Improving your Focus with Sport Psychology
The ability to focus, regardless of the sport you compete in, is essential to an athlete’s success. Whilst focus is one of the most powerful tools in sports psychology, it can often be the most misunderstood mental factor among athletes.
Practice is the best time to work on focus and it’s crucial that an athlete can identify which focus style they have.
An athlete with an internal focus style, tend to perform best with they are totally focused on their sport during practice or competition by keep their focus narrow. They are easily distracted and should they begin a conversation regarding a topic outside their sport, can have trouble refocusing on their sport.
An athlete with an external focus style, tend to be highly critical of themselves and are better to only focus at the time of a drill during training or when they are about to compete. When not performing their sport, they should shift their focus to something else outside their sport.
Once an athlete has identified their style, they can modify.
Whatever your style, crucial to success is the ability to stop the mind from wandering at key moments and focus. Here are some terrific tips to follow to help improve your focus:
Practice is the best time to work on focus and it’s crucial that an athlete can identify which focus style they have.
An athlete with an internal focus style, tend to perform best with they are totally focused on their sport during practice or competition by keep their focus narrow. They are easily distracted and should they begin a conversation regarding a topic outside their sport, can have trouble refocusing on their sport.
An athlete with an external focus style, tend to be highly critical of themselves and are better to only focus at the time of a drill during training or when they are about to compete. When not performing their sport, they should shift their focus to something else outside their sport.
Once an athlete has identified their style, they can modify.
Whatever your style, crucial to success is the ability to stop the mind from wandering at key moments and focus. Here are some terrific tips to follow to help improve your focus:
- Identify key elements which need to be focused on. The more clarity you have on what the key focus points are, the likely you are to stay focused on them.
- Only focus on what you can control. There is no point in wasting energy focusing on the uncontrollable and causing more anxiety. By identify what you have control over, yourself and your actions, the greater the likelihood of success.
- Stay calm. Stress and anxiety are a killer to focus. If you find yourself stressed, techniques such as deep breathing and muscle stretching will help keep you centred and focused on the end goal.
- Establishing an effective routine with techniques, such as deep breathing is essential and helps you maintain your focus on the right things thus preventing potential distractions from entering your mind.
- A cue word or phrase is very helpful and straightforward way of reminding yourself of your key focus points. Repetitive phrases such as ‘play hard’, will direct your focus on what you actually need to do.
- Mental imagery is a way that you ‘see’ yourself performing exactly as you would want to, long perform you even step out to compete. Again, it allows you to focus on what you can actually control (you and your actions) and what you desire your performance to be.
- Keep track of your daily focus and even rate it in a sports journal. It is good to review your focus both before and after your training or competition and note it down. Noting in a journal is a great way of consistently keep your focus ability front of mind and being able to evaluate and improve it.
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