Mental Muscle #1: Motivation
My upcoming Prime Sport 101: Train Your Mind like a Champion online mental training course will explore five mental “muscles” that you must strengthen to perform your best and achieve your athletic goals. The first mental muscle and the one that acts as the foundation for the development of all mental strength is motivation. Without your desire and […]
Read MoreMental Training Works, says Research
A recent study has demonstrated that mental training, even when used briefly online, does, in fact, work. The study, involving more than 44,000 participants, found that both self-talk and imagery, whether focused on the process or the outcome, improved effort, intensity, the experience of pleasant emotions, and performance on a competitive online task. From the […]
Read MoreHow Athletes Can Take Risks that Pay Off
In part one of my two-part series on risk taking (the good kind) in sports, I looked at what risks are for athletes, the upsides and downsides of taking risks, and how risk taking should be a choice that athletes incorporate not only in their sports lives, but also in their broader lives as well. […]
Read MoreTake Risks for Athletic Success
This article will explore the essential role that risk taking plays in athletic success. Before I continue, though, let me preface this discussion by saying that, when I talk about taking risks, I don’t mean taking stupid risks such as texting while driving, jumping off the roof of your house, or taking drugs. That’s not […]
Read MoreA New Book Deal!
I’m excited to announce that I have just signed a contract with the publisher Rowman & Littlefield to write my 15th book, tentatively titled, Train Your Mind for Athletic Success. This book will be based on my Prime Performance System which is my framework for the role of the mind in athletic performance that I have […]
Read MoreDeliberate Practice is Overrated (Sorry, Malcolm Gladwell)
I’ve never been a big fan of either grit or deliberate practice. Of course, they make intuitive sense and have a lot of appeal because they send the message that if we do the right things, anyone can be a champion. Unfortunately, as I describe in my Prime Performance System (and those are just the psychological […]
Read More5 Mental Tools for Athletic Success
This post is the last of my five-part series describing my Prime Performance System which encompasses everything I know about the psychology of sport. This post will introduce five practical mental tools you can use to get the most out of your competitive efforts. These five mental tools are the final piece of the prime […]
Read More5 Mental Muscles for Ski Racing Success
You have certain muscles in your body that are absolutely essential for ski racing including your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. The simple reality is that if you don’t actively strengthen these muscles, you will not be capable of skiing your best. You should think about your mind as made up of ‘mental muscles’, the same […]
Read MorePractice is the Foundation of Athletic Success
Practice is the practical foundation of sports success, meaning it’s what you do that determines whether you do or do not achieve your sports goals. In this post, I will describe why practice is so vital to sports success and the specific mental areas where your efforts in practice must be directed. For you to […]
Read More5 Mental Obstacles That Prevent Sport Success
In my last post, I introduced you to my Prime Performance System that is comprised of the five essential mental areas that most influence athletic performance. In that post, I described the first of the five mental areas—attitudes. In this post, I will explore the second of these mental areas, namely, obstacles, and their make-or-break […]
Read More