Sport Psychology Blog

There are two keys to improving your concentration in games: 1. Preventing and managing distractions. 2. Focusing on the task at hand. Both of these things are needed to improve your concentration in games. One without the other isn't enough.  Let me first talk about the importance of preventing and managing distractions. Obviously, it's hard to focus when you're distracted. The better you manage distractions, the easier it is to lock in on the task at hand. The main way to block out distractions is not by resisting them, but by focusing more on the task at hand. The more you focus on the task at hand, the more distractions will fade away in your mind. However, there's more you can do to manage and eliminate distractions. The first thing you need to do is make sure you don't enter a game distracted with outside sources of stress. Many athletes have trouble focusing in practice or games because they are too worried about their grades, their relationships, etc. As

The three main factors that determine your work ethic are:  Motivation  Discipline  Habits I've written a lot in the past about motivation and discipline , so today I want to focus on habits. Habits are important because they are largely controlled subconsciously, which means they require little conscious motivation or discipline. This is very helpful because you only have so much motivation and willpower (discipline) to use every day. Once you use up all your motivation and willpower, you'll stop working hard. So the key to improving your work ethic is building positive habits so you can conserve most of your motivation and willpower to be used for more difficult tasks. For example, if you form the habits of waking up early, eating a healthy breakfast, stretching after practice, and watching film at night, you can do these things without using much motivation or willpower. You can then focus your motivation and willpower on more difficult tasks such as completing a tough worko

Here is an example to show how the weakness avoidance loop works: A basketball player realizes he has a weakness, such as three point shooting. Because he is afraid of the struggle and embarrassment that comes with fixing his weakness, he avoids practicing his three point shoot in both practices and games. Because he avoids practicing his three point shooting, it remains a weakness. The longer he goes without fixing his weakness, the weaker it becomes, which deepens his fear of confronting and fixing his weakness. The more an athlete gets sucked into the weakness avoidance loop, the harder it is to break out of it.  The weakness avoidance loop can be a major obstacle in the development of athletes, which is why it's so important to fight against. It can be difficult, but it's completely possible to stop procrastinating about fixing your weaknesses. Breaking out of the weakness avoidance loop mainly requires motivation and courage. At some point you need to be fed up with your w

A great way to relieve your nerves before games is to write down your worries on paper. By writing down your worries on paper, you can get things off your chest, which feels good in itself. But also, writing can help you find the source of your worries and nervousness. It can be hard to calm yourself down if you don’t know exactly what is making you nervous. Once you discover the main sources of your nervousness through the process of writing, you can better confront these worries and replace them with more positive thoughts. This form of cognitive behavioral therapy can greatly improve your mindset before games. Also, to make this writing exercise even more effective, you can write about your positive qualities and past successes to increase your confidence. Remember, no one has to see what you write, so you should be as honest as possible. I encourage all athletes to try this strategy to relieve nerves. Trust me, it’ll help! And don’t just do this exercise in your head. Actually use