Sport psychology concepts you should apply to your life
3 things you can do to tackle stress and grow mental toughness
Life is a race. It’s a competition. We all strive to be great at what we do, even if it isn’t conscious. Who wants to be average? Mediocre? No one. But trying to be great at something can place a lot of pressure on you and add some weight to those shoulders, causing the stress and anxiety that is far too common in today’s society.
Sport psychology is becoming more and more common in professional and collegiate athletics. Having a strong mental game can give a team the edge they need to win. So if these concepts can be applied to athletes in competition, why can’t they be applied to anyone else competing in life?
The simple answer, they can. Having a background in sport psychology, I have come across a lot of concepts in the field. Almost all of them can be applied to both athletics as well as life outside of sports. That being said, I chose three concepts to discuss that will help you grow mentally, and conquer your life, regardless of the field you’re in.
Arousal vs Performance
There are a lot of varying opinions in regards to this concept, however the overall idea is the same. Arousal control can be the key to your performance because it is linked to your anxiety. It can either increase your muscle tension and affect your coordination, or impact you attention, becoming too narrow with higher arousal and too broad with lower arousal.
The first theory regarding arousal is the drive reduction theory. Popular in the 1940s, the theory tried to explain behavior and motivation by showing a linear positive relationship between arousal and performance. Essentially, the more excited, the better performance.
Eventually, a new line of thought emerged known as the catastrophe model. This theory essentially said your performance is best at medium level arousal, but will drop off significantly with higher arousal. Ergo, catastrophe.
The two most sound theories are the inverted U and the multidimensional anxiety theory. The inverted U essentially states that performance is low when arousal is low or high, but performance is highest at a medium level of arousal. This theory is best because it also accounts for individual differences. Multidimensional essentially says the same thing, except for physical arousal only. It splits arousal into cognitive and physical subcategories, stating that performance will only fall with an increase in cognitive arousal (anxiety essentially).
Now that all the words are out, the important part is knowing how to manage your arousal.
High physical arousal:
- Slow stretching
- Deep breathing
- Gentle massage
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Listen to slow music (really works)
Low physical arousal:
- Active stretching
- Quick but deep breathing
- Burpees
- Eat/Drink
- Listen to faster music
High cognitive arousal (high anxiety):
- Positive self-talk
- Remember past successes
- Focus on one goal
- Visualize (later in article)
Low cognitive arousal (apathetic):
- Set challenging goals
- Work with a partner
- Envision long-term success
- Motivating self-talk
Self-Talk
Having positive self-talk is difficult because our self-talk is most likely developed with negative things in mind. We are typically our biggest critic and it is usually because of reactions or criticisms we got in our youth.
Positive self talk is not lying to yourself. It is simply a change in perspective allowing you to interpret circumstances as positive, whether they are or not. If anything, positive psychology starts with acknowledging the fundamental truth that you will make mistakes. It is irrational to expect perfection or a lifetime without obstacles or setbacks.
Positive self-talk helps you to remain optimistic and continue moving forward despite negative situations that may arise. Rather than getting setback, positive self-talk allows you to separate yourself from the situation and want to do better, rather than self-destructing.
How do you do this?
There a few things you can do to improve your self-talk. A few simple things you can do are set goals, help others, exercise, and visualize success. A few more difficult things you can do is not fear failure, replace negative thoughts with positive ones and use positive affirmations, don’t compare yourself to others, and remove negative people from your life.
Some of those might be easier to do than others, but I urge you to try a few. One that really helps my self-talk stay positive is my faith. Having faith in something allows you to find a purpose. Knowing God loves me helps me to reaffirm positive thoughts about myself and love myself.
Imagery and Visualization
Imagery is extremely important to success. There was a study done with basketball players where a group was split up into three categories. The first category would practice by only shooting free throws, the second by only visualizing, and the third by visualizing for the first half and then shooting for the second half. The results were that the first two groups performed about the same when they were tested, but the last group performed significantly better.
Visualization and imagery are important because they prime you for what you are trying to achieve. It helps you build internal motivation and attracts you to the things and people you need to be successful. It is a way of creating your future so all you have to do is step into it. You’re already familiar with that scenario because you have seen it when you visualize. So its like riding a bike.
How do you do this?
Have you ever been to the movies? Close your eyes and picture yourself watching a movie in the theater. When the film starts, it should be you doing whatever you are trying to envision success for. Add detail! As much as you can. The clothes you are wearing, the hair style, the weather outside, the sounds and smells. Feel the feelings you expect to be feeling in that moment.
Now get out of your theater seat and walk up to the screen. Jump into the screen and become that version of you that you were envisioning. Smell the smells and feel the feels. See the success you will have like you’ve done it before.
Now step out of the screen. Look back and see that the successful version of you is gone. That’s because it’s you. You are that version. You’ve seen the success, you’ve done the success. It shouldn’t be hard to do it again.
There are a lot of ways to visualize but the important thing is the detail. You have to believe you are doing it. Your mind does not know the difference between seeing it and doing it, so if you add all of the detail needed, your mind will feel as if you did it. It will lower anxiety when it comes time to actually do it and allow for top level performance.
Now these are just three concepts that I thought were of value. I will most likely be writing about more, as my education is in sports psychology. It is incredible to see the ways that almost all of these concepts can be applied to your career, education, athletics, and everyday life.
