Leif H. Smith - Sports Psychology For Dummies

When you’re successful, your motivation will typically go up. So, make sure to put yourself in situations where you can be successful. For example, if you’re in a slump, work with your coach and break down complex skills into simple tasks. You can achieve success with these simple tasks, which will motivate you to get better. Focus on tiny process goals that you can accomplish right now, even in the next few minutes. For example, you may run a mile, spend 15 minutes on visualization, or spend 5 minutes studying the playbook.

Variety adds spice and energy to your training. Change your workouts and practice routines from time to time to keep your motivation up. Every sport involves some repetition, but you don’t have to practice in the same way, or at the same pace and time every day. Working on a variety of practice drills can shake things up and keep you from getting bored and losing motivation.

Think about mind-skill training as well. Many times athletes focus solely on physical training skills. As an example, we frequently discuss with golfers the best way to train. They never hit 20 balls in a row, consecutively, during a game. Golfers do this on the range all of the time, however. Instead, we encourage our golfers to hit one ball, going through their pre-shot routine and assessing the shot from a skill and mental standpoint. We would rather a golfer hit 20 balls in 45 minutes and do so as they actually would do in tournament play. This is mind-skill training and helps to mix up training and make it better. If practice is better, you will be better. If your practice is deliberate and focused, you will get even better. Now that is motivating!

Seek and find the new trends in physical and skills training in your sport. For example, more athletes are participating in yoga for better flexibility and mind control. There are also many new neuro- and biofeedback devices to help track mental training.

If you’re surrounded by others who are driven and achievement oriented, you’ll pick up their energy and it’ll buoy your confidence and motivation. These people are like the wind, helping to power your confidence sailboat.

On the other hand, if you’re around athletes and coaches who are content at just competing and not succeeding, get away from them as quickly as possible — they’ll sap your energy and motivation.

With discipline comes freedom, so you need to discipline yourself to establish effective habits. Even though you may not feel like engaging in certain athletic tasks every day, your discipline will take over and build motivation. The goal is to establish strong, effective sports-related habits, and to make them subconscious and automatic. These habits require less mental effort the more you engage in them.

Surround yourself with emotionally supportive people who understand how hard sports participation can be. Express your thoughts and feelings to them — having people to talk to will lift the weight off your shoulders, allowing your motivation to return.

Sports psychologists are great at this because they’re objective and supportive and allow athletes to vent and get things off their chest in a safe and supportive environment.

You will experience failure and make mistakes in sports and in life. The best athletes in the world experience loss and imperfection every day. The key is to have a short memory when it comes to these failures. Learn from them, and then let them go. Nothing comes from obsessing about past mistakes except lower motivation levels and confidence. (For more on bouncing back from mistakes, turn to Chapter 11.)

Thinking positive is a great way to raise motivation, which is why we devote an entire chapter to positive self-talk (see Chapter 8). Make sure that you’re training your brain to respond positively in the face of adversity or failure.

No matter how bad something may seem, something good can always come out of it. Sometimes our greatest learning comes from mistakes and failure.

Many challenging situations can get in the way of motivation. In fact, it’s easier to lose your motivation than it is to maintain it. So, you need to be aware of these roadblocks and know how to address them when they come up. In this section, we lead the way.

Whether you’re a high school athlete, a college athlete, or in the pros, your role on your team will change sometimes. Your coach may change you to a different position where they feel you’ll be a bigger help to the team. Another player may come along and take your starting role. Or you may be traded to another team. Regardless of the reason, when your role on the team changes, staying motivated can be a challenge.

Stay focused on what you have control over. No matter what your role on the team is, focus on mastering the technical aspects of the sport. Even if you don’t get playing time, you can stay motivated in practice by focusing on improving your performance. Make sure you’re always ready to perform your best — you never know when you’ll be called on to play another role on the team. This is where internal motivation comes into play as well.

Talk with the coach about your concerns regarding your change in role. Don’t go into this conversation with any expectations; keep an open mind. Listen to their reasons for making the change.

You may not agree with the coach, but they make the decisions and you have to respect that fact while you’re a member of the team.

Burnout is one of the more common experiences among athletes today. Athletes are burning out earlier than ever before, and every year many athletes leave their sports as a result of burnout.

Why do athletes burn out?

They’re expected to play sports year-round — there is no off-season. Young athletes especially are not mentally or physically equipped to handle such demanding schedules.

Athletes are specializing in one sport younger than ever. As a result, they play their sport year-round, without letting up, which takes a toll on their motivation.

The physical training in sports has become much more demanding and rigorous. You’re training longer and harder, and these physical demands weigh down not only your muscles, but your mental and emotional energy, as well as your motivation.