Brain in the Game | Sport Mind Coaching Podcast
Dave Diggle
Episode Nineteen – Preparation and Performance - Don't Fear the Grey Blobs
Hello and welcome back to Brain In The Game. Brain In The Game is a podcast specifically designed for athletes, coaches, and parents, who are looking to do their sport just a little bit smarter. Brain In The Game is a point of view you've always wanted to hear, and I'm your host Dave Diggle.
In this episode, we're going to look at how we manage those dreaded competitors. One of the more common statements I hear from athletes is that they compare themselves, their performances, and even their lives, to those of their staunch competitors. I hear most say “What's wrong with that? We need to have people to compete against.” That's true, but these athletes become anxious when they see a specific competitor at a venue, or they change their game plan when they know the other competitors are there. They focus on their results long before they move on their own. If we constantly chase others and their actions, rather than what we're trying to achieve, we take our focus off what we're striving for. Not matter what our goals or objectives are, they're null and void as we wait for those who we're chasing to make their moves so that we can react.
We would always be on the back foot and arrive well after our competitors if our whole attention is on what they're doing, what their strategy is, what they're eating, what they're wearing, what skill sets they have this year. I hear it all the time and as a coach, I'm sure you do too. You may even build your preparation for a competition based on the team that won last year, or the competitor that always beats your athlete. The minute you, as a coach or athlete, put your competition out as your target, you'll always be behind them. You'll always be waiting for them to make their move so that you can react to it. You'll always be looking at what they're doing to try to prepare, and how to counter that.
In some way I can see the rationale behind that; but on a more productive level, why on earth would you let someone else's preparation dictate yours? Why would you let someone else's focus point become your focus point? All their things should be tailored for them specifically – why would they work for yours? In waiting to chase their moves, we'll always be reacting. We'll always be behind them.
We also allow their personality of our competition or the people we're chasing to become bigger than they really are. This feeds into what I spoke about in episode 3, talking about how we manage and create our fears. Our imagination takes over and creates more hurdles than are probably really there, in order to protect us. We understand our brain creates fear to stop us from making mistakes; but if our focal point is always on others, we allow our imagination to kick in and say “Woah! If you're scared of them, you obviously see them as something to be wary of, so I need to protect you!” The more we do that, the bigger that person in front of us becomes. Also if we prepare in order to knock that person off their perch, and they don't arrive at the competition, what strategy do you have? Without them, what game plan do you have left? It's all gone out the window.
All this detracts from our ability to perform. If we look at the flip side, there's another aspect that isn't built on the fear of the competitor, but rather the mental or on the idols. I've watched many athletes come up through the ranks and get to compete against their idols – people they've profiled and replicated through the years, trying to copy a stroke they do or how they prepare for a competition. When they get to compete against them, whereas it may have previously been advantageous when they were forming their style, they're now up against their competitor playing their competitor's game. They don't have a strategy of their own.
How do we not focus on our competitors, and yet stay competitive? How do we not focus on following someone or seeing someone as our target, yet stay propelling in the right direction? The first thing we need to do is build our own specific plan designed for a specific athlete, that builds on their strengths and objectives, with measurable steps of accountability and rewards. We need to understand what drives the athlete, what their beliefs, objectives, and goals are; whether they're internally or externally referenced. Once we understand all these, we can build a plan specifically for that athlete. Something that feeds every aspect of what they are. How to drive them, reward them, how do we plateau and consolidate, then continue to grow. Once we discover this, we allow the athlete to take on that process so they're not reliant on following someone else's design plan. It's their own plan, designed for them them. It's void of focus on the opposition.
Step two, we need to design a program build for athletes' sense of achievement and purpose. We need to build them up so they know what they're doing is the right path for them. We need to incorporate far more reward processes, so that each step they achieve creates reward and serotonin and dopamine in the brain, to say “This is great. I know I'm going in the right direction.” They'll have an air of confidence and “I'm on the right path, irrespective of what others are doing.” We need to see their development as their own.
The third phase we need to introduce to our athletes is we need them to train and compete without allowing the competitors or their personalities to influence our athlete. We do this by teaching our athletes to visualise their routines, preparations, and their results, so that we have that reward process competing against “grey blobs”. I know that sounds a little bizarre, but if you picture a grey blob next to you with no personality or features you recognise, it has very little influence over what you do. It doesn't intimidate you or make you think they're there to beat you. When we visualise, we get to see the blobs as cumbersome, dull, and sluggish with no recognisable personality. They hold no threat and no influence.
We want athletes to visualise themselves in the competition venue. We need them to see they've been there before. We need them to create that familiarity. In order to do that, the visualisation process needs to have the association where they see the audience and the judges. If our athlete is influenced by the judges, have them see the judges as grey blobs – things that aren't there to intimidate them. If they're up against a competitor who's always won, see they coming out there as a sluggish grey blob with no persona and personality, that isn't competing in the way you know you can. When you visualise yourself taking to the competition floor or the ice or the track, you see yourself becoming lively and vibrant and active, above and beyond the grey blob. You take the threat away.
Whereas our focus is still on our performance, the introduction of the surrounds in a constructed and controlled manner allows us to build that familiarity. It allows us the confidence, without being intimidated or lead. From our athlete's perspective, no longer should they be influenced on what somebody else is doing; what they're wearing, how long they've been training with, who's their mind coach and physical coach, etc. All this diverts your focus away from what you should be focused on: you. It doesn't allow you to tailor your approach.
We're human. We can see when others are good at what they do. We can maybe see that they're doing it better than us. But that shouldn't allow them to dictate our performance, and take away what we can do or achieve. The only person allowing them to do that is you. If you focus on them, you're giving them the power and energy. If you react to them, you're allowing them to dictate your strategy. You're in control. You either do what you do, and do it well, or you allow someone else to do it for you. That's not how we get champions, people who come up through the ranks. You can't do that by following somebody, but by learning to do what you do smart.
We all learn from those around us. We can say “He does ___ really really well, so I should take that strategy and add it to mine.”, and then build it into my program because it works specifically for me, not because Johnny or Steve does it. The next time you're preparing for a competition, prepare for your competition, not your competitor's. Until the next episode, train smart and enjoy the ride. My name's Dave Diggle, and I'm the mind coach.
Copyright 2012-2022 Dave Diggle
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