Realizing Your Potential
Whether
you’ve been preparing for an important Olympic race in Atlanta, or training to
do "30 something" in the 10K, or working out for fun or fitness,
there’s an element of training you’re probably neglecting. If you read the
sports literature, you’ll learn about everything from Achilles tendon care to
updating your heart rate monitor software. However, you may not be putting an adequate
amount of time into the psychological aspects of your training. Mental
preparation can do for the mind what stretching does for the body. It can make
all the difference in how you experience your workouts and racing. Yet it is a
skill that even the best conditioned athletes fail to practice sufficiently.
Common
Concerns for Athletes
As
a top endurance athlete I have been racing for the past 20 years, and I have
worked with athletes of all levels doing sports psychology, coaching, and
stress management. I have worked with Olympians, with novices and serious life
long athletes. No matter what level of ability, I have found that the same
kinds of problems arise: Lack of motivation, self-doubt, stress and nervousness
before races, low self-esteem, fear of recurring injuries, weight concerns,
performance slumps, and lack of balance in one’s life. We heard athletes talk
about these issues in Atlanta during Olympic Centennial Moments: Kerri Strug
coming through under pressure to clinch the U.S. women’s team gold medal in
gymnastics, then struggling with frustration when her ankle injury kept her out
of the all-around competition.
An
External or Internal Fix?
When
I give professional seminars at corporations or running clinics people
inevitably ask me: "So what’s the secret; what’s the magic potion that’s
going to produce that quantum leap in performance?" Everyone is looking
for an external fix: that special nutritional supplement, the titanium bicycle,
the rocketing gold track shoes of Michael Johnson, or the golden arching 2-inch
fingernails of Gail Devers. You may be thinking: "If only Nike would
design for me a pair of custom golden shoes maybe I could run a 19.32 world
record in the 200 meters." Those things brought Gail and Michael the gold
medals, right? However, if you took a good look into their eyes as they were
warming up, stretching, approaching the starting blocks, and executing their
events, you could appreciate their sense of unwavering focus, drive, and
internal strength which brought them the results they were looking for. As Gail
Devers said right before her final heat in the 100 meters: "All I’m
thinking about is what I have to do right now in this race. I’m just here to
take care of business." So the good news is that you already have all the resources
you need to produce the results you want. They’re all right inside your head.
It’s just a matter of developing those mental skills just as you have your
physical endurance.
I
Could Have a Major Breakthrough?
Let’s
say your next race is two days away. No amount of physical training between now
and the race will make a significant improvement in the outcome (except of
course overtraining, which may well hinder your performance). However, the
techniques which I will discuss in this on sports psychology have the potential
of giving you a major breakthrough in both your workouts and in competitions.
You can experience substantial growth as an athlete and have more fun and
enjoyment as well. You’ll learn to train smarter, with more intensity, and yet reduce
risk of injury because you’ll gain a new sensitivity to your body’s signals.
You can develop the ability to train with a sense of relaxed concentration so
that your mind and body are 100% in the present moment, focusing solely on the
task at hand. You can begin to tune into a channel of energy that perhaps
you’ve never experienced before and broaden your perspective of what is
possible. The greatest barriers in our
quest to excel are the psychological ones that we impose on ourselves, often
unconsciously. Whether it’s the fear of that recurring knee pain, or worry
about going out to fast in the first mile of a race, or hitting the wall at
mile 20 of the marathon, we each have some mental/physical block to overcome.
With proper and regular mental training you can learn to work through these
obstacles and enhance your self-confidence. You’ll find that as your beliefs
about your limits change, the limits themselves begin to move. Beliefs give
rise to reality.
Critical
Mental Skills for Optimal Performance
Take
for example two runners with similar physical capabilities (e.g. same max.
heart rate, biomechanical make-up, ratio of fast-twitch muscle fibers, etc.).
One becomes an Olympian and the other ends up as a mediocre runner, never
making it beyond a few local races. Why do they run significantly different
times when they have virtually the same bodies? The answer lies in one’s
motivation and in using what one has to the fullest capacity. My personal
experience in consulting with top athletes over the past 20 years has taught me
that there is a collection of mental skills and attributes, all of which are
learned, not inherited, which are characteristic of successful performers.
These are the cardinal skills which anyone can acquire. They include:
1. Creating an inner desire: Each great
human accomplishment begins with some kind of vision or dream. There needs to
be a hunger, a fire inside which fuels your passion to achieve an important
goal, regardless of your ability level. Where the mind goes, everything else
follows. Making a personal commitment to excel in your sport: To improve in
anything, your business, a relationship, or your sport, you must decide to make
it a priority in your life. At some point you must say, I want to be really
good at this; I want this to work. To notice significant growth you must live
this commitment and regularly stretch what you perceive to be your current
limits.
2. Being self-directed and motivated:
One’s personal direction and drive needs to come from within. You must want to
do it for yourself, not for your parents, your coach, or for the medals. The goals must be ones that you have chosen
because that’s exactly what you want to be doing.
3. Ability to handle adversity: Rather
than avoiding pressure you feel challenged by it. You are calm and relaxed
under fire. When the odds are against you this becomes another chance to
explore the outer limits of your potential. Setbacks become an opportunity for
learning; they set the scene for deep personal growth.
4. Having a positive outlook: Your focus
is fixed on what is possible, on what can happen, on success. Rather that
complaining about the weather or criticizing the competition, the mentally
trained athlete attends to only those things which he can control.
5. Being focused and yet relaxed: You have the ability to
maintain concentration for long periods of time. You can tune in what’s
critical to your performance and tune
out what’s not. You can easily let go of distractions and take control of your
attention.
6. Ability to self-energize: Regardless of personal
problems, fatigue, or difficult circumstances, you can generate the optimal
amount of excitement and energy to do your best. Because you love what you do
it becomes easy to maintain a healthy consistency in training and in racing.
The athletes who develop and practice these skills regularly have the best
chance of excelling in athletics as well as personal and professionally. Sport
offers a wonderful chance to free ourselves for short periods and experience
intensity and excitement not readily available elsewhere in our lives. In
endurance sports we can live out our quest for personal control by seeking out
and continuously meeting challenges that are within our capability. Each of us
begins at a different starting point physically and mentally. The true
challenge lies in personal growth, enjoying the pursuit of your goals.
by JoAnn Dahlkoetter, Ph.D., Sports Psychologist
JoAnn Dahlkoetter,
Ph.D., is a nationally known licensed psychologist, past winner of the San
Francisco Marathon and has placed 2nd in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. To
receive her
Optimal
Performance Vizualization Tape, send a check for $15.00 to: JoAnn Dahlkoetter,
Ph.D, 3341 Brittan Ave., #10 San Carlos,
CA 94070-3435