If you’re a committed triathlete who races a lot during the competitive season, it’s not if you’ll have a bad race, but, more likely, when you’ll have a bad race. Unsatisfactory races can happen for all kinds of objective reasons: lack of sleep, life stress, poor hydration or nutrition, a mechanical failure, poor tactics or [...]
These days, it sure is difficult being a human being. When I say that, I don’t mean that it’s harder to do the basics of being human, for example, talking, eating, sleeping, working, playing, the list goes on. I mean the deeper aspects of being human, the ways we think, experience emotions, behave, interact with [...]
It never feels good to have a bad race. You perform poorly and you naturally feel awful. It’s normal to experience negative emotions in reaction to results that don’t live up to your expectations. But what specific negative emotion you experience has a big influence on how that subpar performance affects you in the near [...]
The sports community is now deep into what is certainly the strangest competitive year ever, overshadowed, of course, by the Covid-19 pandemic. The predominant emotion I have seen in my work with athletes and in conversations with many more athletes on and off the field of play is…frustration. For many athletes, it feels like a [...]
The ski racing community is now deep into what is certainly the strangest race season ever, overshadowed, of course, by the Covid-19 pandemic. The predominant emotion I have seen in my work with athletes and in conversations with many more racers on and off the hill is…frustration. For many racers, it feels like a lost [...]
In my last post, Fear of Failure: Part I, I discussed the sad epidemic of fear of failure that I find to be rampant in America and that I see frequently in the young ski racers with whom I work. I have discovered a new wrinkle to the fear-of-failure phenomenon that brings greater clarity to the [...]
I was recently interviewed by Ahmann Carter, the founder of the Ideas X People podcast. The podcast focuses on my ideas related to performance psychology. Here are some of the specifics: Common performance obstacles The difficulty and rewards in working towards your goals, regardless of your outcome The importance of identity and intrinsic motivation in [...]
Every recommendation that I have made in my sports articles is directed toward helping your young athletes develop a positive emotional response to their sports experiences. Their emotions in their sports lives impact both their enjoyment and performance in their sport. The ability of your children to have a positive emotional reaction begins with a [...]
Every recommendation that I have made in my ski racing articles is directed toward helping your young racers develop a positive emotional response to their ski racing experiences. Their emotions in their ski racing lives impact both their enjoyment and performance in our sport. The ability of your children to have a positive emotional reaction [...]
t sure is a great time to be a winner in sports (and everything else, for that matter). Being perceived as a success has always had its rewards. But these days, the upsides are far greater than ever before. Success has always been a part of the sports dream, whether competing collegiately, competing internationally, finding [...]
