Steer my mind to perform? Some peak performers try to take charge of their thoughts while others work on accepting them. Both approaches seem to make sense even though they are different. Learn about these two approaches and start developing your own mixture of strategies, capitalizing on positive thoughts to perform your best, either shifting away from or simply [...]
You can learn to use the same mental imagery skills that elite athletes use to achieve peak performance. Mental imagery is the practice of seeing (and feeling) in your mind's eye how you want to perform a skill, as if you were actually doing it. It's a popular sport psychology technique that service members can take advantage of. You [...]
When performance matters, it’s common to feel amped up—your heart beats faster, for example. How you interpret these physical sensations can change how you feel emotionally, including your overall mindset, and ultimately make a difference in how you perform. Recent research into performance anxiety over tasks such as singing, public speaking, and math gives us some insights about performance [...]
Key Points Breathing at certain paces allows for improved psychophysiological (mind-body) functioning when a person is not exercising, which can help with preparation, recovery, general stress management, and focus during a task. “Heart rate variability” is the acceleration and deceleration in the rate of heartbeats. A more variable heart rate is better for health and performance. Heart rate variability [...]
Anxiety can help motivate you to perform better, but too much can become overwhelming and get in the way of living life to the fullest. When ignored or avoided, anxiety can actually become more intense rather than less. To keep anxiety under control, we have three letters for you: PFD. We aren’t talking about a Personal Flotation Device; we’re [...]
Fear of failure can prevent you from performing your best in many situations including combat, work, relationships, and daily life. Worry can take a bigger hold when you push it aside. For instance, while preparing to give a presentation and thinking, “I can’t be nervous,” you might actually feel more nervous! As you face your fears, understand that fearing [...]
It’s good to think big. Whether or not you fully achieve long-term dream goals, chasing after them can allow you to accomplish other big things along the way. Your goals should be relevant to you with your own unique path. Understanding the different types of goals and how they affect you can be one key to success. Dream goals are one [...]
Warfighters especially need the ability to make quick and accurate judgments without having to think about them deliberately. You can hone this skill using techniques employed by top athletes: They use routines to help shift their attention—away from stressful anticipation of how things are going to turn out—to focus instead on what’s most important in the moment. In other [...]
After Thomas Biesemeyer finished 13th in super G at the 2013 World Championships, he articulated the benefits of training basic mental skills before reaching the elite level. “For the longest time, your goal is to make the national team,” he said. “When you get there, you’re like, now what? Transitioning to World Cup is like starting all over again. [...]
Chasing after a spot on a team can be exhilarating and rewarding; it can also be disappointing and devastating.
Frostbiting in Lasers, the guy in front of me hit the weather mark. Thinking perhaps he hadn't seen it, I let him know, "You hit the mark!" He did his penalty, but for the next leg and a half of the race course, he screamed at me, telling me to sail my own race. I felt the impulse to [...]
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If you take some time off this winter, that doesn't mean that you have to stop training altogether. Serious sailors do physical conditioning in the off-season, but what about mental conditioning? One skill I frequently tackle with sailors is mental imagery...seeing in your mind's eye what it is you want to do, whether it's big picture strategy, sailing new [...]
Because stress often manifests itself mentally, emotionally, or in the body, these are three paths I often take in helping people with stress management. There is no one "right" way. The trick is to figure out what works for you and do it consistently (and sometimes be flexible enough to use other approaches too). If you try to only [...]
Do you find certain emotions surrounding your grief to be unacceptable? This is usually the biggest block to grief. We often think that grief is simply experiencing sadness, but it often encompasses much more than sadness. For instance, people often seal themselves off from anger. Explosive behaviors may be unacceptable in many contexts, but anger is just another emotion. [...]
