When I am on the mound I create a lane between me and home plate and I block out everything else. I just focus on the target that my catcher has given me. Nothing else exists. – Roger Clemens
Today’s show is largely based on this quote:
“Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The thoughts in our minds make things so complicated, yet when it comes to getting rid of bad thoughts, we tend to focus on them instead. So we can’t think of them, yet we also can’t suppress them. What should you do then?
Problem with a lot of athletes is not that we let our thoughts affect us, it’s that we put our attention on the wrong thoughts.
I was posed a question that we can prepare all we want before the game, but where there are situations during the game that caused us to can’t help it but feel surmounting pressure, what can we do to cope?
If you have been conscientiously preparing your mind for the task at least 6 months before your game, you should be read to cope. So doing the work is always the key. But, I’m going to address this simply because it may happen and there is definitely a way out of this, assuming you have put in the work already beforehand.
Show Links:
- To Win, Olympic Athletes are Preparing for Defeat by NBC News
- Suppressing the ‘White Bears” by American Psychological Association
Best Performance Books:
Best Resources:
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- Get the MasterPlan. Sign up and download now.
Research:
- Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Wegner, Daniel M.; Schneider, David J.; Carter, Samuel R.; White, Teri L. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 53(1), Jul 1987, 5-13.
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