Working on You Equals Success

posted on: February 16, 2015
author: Brian Lomax, Ed.D.

Last week, this audio reminded me of the philosophy that you have to work on yourself first before you can achieve the results that you want. You have to grow into the person that can achieve greatness. As I listened to this message, I realized that the same thing is true in competition. While you are competing, you have to work on you! That’s the pathway to success.

Do you ever get frustrated, angry, agitated or too emotional in competition? How about nervous, scared, or tentative? At some point in our competitive careers, we’ve all been there. So what do you do about it? Focus on strategy or technique? Work harder? Just keep doing what you’re doing? Guess what – you have to work on you first!

What does it mean to work on you in this situation? When either fear or anger is the dominant emotion in your performance, your mind and body are in fight or flight mode. Your decision-making skills are compromised and your motor skills are impaired. Neither of those leads to good performance so focusing on strategy, technique or effort won’t be effective because that’s not the root of the issue. The root is you.

When you’re playing your best, your mind is clear, your muscles are loose, there is little anxiety, and you trust your game. In the heat of competition, that is where you need to go. Technical or strategic adjustments won’t be as effective until you get yourself into that state. To start working on yourself in competition, consider these 5 steps:

1. Focus on your breathing – This is a great way to begin to clear your mind and slow things down. When things are going poorly, we feel rushed and that the game is going by too quickly. Use your breath as a means of slowing yourself down and focusing on something you control.
2. Body Scan – As you breathe, scan your body for tension and stress, and relax those areas. Start at the top of your head and progress all the way down to your feet. Bring awareness to all parts of your body and try to relax them. Shake your arms and legs to assist in relieving tension. Jumping up and down also works.
3. Confident Body Language – As Amy Cuddy states in her TED talk, your body language defines who you are. Great competitors always display a confident image so be sure that yours does too, especially during breaks in the action.
4. Patience – Another way to slow down is to be more patient in your performance. Being patient will help you establish a rhythm and get back to trusting your game. Once that’s been re-established, you can play on instinct again.
5. Self-talk – The goal with self-talk is to minimize it, but in a fearful or agitated state, your self-talk will be present and so you need to deal with it. Change the tone of it to be encouraging, supportive, motivating and optimistic. Keep the messages short and focused on what to do (steps 1 – 4).

All five of these steps are skills that need practice so that you can execute them when needed. Add them to your training plan and make them the primary goal of your practice at least once a week. Become proficient in these skills and you’ll perform well in each competition right from the start. It’s all about working on you!