Maintaining your Concentration and Enhancing Attention

 

If you have ever seen any sports movie, there are often times when a game is coming down to the wire. A quarterback may have to make a perfect throw or a basketball player may have to beat the buzzer. These athletes must maintain an incredible amount of concentration (to keep an eye on the target) and attention (to see the field and recognize different outcome possibilities) in order to make the best possible play.

 

 While each of these representations may not be everyday situations, they could in all likelihood be the situation you find yourself in at any given moment. It is then important as athletes and performers to be able to recognize the situation, to know what information is most important in that time period, and to ignore other thoughts that could possibly serve as distractions. If a quarterback sitting in the pocket loses concentration for even a second, he might be blindsided by an oncoming defender.

 

Consider that the cup you on your left represents your attentional capacity, or how much information you can take in at any given moment. Imagine that the part that is filled with water represents your current thoughts at this moment which are important to the situation. It may be the oncoming pitch, the position of the defense, or the weakness of the opponent you’re trying to take advantage of. The empty half of the glass is available for any new information that may be pertinent to you and the situation. If, even for you a second, you allow a thought such as people are watching or what if I miss, it will fill the cup with irrelevant thoughts and there will be no room for new relevant and important information. You might miss a piece of information that was extremely important such as the gun to start a race. This is why it is important to fill your glass with what is most important and keep the remaining space available for incoming, pertinent information.

One way to fulfill your cup and keep the open space available for incoming information are cue words. Cue words can be an effective strategy to consciously reset your mind and tell yourself what is important. Cue words, if used correctly, enable you to refocus and control your attention. To properly use a cue word you want it to be task related and attention grabbing that it almost sounds like a slamming door. Not in volume, but in the meaning of the word. Cue words may either be motivational (push yourself), confidence boosting (I Can!), or even instructional (elbows in). Whatever the chosen word is, it should have some meaning to you in that moment. A golfer might use an instructional word such as tight as a way to focus on proper technique. Your job now, given the information, is to find a cue word that gets you focused on the situation the fastest. To find the best cue word, consider the situation. If you want to push yourself in that moment, you might choose a motivational or confidence boosting cue word. If you want to focus on completing the task correctly, you might choose an instructional cue word. Overall, each cue word should have personal meaning and be strong enough to keep your attention on that task. After finding it, continue practicing it by repeating it any time you feel your mind start to wander and be distracted. This cue word may be useful when on the field, on the ice, on the court, or even in the classroom.

Matthew Jones

Bowling Green State University

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Red Thoughts, Green Thoughts

We’ve all been in positions when our minds get in the way of performing well. Sometimes negative thoughts trickle into our consciousness, which can lead to muscle tension and decreased confidence. Yet, we can stop this negative cycle. The following describes a process for changing your focus to productive thinking.

Consider your thoughts as a traffic light. You can have green, yellow, or red thoughts:

                           Red thoughts - dwelling on what might go wrong, worrying about the outcome (e.g., winning/losing)

                           Yellow thoughts - neutral, non-judgmental thoughts (e.g., counting steps, focusing on arm movements)

                           Green thoughts - in the zone, completely focused in the moment on the skills being performed

Upon recognizing these types of thoughts, you then can adjust where to focus your attention. For example, while red thoughts may enter your consciousness (e.g., “I can’t do this”), you can decide to accept the thought and move on. That thought does not have to become what you believe. Telling yourself “I can’t do this” sets up an expectation of failure.

Instead, that thought can be changed to “I am thinking I can’t do this.” While using only slightly different words, the meaning is very different. This is called non-judgmental thinking. You don’t have to believe what you are thinking. Think of your thoughts as a good friend; sometimes the friend gives you good advice, sometimes the advice is not helpful. You may listen to the advice, but then chose how to react to it. You can do the same thing with your own thoughts. You can move from a red thought to a yellow thought.

One way to move from a red thought to a yellow thought is to ask yourself “What’s important now?” Asking yourself this question can bring you back to the present and to a neutral place. Your answer to “What’s important now?” might be “pump my arms” or “follow-through.” Start changing red thoughts to yellow thoughts during practices:

Notice a red thought    “What’s important now?    Yellow thought

“She’s faster than me"   “What’s important now?”      “Pump my arms”

“I’m no good at this”     “What’s important now?”      “Focus on my target”

“No way we can win”    “What’s important now?”      “Stay with my player”

As you practice shifting from red to yellow thoughts, you will notice that your focus will naturally begin shifting to the yellow thoughts, which will pave the way for green thoughts. Being non-judgmental opens mental space to focus on the here and now – “what’s important now.” Eventually your thoughts will become more non-judgmental and green thoughts will become common. The key to making this technique work for you is to be patient; accept that you may have red thoughts but know that you can move on to yellow and green thoughts.

Exercises modified from: Eiring, K.M., & Hathaway, C.M. (2012). Mindfulness and sport psychology for athletes: Consider awareness your most important mental tool. Available at: http://www.mindfulnessforathletes.us/

Vikki Krane, Ph.D.

Bowling Green State University

 

Relaxation

The best athletes in sport are often described by analysts or coaches as “staying cool under pressure” or having “ice-water in their veins.” Their success in potentially-stressful situations may lie in their ability to stay relaxed. Even at the amateur and youth levels of sport, we often hear coaches telling athletes to “relax,” but how can you relax in a high-pressure situation if you’ve never practiced it? Here are a couple of breathing techniques that may be able to help you relax while practicing or competing (or even when you’re not participating in sport).

Guidelines for effective, efficient breathing:

o   Inhale through your nose and exhale either through your nose or mouth (whichever is most comfortable for you).

o   Let your belly gently swell out as you inhale. This gives your diaphragm the space to drop and allows your lungs to fill more fully.

o   Imagine your lungs filling up section-by-section, from the bottom through the middle and to the top.

o   When exhaling, let your lungs empty from top to bottom and pull your belly in gently to release any leftover air.

Breathing exercises:

Ø  Rhythmic breathing

o   Inhale as you slowly count to four.

o   Hold your breath as you slowly count to four.

o   Exhale as you slowly count to four.

o   Repeat.

Ø  1:2  ratio breathing

o   Inhale for a four count.

o   Exhale for an eight count.

§  If you run out of air before the eight count is finished, try inhaling more air for the following breath and exhaling slower.

o   Focus on steady airflow, both in and out

o   If this comes easily to you, try increasing your counts to 5:10 or 6:12.

Ø  “Reset” breathing*

o   Deeply inhale and exhale while imagining yourself “hitting the reset button” mentally.

*This may be useful for clearing your mind after making a mistake or during a high-pressure situation. 

Try taking 30-40 deep, deliberate breaths during the day even when you aren’t at practice or competing—you could start practicing this by taking a slow, deep breath before sending every text message during a conversation with a friend. It may be helpful to incorporate your breath into practice routine and skill preparation. With enough repetition, effective breathing will be second nature when you need to perform under pressure.

 

 

*Breathing exercises adapted from Williams, J.M. (2010). Relaxation and energizing techniques for regulation of arousal. In J.M. Williams (Ed.), Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (6^th ed., pp. 512-541). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

 

Brian Guerriero

Bowling Green State University

Self- talk

What are you Talking about? Boost your confidence with your Talk!

     Are you aware of the confidence you instill in yourself? Do you take responsibility for validating yourself and managing your confidence? If you are unsure, after reading this blog entry, you will be able to answer yes to both of these questions.

What is it?

     Self-talk is what you say to yourself. Sometimes it is negative and unproductive, distracting you and deflating your confidence. It also can be productive, helping to focus your attention and build your confidence. Self-talk lets you create your own reality. Do you want to be negative and unforgiving of yourself? Or would you rather facilitate confidence and strong athletic performances? It is your choice. You can learn to take control of your thoughts.

How to Apply Self- Talk (In order to be productive with the use of Self-Talk, one must first become aware of his/her current Self-Talk). The exercise below encompasses becoming aware of one’s current own self-talk and fostering a facilitative self-talk to improve one’s confidence.

i(2² + 2²)= I ate confidence

For this exercise, one will need a writing utensil, and a notebook.

Directions: Write down two skills of your sport that you feel confident with. For each, write out two reasons that you feel confident in your ability to be successful with the skills chosen. Write out two skills you feel are necessary and that you feel you could improve with. For each, write out two reasons of what you can do to get better with these skills. Practice intentionally giving yourself more reasons of why you can accomplish tasks instead of allowing your confidence to rely on the circumstance. 

Setting Goals for Peak Performance

Most athletes have been told at one point or another that they should be setting goals. First let’s consider why goal setting is worth the time and effort. The benefits of Goal setting are plentiful, and include:

• -Improved performance
• -Alleviation of anxiety
• -Improved confidence
• -Increased motivation
• -Increased commitment

A goal is an observable and measurable objective that an athlete has committed to achieving. There are two types of goals that athletes often set:

            Outcome Goals: Focus on the result of a contest. Most people tend to set outcome goals, such as to win a match or to make it to the MAC conference tournament.

            Performance Goals: Focus on improvements from prior performances. These goals focus on the skills needed to achieve your outcome goals. For example, a goal to increase your free throw percentage will also increase the team’s chances of winning.

To get the most benefit out of your goal setting, use the following guidelines when setting performance goals; set S.M.A.R.T. goals:

S – Specific: Set goals that are precise. For example, a specific goal for a swimmer would be to shave off .5 seconds from their 200m butterfly by Dec. 1st.

M – Measurable: The goal must be able to be measured. For example, a baseball player may want to set a goal of squatting 315 lbs. by the time spring training begins. Avoid subjective goals such as “try harder” that cannot be measured.

A – Action-Oriented: Set goals that direct your attention to specific actions that can be done. For example, a goal for a hockey player to increase percentage of shots on goal will direct the effort specifically to shooting.

R – Realistic: Set challenging goals that you believe you can achieve. Your goals should push you, not frustrate you.

T – Timed: Give yourself a deadline that will motivate you. By having a specific deadline in mind, you will have a finish line to work towards, and will remain more focused on your goal.

Goal setting is a great tool to add to your mental skills toolbox. Now get out there and start setting some SMART goals!

For more information, see:

Gould, D. (2014) Goal setting for peak performance.  In J. Williams & V. Krane (Eds.) Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance. (7^th ed.) (pp. 188-206). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Scott Graupensperger

Bowling Green State University

Peak Performance in Sport

We often hear athletes talking about playing “in the zone” or being on autopilot during an athletic performance. Many athletes don’t know this, but the “in the zone” performance is what sport psychologists call being in flow. Flow is an effortless, automatic performance where everything goes perfectly and you play your best.

When athletes have a flow performance it helps to increase their motivation in sport. When we play well, we want to continue to achieve that level of performance again. Flow also increases your enjoyment in your sports.

Flow Characteristics

-Challenge that develops skill

The activity has to be challenging enough that your skill set is challenged. Playing an easier opponent won’t increase the chance for flow, playing an evenly matched opponent will increase the likelihood of getting in flow.

-Clear Goals

When in flow, athletes have a strong focus of what they are trying to accomplish. For example, a basketball player might stay focused on staying low on defense or making the extra pass. A strong focus on how to accomplish goals keeps attention where it should be during a performance.

-Become one with the performance

Athletes in flow are totally submerged in the activity. When they step on the field or court, “park” or set aside non-sport thoughts and concerns. Let the activity become what you are aware of and put everything you have into the performance.

-Total concentration

            In flow, one is present in the here and now and clueless to distractions.

-Loss of ego and self-consciousness

Athletes’ ego is detached from performance during flow. They do not judge themselves or criticize themselves after mistakes. They bounce back easily from an error.

How can an athlete maximize flow?

1.     Develop action oriented goals.

2.     Maintain proper focus.

3.     Be in the here and now.

4.     Forget time (focus on each play individually).

5.     Understand your arousal needs for performance (relaxed vs. pumped up)

6.     Train for flow (practice skills so that flow can occur more frequently).

As an athlete you can practice a wealth of mental skills to increase your chances of getting into a flow performance more frequently. Flow cannot be controlled or forced. An athlete cannot just wake up and say, “I am going to play in flow today.” If you want to increase flow performances, then you have to train for flow.

Throughout this blog we will discuss many mental skills that can help to increase an athletes chances of getting into flow. The more an athlete practices these skills, the more mentally prepared for performance that athlete will become. Each aspect of mental skills training that will be posted on this blog can help to increase the chance for flow. Remember, in order to increase flow you have to train for flow. Practice!

If you are interested in reading more about flow check out this book!

Jackson, S., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Flow in sport: The keys to optimal

            performance experiences and performances. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Campbell Query

Bowling Green State University