I’ve been talking a lot lately about mental performance and it’s the area of my coaching right now that I am hands down most excited about. Here’s why:
I recently heard about a college hockey program that had a group come out and talk about optimal performance. The summary from the coaches (which I’ll disclaim is all I have to base this on) was that the players learned things like: 8 hours of sleep is best because it provides high levels of energy and builds synapses in the brain which will help you retain what you learned in practice that day. They also learned that there was an optimal sleep temperature that they should set their dorm rooms at for peak performance.
I finally asked, “This is great, but did this group talk at all about motivation, commitment, consistency or time management?” The response I got was no and that it was more of a “science” based experience.
As a former college athlete myself, I saw a lot of flaws with this. Not the science part which I’m certain was all accurate, but there was a critical component to this which was HOW to execute on the science. And that HOW is rooted in mental performance training.
I’ll give some examples to illustrate this point. Most college students know that they should get 8 hours of sleep because it will give them more energy, make them feel mentally sharp during the day, etc. And yet we all know that few college students are actually getting 8 hours of sleep on a consistent basis. They know WHAT to do and they know WHY to do it, but they still struggle to execute because they don’t know HOW to overcome the mental barriers in their way like lack of time management, low motivation and stress.
I’ll give a more general example. A lot of people understand that it is important to eat healthy and exercise in order to feel good, stay in shape and have high energy levels. And yet we all know that this is a struggle for a lot of people. Why? Because they are tricked into believing that diets and workout plans are the HOW. Those things are WHAT they need to do. Following a workout circuit plan or counting calories are WHATS. The HOW is mentally empowering oneself to get motivated to start, stay committed to the process, stay consistent overtime and put off what you want in the moment for what you want in the long-term.
The worst part of this misunderstanding is that people get so frustrated with themselves when they fail and blame themselves and their lack of willpower. The problem is neither of those things! The problem, or barrier, is they just haven’t taken the time to train their mental game each and every day.
It doesn’t matter if you are an athlete, an accountant, a doctor or a stay at home mom, EVERYONE can benefit from mental performance training. It is the HOW that will unlock your potential to accomplish the WHATs for the WHYs and reach your goals.
For daily mental performance training, head over to my Instagram and follow @lyndsey_fry_18.