets to sports success through a cutting-edge, 14-day program that identifies the top “mental game” challenges that sports parents face. Learn how to improve confidence and success in young athletes!
"I can see that The Confident Athlete program is really sort of a lifestyle change. Just as weight loss involves a change in eating habits, confidence involves a change in thinking habits. I recently participated in a registered Skeet tournament and shot the best doubles score I've shot in four years. I attribute that score to your program!"
~Kevin Lutgen, shooter
It seems that more and more of my mental coaching students are held back by perfectionistic tendencies. They want to perform perfectly and this actually causes more tension and anxiety. Perfectionism can be both a good trait and a bad trait to your performance. The key is to understand what is functional and what is harmful about being a perfectionist or having perfectionistic tendencies toward your sport.
Don't interpret me in the wrong way …. Lots of successful athletes have had to overcome perfectionism. There are some advantages of perfectionism such as having a strong work ethic, commitment to your goals, and a willingness to learn and improve, which often disguise this mental roadblock to success. It can also help you achieve a few goals quicker.
However, I find that perfectionism presents more disadvantages than advantages when you enter into competition. For example, trying to be too perfect with your performance is one mental barrier. Your very first step in tweaking out the disadvantages of perfectionism is to identify the behaviors that hold you back from success.
What mental barriers keep you blocked from success?
- You try too hard to win and thus get in your own way with tension and fear. You fear not winning after putting in a massive amount of “investment” in sports.
- You become easily frustrated when you do not perform up to your expectations and then try even harder to not fail. Perfectionists often have very strict and high expectations that are very difficult to achieve.
- You have low self-confidence in competition because you are more comfortable in practice and more anxious in games.
- Wanting badly to win creates a tentative mindset because you are afraid to make mistakes because you believe you can’t make mistakes and still win.
- You might feel as if your self-esteem is threatened when you do not perform up to your own expectations because you define yourself based on your success (or failure) in sports.
- You have difficulty playing relaxed, free, or effortless (you perform too cautiously) and lose trust in your abilities.
- You have a fear of making mistakes in front of your coach and what might happen (what ifs) such as getting yanked from the line up and can't play freely.
Why do so many athletes have perfectionistic behaviors or tendencies. I don’t know why this is… Do some sports instill perfectionism or are perfectionists drawn to certain sports? The real culprit is fear of failure...
Athletes who are perfectionistic (and highly motivated) do not perform up to their potential primarily because of fear of failure. Why? Since perfectionists are so highly motivated and often have lofty goals for themselves, this causes a strong need to win or succeed in sports. However, the hallmark sign of perfectionism in sports is that perfectionists (fearful athletes) spend a lot of time training and practicing to become successful, but often under perform in competition.
It is ironic that the athletes who want to win the most and train the hardest are often those who are the most likely to be mentally stuck in fear of failure.
I find that perfectionistic athletes often lose sight of the real objective when they practice – to use their training as a vehicle to perform well in competition. They become so engrossed in training and practice that perfecting their technique or working hard in practice becomes the primary goal instead of performing with confidence in competition. And when they do compete, they believe anything less than perfect execution or winning is deemed as failure due to extremely high standards or expectations.
____________________________________________
Want to Become a Mental Game Coach? Enroll in Our Unique
Mental Game Coaching Professional Certification Program!
Apply for the 2007 Fall 10-Week Course!
____________________________________________How do you know if you have fear of failure?
The number one sign is when you have difficulty taking your “practice game” to competition. You might have a high level of self-confidence when you train or practice, but this type of confidence is not the same as having a high level of self-confidence on game day. Low self-confidence on game day is a huge barrier for athletes with fear of failure. Fear of failure overcomes any confidence that was developed through practice or training!
Another sign that you have fear of failure is when you want to win or succeed so badly that this leads to cautious performances because you are so afraid to make mistakes and not win! I will also add that you probably focus too much on results or outcomes, which leads to anxiety or tension during competition.
Another big challenge for perfectionistic athletes who have fear of failure is that they care too much about what others think. For some reason, they want to impress others or gain the respect of others. And in many cases they do not want to disappoint others. For example, they make false assumptions about what others might think, such as "my parents will not drive me to practice if I don’t perform well."
If you can identify with any of the above mental game traps of perfectionism or fear of failure, here is a good start to helping you perform better …
Learn to give yourself permission to make mistakes. Since you think anything less than a flawless performance is a failure, you have to modify your expectations. You have to accept that you are human and you will have bad days just like everyone else. It may help to give yourself permission to make mistakes. You're not perfect and even the best athletes in the world make mistakes. Learn to live with winning ugly or performing well even when you are not perfect!
If you want all my secrets for coping with fear of failure and using perfectionism as an advantage, please check out The Fearless Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Unbeatable Trust! On Sale Today!
"Use Your Favorite Swing - Don't Find a New Swing"
I tell my students it is okay to practice technique and mechanics, but I help them to not lose sight of the real goal of practice - to improve performance. An obsession with improving technique is not healthy. Your most important asset is to have a swing that you can trust and repeat on demand. Bruce Lietzke, now a senior tour player, is famous for his ability to rely on one shot and not spend hours and hours perfecting mechanics.
"The more times you use your favorite swing, it will become more and more part of your muscle memory and it will help you shoot better scores. If you go and take lessons and get a whole new golf swing or a whole new set of golf clubs, you're going to have to find a new golf swing to go with that. So my tip is to find that swing you are comfortable with and when you get on the practice tee use that swing all the time."
~ Bruce Lietzke, Senior PGA TourI am in full agreement with Lietzke that golfers must play with the swing they feel comfortable using. Your goal should be to ingrain one swing so it becomes repeatable, instead of feel and looking perfect or correct. You should trust the swing you bring to the course – the one you trained to perform via practice.
Get Psyched for Sports - Podcast of the Month!
In this podcast, Dr. Cohn discusses the differences between a fear-driven mindset and the success driven mindset. Some athletes are driven by fear – fear of failure, which leads to a fear of mistakes or fear of not living up to others expectations. The best option is to practice a success-driven mindset. Listen to this podcast to learn Dr. Cohn’s mental game strategies for adopting a success-driven mindset in sports.
"Maximize Your Stroke - Don't Perfect It !"
"Most players will bust their buns to improve a particular stroke. They’ll take lessons, hit on the ball machine, bang against the backboard, practice in the hot sun. Blood, sweat, and tears, the whole bit. Then having improved whatever stroke they ‘re trying to perfect, they won’t spend a minute figuring out how to use it to maximum effect during a match."
~Brad Gilbert, Professional Tennis Coach
"How Do I Stop Second-Guessing My Game? "
College Baseball Player:
I went through 3 rough years of college baseball – underachieving. My confidence was shot down everyday in practice and nothing helped to build it up. It takes me a few months to gain my confidence back after school is out and the season is over. How do I stop second guessing my game, which hinders me because I'm battling myself as well as others in competition?
The Fearless Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Unbeatable Trust NEW!
The Fearless Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Unbeatable Trust is the latest Workbook/CD program in the Confident Athlete Series. This program is a ground-breaking program to help you overcome the mental handcuffs of perfectionism, fear of failure, and learn unbeatable trust. Dr. Cohn delivers his new program in a step-by-step practical workbook you use for just 15 minutes a day! Dr. Cohn gives you all his TRUST-BOOSTING STRATEGIES in this 14-day step-by-step easy-to-apply mental training program! Become a member and receive 30% off retail.
Read more about The Fearless Athlete - On Sale This Week!
Peaksports Members please login in by using this page to access the special member link.
Not a peaksports member yet? Go demo our New Online Mental Training Site at Peaksports!
| |
Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is the President and founder of Peak Performance Sports of Orlando, Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia in 1991, and founded Peak Performance Sports in 1994. Dr. Cohn is an author, speaker and one of the nation's leading mental game experts. His coaching programs instill confidence, composure and effective mental strategies that enable athletes and teams to reach their performance goals. Dr. Cohn has helped athletes from a variety of sports backgrounds (both amateurs and professionals) identify and develop the mindset needed to achieve peak performance. World-class golfers, runners, shooters and auto racers, as well as motocross, tennis, baseball, softball, football and hockey players, are among those who have benefited from his mental game coaching and training.
|
||||
NEW! The
Confident Athlete Series by Peak Performance Sports brings
you the latest cutting-edge mental training strategies
in a practical step-by-step 14-day achievement plan. Each
program consists of 2 Audio CDs and an easy to
follow workbook to help you apply the mental strategies.
Perfect for any competitive athlete or team coach! |
|
|
|
teamwork
:: confidence :: focus :: composure |
||
©
2007 Peak Performance Sports, LLC 7380 Sand Lake Rd. PMB 5012,
Orlando, Florida 32819 (www.peaksports.com) You
are receiving this email because you have requested Sports
Insights Magazine newsletter at Peaksports.com. |
||