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Think about a GPS device. What are its features? Here are a few: Real-time tracking: a GPS makes changes minute by minute based on where you are at present Trip history: the device keeps track of where you've gone previously Alerts: a good GPS will alert you when you're speeding, if there is a traffic accident ahead, or other elements to watch out for Route: oh yeah, a GPS will tell you the best route to take to get where you're going Re-Calculated Route: and, critically,

"It's been a long time, a long time coming But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will" -Sam Cooke Sam was right. Change is inevitable. His change was born out of desire for a better life. He didn't wait for it, he sought out such change and made it happen. Sometimes we don't want to change. We are in our comfort zones, comfortable with our world as it is. However, it is in those moments of comfort that we often stagnate. Seeking out challenges, seeking out discom

Sport is what you do, it isn’t who you are. That is a key distinction which many athletes fail to make as they get engrossed in their...

Often times we have the answers. If given the opportunity to answer questions about yourself and your sport experience, most people and most athletes will be able to do so. While some answers will be more in-depth than others, typically, when prompted we know deep down what our instincts, values, and standards are made up of. Part of the value of working with a mental performance coach is that they can provide the right questions. Open ended questions that are meant to elici

In researching emotional regulation among basketball coaches, gratitude came up, over and over again, as a technique that coaches actively use to maintain control of their emotional state. We know from research, and from the findings of Positive Psychology, that the positive impacts of gratitude reach far and wide. So, if we're drinking the Kool-Aid on gratitude, how do we train it? Like many other mental skills, it can be trained actively, but we must shift the paradigm

Often times we believe that if we change what we do, we will feel better. If we eat less junk food, we will feel better about our bodies. If we work out more, we'll feel like our day was more productive. If we get all of our work completed, we feel we are great at our jobs. In mental training, we help athletes and performers recognize that the reverse is true as well. When we think and feel positively and productively, positive actions and behaviors will flow more natura

In mental skills training we talk a lot about pre-performance routines. And it's for good reason: routines put in an athlete in a consistent state of mind by creating a "sequence of task relevant thoughts and actions" (Moran, 1996), A routine allows an athlete to keep consistency in the turbulent and ever-changing world of sport. There are many factors that change regarding your performance: location, venue, weather, time of day, opponent - just to name a few. By maintain

In sport, conditions change constantly. Your opponent changes, the venues change, the weather, how you feel a particular day - it can all vary from contest to contest. In order to create consistency of behavior (i.e. how we play), it helps to create a consistent pre-performance routine that will stabilize the way you think and feel leading into a competition. A simple and memorable way to structure your pre-performance routine is the acronym "PREP." "PREP" stands for Pick

What is the most important play in any game? We often say “the next play.” Make a mistake, miss a shot, turn the ball over. As coaches we want our players to forget about such errors and immediately focus on the next play. Well-regarded mental skills coach Graham Betchart, who has worked with Aaron Gordon, Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons and other NBA players talks about getting your “next play speed” under one second. While all of this is true, the reality is that the next play is

How do you show up daily? #sixwordsportpsych "80% of life is showing up," said Woody Allen. Supposedly. Wherever the quote came from, as a society we value the day in and day out actions of those that show up. This, to me, speaks to Jacob Riis and the value of the little successes en route to a greater goal: " Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will spli

Raise your hands if you’ve heard of mindfulness? [All the hands in the virtual classroom go up]. Raise your hands if you’ve read an article about the benefits of mindfulness? [75% of hands go up again]. Now raise your hand if you’ve meditated once in the last week? [10% of hands go up]. There is a disconnect here. As a society we have never been more crystal clear on the benefits of mindfulness. We know what it is, we understand how beneficial it is, and yet, many don’t pract

Motivation. What is it and why, oh why, does it seem to come and go? In plain terms, motivation is the direction and intensity of effort....

All teams are groups but not all groups are teams. Ah yes, the old adage. So what makes a group a team rather than a group? Well, a...

“Long term consistency trumps short term intensity.” -Bruce Lee Everyone can go out and hit a homer once in a while. Greatness – or even...

We’ve all seen it: a call doesn’t go your way. A teammate blows an easy one off your pass. Your sibling knocks your food over. You forget...

See it to achieve it. Seems simple, right? It is and it isn't. Seeing yourself succeed in your sport before going out will help you...