When working with sportspeople, our talk often gravitates towards how they can be at their best. For elite performers, being ‘in the zone’ is a place they always want to be. However, no human can be at their best at all times. And however good your mindset coaching, and however diligent you are at applying the tools and principles, nothing is guaranteed.
But like many other areas of their game, good mindset coaching will make their best more accessible. Practising the skills and concepts that allow your mind to be in the best possible place when you perform will increase the chances of things going well. A bit like a bigger racket or goal to aim for, mindset coaching will make success more likely.
It can also help the other end. There is a golfing idiom about how you should rate your playing ability: “It’s not how good your good shots are, it’s about how good your bad shots are.” Everyone can have a purple patch but how rotten is your game when things go wrong? How do you respond to a moment that lacked the requisite skill? Is one mistake compounded by another? Good Mindset work is as important for you when things are going badly, as when things are going well.
The above is one of my favourite pictures in sport, as it embodies a nirvana often sought by top athletes. Serena Williams is totally and utterly focused on the ball. She is not considering anything other than the task at hand. She is free of any extraneous thought and allowing her body to do what she has trained it to do. Rod Laver had a phrase when asked what he was thinking about out on the tennis court: “Nothing but the ball.” This picture is that phrase personified.
Our minds will often get in our way. The thoughts our minds produce will often produce physiological responses and, in turn, will make us feel and perform differently.
I know that from my work in sports commentary: my best is when I don’t think; I just react to what I am watching. I don’t try and force lines, I stay open and relaxed, and use the words that come to me to describe what we are watching. I plan and prepare thoroughly but I recognise that having done that, the best thing I can do is let the skill come to the fore and get any predisposed thinking or erroneous thoughts out the way. Just be present and happy. Immerse myself in the action and allow everything to happen naturally. I know that things won’t go as well when I try and force phrases or ideas. If I push, then the work becomes artificial and inauthentic. It is passable but it isn’t the best of me.
When things go wrong in commentary – and they invariably do: I’ll incorrectly name-check a player or misinterpret a law – I know I can’t spend any time worrying about it. The game moves quickly and I need to be ready to react to what is coming next. If I agonise over something I got wrong then I won’t be in the best possible place for the next piece of action. It is tricky, but I have to push away that feeling or emotion connected to the mistake, leave it, smile, (that’s a great way of resetting my mind), and stay present.
It’s the same for everyone, in any role where they find themselves under pressure. Trust the preparation and training. If you’ve worked hard up to that point and put in the requisite time and effort in practice, get your mind and its thoughts out of the way. Let your body do its thing. Stay in the present, not the past or the future; just remain happy and content in the now. It’s your gift. The present of the present.