Have You Outsourced Your Performance?
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Have You Outsourced Your Performance?
Exploring how you let your environment affect your performance.
Ok, work with me for a moment…
To start… find an example in your sport of executing a simple skill. Imagine executing this skill within your performance environment.
Some examples to help…
Foot baller to kick the ball into the goal past the goalkeeper.
In cricket, a bowler has to run up and hit the stumps, or the batter has to face one ball.
In tennis, to hit the ball with a forehand over the net.
In golf to hit the ball down the fairway.
In your sport… find a similar relevant example.
Now… while thinking about doing this simple skill in your performance environment, simply notice what changes happen in your thinking and feeling as we work through each of the below scenarios…
You are doing the skill in your performance environment by yourself. There is no one watching you.
You are doing the skill with three random people next to the field that are minding their own business.
The three people are now watching you and paying attention to what you are doing.
You are doing the skill, and the three people that are watching you are now the three main selectors that are about to make a decision on your future.
There are now 1000 people watching you do the skill.
You are in a world cup or tournament final against the ‘world no.2’ in your sport… you are doing this skill to win the tournament, for yourself or your team. 300 million people are watching on TV.
Big question here… based on your notes above…
Firstly what changed for you? I am sure quite a bit… correct?
But…
What changed? In this example, other than the last example, where we layered in some more things… we only changed the people in the environment.
What you had to do stayed exactly the same.
What did you do though?
You changed your thinking and feeling because of the change in the environment.
Now… think about this… there could be more things that change in your performance environment other than just the people.
The scoreboard, the opposition, the quality of the venue, the conditions, situations within and around the game, your teammates, coach, loved ones…
You allow all these things to affect your performance… and perhaps before this article… you were not even aware of that.
So why does this happen?
To simplify, your brain constantly scans the environment and predicts what is about to happen. It does this based on past experiences and the meaning you have given to those experiences then determines the state that gets pre-created in your body.
This scanning and predicting serves you well when there is a real threat in your environment, but does not help in performance when all you want to do is execute the skills that you practice all the time.
By allowing this process to play out unconsciously you are actually outsourcing our internal state to our environment.
Your internal state unlocks your skills ie produces your performance, and if your state depends on the environment…
Well then…
Your environment determines the level of your performance.
If you are done with letting things outside you dictate how you think and feel and are ready to insource your thinking and feeling for performance and/or…
You are not sure how to do that or where to start.
You are looking to work with a Mental Performance Coach.
You want to unlock your potential.
Then let’s start the conversation here on how to do that.