As athletes, we often find ourselves getting wrapped up in perfecting every little detail during practice. But here's the thing – if we narrow down a couple of key things to work on in each session, our growth in the game can really take off. Whether it's scribbling down practice goals or taking a few chill moments before training, it's all about creating a clearer headspace for improvement. That's the secret sauce to ramping up our mental and physical performance.
VIS Expert and Certified Mental Performance Coach, Lauren Tashman, describes the importance of outlining a focused practice, and suggests strategies to do so.
How to Create a Focused Practice
Creating ways to focus in practice by setting goals can be done in many ways, and it really comes down to what works best for each person. Tashman suggests that we “keep a journal” to begin outlining our specific practice goals everyday.
“It will be useful for athletes to keep a journal of each day of practice and competition so that they can look at aggregated insights across events/situations in order to identify what things to focus on in a practice,” Tashman says. This could look like outlining one to three specific skills we want to focus on that day in practice, and writing them down in our journal or even our notes app to help ingrain them into our minds.
Tashman also suggests making sure we are focusing on “process-oriented goals.” “While they might be working towards achieving particular outcomes, focusing on process goals will help them get to those outcomes,” she notes. For example, the goal could be making a certain number of successful shots on goal in a practice, so we would ask ourselves what process goals will help us improve our ability to do that?
“If we try to focus on too many things at once, we're likely spreading our physical, mental, and emotional resources too thin versus if we focus on one or a few things at a time it helps us give them more of our energy.”
When Should I Outline My Practice Goals?
The best time to sit down and create an outline for practice goals, again, depends on the athlete, and might take some experimentation to find out what works best. Tashman recommends employing different strategies both before and after practice.
“If I were working with an athlete on this, I would recommend different approaches before compared to after practice,” Tashman says.
Before practice: “We might do a mindfulness meditation that gets them focused in the present moment (since likely they are coming from school, classes, etc. and need to make that mental transition to practice) and focused on the goals they have set for practice.”
After practice: “They could do a mindfulness reflection such as taking a quick check of their energy, mood, and a highlight from that practice.”
Whatever time we reflect on practice goals is specific to our schedule and preferences as an athlete. Consider using different strategies both before and after practice to see what works best for us.
Controlling the Controllables
Utilizing strategies such as journaling and mindfulness meditation will not only help accelerate our performance in sport, but can help us make a major mindset transition into focusing on what we can control. Tashman explains how these practices make our growth more manageable and within our control.
“If we try to focus on too many things at once, we're likely spreading our physical, mental, and emotional resources too thin; versus if we focus on one or a few things at a time it helps us give them more of our energy,” Tashman says. “This is especially important because growth and change are and often come with a lot of ups and downs. So, focusing on less rather than more helps us have the optimal mindset needed and in the end will result in more improvement and growth.”
It may take time to see immediate improvement after outlining practice goals, but the most important thing to remember is that controlling the controllables through process-oriented goals will help put us on a performance fast-track. By employing Tashman’s advice on focused practice, we will be put on a path towards accelerated performance.
