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Mental Preparation - 2
"It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well." -- Rene Descartes
MYTH #2: You've got it or you don't.
COROLLARY: You don't have to practice mental skills.
Mental skills for performance enhancement are a learnable set of defined behaviors. Furthermore, regardless of your current ability to exhibit these skills, you can improve. Without purposeful practice and deliberate and specific application to our sport however, we will not see this improvement.
Everyone is born with genetic predispositions or ranges of capabilities. In other words there are ceilings to our individual performances... though we never truly know what they are! It’s the same for mental skills. Some people will be better at certain skills "naturally" compared to another person. You may find many of the mental skills I will mention in future articles more or less difficult than the person next to you. What's the message? Practice. Practice. Practice. Especially the ones you find most difficult. Just as in physical practice, we tend to do what we like or are better at. But, to improve we must develop our weaknesses.
Here are a couple quick tips when implementing your mental training program.
1. Intentionally practice at least 3-4 times a week. It can be integrated with your physical practice. (In fact, all the skills need to eventually be done "for real" in your sport.)
2. Practice in "down time." When you are injured and during recovery or rest days are ideal for this.
3. Practice time does not have to be extensive but it does have to be consistent to show improvement.
And here is one exercise to help develop the ability to focus that is fun. The next time you are at the Coffee Plantation or your next party focus your attention on conversations - not your own. Scan the area -- with your ears -- for someone talking. Listen intently to that person. After just a short time, do you notice that all other discussions fade into the background? Your mind only has the ability to focus on one thing at a time. Practice shifting your focus to other conversations or sounds you hear. This kind of practice trains you to focus in on your intended subject and focus out distractions. With practice you will be able to almost entirely phase out the unwanted stimulus.
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