Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop/Rap Influences on Mental Conditioning

In 2023, on its 50th anniversary, hip-hop and rap music was thoroughly analyzed, dissected and celebrated.  It is clear that hip hop and rap are two genres of music that have been around for decades and have had a profound impact on popular culture. However, I have found nothing in popular media this past year that discusses the psychology of rap and hip-hop. Did you know that this music can also be valuable tools for sports and performance psychology as well as mental conditioning and fitness?

In recent years, there has been a growing body of research that suggests that hip hop and rap can be used to help athletes and performers improve their mental game. For example, a study published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology found that listening to rap music before a competition can help to increase athletes' confidence and focus. Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology found that rap music can be used to help athletes cope with stress and anxiety.

There are a few reasons why hip hop and rap can be so effective in improving mental toughness. First, these genres of music often deal with themes of overcoming adversity and achieving success. This can be empowering for athletes and performers, and it can help them to develop a positive mindset. Second, hip hop and rap music can be very motivating. The fast-paced beats and catchy lyrics can help to get athletes and performers pumped up and ready to perform at their best. Finally, hip hop and rap music can be a form of self-expression. Athletes and performers can use this music to express their emotions and to connect with their inner strength.

If you are an athlete or performer who is looking to improve your mental game, I encourage you to listen closely to hip hop or rap music before your next competition or performance. You may be surprised at how much of a difference it can make.

Here are a few specific examples of how hip hop and rap can be used to improve mental conditioning:  

1. Motivation: Listening to rap music can help to get you pumped up and ready to perform at your best. The fast-paced beats and catchy lyrics can help you to focus and to block out distractions.

2. Confidence: Rap music often deals with themes of overcoming adversity and achieving success. This can be empowering for athletes and performers, and it can help them to develop a positive mindset.

3. Coping with stress and anxiety: Rap music can be a form of therapy. The lyrics can help you to express your emotions and to connect with your inner strength. This can be helpful for coping with stress and anxiety before a competition or performance.

4. Creativity: Rap music is a form of self-expression. Athletes and performers can use this music to express their emotions and to connect with their inner strength. This can be helpful for improving creativity and problem-solving skills.

Here are some hip hop and rap songs that athletes recommend for motivation and getting in the zone:

• "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar: "We gon' be alright.”

This lyric is a powerful reminder that even when we're facing challenges, we can overcome them.

• "Lose Yourself" by Eminem:  "You can do anything you set your mind to, man."

This song is about determination and perseverance. It is a great choice for athletes who are facing a tough challenge.  

• "Love Yourz" by J. Cole: "Love yourz, even when they hate you back."  

This lyric encourages listeners to accept themselves for who they are, even when others don't.

• "1-800-273-8255" by Logic:

"You're not alone, you're not the only one going through this"

This lyric reminds listeners that they're not alone in their struggles, and that there is help available.

• "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis: This song is about believing in yourself and never giving up. It is a great choice for athletes who need a boost of confidence.

• "Stronger" by Kanye West: This song is about overcoming obstacles and becoming stronger. It is a great choice for athletes who are looking to improve their mental toughness.

• "Till I Collapse" by Eminem: This song is about pushing yourself to the limit and never giving up. It is a great choice for athletes who are looking to give their all.

• "Work" by Rihanna: This song is about confidence and determination. It is a great choice for athletes who need to feel like they can take on the world.

• "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" by Beastie Boys: This song is about energy and excitement. It is a great choice for athletes who need to get pumped up before a competition.

• "Pump Up the Jam" by Technotronic: This song is about getting the party started. It is a great choice for athletes who need to get motivated and in the zone.

• "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre: This song is about being the best and never giving up. It is a great choice for athletes who are looking to dominate their competition.

• “I Can” by Nas: This song is all about self-empowerment and believing in yourself. 

• “Umi Says” by Mos Def: This song is all about staying true to yourself and finding inner peace. 

• “The Light” by Common: This song is all about finding the light within yourself and staying positive. “The World Is Yours” by Nas: This song is all about taking control of your life and making the most of it. 

• “I Used to Love H.E.R.” by Common: This song is all about the ups and downs of life and how to stay positive through it all.

• “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: This song is all about the struggles of life and how to overcome them. 

• “Juicy” by The Notorious B.I.G.: This song is all about overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams. 

• “One Mic” by Nas: This song is all about the power of words and how they can change the world. 

• “Changes” by Tupac: This song is all about the struggles of life and how to overcome them. 

• “Keep Ya Head Up” by Tupac: This song is all about staying positive and keeping your head up, even when times are tough. 

• “The Show Goes On” by Lupe Fiasco: This song is all about overcoming adversity and staying positive. 

• “All of the Lights” by Kanye West: This song is all about the power of positivity and how it can change your life. 

• “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z: This song is all about the power of positivity and how it can change your life. 

• “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” by Kanye West: This song is all about staying true to yourself and not letting anyone bring you down. 

• “The Power” by Snap!: This song is all about the power of positivity and how it can change your life.

• "Stressed Out" by A Tribe Called Quest.

• "Mind Playing Tricks" on Me by Geto Boys.

These are just a few examples of the many hip hop and rap songs that athletes recommend for motivation and getting in the zone. The best songs for you will depend on your personal preferences and what you need to get pumped up. So experiment and find a few songs that work for you!  Yes, there are a number of specific lyrics in the songs identified that speak directly to positive outlook and a resilience mindset. 

If you are feeling overwhelmed by your mental health, please reach out for help. There are many resources available to you, including mental health hotlines, support groups, and therapy. Remember, you are not alone. There are people who care about you and want to help.  

If you have a playlist that you want to share, please send it to me via comments or via email and I will pass them along in a future blogpost.  

If you are experiencing a crisis or an emergency, please dial 911, 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or go to your nearest emergency room. You may also call the Georgia Crisis and Access Line at 1-800-715-4225 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).* 

NOTE: This blogpost was assisted by AI.

The Ubiquitous, Endless Loop of Suck

"Me and him both. I say to him all the time, ‘Listen, buddy, I know it sucks for you, but there are way more people saying that I suck than you do.'" 

--Dan Hurley, head coach of NCAA basketball champion University of Connecticut, discussing conversations during the season with his point guard Tristen Newton

 

For years, I have become increasingly amazed at the frequency with which I and most other people use the word "suck." Here are some typical examples:

Present Tense

Self:  I suck.

One's Talent/Competency:  I suck at that. 

Other:  He/she sucks.

Others:  Boy, they suck.

What another thinks:  He/she thinks I suck.

What others think:  They think I suck.

Consensus:  Everyone thinks that sucks.  Everyone knows that sucks.  Everyone knows I suck.

Empathy/Observation:  Dude, that sucks!  

Event/Self (Certainty/Spoken by Others with Empathy):  That's gotta suck.

Events/Groups:  Man, those guys suck.  

Environment/Culture:  It sucks over there. 

The present tense of suck suggests the absolute nature of sucking.  Suck is all or none.  You, it, or they either suck or don't.  There is typically no mild or moderate in the word suck.  It either sucks or it doesn't.  If you suck, you suck in the extreme.  

Granted, the use of the word "suckish" has gained some popularity.  This new development suggests various levels or a dimensionality of the suck.  It opens the door for the existence of a "suck spectrum," or the awareness that things, events and people can be on the suck spectrum.  You, indeed, can be on the suck spectrum.  

Primarily, the effect of the present tense of suck is anticipatory anxiety.  Its use suggests that there is something to dread and avoid on the horizon.   It disrupts the ability to fully prepare for the situation.  It triggers the stress/trauma response and stimulates old neural pathways and connections between the mid-brain and the cortex about past experiences that sucked (and remember, they were was extreme and absolute).  It sets up a hypervigilance and anxiousness that affects cognitive functioning and optimal performance.  Often, it also leads to procrastination.

More importantly, however, is the disruption of any real possibility of proceeding with the activity in a relaxed, confident flow state.  

Past tense 

I sucked, he/she sucked, they sucked, he thought I sucked, they think I sucked.

One's Talent/Competency:  I sucked at that.

This use of the past tense of suck has the tendency to intensify our post-performance anxiety.  It keeps us stuck in the past and reduces our ability to learn, and increases the likelihood of an ongoing narrative that focuses on failure.  It tends to lead to harsh self-criticism and evaluation of our future performances. 

Future Tense

Self/Future tense:  I'm gonna suck.  I always suck at that.

Event (Prediction):  I bet that'll suck.

Certainty/Future tense:  That's gonna suck.

Certainty/Permanence:  That always sucks.

Chandler Bing Versions  (These upgraded suck statements are a little more healthy and helpful.) 

Could this be any more suckish? (Yes, most certainly.)

Could this suck any worse?  (Yes, definitely.)

It couldn't suck any worse than this.  (Again, yes, indeed.)

Should you be intent on using the verb or adjective "suck," you could transition gently to the following versions of the word.  

Less common internal dialogue that includes the verb "suck."  

This might suck.  

This could suck.

Let's see if this sucks.

This could suck a little (but maybe not).

I will challenge myself to not suck as badly as before.

Post-Performance Evaluation Suggestions

The antidote to using the past tense of suck is asking such post-performance questions as:

What didn't suck about that?

How could I have sucked less?

What can I learn to do instead to reduce the suckishness?

What did I do that didn't suck?  

How can I increase my non-suckish behavior? 

What part of the suck did I not contribute to?   

In general, self-talk or internal dialogue can be very difficult to identify and even harder to change. When I work with my clients I usually suggest they monitor what they say to themselves prior, during and after they perform any important activity. When they look carefully at any activity they engage in, whether they experience anxiety during the activity or not, I suggest that they pay attention to their self-talk. Usually, they ask for examples to help them identify their particular self-talk. If I give them examples, they often do not personally identify with the examples. I think that is because self-talk is often very unique to them and is often based on their particular childhood developmental experiences and the types of environments in which they grew up.  

Most recently, it occurred to me that to best analyze self-talk, it is helpful to look at the timing of the self-talk (present, past or future) and where it occurs in the sequence of an activity.  Additionally, it is important in that it might help you to determine what type of anxiety you tend to exhibit (anticipatory anxiety, pre-performance anxiety, or post-performance anxiety).  Whether we are talking about social anxiety, public speaking anxiety (reportedly the most common anxiety), performance anxiety, etc. the self-talk tends to have certain characteristics and timing. This is where your analysis of your  signature use of the word "suck" can be very helpful.

Writer's Note #1:  After reading this post, my wife said, "This article was much less 'suckish' than most of the ones you write."

Writer's Note #2:  No part of this blogpost was generated by AI.  

To watch the San Francisco 49ers' Greg Kittle discuss more about his "reset button," click here:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1617904357638549506

Momentum: Game-Changer or Unicorn?

An old baseball coach in Texas once told me "the two most important things in baseball are Mo and Po............Momentum and Potential."

Jill Ellis, the coach of the United States women’s soccer team, also believes strongly in momentum.  She kept and her players discussed it over and over again late Tuesday night after the team’s 13-0 win over Thailand in the opening competition of the 2019 World Cup.

With the win and the domination of their opponent, Ellis and her team ambitions are to win the World Cup, nothing less.  The team understands the importance of maintain a rhythm and flow that fosters confidence.  They wanted to set the right tone and mood.  

To that end, she was delighted to see her team score goals at will; she wanted as many players as possible to experience success.

“Those feelings are what can help you get through the tournament,” Ellis said.

Putting the Pedal to the Metal

“With the score line tonight, we have to look at the group stage as every goal counts,” star team member Alex Morgan said. “It was important for us to continue to go.”

“As a coach, I don’t find it my job to harness my players and rein them in, because this is what they’ve dreamed about, and this is a world championship,” Ellis said. “When you have a deluge of goals like that, it’s important.”

Goal differential in the group stage at any World Cup — the spread between a team’s goals scored and allowed — is the first tiebreaker for placing in groups ahead of the knockout stage.  Team USA's 13 goals were both a statement of intent and skill but also important in getting through the knockout round.

“For us, the goals matter,” said Carli Lloyd, who scored the last one and celebrated with a quick fist pump. “In this tournament, it’s important. So we just have to keep that throttle down.”

But mindset is as important as goals and statistics.  The winning culture and the atmosphere this team has been fostering values momentum, flow and self-esteem. Ellis sees this as a clear competitive advantage. She strives to spread these feelings throughout the team. 

As she prepared to send bench players into the game once the game was seemingly out of hand, Ellis told them specifically not to take their feet off the gas. She wanted more of her attacking players to “get hot,” she said.

At that point that point in the game, there were still several players appearing on the World Cup stage for the first time, and Ellis, wanted them to get comfortable on the World Cup stage as quickly as possible.

Young Rose Lavelle, scored twice in her first World Cup match.  “It’s really about making sure Rose is doing her thing,” Ellis said. “She is unique. She’s obviously a very skillful player, and you don’t ever want to limit that.”

Ellis afterward called the last goal “massive” for Lloyd, the MVP at the 2015 World Cup, as she continues to adjust to playing a supporting role off the bench.

Another young player, Mallory Pugh, who came in late in the second half, was in tears after scoring her first goal in her first World Cup game.

“You forget these moments are massive moments for players,” Ellis said.

Thanks to her aggressive approach to her substitutions, Ellis had three more players on her bench who felt the adrenalin rush of being involved in a World Cup goal.   Collectively, the entire team may feel that they can score again every time they step on the field.

“A lot of this is about building momentum,” Ellis said. “The reality is, we also believe we’ve got more to do, no doubt. We’re going to stay humble, and we’ll go back to work.”

So, Is Momentum a Thing?

Momentum is the feeling that accumulated success will lead to greater success. We want to be able to count on continued success, if at all possible.

Pressure, stress, competition, change, adversity all are a shock to the our systems. Our brains do not like being shocked. We like stability, we like the status quo. If our systems are shocked, we want to return to equilibrium as quickly as possible. 

When we reestablish the status quo again, we hope to stay there. We seek a return to stability and equilibruim. If we sense stability, we do all we can to stay there.  Our brains try to predict and control, for the purpose of returning to a stable place. We look for signal that our environment has returned to status quo, to some sort of stability.

Though the concept is debatable, some people, including sports psychologists argue that momentum is a thing, a literal game-changer, that has the potential to determine future outcomes, as well.  A way to create calmness and confidence.

Terms like momentum, “winning streak,” or “hot hand” (one that’s made many shots in a row) are thrown around casually to describe an experience sports fans and athletes know intuitively: When we feel like we’re winning, winning seems to come easier, whether that’s in the form of sinking multiple buckets in a row or winning a string of important games or even championships.

“What we often observe in athletes is that there are positive and negative changes in their mental states and behaviors when moving toward or away from the desired outcome,” says University of Groningen sports psychologist Ruud J.R. den Hartigh.  

Many scientists studying momentum have cast doubt on whether those changes in mental states are based on any actual statistical patterns of winning — a valid objection.  But den Hartigh and other sports psychologists argue that it’s the feeling that counts, so much that it really can lead to more wins.

Does Momentum Builds Within and Between Games?

Any sequence of positive results or outcomes we achieve, are easy to interpret as evidence of a positive trajectory toward success, suggesting “building momentum.”

Momentum can also be defined as the movement of a team or athlete toward or away from a desired outcome —that can be making a basket, making multiple baskets in a row, winning one game, or winning a crucial game in a playoff series. That means there is positive and negative momentum, both of which can affect the way teams play within a game and across games in a series.

In his research on rowing teams, den Hartigh found that positive momentum (taking the lead in a race) leads to more unified movement within a team, while teams are less coordinated and put in less effort when they have negative momentum (falling behind in a race). Similarly, his research on psychological momentum across rowing matches, published in 2016, showed that athletes with positive momentum were generally less sensitive to negative momentum in later races.

“So, momentum all has to do with that perception of moving toward or away from the desired outcome, and whether that outcome is still reachable,” says den Hartigh.  That perception, as others have shown, has major impacts on how athletes actually play. It is the mindset that counts.

How Momentum Builds

In his research, University of Maryland kinesiology professor and psychological momentum expert Seppo E. Iso-Ahola, Ph.D. has found that teams with momentum perform better because of the confidence that winning brings. Confidence, Iso-Ahola found, plays a critical role in how athletes operate.

“It would be a mistake to think, after winning a game, that we now have a momentum that will carry us through the next game and ultimately, to the championship."

”High-level athletic performance, he says, “occurs at the intersection of neurology and psychology, with specific motor movements (e.g., 3-point throws in basketball) being executed nonconsciously and automatically without any conscious interference (e.g., doubts).”

An athlete performing at their peak are skills at preventing intrusive thoughts from getting in the way, and that’s where momentum comes in.

Momentum, says Iso-Ahola, “facilitates nonconscious processing and automatic execution of athletic (motor) movements that have been rehearsed over thousands and thousands of hours.”  In other words, the confidence that comes with momentum makes it easier for athletes to do what they are trained to do without having to think about it. In his research on momentum, Iso-Ahola has shown that the most successful people are those who have more frequent occurrences of momentum and can make them last longer. In a basketball game, this is the team that has the most and longest scoring runs; in a series, it’s the team that wins many consecutive games often. He points out, crucially, that “between-momentums build on within-momentums” — a reminder to focus on momentum within a game.

A Mindset Leads to Winning

For a player, team, or fan, the feeling of momentum comes down to the belief that there’s been a certain pattern of success, whether in the form of a shooting streak or accumulated wins in a series. Take Steph Curry’s performance in Game 3 of the 2019 Finals against the Toronto Raptors, scoring 12 of the Warriors’ first 14 points, for example: To fans, it appears that a player like Steph Curry can get the “hot hand."

”But a statistician might disagree. Who’s to say that making six, or ten, or 25 shots in a row makes one “hot”? “People have been looking at the hot hand for more than three decades now and there is no clear agreement about whether it actually exists.”

“People have been looking at the hot hand for more than three decades now and there is no clear agreement about whether it actually exists,” psychological scientist Matthew Welsh, Ph.D., says. Welsh, a senior research fellow at the Adelaide Decision Lab, studies heuristics and biases in decision making, and the “hot hand” is a bias he’s spent a lot of time studying.

The hot hand is “the idea that, at certain point in time, players are ‘hot’,” he says. “That is, that their skill level is, temporarily, raised above its normal level.” Though its existence is widely believed by fans, players, and coaches, the numbers remain inconclusive.

The classic paper on momentum, published in 1985 by psychologists at Stanford and Cornell University, dismissed the idea of a “hot hand” in basketball as “a general misconception of chance.”  Their controlled shooting experiments on Cornell basketball players showed no correlation between the outcomes of successive shots.  People who believe the “hot hand” exists, they argued, don’t actually understand what chance means, and so they think they can find patterns in “even short random sequences.”  The way Welsh puts it, there was “no evidence of anything other than random patterns arising from long term shooting patterns."

”There’s some evidence that it may exist in other sports, but basketball, says Welsh, seems particularly ill-suited for it.  Factors like alternating start times, multiple substitutions, defensive changes, many time-outs, and the fact that “hot” players tend to be double-teamed, he says, might obscure the pattern, if it exists at all.  Nevertheless, the conviction in momentum remains, and that’s because “statistical” momentum isn’t equivalent to “psychological” momentum.  Whether a player is numerically “hot” doesn’t matter as long as they think that they’re hot — a feeling that Welsh credits to humans’ “oversensitive pattern sensing mechanisms.”

Teams Can Take Advantage of Momentum

Though the numbers may not support it, momentum is real, at least psychologically, and teams can use it to their advantage. But as den Hartigh warns, “it is important to keep in mind that the relation between momentum and performance is not always straightforward.”

“In the end, it is momentum that makes the difference in who wins and who loses."

”When teams have positive momentum, they tend to relax a little because “the advantage seems to become comfortable,” he says, and this gives the opponent an opportunity to claw back. Negative momentum, meanwhile, can also fire up a team. But reminding us that momentum is all about movement toward or away from a desired outcome, he points out that performance seems to drop once that outcome seems impossible to reach.

Iso-Ahola likewise warns of the dangers of coasting with advice worthy of Steve Kerr: “No backing off, but instead, pouring in as many points as possible, and giving no mercy to the opponent,” he says. “That is capitalizing on momentum. Each competitive situation is its own performance event for which momentum has to be separately created.”

Excerpts from:

https://www.inverse.com/article/56428-raptors-take-lead-in-nba-finals-maybe-it-s-momentum

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/sports/usa-thailand-world-cup.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_190613?campaign_id=2&instance_id=10070&segment_id=14234&user_id=5b07f13b07a1d067ce0262161ce7c9c1&regi_id=279697130613

Stan Wawrinka's Mental Toughness Powers Him to the U. S. Open Final (Video)

"Really tough for the body, a big fight physically and mentally. You need to accept to suffer and almost enjoy it, because you have no choice. I saw after the first set he would start to be tired if I pushed him physically. I know I can last for three, four, five hours. Same as against Del Potro. I need to stay with him, not go down, show him you will push him, push him again. Sometimes my brain gets lost on the tennis court. When I stay tough I can beat anybody. I know I can bring my best in a Grand Slam. Maybe because i didn't play so well in last few months." 

--Stan Wawrinka, tennis pro, speaking on ESPN following his win in the semifinals of the U.S. Open on 9/9/2016.

Stan Wawrinka sounds highly motivated as he heads into a showdown in the finals against Novak Djokovic on Sunday in New York. Can he will himself to victory? It seems that his head's on straight right now. Will it be enough for the upset?

How do you call up your mental toughness? Are you willing to suffer mentally and physically to achieve greatness?

Examining Peak Performance: So, What Should My Self-Talk Be?

Many mental conditioning coaches and sports psychologists have begun to emphasize positive self-talk.  It is considered an important tool in the attainment of peak performance and a key component in the mindset necessary for peak performance.  However, most experts are pretty simplistic in their use of positive self-talk:  just say positive things to yourself and don't say negative things. Unfortunately, most coaches have few specifics about exactly what to say to yourself and when.  

In my Peak Performance blogpost on June 12, 2015, I discussed the peak performance mindset. In that post, I mentioned 5 modes:

1. Experimental Mode (previously called practice mode)
2. Deliberate Rehearsal Mode
2. Preparation Mode
3. Performance Mode
4. Evaluation Mode

I also alluded to the importance of self-talk in each of the modes. I now want to introduce the idea that each mode requires a different set of specific self-talk statements.  The statements themselves are related what needs to be accomplished in each mode.

In experimental mode, the focus in on experimentation and trying new skills.  Here, you are gathering data on what works best and what is most effective.  What else can you do?  This mode is typically used in individual, solitary, informal workouts or warm-up drills. This is the mode where it is most important to challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone.  This mode is for creativity, experimentation, but is not the point at which you commit to making a change in technique or mechanics.  You are being open to the change process, but have not committed to make a specific change.  You are trying new things. For some athletes, this is the mode that is most fun.  By definition, in this mode your self-talk requires the use of such internal self-statements as:

OK, I am in experimental mode.  I am experimenting.  I am being creative.  

Time to throw things at the wall and see what sticks.  

Let's see what happens when I try to do this.

Let me see if I can do this.

How about if I try this?

What if I adjust this skill just a little?

I am going to alter this for now and see how it feels.

I don't care how this looks.

I am just trying this on for size.

Mistakes and failures are to be expected right now. 

I enjoy the challenge of learning.

It is important for me to get out of my comfort zone.  

That's basically it for self-talk in experimental mode.

In deliberate rehearsal mode, the focus is learning.  It is about the application of successful experimentation. In this mode you are trying to apply new skills and incorporate what you have learned into your skill set. In this mode, as a result of experiments, you have committed yourself to making a specific change or changes in your skill or routine activity.  You want to change or improve your technique or mechanics and get comfortable with it.  Most importantly, you also want to commit the new or changed skill to muscle memory. The goal is mastery.  In rehearsal mode, your self-talk should sound like this:

It's time to rehearse.  It's time to sharpen my sword.

I like this new technique.

This new technique will improve my overall game.

I am committed to mastering this new skill.

As I practice, this new skill will get comfortable over time.

I will practice this new skill until I master it.

I enjoy implementing a new technique into my arsenal.

I am getting comfortable right now.

It is time to practice until I can't get it wrong.

Apply, lather, rinse, repeat (In other words).

Ok, now, in preparation mode, the focus is increasingly mental.  You are instilling and maintaining confidence, getting mentally ready. You have exited experimental and rehearsal modes and you are transitioning mentally.  You are reminding yourself of all the hard work you have done.  You get yourself ready to perform at the highest level possible. This mode includes time to mental visualize your success through the process of imagery. You should spend considerable time visualizing the successful execution of what you have rehearsed. In preparation mode (otherwise called pre-performance mode), your self-talk should include such statements as:

It is time to get mentally ready.  

I have physically prepared to the best of my ability.

I am committed to what I have rehearsed.

It is time to execute what I have practiced/learned.

I am ready.

I can see myself successfully executing my plan.

I have done this over and over again.

I know what to do.

My body is prepared to perform.

My mind is calm and relaxed.

It is time to slow my breathing down with full, deep breaths.

Time to make the donuts.

In performance mode, the focus is on execution. Your opportunity to perform is at hand.  In this mode, the mind should be at its most quiet. Muscle memory has taken over and the brain "chatter" is minimal. In performance mode, your self-statements should be very basic.

When you make a good play, you should be saying;

Good play.   Good job.  

I like that.

Just like I practiced it.

Yes, I can do this. 

That is why I worked so hard.  

Practice sure paid off.

More of the same to follow. 

I can do this again and again.
  
If you make a mistake, you should be saying things like:

OK, back to normal.

Reset.

Erase.

Recover.

Move on.

Reboot.

Breathe.

OK, so what about evaluation mode?  This is the mode that most people stay in the most and have the most difficulty exiting.  Most of our self-talk tends to be evaluative in nature.     

You may have noticed that in each of the previous modes, there is little to zero criticism or evaluative statements. That is because there should be little time for evaluation in all the other previously listed modes.   Evaluation mode comes after a practice session, rehearsal or after a game, performance or event.  You needn't clutter the other modes with evaluation.

Evaluation mode is the time to say:

How did I impact the game today?  How did I influence what happened today?  

What did I do well?

What do I need to keep doing?

What do I need to do more often?

What do I need to improve? What can I do to get better?

What do I need to do less often?

What things do I need to stop doing all together?

What did I learn from my performance today? 

Did I have fun?  What was enjoyable about my game today? 

What is the next thing to master?  

Evaluation mode is a good thing, but only at the right time.  The evaluative process in any other mode is distracting and only provides unfocused chatter that is not useful nor conducive to peak performance.  

You may also notice that evaluation mode is not harsh, is not blaming, is not name-calling.  It is not a time to beat yourself up.  It is time to look objectively at your game and take a productive learning approach.  This is how you get better. This is how your learn and this is how to achieve sustainable performance increases.  This is how you succeed.  This is how you build confidence.    

There is more to come in future posts.  

   


  

Tony Romo Has Mastered the Elite Mindset

OK, I admit it.  I'm a huge homer.  I am a big Dallas Cowboy fan, and, perhaps, an even bigger Tony Romo fan.  Despite the many people who criticize Romo, label him a choker and think he only puts up big numbers, Romo has orchestrated more 4th quarter comebacks in the last decade than any other NFL quarterback.  

I particularly like to quote him because what he says often provides so much insight into the mindset of an elite athlete.  Here is what Romo had to say after he fired the winning touchdown with 7 seconds left to play in the opening game of the 2015 NFL season against the New York Giants.  His leadership helped the Cowboys to a 27-26 win.  

“What you have to understand is that you rehearse this and prepare for is in your mind way before the game,” Romo said. “The more times you can do that, it just feels like you’ve already gone through it. You can make it a repetitive thing that is systematic and not random.”

"You've just got to stay calm," Romo explained. "At that moment, at that point in the game, you can't just fall on it and protect the football. There's not much time left, and you've got to have poise in that situation when random things happen. Someone misses a block, ball is on the ground, whatever it is that comes up, you find through the years if you play long enough that the experiences you've had you can just get calm, get back up, trust your guys around you to do their job and then go through the progression."

Though the game was exciting and came down to the last play, Romo understands the importance of maintain the proper level of arousal, mental visualization, and the need to stay calm throughout the game.  He also understands that great plays and exciting comebacks are about preparation and deliberate practice.  

For more on mental conditioning, download the Mindfuel app:  http://appmc.hn/1aekztQ.   

For more about the Dallas Cowboys franchise, buy the book, Razor Thin:   The Difference Between Winning and Losing.  

Excerpts taken from ESPN.go.com.  

But Not For Long

I've got a secret weapon for mental toughness.  

The lyrics of a very popular song from B.o.B. featuring Trey Songz includes a phrase could be the most valuable mental conditioning tip you can have for dealing with adversity.

"But not for long."

Every athlete and performer makes mistakes and experiences errors during practice as well as during games and competitive events. Mistakes are part of the game, and there is no such thing as perfection. You can always do better, and you can always improve. Problems occur when errors weaken an athlete’s confidence and mental focus. Successful athletes are able to let go quickly after a mistake. 

When you focus on a past mistake, you create noise in the system, you increase mental distraction, your mindset becomes negative, and this can erode and destroy mental toughness. The negative self-talk we tend to get into after a mistake distracts us from the focus and concentration we need to achieve our best performance.

It is quite easy to get into a negative frame of mind, dwell on mistakes, and focus on failure.  We all do it to some extent.  We can get caught up in negative self-talk.  However, we need a way to get back on track.  We need a way to re-focus, to re-boot as quickly as possible.   

"I'm having a bad day."  

"I'm playing badly."  

"My opponent is making me look bad."  

"That was embarrassing."  

"I'm not ready for this."  

"This isn't working." 

"But not for long."

Try to be aware of your negative self-talk.  Try replacing your typical negative self-talk with this phrase:

"But, not for long."

Give it a try.  This is a great way to increase your mental toughness and improve your emotional resilience.  Let me know how it goes.   

2015 NBA Finals Case Study: The Secret of Commitment

Last night, prior to Game 4 of the 2015 NBA Finals, Head Coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors, made a change in his starting line-up.  He replaced Andrew Bogut with Andre Iguodala. That move along with a change in defensive strategy and a change in his substitution rotations, made all the difference in the world. Although the Cleveland Cavaliers got off to a 7-0 start, Kerr did not panic nor throw out his game-plan.  Instead, the Warriors called a time-out, quickly bounced back and finished the quarter by outscoring the Cavs, 31-17.  Kerr made a crucial decision, but more importantly, he made a commitment to the strategy for Game 4.  He did not waver.  The strategy paid off in a 103-82 win to tie the series, 2-2.  

Working with elite and aspiring athletes, performers and other professionals at all levels for years, I have come to a recent revelation or refinement concerning the art of mental conditioning.  This revelation is about our mindset consisting of five basic modes. Mental conditioning is enhanced when we understand each mode, its proper timing and its function within our personal performance enhancement system.

1.  Practice Mode
2.  Rehearsal Mode
2.  Preparation Mode
3.  Performance Mode
4.  Evaluation Mode

To cut to the chase, most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, are in constant evaluation mode. We are hardwired and socialized to be in evaluation mode.  We live in evaluation mode.  We measure, we assess, we predict, we criticize, we worry, we comment--24/7.  That's the way we roll.

How's it going?  How's it coming?  How am I doing?  Am I getting there?  Did I get there?  Am I there yet?   Are we there yet?  Why aren't we there yet?  What's wrong with me?  What am I doing wrong? Why are things going wrong?  Here I go again.  Am I behind?  Where should I be?   Who's ahead of me?  Am I losing?  Am I winning?  What do I need to do to catch up?  I can't catch up.  I knew I should have worked harder.  Is this is a mistake?  I'll never get this right.  

Evaluation mode is embedded in our self-talk.  By the same token, most self-talk keeps us in evaluation mode.  In evaluation mode, our self-talk tends to get very harsh very quickly.  Staying in evaluation mode too long or at the wrong time creates anxiety, self-doubt, and, even worse, panic. If you are anxious, you stayed to long in evaluation mode.

Because of this tendency to over-evaluate, we don't really learn or value the four other modes.  We tend to stay in evaluation mode due to our fear of failure.  Our over-use and over-reliance on evaluation mode keeps us anxious and prevents us from being in other equally important modes. Most importantly, we don't sequence our modes correctly and in a way that puts us in the best position to succeed.  Here are the five modes.

• Practice Mode:  This mode requires experimentation and trial-and-error. In this mode, we try new behaviors and get feedback about possible feasibility, usefulness or utility.  This mode provides the opportunity to experiment, to dabble, to invent, to create, to try something new. This is where we allow for and even encourage mistakes.  This is where we study our craft.  In this mode (and only in this mode), we have the luxury of getting out of our comfort zone.  This is where we get information about whether this new behavior is worth rehearsing.  

• Deliberate Rehearsal Mode:  This is the mode that takes our successful experiments from Practice Mode and turns them into muscle memory.  This is where we repeat, repeat, repeat. We hone our craft, we improve, we focus on getting things just right.  This is where we sharpen our sword.   We rehearse until get it right and then rehearse some more until we can't get it wrong. This is the mode that gives us information that we have the necessary competence to be successful and the confidence to perform.  Here we rehearse the skills to execute the necessary sequence of behaviors to reach our goals.    

• Preparation Mode:  This mode is about getting ready to perform, both physically and mentally.  This mode focuses our mental conditioning as well as being the time to plan and organize.  When here, we structure our time and energy in such a way that we develop our plan of action and commit to its proper execution.  Here is where we focus on our mental imagery, our visualization, and get in the right frame of mind and achieve the optimal level of arousal.   This mode is a transition mode from practice and rehearsal toward performance mode. It allows us to be in the best position to achieve peak performance.  

• Performance Mode:  Game-time!  Simply put, this is where we execute.  If in the proper mindset, we follow our plan and allow our muscle memory to take over. Adjustments are minor or minimal in this mode. We have planned well, have committed to our plan, and let the plan work. Most importantly, we are not in evaluation mode.  If we allow ourselves to get in evaluation mode during the game, we will become distracted, particularly by our self-talk.  If we get into evaluation mode, our self-talk will get involved and that will engage our brain's cortex.  That mental chatter will likely become a distraction.  It will disrupt our muscle memory and reduce our game-time speed and efficiency in decision-making.  This does not mean that we are unaware of situational variables, but we maintain our overall game-plan.   Performance mode basically requires us to suspend our analytic mind and focus strictly on performance.  

• Evaluation Mode:  This mode is most effective as a post-game activity.  It re-engages our cortex.  It allows for more complex post-game problem-solving.  It occurs and should occur following a performance or event.  It allows us to objectively and dispassionately assess our performance, our game-plan, our step-wise progress, after the fact.  It allows us to gather data about our ability to execute our plan.  It allows us to determine what we did well, what we need to continue doing, what we need to improve or develop, and what we need to eliminate.  Most importantly, it allows us to get back to Practice Mode, armed with important information about what more we can do to improve.

So, be more mindful of being in the appropriate mode at the appropriate time and make sure you stay out of Evaluation Mode (our current default mode) when you should be in one of the other four modes.  Your mental conditioning and your performance will improve significantly as a result.  Just ask Steve Kerr!