PREPARING FOR FINALS: SOME HELPFUL HINTS FROM SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

 As a sport psychologist I work with athletes to play their best on the field (court, etc.) The fact is that doing well in the classroom – and on exams – is just a different kind of performance, and in many ways, the same strategies and concepts that are useful in sports are similarly helpful in the classroom.  Here are some thoughts that will hopefully be useful to you in maximizing your success in exams.  Good luck!!

1. SUSTAINING YOUR FOCUS

     Focus is a key factor in effective studying and in test taking. When it comes to studying, it is pretty difficult to maintain quality focus over extended periods of time. Most experts recommend dividing your study time into 20-30 minute bouts. During those periods expect of yourself to be highly focused.  You might set your watch for the 20 or 30 minutes.  Then take a 3-5 minute break to de-stress and re-group. Take a few slow, deep breaths. Check where there is stress in your body (shoulders? back? forehead?) and engage in some sort of relaxation strategy to rid yourself of that stress. You might take a brief walk or otherwise look for a change of setting during those 3-5 minutes. The more relaxed you are when you return to the task of studying the more focused you will be – and the more efficient your studying will be in terms of comprehension and retention of the material.

     Another thing to bear in mind is that just as you wouldn’t go into the weight room and try to do all your week’s work in one afternoon, it is similarly more effective to master the material in smaller, repeated sessions than in one extended session.  After an hour or so of studying one subject, you are probably well advised to shift gears and go to another subject (think of it like cross-training).

2. VISUALIZATION

     Before you sit down to study, spend 2-3 minutes visualizing yourself in the times you have been most focused, and visualize yourself being similarly focused as you go to the work at hand. See yourself being efficient and understanding the material. Even if you don’t exactly understand it altogether, having a positive mind frame should definitely help.

     There is research that highly confident athletes make use of visualization picturing themselves achieving their goals on a more regular basis than other athletes. If you have trouble seeing yourself being focused for study or test-taking, then recall in your mind a time when you were focused, so that you can transfer the feeling of being focused to the task at hand.

3.  DE-STRESSING

     Remember, stress is not the enemy.  Without some measure of stress we would not push ourselves – whether on the playing field or in the classroom.  Champions and top performers expect to experience stress, but they are also good at remembering to de-stress at regular intervals throughout the day in order to maintain a manageable level of stress rather than let it become overwhelming.  Do you have successful de-stressing strategies (which don’t involve food or drink!!)?  In general, taking some slow, deep breaths, taking a few moments to relax in areas where you may be tense (such as the back of your neck, shoulders, forehead, etc.) or picturing yourself in a relaxing setting such as the beach can help you to de-stress.

4.  CONFIDENCE

     You know how important confidence is in sport performance.  It is similarly helpful to be confident in studying and taking exams.  Recall past successes in both studying/mastering material.  If you find yourself saying things like “I NEVER…” (such as “I NEVER do well in exams), you need to do a reality check and change that NEVER to a SOMETIMES. Try to find at least one positive statement you can make that feels genuine (e.g., “I feel good about myself when I know I am giving my best effort.”)

5.  REALISTIC GOAL SETTING

     Everyone would love to have all A’s – and some of you reading this will achieve that goal.  But if you are struggling then it might be helpful to think about which courses – or which aspects of certain courses – you feel the best about and set a goal of doing your very best in those areas while setting as realistic a goal as you can in the other courses or areas – enough so to expect the best of yourself while cutting yourself some slack. 

6.  SLEEP

     You wouldn’t expect to play your best on only 3-4 hours sleep.  In fact, one study found that athletes who were sleep deprived were slower in tests of speed and less accurate in hitting tennis balls than those who were well rested. (Sufficient sleep has even been found to be a necessary condition for weight loss.) You will do better by getting as much sleep as you can (if not a full 8 hours a night try to get at least 6 and a 20 minute “power nap” at some point during the day.

                                                                                                © 2016 Dr. Mitch Smith

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

THE ONE SIMPLE THING YOU MIGHT NOT BE DOING ENOUGH TO BE COMPETING AT YOUR BEST

Dr. Randy Pausch, the American professor who wrote "The Last Lecture" as he was dealing with the cancer which took his life, said" "Never EVER underestimate the importance of having fun!"

I was recently watching the famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang on TV and noticed that during the entire performance a smile never left his face.

It is of course true that - unlike in sports - a musician has nearly complete control over the situation. But when you look at the facial expressions of so many athletes in their most demanding moments, consider what retired tennis champion Andre Agassi said in reponse to an interviewer who asked him what he would say to himself to remain competitive if he found himself in the 5th and deciding set of a match down five games to love. Agassi replied: "I would be thinking, 'THERE IS NO OTHER PLACE I WOULD RATHER BE.' "

No matter what is happening at the moment, making the mental shift in competition to having fun and treasuring the moment can make all the difference.

I was working with a college athlete who I used to tell after games, "You don't look like you're having fun out there." Although he was a gifted athlete he was not performing to the full extent of his talents. Once he took this to heard and started having more fun it made a real difference in his game. He finished his college career as a Division 2 second team All-American.

So in your next competition, you might want to ask yourself if you are having fun. IT JUST MIGHT MAKE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE.

THREE VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES YOU SHOULD BE USING

One of the demands of elite sport is the ability to play or perform in as flawless a way as possible. In a previous article I gave an example of how an injured athlete used visualization to master some high level skills. This time I want to share the details of three mental rehearsal techniques that can help you play in top form with as few mistakes as possible.

A basketball player (post) was having trouble when getting the ball down low because of frequent traveling once the ball was in his hands. He told me that he was working on NOT traveling and I explained to him the value of re-thinking his goal in terms of what he wanted to do rather than what he was hoping NOT to do.

He then showed me the move he would typically make and I asked him to do it without the ball. After doing this several times he worked on getting the pass and making the same move, this time with the ball. So he came up with the thought of making this move assertively and confidently as his intention (rather than staying with the idea of NOT traveling)

A week later he told me “I'm actually thinking about what to do and not about what NOT to do, but it's not easy ....I have to get used to it so it will become natural.”

I asked him to tell me what would help him do this and he replied, “I think how to make the move before I get the ball.”

I gave him the following additional suggestions:

1. When you are alone, close your eyes and picture getting the ball and making your move. Repeat this a couple of times, seeing yourself acting in a confident and aggressive way.

2. Picture yourself as if you were sitting in the stands and watching yourself make the move. Pay attention to your footwork and rhythm as you imagine watching yourself on the court.

3. Pick out one place in your body that is key in this move - your feet? your core? your upper body? This time use your sense of muscle feeling rather than vision to imagine this move, so that even though you are seated when you mentally rehearse this move you feel the very same muscles activated that you would feel if you were actually playing. 

In the gym practice this move alternating between doing it without the ball and with the ball. Every 4th or 5th time do the move in your mind, and then go back to doing the actual move. 

Finally, think of one or two words that most describe how you want the move to go and write them down.

One last thing I shared with him was that if he was going to plan the move in his mind ahead of time it was important to be careful to NOT get ahead of himself. Other players have shared with me that on occasion they got tripped up by picturing something in advance and then sticking with that when in the particular circumstances of actual play the defense played him differently and that move turned out to not be the best move for the moment. If you are too caught up in what you are GOING TO DO when you get the ball you may not be leaving enough focus for the PRESENT MOMENT that you are in right now.  Without strong focus as the ball is being passed to you, you may be more likely to have it slip through your fingers or be picked off.

So while it is good to feel confident about what you are GOING TO DO, it is no less important to stay focused IN THE MOMENT and be ready to adjust to any last second changes in the defense to make the best possible decision/move.

One way to increase your capacity to do this is to spend a good amount of time visualizing situations where the defender switches things up or your teammates are in different places on the floor.  

Adding this skill to your on-court practice can allow you to feel more prepared, and as a rule, when athletes feel more prepared they feel more confident and self-assured - a strong precursor of success.

For previous posts on using visualization click here.

VISUALIZATION: USE THESE THREE MENTAL REHEARSAL TECHNIQUES FOR MAXIMUM SUCCESS

A post player was having trouble when getting the ball down low because of frequent traveling once the ball was in his hands. He told me that he was working on NOT traveling and I explained to him the value of re-thinking his goal in terms of what he wanted to do rather than what he was hoping NOT to do.

He then showed me the move he would typically make and I asked him to do it without the ball. After doing this several times he worked on getting the pass and making the same move, this time with the ball. So he came up with the thought of making this move assertively and confidently as his intention (rather than staying with the idea of NOT traveling)

A week later he told me “I'm actually thinking about what to do and not about what NOT to do, but it's not easy ....I have to get used to it so it will become natural.”

I asked him to tell me what would help him do this and he replied, “I think how to make the move before I get the ball.”

I gave him the following additional suggestions:

1. When you are alone, close your eyes and picture getting the ball and making your move. Repeat this a couple of times, seeing yourself acting in a confident and aggressive way.

2. Picture yourself as if you were sitting in the stands and watching yourself make the move. Pay attention to your footwork and rhythm as you imagine watching yourself on the court.

3. Pick out one place in your body that is key in this move - your feet? your core? your upper body? This time use your sense of muscle feeling rather than vision to imagine this move, so that even though you are seated when you mentally rehearse this move you feel the very same muscles activated that you would feel if you were actually playing. 

In the gym practice this move alternating between doing it without the ball and with the ball. Every 4th or 5th time do the move in your mind, and then go back to doing the actual move. 

Finally, think of one or two words that most describe how you want the move to go and write them down.

One last thing I shared with him was that if he was going to plan the move in his mind ahead of time it was important to be careful to NOT get ahead of himself. Other players have shared with me that on occasion they got tripped up by picturing something in advance and then sticking with that when in the particular circumstances of actual play the defense played him differently and that move turned out to not be the best move for the moment. If you are too caught up in what you are GOING TO DO when you get the ball you may not be leaving enough focus for the PRESENT MOMENT that you are in right now.  Without strong focus as the ball is being passed to you, you may be more likely to have it slip through your fingers or be picked off.

So while it is good to feel confident about what you are GOING TO DO, it is no less important to stay focused IN THE MOMENT and be ready to adjust to any last second changes in the defense to make the best possible decision/move.

One way to increase your capacity to do this is to spend a good amount of time visualizing situations where the defender switches things up or your teammates are in different places on the floor.  

Adding this skill to your on-court practice can allow you to feel more prepared, and as a rule, when athletes feel more prepared they feel more confident and self-assured - a strong precursor of success.

For previous posts on using visualization click here

FOR BEST RESULTS ... DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE RESULTS

A college tennis player who is one of the top seeded players on his team was struggling with his serve - with a higher-than-average number of double faults. At a match, I could see from his serves that he was tight and not getting good extension, and how frustrated he was becoming.

After the match I spoke with him and asked him what was going on. For one thing, he told me that in doubles play he didn't want to let his partner down (though of course, this let him to put on himself exactly the kind of pressure that led to his double faults!) In addition, he told me that he was trying to make fewer mistakes - which meant he was playing more with a mindset NOT to lose and less-so the aggressive thinking of a player looking to go out and win.

Since he and his team were playing against another school that afternoon I wanted to find something QUICK and SIMPLE that I could give him to make some immediate correction to this problem. 

So I singled out the matter of his tenseness, and got him to see where he was tight: in his shoulders, in his forearm and in his grip of the racket. I asked him what his body sensation is like when he has served at his best and he said it was more relaxed and fluid.

I suggested to him that he make a point of focusing on those sensations and that he get himself properly relaxed before each serve ... and by focusing only on that he might let the results (whether the serve was in or not) take care of themselves. Being an experienced player, I knew that if he was relaxed, and able to clear his mind of all these worries, that what we call "muscle memory" would kick in and his best serves would come of themselves.

Sure enough, in the second match of the day he was more relaxed, and while he did have a number of double faults and dropped service one one occasion, he did a far better job and won his match.

Playing again the next day, he started off quite well, taking the first set 6-3. But then he started to have some difficulties, and lost the second set 1-6. But - and here is the key thing that he did to turn things around - he paused before the third set and said to himself, "What was I doing that brought me success in the first set?  That is what I have to get back to." That led him to returning to a more aggressive game ... not worrying about making mistakes or double faulting but having fun and simply bringing his best efforts to bear. 

"I decided that I had NOTHING TO LOSE and that's the attitude I played with."

In the third set both players held serve.  His opponent was up 6 games to 5 and had double match point at 15-40 ... but sticking with what he told himself between sets helped him to play his best at crunch time, winning the game and forcing a tie-break .. which he won 7-3 and giving him the match.

*          *          *

A basketball player with whom I have been working had a similar experience in a recent game. He missed a number of shots in the opening minutes and started to feel stressed.

"I missed a lot of easy shots in the first half. My coach was yelling at me and my head was going crazy.  But at half time,

I listened to my body - it was tight. I took some deep breaths and relaxed, trying to let everything go. I then went out and finished two shots around the rim and hit a "3" early in the third quarter. Then I started to feel that I was "in the zone." I hit five-of-eight from 3-point range. I ended up with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Being able to turn things around like that was an amazing experience!"

*          *          *

A swimmer I worked with was worrying about his times as he prepared for the end-of-season conference tournament,especially because if he failed to do well in qualifying heats he would not advance on to the finals in his event, the 200 yard free style. He knew from previous experience that when he worries about the results his body tightens up, which makes his stroke less efficient, working against him just as the above-mentioned tennis player's worryies about letting his doubles partner down worked against him.

We discussed how it could be better for him to shift his forcus to thinking about his technique - about finishing his stroke fast and strong - and letting the results take care of themselves. Following disappointing finishes in previous years, his senior year at the conference meet was his last chance.  Calling upon this strategy, he ended up setting a school record for this event!

*          *          *

These are all good examples of how when an athlete lets go of his concerns for the results and focuses on how he is playing, he usually ends up performing at a higher level and getting the wished-for results.

(c) 2015 by Dr. Mitch Smith

WHAT KOBE LEARNED FROM THE MOVIES

I believe that the stories and narratives we tell ourselves can sometimes trip us up, but also have the ability to bring out our very best. And music is often a powerful way to evoke those stories and passions.  Read on and see what you think...

The legendary film composer John Williams (Star Wars, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List and so many more) was recently honored with the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.  Alongside the many actors who had appeared in John Williams movies (Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford) and directors who had brought him on board (Steven Spielberg, George Lucas) who were invited to honor Willians was one rather surprising guest from an entirely different walk of life, and that guest was Kobe Bryant, who offered the following words:

In December  2013 I was coming back to the Lakers after an injury, and the music I chose to bring me back onto the court at the Staples Center was The Imperial March from Star Wars.

Why?  Because I needed John Williams to inspire me that day.

The Black Mamba was back … and The Imperial March put me in the character – and that’s a villain ready for an epic battle.

I’m a passionate believer that everybody needs a muse, and John Williams is one of mine.  In 2009 I asked him to meet with me. I needed to understand how he created timeless music, and what made it timeless was that his complex music told simple stories that captured the magic within all of us.

John’s music achieved a level of perfection that I wanted to replicate on the basketball court. And if I could understand how he did it, then maybe, just maybe, I could do it too. His music was a catalyst for me to search, learn, and be inspired.

And every time I hear his Olympic Fanfare, which he wrote for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, it reminds me of being on one of the American teams that brought home two Olympic gold medals.

Perhaps you can point to some narrative you have told yourself that held you back, much like David, a college post player whom I helped to replace his with a different narrative which empowered him to go out and play his best. For David's story click here

TODAY'S CHALLENGES TO MENTAL TOUGHNESS

There is no lack of pithy quotes on Facebook and Twitter offering athletes, coaches, and the public in general life-altering advice in 25 words or less.  Recently I came across a post of the following comment made by Bobby Knight:

While Bobby Knight is eminently more qualified that I am to comment on this, I have two thoughts. The first is simply that I prefer quotes that get amplified with examples – most of the quotes you find online seem meant to sell you on some idea rather than invite you to consider WHY this makes sense.

The second – and more important – point I would make is this: At the HIGHEST levels of sport (think NBA championships, Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray in tennis) the side making the fewest mistakes can, indeed, emerge victorious. And sport is after all a competitive endeavor, with victory being the goal.

But as a sport educator, I firmly believe that the path to victory – starting with the athlete’s first steps – is essentially a growth process. Even Djokovic and Kobe Bryant were once young competitors who learned through their mistakes and were encouraged to grow from them.  So many athletes focus on how to AVOID mistakes rather than accept them as part of the journey on which they have embarked.

The respected New York Times columnist David Brooks recently wrote that when he asked college teachers to comment on how their students have changed over the years, they usually tell him, “Today’s students are more accomplished than past generations, but they are also more emotionally fragile.” ("Making Modern Toughness," New York Times, August 30, 2016)

“Once upon a time,” Brooks noted, “kids were raised in a tough environment. But today, helicopter parents protect their children from setbacks and hardship. They supervise every playground conflict, so kids never learn to handle disputes or deal with pain.”

While the parenting of the past may have led some to develop the tough skin of hardness, Brooks says: “Perhaps it’s time to rethink toughness or at least detach it from hardness. Being emotionally resilient is not some defensive posture. It’s not having some armor surrounding you so that nothing can hurt you.

"The people we admire for being resilient are not hard; they are ardent. They have a fervent commitment to some cause, some ideal or some relationship. That higher yearning enables them to withstand setbacks, pain and betrayal.

"Such people are, as they say in the martial arts world, strong like water. A blow might sink into them, and when it does they are profoundly affected by it. But they can absorb the blow because it’s short term while their natural shape is long term.

"There are moments when they feel swallowed up by fear. They feel and live in the pain. But they work through it and their ardent yearning is still there, and they return to an altered wholeness.

"In this way of thinking, grit, resilience and toughness are not traits that people possess intrinsically. They are not tools you can possess independently for the sake of themselves. They are means inspired by an end.”

In other words, grit, resilience and toughness are more readily accessed by people who are motivated by a compelling belief, cause or passion. This belief enables them to absorb the tough times without de-railing them from their vision or end-goal.

Brooks offers the following examples: “John R. Lewis (the African-American congressman and civil rights leader who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, where he was subject to police beatings) may not have been intrinsically tough, but he was tough IN THE NAME OF CIVIL RIGHTS. Mother Teresa may not have been intrinsically steadfast, but she was steadfast IN THE NAME OF GOD. The people around us may not be remorselessly gritty, but they can be that when it comes to protecting their loved ones, WHEN IT COMES TO SOME DREAM FOR THEIR FUTURE SELF.

People are much stronger than they think they are when in pursuit of their telos, their purpose for living. As Nietzsche put it, “He who has a WHY to live for can bear almost any HOW.”

As Brooks notes, the emotional fragility which college educators are observing is not only caused by overprotective parents. It is often rooted in our difficulties in finding our ultimate sense of purpose in life, or when we haven’t yet been able to fully commit ourselves to certain causes or certain people.

If you really want people to be tough, make them idealistic for some cause, make them tender for some other person, make them committed to some (vision) that puts today’s temporary pain in the context of a larger hope. People are really tough only after they have taken a leap of faith for some truth or mission or love. Once they’ve done that they can withstand a lot.

So to now return to my original point, I believe that for athletes at ANY level short of Olympic or elite professional ranks (maybe them too?) it is not the absence of mistakes that should be sought, but rather the ability to find meaning and purpose in the mistakes we make. Any coach who can help athletes do that is a great coach in my book. Any athlete who is able to grow and benefit from his mistakes is, in my opinion, on the path to success.