The Deadly Sins of Mental Preparation

In continuation from the last post about overcoming butterflies in order for you as an athlete to be at your optimal for performance, today, we are going to look at some of the mistakes that most athletes make with regards to them prepare mentally for their competition.

DEADLY SIN #1
Pigeon holding themselves to a particular outcome or expectations on your performance

Contrary to what coaches teach their athletes, having high expectations, maintaining high, strict expectations can hamper the athlete’s performance. One tennis player that I worked with had high expectations of wanting to always finish first or place high in their tournaments that they were in. Their sole concentration was on their outcome. I teach my students the hazards of strict expectations and how to identify strict expectations. Your objective is to replace expectations or the outcome with manageable objectives of small tasks that you want to accomplish.

Why do expectations limit your performance? First, you set yourself up for a success/failure proposition. You either achieve your expectations or fail to achieve them. Second, if you don’t achieve your predetermined expectations, you tend to question your ability that day-either during or after performance. Essentially, expectations set you up for failure before you even get started.
In addition, expectations are usually about results such as obtaining a specific score or achieving a personal statistics such as achieving a perfect floor score in gymnastics. Athletes usually judge their performance based off of these expectations. In most cases, high expectations also is associated with pressure to achieve whatever expectation that has been set, which in turn cause a decrease in your optimal level for performance.

We will continue with our topic on the mistakes that athletes are making with regards to mentally preparing for their competition. Until then know that mental toughness is a learned skill that needs to be practiced daily and in every opportunity that presents itself.

How to Overcome Butterflies and Nervousness

Most athletes, including myself, have at some time or another experienced what is commonly know as butterflies in the stomach or jitters- which usually comes from the excitement of the competition or contest. As a result, their nervousness can cause a drop in performance. Butterflies before a contest is common in sports; however, pregame anxiety can cause athletes to perform poorly due to tension in their muscles and restrict them from performing in the manner that they desire.

Pregame anxiety can cause athletes to lose sleep and stay up the night before worrying about the performance and outcome. Athletes may experience lack of an appetite the day of the contest because of pregame anxiety. It can cause some to have the feeling of throwing up before going out to perform. On the contrary, it can cause some to have a heighten sense of excitement to want to perform to the best of their ability.

Athletes should want to have positive butterflies when going into competition that will help them optimize their focus and performance. However, too much or little can decrease their desired performance because their anxiety levels are either too high or too low for performance. The desired outcome of every athlete is to be able to consistently control their emotions for optimal performance.

Your pregame preparation is the best time to control your emotions and to plan the optimal performance that you are seeking.

Later in this series, we will create a checklist for you to examine if you are committing some of the top mistakes during your pregame preparation.