The Ripple Effect
“The Ripple Effect: the continuing and spreading results of an event or action”
How much do mental skills matter?
What percentage of sports is mental? It’s a common question, and if you ask it you’ll hear a variety of answers. Many performers and coaches say sports are 30%, 50%, or as much as 90% mental.
The answer is that nobody knows for sure. This is because there are so many different factors that go into a performance. For example, your tactics, skills, technique, strength/conditioning, as well as your mental skills will all influence how you play. This is part of what makes performing well so difficult, as there are so many pieces to the puzzle.
Drop a pebble in the water...
One way to think of the mental aspect of sport is like a pebble creating a ripple effect in the water. Let’s start with a mindset around failure (which is common in sports and necessary for success), such as “I’m worried that I won’t play well...what if I can’t do it?” With this mindset, I’ll likely begin to experience feelings of anxiety, nervousness and fear. These feelings are quickly followed by physical tension and stress. Now that I’m physically feeling anxiety, I’ll have a harder time executing skills and practicing the way I want to practice. Because of this, my preparation won’t go smoothly, and my confidence will get low. Now it’s competition time, and I’m feeling neither confident or well prepared. When the outcome doesn’t go the way I want it to, it serves to reinforce my original mindset that I can’t do it...leading to anxiety and fear...and on and on I go.
Negative/Fearful Mindset → Feelings of anxiety → Physically tight → Poor skill execution → poor preparation → Low confidence → Poor outcome/result → Future negative thoughts
Now imagine a different pebble being dropped in the water. This time, my mindset around failure is more flexible and positive: “I might not play well at times, but I’ll deal with it and manage myself; I’ll use it as an opportunity to learn, and do whatever it takes to achieve my goals”. Instead of anxiety and fear, I’m feeling empowered and committed. Physically, I am energized and decisive. This helps me execute my skills well, and I am practicing hard and aggressive; exactly how I want to practice. These great practices make me prepared to compete. I’ve worked hard and done well...I’m feeling competent, and therefore confident. Now, the probability of a positive outcome is high, and I know that even if my performance isn’t where I want it to be, I can learn and improve for next time.
Positive/Empowered Mindset → Feelings of empowerment → Physically relaxed → Improved skill execution → Good preparation → High confidence → positive outcome → Future positive thoughts
Taking control of the chain reaction
Sometimes it can be your mindset…other times, it can be a thought, feeling or physical state. Whatever it is, your mentality will ripple outward and help drive your preparation, performances, and results. Sometimes these thoughts and feelings don’t surface until the day of your big competition.
What makes the mental part of sports unique are two things (there are more than two, but let’s just focus on these): first, it has the potential to subtly influence (both negatively and positively) nearly every aspect of your preparation and performance. Second, it is probably the least understood and least trained facet of performance. Unfortunately, many athletes leave their mental training up to chance, hope for the best, or wait until there is a problem before addressing it.
Why leave your mental skills development up to chance?
