Mental Skills
“You must train your mind to be stronger than your emotions or you’ll lose yourself every time.”
Parents, Coaches, Athletes – This is the single more important aspect of training you can do! I hope you’ll sink your teeth into this content and commit yourself to putting in the work on the mental and emotional side. These skills will help you be successful both on and off the field, and if nothing else, I want to teach you how to establish and control your own self-confidence, understand how to work toward your goals and love who you see in the mirror because I think you are pretty awesome!
I’m finalizing the development of my first chapter of skills, tools and applications – check back often as I will add new content!
Essential Mental Skills for Sports Performance
Positive Self-Talk
Positive Attitude - Choose & Maintain
Emotional Intelligence
Maintain A High Level of Self-Motivation
Positive Mental Imagery
Communicate Effectively with People
Manage Stress/ Anxiety/ Nerves
STEP 1: GOAL SETTING
“You are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. Writing your goals down not only forces you to get clear on what, exactly, it is you want to accomplish, but doing to so plays a part in motivating you to complete the tasks necessary for your success.” Dr. Gail Matthews, Psychology Professor
Writing your goals down not only forces you to get clear on what, exactly, it is that you want to accomplish, but doing so plays a part in motivating you to complete the tasks necessary for your success. The process of putting your goals on paper will force you to strategize, to ask questions about your current progress, and to brainstorm your plan of attack.
cREATE A VISION BOARD
The first step to accomplishing your goals is to identify them! This can sometimes be harder than is sounds. What I want you to do is create an annual vision board. A Vision Board should consist of long-term goals (annual in this case) that you want to accomplish. It can and should include everything that makes YOU, YOU! The idea behind an annual Vision Board is, on New Years Even 2020, when you look back on this year, who do you want to be and what do you want to have accomplished?!
what should i include on my vision board?
Anything that inspires and motivates you! The purpose of your Vision Board is to bring everything on it to life. First, think about what your goals are in the following areas: School, Athletics (in general and by position), Relationships/ Friendships, and Personal Growth (including spirituality, social life, health etc.).
once i create my vision board, what do i do with it?
Now that you have identified what you want to accomplish this year and what you are working towards, you will put this up somewhere in your home where you will see it EVERY SINGLE DAY. This Board is a daily reminder of what you are working for…it provides clarity, direction and motivation EVERY SINGLE DAY!
- PICTURES: Search for pictures that represent your goals. For example, if you have a goal of hitting a homerun over the fence, Google ‘Women’s College World Series Homeruns’, look at the images and you’ll see so many awesome pictures that represent hitting a homerun! Save one of those pictures, print it out and put in on your Board! If you are of recruiting age, put the logo of the college you want to attend on your board! What ever your goals may be, try to find a picture that will serve as a representation of that goal. You can search Pinterest, Google or any resource you have! You can cut pictures out of magazine or you can draw!
- WORDS/ QUOTES/ SYMBOLS: I’m a huge quote person! Anything that motivates and inspires you, include it! Again, you can write it, cut out words from a magazine or print things off from the web – whatever speaks to you!
STEP 2: DAILY GOAL SETTING
WHAT IS A GOAL?
Wikipedia defines a goal as “a desired result that a person or a system envisions, plans and commits to achieve”. The desired result guides a reaction which has value to an individual or organization.
THE BENEFITS OF GOALS SETTING:
There are a significant benefits to goal setting. If you haven’t written down what your goals are and a plan on how to achieve those goals then here are 14 key reasons why you should start setting goals today.
- ACHIEVE BETTER & FASTER RESULTS
- INCREASES POSITIVE ATTITUDE & ACHIEVEMENT
- CREATE A SENSE OF PURPOSE
- SET CLEAR INTENTIONS TO FOCUS ON
- MAINTAIN FOCUS
- ASSIST IN OVERCOMING PROCRASTINATION
- FOSTER BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT
- CLEARER DECISION MAKING
- DRIVES MOTIVATION
- PROVIDES MEASUREMENT TO PROGRESS
- MAKES YOU ACCOUNTABLE
- SETS BOUNDARIES
- REDUCED STRESS
- ENHANCES COMMUNICATION
NOW WHAT DO I DO?
Now that you have created your Vision Board for the year and identified what you would like to accomplish, let’s start laying out a daily execution plan to get you one step closer every day to accomplishing the goals on your board!
This first thing you need to do is get a notebook dedicated to daily goal setting and journaling. You can also use this for daily time management if needed. It can be a day planner, a spiral bound notebook, anything that works for you. You’re going to use this notebook first thing in the morning, keep it in your athletic bag/ bat bag, as well as reference it in the evening.
First thing in the morning after you get up and moving, BEFORE you start your day, write down your goal for that day.
What do you want to accomplish today? This can be athletic, academic, community based, spiritual or personal development related. Whatever makes YOU, YOU! This goal should pertain to something on your Vision Board, as that is what you are working toward.
Remember this goal should be a S.M.A.R.T. Goal!
SPECIFIC: Avoid generalizations such as: “try my best”, “work hard”, “get better”…. Instead try something that will lead you to ‘get better’, such as ‘take 100 swings off of the tee working on driving my back knee through the ball’ …OR… ‘reading and highlighting chapters 1 & 2 in my English book today.
MEASURABLE: If we set a specific goal, we should be able to ask ourselves at the end the day a YES/NO question… Did I accomplish my goal? YES or NO?
ATTAINABLE: Be realistic with yourself. For example, if you just turned around to hit from the left side and you set a goal of hitting a homerun at practice, that isn’t realistic/ attainable RIGHT NOW and you will set yourself up for failure and disappointment. Instead, narrow your focus to improve the little things that will lead to that homerun. Example: Get my bat head out front through contact each rep during BP today….this is attainable TODAY and will lead toward that long term homerun success.
RELEVANT: Be sure the goal you set each day is something you can accomplish today that will lead you toward accomplishing what is on your vision board. REMEMBER, your daily goals are your day by day execution plan that lead you to accomplishing your long term vision board goals. If you are in 8th grade and want to go to the University of Florida, that isn’t going to happen this year. BUT… what can you do each day and each year that will get you closer to that dream when the time is right?
TIMELY: This echos my statement above, if it isn’t something you can accomplish today and this year, we need to narrow our focus. For example, if a pitcher throws 45 MPH and sets a goal of hitting 65 MPH by the end of the year, this is not a timely, nor realistic goal!
Now that you have set a goal for the day – given yourself direction, focus and a purpose – you now have to hold yourself accountable! At the end of every day, before your head hits the pillow, open your notebook and ask yourself, ‘Did I accomplish my goal today?’ If your goal was a S.M.A.R.T. Goal, you should be able to answer that with a YES/NO answer.
If YES! Congratulations build off of that tomorrow!
If NO – That is OKAY! It doesn’t mean you suck and should try something else, it means you need to make an adjustment to try and accomplish that goal tomorrow. The key here is MAKING ADJUSTMENTS. Maybe it’s an alteration in your schedule, or the goal was too lofty and unrealistic, or something unforeseen happen that made accomplishing that goal a challenge. All of these scenarios will occur, your job is to make the adjustment, and try again tomorrow!