Achieving Peak Mental Performance - Factor #1: Focus on the Process, not the Outcome

Published: Fri, 04/15/16

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The Growth Mindset - 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance

Factor #1 - Focus on the Process, not the Outcome

There are so many beautiful aspects of playing, coaching, and watching sports. The training, the teamwork, the thrill of a hard-fought victory. There are also many heartbreaks of tough losses, frustrations over bad calls or poor sportsmanship, and disappointments when situations out of your control go awry. The one ingredient I have seen in wise coaches, parents, and players who successfully handle the highs and lows of team sports is they have learned to:

COMPETE as “if to win” not “for the win”

Having this mindset takes the pressure off winning. You don't have to live and die by the results of each shot, or lose your mind and scream at the ref when he makes a bad call. Those things do not impact your goals for the game - which should not be tied to the final scoreboard. This is easier said than done. Here are some wise practices to get in this mindset:

Set a few mini-goals within the game and emphasize those instead of the winning. Celebrate the little steps, don’t go overboard on celebrating wins/losses.
Set goals for your kids to try a new move during a game that you have been working on in practice. Willie Cromack during his interview shared with me one of my new favorite quotes for a coach to use: ‘Who is going to be brave enough to try this new move during the game this week?’
Have an intentional plan to not pull players immediately after they make a mistake in a game - you want to teach your players to play aggressive and loose, not in fear.
Set very clear expectations to your players on how you want them to play the game. Coach John Doss tells his team: ‘Make the right lacrosse play, we’re not worried about the results.'
Author Al Ainsworth shared with me a good analogy – in singing: you can’t hold back – ‘Make big fat ugly mistakes’

When Lebron James was struggling with free throws a few years ago- he went to a shooting coach, and the coach asked him what he was thinking about when he went to the line. Lebron said he was thinking about making it. The coach said- ‘Don’t think about making it, think about your process.’

Next week we'll dive into how great coaches like Pete Carroll know that practicing pressure situations is the best way to prepare for them in games.

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WYC 076 – Youth Baseball – Colby Patnode talks rewarding Quality at Bats

Colby Patnode started coaching baseball 2 days after he finished playing for his high school team. He is now 24 and has coached multiple baseball teams, both travel and school teams through the high school varsity level. He lives in Yakima, Washington.

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Craig

Craig Haworth is the founder of Winning Youth Coaching, a site dedicated to helping coaches and parents make youth sports an awesome experience for the youth and the parents. He interviews coaches from around the world and posts them on his podcast, which currently has over 75 interviews and has been downloaded over 65,000 times. He writes a weekly note to coaches and parents. He is married to his high-school sweetheart and they share the blessing of 3 children and live in Franklin, TN. You can sign-up for his weekly note here, find him on twitter at @craighaworth1, or visit his website winningyouthcoaching.com.

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men"

- Frederick Douglass