losing

Mental Moment-tip of the day

Written by on May 11, 2013

mindset

You can have a ‘winning mindset’ in whatever you do. The winning mindset accepts and develops a plan for winning, losing and everything in between. Winning is not as simple as it seems. Losing can spiral into more losing. Living in a very black/white, all/nothing world of perfection makes is extremely challenging to recognize everything in between. Once you can accept that in all aspects of life there is all of this, realize that working harder and longer is not the only element of reaching your goals and are able to develop a mental/emotional plan for getting where you want … Continued

Mental Moment-losing streaks

Written by on March 7, 2013

scoreboard

Does your confidence go from 80% to 30% when you miss a shot? Do you stay angry about a loss for more than a day? Do you ‘beat yourself up’ for not winning? It doesn’t have to be this way! Winning streak When you are on a winning streak things feel good, don’t they? Your confidence is high, your worries and self doubts are low and you can’t imagine not winning. Losing streak Then one day something happens or someone finds a fine, thin crack: you make a mistake or a teammate makes a comment. Because you don’t know how … Continued

Mental Moment-Olympic gold

Written by on July 30, 2012

Losing gold medal

I’ve watched a lot of Olympics these past few days and there have been some exciting moments! From volleyball to swimming and gymnastics many of the USA teams and individuals are doing well. The USA is second behind China in medals. So why all the glum faces? I understand wanting to be the best in your sport but I have seen so many sad and frustrating faces in athletes who have not taken the gold. I get it! You expected the gold and didn’t get the gold so you are rightfully frustrated but your other hat is as role model … Continued

Mental Moment-black or white

Written by on July 17, 2012

black and white

So many of the clients I see live in either black or white; all or nothing. Much of the conversation goes like this: well, if I can’t win (the audition, award, game, etc.) then I might as well give up or not be involved. As a society have we really evolved to this place of either 0% or 100%? Is that all there is? Here are some problems with this: Only a couple of people ‘win’. People in this space live in the outcome. In the outcome they have little control. If they focused on the process where they have … Continued

The inverted-U style of losing

Written by on June 18, 2012

inverted_u general

I don’t like to use the terms lost/lose. Why? Because they aren’t accurate and all these words do is make performers feel bad. It lowers confidence and motivation. Yes you may have lost the audition or lost a game but did you really lose? Lets put it another way: what did you gain? Besides looking at a less than expected outcome from the perspective of what did you gain what are some other healthy ways to deal with these situations? What does a lose really mean For most performers a loss really means that you aren’t good enough to win. As … Continued

Winning or losing

Written by on June 2, 2012

winner

For most athletes there is only winning and losing. It is very black and white and there really is nothing in between those two things. Given this, athletes don’t have many moments of feeling truly successful and end up spending a lot of their time feeling the angst and pressure of not winning. Define winning and losing Dictionary.com has defined winning in the follow ways: The act of a person or thing that wins. And has defined losing in the following ways: To suffer defeat or fail to win, as in a contest, race, orgame: We played well, but we lost. There are other elements to both of these definitions but for the purpose of this blog I wanted to siphon out these two because they are pretty … Continued

Professional sports, emotions and real life

Written by on October 24, 2011

sports fans

I love the NY Times! Every Sunday there  are thought provoking and consciousness raising pieces of information. Lately there has been at least one article that I’ve used as fodder for my blogs. Well, this Sunday was no different. The article The Thrill of Defeat for Sports Fans talks about things I’ve pondered many times. How is it that people get so emotionally caught up and attached to professional sports? I think it’s an interesting conversation not only from the perspective of being a sports fan but from the perspective of being a professional athlete. Sports fans Being an avid sports fan … Continued

Professional athletes deal with mental struggles too

Written by on September 10, 2011

You struggle with mental performance!I am working with some Olympic athletes right now who are struggling with their mental performance. Just because you are a professional athlete does not mean it’s too late to add a mental game plan to your physical training. What things do you struggle with on and off the court, field or course? What skills do you feel you can improve on? You’ve come a long way in your professional sports career otherwise you wouldn’t be a professional but what gets in the way of you getting even better particularly in the most challenging moments: when … Continued