Psychology of Performance: How to Be Your Best in Life

You say you don't have athletic talent? You'll be surprised to learn talent is overrated and can even become a disadvantage in the long run. Instead, discover the benefits of focusing your attention on practice - deliberate, purposeful practice with well-defined goals. That's the way to challenge your brain and body to grow and adapt to achieve expertise.

If you want to reach your best performance level, you'll need to answer this one very important question: Why? Identifying what you want your performance life to be about will help determine your goals and values, and they will guide you through the hard work, wins, and losses ahead.

Performers in any sport or art must be aware, intentional, and purposeful in focus, attention, and action. While the application of mindfulness meditation to sports performance is in its infancy, initial scientific studies reveal both short- and long-term benefits. Learn about the three major models of mindfulness and how to best apply them to your practice and performance.

We've all heard it: "Think positive! You can do it!" But when it comes to peak performance, is positive thinking a help or a hindrance? Cognitive defusion can help you see your thoughts for what they really are - experiences inside your head and nothing more. Gain the power of choosing which thoughts to follow and which to ignore.

All human emotions are based upon these basic four: anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. So why should you expect to be happy and positive all the time? That's only one out of four! Learn to accept the full range of your thoughts and emotions in order to free up your energy to focus on your performance goals and values.

If you want to achieve your peak performance potential, you know you must be committed. But committed to what? To the behaviors that lead to success. Will you prioritize commitment to your art, your sport, team, coach - or to the long-term goals and values you set for yourself? Learn how that choice affects your performance.

What keeps elite performers motivated, continually sacrificing so much for their art or sport? Self-determination theory says humans have an inherent need for three things: competence, relatedness, and autonomy - to be good, to have connections to other people, and to be in control of their own lives. Understand your intrinsic motivation and see how it is the activating force for maximal growth.

Athletes and coaches have believed in the power of visualization and have used it in their practice for decades. Now, medical imaging reveals exactly how imagery impacts the brain and the body's nervous system. See how musculature, respiration, and circulation are all stimulated for the betterment of eventual performance when this mental rehearsal is used to its best advantage.

Self-efficacy and sport confidence affect your ability to reach your practice and performance goals. But what are the sources of self-efficacy and how can you incorporate them into your life? Learn the ways in which instructional and motivational self-talk can work in your favor as a part of your training routine.