I have lost count of the number of times I have stood on a sideline, sat in a dugout, wandered up and down a poolside and heard coaches and parents criticise, cringe and even cry at the sight of their athletes conducting superstitious rituals before, during and sometimes even after they compete.

(One parent-coach once pleaded me to tell him what was mentally wrong with his daughter as she completed a complex sequence of foot movements before she competed her Gymnastics floor routine).

This is a scenario that is played out in every sport at every level. Some people perceive these unique rituals as something taboo, or something to be trained or beaten out of the athlete to discourage them from conducting this potluck performance behaviour.

A general armchair theorist may believe these athletes are just superstitious, or leaving their performance to luck, or perhaps appealing to a higher being to ‘bless’ them with a good performance.

So why would any athlete consciously choose to place their professional careers in the laps of the performance gods, rely on blind luck or even chance?

Would they truly allow their superstitious behaviours to determine the outcome of their performance that day?

If, like some, you buy into the theory of ‘luck’ then what is the point of conducting these rituals anyway? What are athletes training for if it is purely a game of chance?

A study recently released by Prof. David Eilam from Tel Aviv University found these rituals have a far greater importance than buying ‘luck’ credits from the performance gods! They instead allowed the athlete to ‘create’ their environment.

So the reality may not be OCD or leaving it to chance. Rather an attempt to follow a tried and trusted pattern, to create continuity and more importantly to gain a sense of control.

One of the factors that makes a champion is the continuity and sustainability in their performance. This is the ability to create and follow a winning formula irrespective of the circumstances, the opponent or even their competition.

One of the factors that brings an athlete or coach undone is the initiation of their own self-crafted anxiety. Anxiety is an emotional response based on ‘what could happen’ not necessarily what has, or will, happen. So it is a purely manufactured worse-case outcome.

When working with an athlete and coach, the first step is to meticulously build a pragmatic, practical and replicable structure to their training, preparation and competition. Building a tried and trusted personalised formula gives them a higher percentage of preferred outcome probability. This uniquely manufactured structure takes much of the ‘unknown’ out of their performance, removing a huge amount of anxiety and destructive imagination that could affect the performance, thus allowing the athlete to do what they do best – and that is perform.

When an athlete creates a ritual they are in effect doing the same thing: building a predetermined performance structure, a pattern, something they know, trust and can rely on and know intimately. This in turn has the same effect of lowering the athlete’s anxiety, reducing the amount of defocused thinking and curbs an over-stimulated imagination.

It also allows an athlete a perceptual sense of personal control, often within situations where they have very little or no control at all outside of their own skill-set. Athletes are often placed into a situation where the coach has probably selected the play, the strategy, the team. The individuals in the team may have been selected to complete a certain dynamic or depending upon the sport, based on reaction rather than creation. A sense of control gives the athlete an edge over their competitors.

So as a mind coach, do I encourage rituals? Absolutely I do.

I actively encourage athletes and coaches to build specific positive behavioural patterns, or Neurological Points of Reference (NPRs) in their pre-game plan:

• If they know what works for them and why, then repeat it habitually (ensuring, of course, they are not inhibiting performance or it being too intrusive on their life or sport).
• Anchor positive emotion to that pattern and allow the athlete to build on confidence, focus and sustainability – all the signs of a champion!

So the next time you see an athlete jump and touch the crossbar or tie their bootlaces multiple times or touch the ball a specific number of times, just know you are probably looking at an athlete who is taking control of their outcome.

If bad days become more and more frequent and the machine of expectation that surrounds a professional athlete has them completely derailed, it follows that their performance is likely to resemble a train wreck.

And this could mean the difference between being re-signed for the next season or dropped from a team and potentially losing millions of dollars in payment and endorsements. So once their attitude and synergy has turned festy and poisonous – these professionals look for something different.

Traditionally when athletes completely miss their mark and their performance begins to glide southwards their first instinctive response is to do more of the same – and that is physical training!

As a former athlete I myself have been put through the ‘traditional’ avenues coaches and athletes favour in an attempt to either avoid or turn a bad situation around – and it is within this tradition of reactivity that lies the systemic problem.

More gym work, more kicking practice, more hours of the same training… more… more… more… more…

The issue may be a technical anomaly or a physical inefficiency or even a lack of performance history and focus, but the head-down bum-up more, more, more approach typically perpetuates the emotional baggage and tainting of process that comes with these performances: the sense of desperation; the sense of expectation; the sense of anxiety; and ultimately the sense of failure.

On the surface I can see the thought process behind this traditional approach. Let’s face it, athletes are physical performers therefore focusing on the increase in physical response it ‘should’ in theory give them results.

But does it?

Stop for a moment and analyse this philosophy: if an athlete or group of athletes have just under-performed and experienced a poor result, irrespective of the cause, where is their mental and emotional objectivity likely to be focused?

Are they focusing on improving, correcting and moving forward? Or has the painful performance cemented in the mistakes made and the outcomes they delivered?

Like many dedicated humans their focus externally will be on correction, because that is what they consciously tell themselves, but in reality their mental and internal focus will be completely on the mistakes made and how NOT to repeat them.

If the mental focus is on NOT to repeat the mistakes, where are they likely to emotionally and cognitively end up? …  Repeating the same mistakes… and thus perpetuating the cycle of poor results, uncontrollable emotions, and more poor results.

It was reported that the Australian Rugby Union team went from one of their poorest performances at the Rugby World Cup 2011 straight into a training session the next day, trying to put right where they had gone wrong.

So if rushing from the competition venue to a training session is not the answer – then what is?

FOCUSED OBJECTIVITY

The two main reasons many athletes and coaches rush to do something active (and in their model of the world ‘actively’ deconstruct their performance) with more physical repetitions is because:

1. Athletes associate action with physical action not necessarily mental action and feel more in control if they are physically ‘doing something.’ So this is feeding their emotions rather than their technical issues.

2. Historically, it is what athletes have done. It has been traditionally handed down from coach to athlete. When things go wrong get back on the horse and just do it again. The legacy continues.

The solution lies in the ability to analyse.

Rather than embedding emotionally anchored physical repetition and doing something just because you have done it before, a more effective approach is to step back and analyse. Just analyse what worked, what didn’t work and how it can be mechanically corrected.

This level of objectivity allows an athlete to distance themselves from perpetuating the same result; to learn from the mistakes and to analytically correct the issues before they become embedded into their programme.

The 3D Coach™

The innovation of the 3D coach™ allows the athlete to analyse their performance in the following way:

First Dimension:
Look at their performance from their own perspective with all the emotions attached (associated to the event);

Second Dimension:
Look at their performance as another would see it mechanically, systematically and chronologically (dissociated to the event)

Third Dimension:
Once the athlete can see the performance for what it really was then they can see their performance from the perspective of how it would impact the long term outcome both corrected and uncorrected.

This process can deconstruct and reconstruct the event without the blurring of the facts with heavy emotion and allows the athlete to tweak and tinker with the skills without the fears associated with the past performance.

This all sounds very simple, and it is, but unfortunately under utilised. So the next time you or one of your athletes have an off performance, resist the urge to dive back in the gym and instead understand just where the improvements need to be!

The Coolangatta Gold is one of the most iconic and physically challenging multi-discipline events on the world’s sporting calendar and is the longest race of its kind spanning 46 kilometres.

This test of human endurance comprises an ocean swim, surf-ski, board paddle and soft sand run… and all in the heat of an Australian summer… as a field of the world’s top athletes compete for the coveted title of ultimate Ironman.

We spent the off-season mentally preparing for the race with specific technical visualisation, targeted focus exercises, hypnosis, internal recognition to external application and a very detailed and structured race-day plan.

By the beginning of the season he had become a well-oiled machine.

Part of the race-day motivation plan comprised:

• Mental compartmentalisation & performance accountability; and
• A rewards process

These are designed to maintain sustained motivation and manage emotional stability.

Both these skill-sets encourage the athlete to break the performance down into specific ‘achievable’ and ‘acknowledgeable’ units.

As an athlete, when focus is on each specific unit, you can:

1. Complete the unit;
2. Learn from it;
3. Reward it; and then
4. Move on!

The power in this process is it removes emotional attachment, mental fatigue or overwhelm, a vital aspect of the endurance mental game.

I had not worked within the Ironman ‘world’ before this but I had many times worked in endurance-based sports, so understood the unique mental and physical challenges they present.

Race day arrived, I knew my athlete wasn’t a favourite to win and he was very aware he wasn’t as physically strong as the race heavyweights. However we knew the race would need to be run in his head, so we were ready!

As I stood on the beach and watched the field of 50 competitors complete their final warm up, they were indeed a spectacle of ultimate human machines. I watched these sporting elites conducting their own rituals., waxing boards, consuming energy gels, packing water into the ski and running the race in their minds and noticed:  physically, they were the fittest athletes I had ever seen… they represented the top 1% of athletes on the planet, an intimidating bunch by any standards.

I also became aware of a sudden, dark, nervous buzz. The confident strutting became edgy shuffles, the mind games instantly stopped. This invisible, negative buzz filling the beach was now spilling over into the crew tents and crowd.

What I had not seen when observing this change was the surf had grown. I had seen these modern-day warriors battle much larger waves, stronger currents and harsher beach conditions during training – so why on race day had it become an issue big enough to make them so wary? And, why did they now start talking up the surf and talking down their ability?

The more I watched and listened, the common theme appeared to be ‘luck’ – or the curse of ‘bad luck’ to be precise.

I heard the coach of one of the favourites to win telling the TV crew ‘if the big waves don’t get him he may still have a chance.’ I was shocked, I couldn’t understand why a wave would select one athlete out of 50 and go after him!

Had I walked into the twilight zone… a place where the elements have objectives, held grudges?

Had this athlete upset the Water Gods at some point and this was his retribution?

Or was this all self manifested in their minds?

I asked the coach why he thought a whole years worth of preparation had come down to ‘luck’. He told me they couldn’t predict the surf and it was luck if they did or didn’t collect a wave that brought them back into shore or one that would stop them initially getting out.

But, I responded, doesn’t every athlete out there have the same opportunity to collect or not that same wave? Ultimately they manoeuvre themselves into the right position to collect the wave, and if they don’t it would be poor planning or poor execution– not luck!

I could see the blood drain from his face as his whole exit strategy had been exposed. The exit strategy of ‘Well, if I under-perform or under-execute the plan, I have an external force to lay the blame on.’

And the more I listened the more this cultural dependency on ‘luck’ as an excuse was evident. There was no denying these were fit guys, but mentally they had left themselves an out option. And it would appear it was part of the sport’s culture, rather than an individual athlete.

You see, psychologically having an exit strategy such as ‘luck’ lowers someone’s resistance to the physical and mental forces, and minimises their behavioural ability to keep on pushing through the tough times.

Given the option to bail out when the going gets tough becomes a very viable option when you have the ‘Bad Luck’ card to play.

After working within various sporting disciplines, I had observed the exit strategy in many different forms on many different occasions. But never had I observed this phenomenon weaved within the culture of a whole sporting discipline, as this one.

In my opinion, luck isn’t a viable excuse for anything. If we allow ‘luck’ to have a hand in our performance then we hand over a large amount of control to an external force – one that only exists in our minds.

It is the athlete’s way of keeping one hand on the door handle, ready if the going gets too tough to mentally run and have an excuse to do so.

When I conduct Open Mind Nights, they are an opportunity for coaches, athletes and parents to come together and move forward as one efficient unit – I openly promote the removal of the word ‘luck’ from their vocabulary and actively hand back control of the performance to the athlete.

Despite the large seas, the race was run and my athlete got a top five finish which was a phenomenal result and one that was made possible by the mental strategies he had and utilised.

Confidence is a hot topic in a coach or athlete’s world and something we intimately associate with both our success and our stumbles in life.

Often our greatest moments are attributed to our unshakable confidence in the face of competition, our belief in ourselves and the focus in our preparation and performance. Our domination and drive is celebrated and we become the self-appointed poster child for success.

On the flip side, when we stumble, our confidence is the first to feel the emotional bruises and cop the full brunt of the blame. ‘I didn’t feel confident’ or ‘I wasn’t confident in my skills I had prepared’ – and even ‘I didn’t have the confidence in my coaches choices for the routine or play.’

So clearly our confidence is a vital aspect of our behaviour and therefore our performance. It is something to be managed just as pragmatically as our physical fitness, technical skill-set and diet.

However, some coaches and athletes treat the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde  ‘confidence’ like the uncle no one talks about, hiding it away – viewing the psychology of confidence as a taboo subject, thinking if they don’t mention the word ‘confidence’ then it won’t break, fall down or behave inappropriately!

The truth is confidence is not a fragile or embarrassing entity to be tip-toed around – it is a system.

Confidence is simply a replicable pattern of specific neurological triggers and chemical stimulants in our bodies. It is robust and predictable. Being aware of this allows us to harness it and maximise on it for our own ultimate good.

And for this reason it deserves our full attention and respect!

In my experience, performance confidence issues are merely a lack of, or a stalling of, the positive forward momentum of recognition process.

What I mean by this very long term is – our confidence and motivation (intimately linked) is fuelled by consistent, periodic injections of acknowledgment and recognition of success – it needs to be fed in order to survive.

Like eating healthy foods, the results are not instant but gradual and cumulative. Like all sustainability – little and often is the key ingredient here for behavioural endurance.

I liken this to the frog jumping across the pond from one bank to another. In order to succeed the frog must select the path and hop from one Lilly pad to the next. This frog is unlikely to succeed by bounding all the way across in one leap, and with a couple of failed attempts may perhaps give up and settle for one side of the bank, believing it cannot reach it’s objective.

Each and every time we succeed at something (our lilly pads) – no matter how small – we are neurologically rewarded for our effort. We are rewarded with generous doses of serotonin and dopamine – this unique concoction of naturally-derived happy drugs are supplied to us by our own bodies as recognition and reward for achievement. This makes the successful action pleasurable, memorable and sustainable.

Serotonin and Dopamine, like many other natural chemicals are highly stimulating and exceptionally addictive. Our brain likes this reward system we have created and wants more and more of it, so urges and nudges us forward to the next success and reward point – eagerly waiting for the next hit. This forms a natural foundation for forward momentum.

Whilst it is our subconscious brains that have the higher understanding of what we are actually capable of – it is our conscious filtration system that normally ‘plays it safe’ and pulls us back into a conservative line. It is our conscious mind that also focuses on the failures rather than the successes, turning our attention to what we have NOT achieved rather than what we have achieved.

We know we get what we focus on – so if we continuously focus on our lack of success then our perception will be that we continue to fail more frequently, stemming the flow of rewards and thus killing off our motivation to succeed – and thus actually succeeding more infrequently.

If I asked you to turn up for work every day for the next 5-10 years and give 100% but you would never be paid or recognised for your effort how long could you sustain your motivation? If we do not recognise and reward our internal successes then we too tune out and have no reason to excel.

This natural reward high feeds our confidence, and sometimes fools our conscious mind into thinking we could, and should, take on more and more challenging tasks to gain the higher reward.

Many top athletes speak of being caught up in the moment, feeling un-stoppable and almost superhuman when at their peak. The reward driven highs becoming ‘the norm’ and a constant flooding of neural stimulants keeps them there.

(This is also part of the reason why retiring athletes struggle to maintain the stimulation in their life after sport – but that is a whole other topic we will cover in another post!)

Where the wheels fall off this neurological and emotional system is if we STOP or lose this positive forward momentum of natural rewards.

If we stop acknowledging our successes, we begin to suffer withdrawal from our happier days – like a drug addict without the next fix this begins to reinforce our subconscious doubts over our ability to ever again ‘score’ or succeed and be rewarded. The next logical step eludes us as we lose direction, focus and perspective.

The longer this period of time where our reward cravings are not met the bigger the desire is to have that ‘hit’ and the more important that next success becomes. All this does is increase our anxiety levels and feeds the emotional monster who has been focused on our failures.

This emotional cloud distorts our skill-set, our cognitive clarity and our perception in our ability to succeed.

And so a perpetual cycle of perceived failure is born – we have all witnessed it and maybe even lived it.

Breaking this slippery downward cycle and restoring forward upward momentum is a systematic process – just as the creation of the focused problem was in the first place.

After all, our confidence is fuelled by our success, acknowledgment and our neural-reward! And as this feeds the motivation engine, the strategy is simple:

1. Start setting small achievable goals, acknowledging them along the way, outwardly celebrating them and focusing on the success of what you did achieve not what eluded you.

2. Reward yourself again and again – it gains traction in the motivation game, like stoking the fire of a steam engine the more fuel you put in the better the results that come out.

Rewards do not have to be tangible, so set aside those flat screen TVs for now and focus on internal recognition, acknowledging yourself for your achievements in your session, day, week, season objective.

Begin a performance journal to enable you to follow your journey of achievement and see the patterns of success you create and duly reward them.

Confidence really is just an emotional measure of success and once we understand and respect that it can only serve us in our grander objectives.

The Right Athlete, the Right Coach and at the Right Time Will Naturally Gravitate Towards Each Other.

–  This Is Where We See Magic Happen –

As an avid rugby fan and former School and County Player (scrum half) I have found myself glued to the current Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand, as many other diehards have.

As I watch the big hitters such as New Zealand dominate in their opening games, the Springboks play their usual cheeky tactics, the Australian’s scramble due to selection and injury crisis and the England team typically struggle with on and off field discipline and finding form.

I found myself strangely drawn down to the grassroots and intensely study the nuts and bolts of the Welsh Rugby team. They are only just getting the job done in most cases but doing it in such a crude yet inspiring way it is mesmerising – even my Australian wife catches herself barracking for the Welsh (fleeting though it may be, they haven’t played the Wallabies yet).

I mean I am passionately English through and through and will be ecstatic when Jonny Wilkinson and the boys again take out the Rugby World Cup for England! But, I started to realise there is something about the performance of the Welsh team that is very familiar to me in their attitude and approach… something that isn’t flash, spectacular or even overtly entertaining – but effective, ballsy and synergistic in drive, discipline and passion.

I should have realised this familiarity was due to a mutual connection when I saw his signature style permeate this team. It was, after all, the same person who influenced the direction of my sporting career and beyond to my chosen profession today.

Over the past few weeks as I watched this Welsh team jostle for the ball and make plays out of scrappy nothings, I found myself thinking about my own sporting career, no not my low level Rugby Union success, but International Gymnastics.

“Gymnastics?” I hear you say!

I know – it is not the most socially accepted, publicly revered, or indeed sexiest sport out there – but one I was passionate about and therefore found I excelled in.

To be honest with you, I was more physically suited to Rugby Union than I was Gymnastics: I was stocky, exceptionally inflexible, had the coordination of a three legged rocking horse and, due to a hearing disability, the balance of an intoxicated old man on a Sunday afternoon. NOT the traits of an aspiring dynamic and nimble Gymnast. However, what I lacked in talent I made up for in heart, tenacity and a willingness to learn.

All I needed was someone who was patient enough, technical enough and stubborn enough to mould me into a true sportsman!

But I had a problem (I know I had a few) but this one was huge!

I was very young, inexperienced and oblivious to what I needed…

So how would a young one like me identify and recognise that certain person who had the correct skill-set to get the most out of me; the person who had the opportunity and the drive to push me in the right direction; and the foresight to see beyond my physical shortcomings to see my passion.

Well, I didn’t know where, how or even why I needed to find that coach. That is not to say that I didn’t have the right person, because I did – only I didn’t have the maturity to recognise the right person at that stage of my life. (Funnily enough, these days as a consultant I find this scenario repeated week in week out.)

So I got to thinking as the Welsh pushed on and through their opponents in a scrappy dog fight – does the athlete select the coach or does the coach select the athlete?

As an athlete I would have said unequivocally the coach was along for the ride on the coat-tails of successful, talented and hardworking athletes. As I look back now I would have said the athlete needed the coach in order to be the athlete they have buried deep inside them… and often could not make it without them.

I think it is one of those process of natural selection: the right athlete, the right coach and at the right time will naturally gravitate towards each other, filling the void and finding their positioning.

And this is where we see magic happen. If all the stars line up and the timing is perfect, these two can create a sustainable champion, an athlete, a team even a club that is something special, something unique. It takes both sides to be shining at the same time to make them something special – and therein lies both the skill and the problem.

You see I realised what I was seeing in the Welsh Rugby team was the influence of a special coach-player dynamic, a belief and passion and a synergistic drive.

What I saw was in fact my coach – LITERALLY my coach. Yes, my Gymnastics Coach of many years ago, Mitch Fenner had recently been working with the Welsh Rugby team. The same drive, tenacity and passion he had helped nurture in me was now shining through these hard hitting, scrappy, rough-around-the-edges work horses.

Every now and then someone comes along who helps you become that little bit more than you would have been. They help you shine just that little bit brighter, for that little bit longer.

The secret is to recognise that and embrace it at the time, as together champions are forged and apart athletes are lost.

The Rugby World Cup 2011 rumor mill is in full swing today, hinting that England’s golden booted superstar Jonny Wilkinson is to be benched.

The talk is that Wilkinson will be replaced as England chief kicker and number 10 as England moves unconvincingly into the knockout rounds. This is a devastating blow not only for Wilkinson but us diehard England fans who know just how important a steady boot can be.

Most associate Jonny as England’s archangel from the 2003 Rugby World Cup when England secured the title in the dying moments off the tip of Wilkinson’s boot. But like most professional athletes Wilkinson’s career is defined by much more than that one moment in time. Just seven points shy of reaching the record of all-time highest scorer in test rugby, Wilkinson is clearly in a class above the average, someone who has proven that he can sustainably perform to reach career defining milestones such as this.

So why now is Wilkinson looking down the barrel of the bench, being replaced just when England could once again benefit from his cool, calm, golden touch?

Wilkinson is, without a doubt, off form. His percentage at this Rugby World Cup is at the bottom of the averages for kickers, not his usual top spot. When most performers are peaking Wilkinson finds himself falling off the conveyer belt and out of the team. This will surely be Wilkinson’s last RWC and his last chance to cement his name in the global Rugby community’s mind.

So what has happened to Wilkinson’s signature ‘crouch, shuffle, clasp, kick’ midas touch in this campaign?

The purists are blaming the new championship ball…

The knockers are saying Wilkinson has past his prime and should move over…

The players are blaming the stadium conditions and unusual wind currents…

The press are blaming England’s lack of discipline…

… and Wilkinson has said the blame rests with him!

So what is the truth?

Where should the blame (if any blame at all) lay? Or is it all just part of the peaks and troughs athletes expect to move through?

There is no doubt Wilkinson handles pressure and has proven time and time again he can put the boot to work at the right time under extraordinary conditions, and for this his technique has been studied and copied across the globe.

So could it really be the new aerodynamics of the match ball?

Maybe.

But any player of that caliber should be able to adapt and maneuver their skill-set to cope with the different reactions the shape may give. One or two kicking sessions would see them roll with the changes and be back on form, I don’t believe skill-set is that tenuous.

So, surely not – could it be that he is over the hill? Maybe, at 32 years old, but why now? He has been on form leading into the RWC and hasn’t suddenly aged significantly overnight!

Could the England teams reported lack of on and off field discipline be causing this disjointedness? Some England players certainly are gaining attention for approaching this RWC like a club tour of Spain and enjoying the after-game entertainment much more than the on-field battles. But Wilkinson, again over many campaigns, has proven he can rise above any in-house behaviour issues or lack of performance discipline.

So, that leaves us with Wilkinson! What is he doing differently, what has he changed or attempted to correct or has left out that has his historically reliable steely boot – misfiring?

When we disregard the other options we are left with performer error, Wilkinson just isn’t performing – as simple as that!

Unlike a lame horse this is not the time to have Wilkinson put down, replaced or moved to the bench. Now is the time to stop and re-evaluate, to look at where the stitching began to unravel, the point at which the tried and trusted was replaced with an inferior replica. This is the time to reboot the boot and bring back the successful pattern.

Wilkinson is a play-maker and a game winner – so Jonny if you are reading this (and I am sure you are ) it is time to go back to what was working, recognise the patterns of success you had and reinitiate them. It is time to remove yourself mentally and emotionally from the whirlwind of misses and break the unsuccessful pattern and mentally REBOOT.

This all sounds a little pie-in-the-sky but it is the basics that work, the understanding of what was done to achieve, then replicate that. Disassociate from the emotions of failure and clinically assess and reapply.

All the excuses in the world ONLY allow us to blame someone or something else and not correct the issues. If we could do it before we can do it again (as long as we are physically capable of course).

So all Jonny Wilkinson needs is a mental re-boot to bring back his successful operating system.

When I work with an athlete there always comes a time when we need to have ‘that talk’. You know the one – the hypnosis talk.

Understandably, most control conscious athletes have a high degree of trepidation about being hypnotised, especially when their only experience of hypnosis has been to see ordinary people on stage encouraged to perform for a man dressed in a sequin shirt and shiny trousers who appears to be controlling them.

And as these ordinary people dance like chickens or joyfully throw themselves into compromising positions with strangers for the audiences entertainment, this orchestrated stage show has little in common with the traditional hypnosis used by therapists every day of the week.

The truth is no one can ‘control’ another person’s mind by mere verbal or physical suggestion unless they want to be controlled – but then that begs the question – who really has the control?

Effective suggestibility is a powerful skill to own, it allows you to guide and manoeuvre others in a desired direction – but even with this skill you are persuading and selling, not controlling.

Hypnosis works because it allows us as mind coaches to lower the brains natural internal filters and therefore any conscious resistance an athlete may be having to a certain skill, belief or suggestion.

Our internal filtration system dictates what we will and won’t accept as being true and even if deep down we know something is beneficial for us we may still have strong beliefs otherwise. Effective hypnosis enables us to disengage those filters around a certain belief and subconsciously layer new positive suggestions in their place.

The result, when the mind goes searching for a response or reaction to something that previously could have resulted in fear, panic, sadness etc a more desirable response appears as a viable option such as empowerment, happiness, and confidence and becomes the number one option.

The same process can also help a coach ‘flag’ a specific technique or physical response as the preferred option, and again when called upon, the brain will find the new and improved version over the old shaky or damaged version.

The mind is wired to protect itself and so can often remove options it deems harmful from our search field, burying it in the deepest, darkest recesses of our memory  – however these removed or buried emotionally-weighted actions often resurface causing confusion and emotional discomfort.

Hypnosis can also be a useful technique in managing these kinds of emotional barriers especially if they are inhibiting an athlete from performing and it is all based on the emotions of past events.

Of course these traditional forms of hypnosis where a client is encouraged to close their eyes and relax are not the only forms available to us as mind coaches. If a Mind Coach is particularly skilled the conversational forms of hypnosis such as Ericksonian are utilised throughout most sessions often without the athlete ever being aware they are subconsciously being guided!

Conversational hypnosis is a carefully crafted form of communication where verbal suggestibility is weaved into conversation, layering in better options, new choices, better ways of thinking and even manoeuvring an athlete away from a particular way of thinking.

Hypnosis is one of the most versatile and targeted tools for a mind coach, especially considering there are many different applications and forms of hypnosis available to us.

In order for hypnosis to be truly effective there has to be a deep trust and rapport between the athlete and the mind coach, an understanding that the mind coach has the athletes best interests at heart and is respectful of the athletes career.

Many athletes are amazed at how simple the hypnosis process is, as they can understand and respond at any time. They have full control over their own minds and do not feel manipulated in any way during the process.

So if you have ever considered hypnosis to enhance your performance development then maybe it’s time to have ‘that talk’!

As many of you would know I like to close ‘loops’ (at strategic points in time of course) and so as a follow up to previous blog posts on Point To Point and Re-Patterning Visualisation where we discussed my son’s structured and strategic progress up the Taekwondo belt rankings.

Going from a youngster who couldn’t string more then two tasks together to over the last couple of weekends going through his grading process for his black belt in Taekwondo.

This required in-depth knowledge of various skills, including:

• multiple patterns raging from 9 to 38 moves in sequential order
• detailed knowledge of punches, blocks, kicks and defence moves
• weapon sequences
• board breaking and
• multiple attacker defence

He put everything he had learned into practice; effectively managing his nerves to perform outstandingly well and obtain his First Dan Black Belt – the day after his 13^th birthday.

Well done Son.

When economists forecast the rise and fall of financial trends or when political commentators predict the swings in government – and get it right – are they just clever predictions based on past events and cold statistics, or is there more to it? Could they be psychologically influencing our decisions and future choices unwittingly with the words they use?

If we take the same parallel with sport, sporting commentators speculate on the outcome of a game based on past results of the player or team.

Again is this just the sum total of interesting statistics, relevant information and probable mathematics, or does their suggestibility hold a more subconscious influence over the players and impact on the potential outcome of the game.

In the same way people are influenced into believing and blindly following social, economic, health and even fashion trends, covert use of targeted language can also heavily influence our athletes into following performance trends.

This could result in either psychologically winning or losing a competition before they ever step onto the pitch – all based on the expert’s analysis.

Most sporting commentators are past or current players, coaches or influential people within their sporting community and often hold a great deal of respect from within that code.

So clearly their opinions and predictions matter to those who they are commentating on!

If the commentators believe a particular team is certain to lose and they publically verbalise these beliefs, boosting their point of view with statistics, history and plays as proof then the self-belief of the players on the potentially losing team will diminish – thus becoming a self fulfilling prophecy instigated from the commentary box.

Humans are socially and psychologically pack animals, guided by the community, socially driven to assimilate and conditioned to believe and follow our leaders – especially those we emotionally adorn. So it stands to reason when a well respected social influencer tells you you’re destined to lose, the doubt enters your mind and becomes a focus point now giving you the option to lose – as it is expected.

The same outcome is achieved when statistics are highlighted as a probable outcome of the future such as ‘the last time these teams met they lost by 100 points’ or ‘this team have never won at this venue before!’ All these factors and the social expectation weigh heavily on their minds and performance.

So has our thirst for up to the minute knowledge, opinions and statistics and the medias willingness to supply that information begun to influence how an athlete physically and mentally performs? Athletes will tell you ‘No!’ They will say the media plays little part in their preparation or performance – they say this because they are told to say it not necessarily because they believe it.

So as a coach or commentator we have a duty and responsibility to understand that what we say could have an impact on the outcome and psychology of an athlete.

Working with athletes returning from injury over the years has taught me a few things…

These athletes, at the end of their tether and contemplating throwing in the towel over their fears when returning from injury, been told by others to toughen up or get a grip. But when you are the one on the inside looking out this fear is real; holds a huge amount of emotional weight; and can dominate every waking hour.

If we believe in the notion that we don’t do anything in life unless it holds some value for us – then why do we let our imagination push our buttons and punish us with crippling and apparent uncontrollable fear when there is no logical need for it?

Take an athlete recovering from an injury: if there is no technical or mechanical reason to fear the sport or even the move again, why do so many athletes buckle with fear when getting back into the game?

Statistically speaking, we know these highly successful athletes are crippled by something that will probably never happen to them!

So why do they do it to themselves? Why do these athletes allow what they intellectually know as bogus appear so real.

And how do we, as Mind Coaches, manage this behavioural anomaly pragmatically?

Our true fear mechanism is all part of our vital and finely tuned fight or flight process. This innate, subconscious reaction emanates from our limbic system in our brain and protects us in extreme or life threatening situations.

So for this reason, we don’t want to tamper with this fight or flight process too often. However, if we think of it more like a brain surgeon, we can sort through the many different sections and stimulants of the brain and switch on or off a desired or undesired response.

Your first awareness of an irrational fear probably manifested itself in the same way it did for most of us: the monster in the closet and the ghosts under the bed! Over the years, we now know there is no such thing as monsters in the closet and ghosts hiding under your bed!!

But, as a kid it wouldn’t have mattered how many times you were shown the empty closet or rationalised that there is nothing under your bed other than old socks, broken toys and plenty of dust – you would have still had that irrational fear in the back of your mind convincing you that it is all too real and to believe otherwise was either naive or a mistake.

Your imagination would have been the major contributor to support and feed the monster – the emotional monster that is, not the actual monster.

So a coach telling an athlete to get on with it or suck it up would have the same amount of success as telling the child the closet is empty.

We often think, construct and imagine the worst case scenario when faced with decisions in life. This helps us to manage the full spectrum of scenarios IF they do in fact eventuate. However we know that once we have thought something it is impossible to UN-think it! So it suddenly becomes a legitimate option in our brains, something that could occur, that maybe has, until now, been completely off the radar.

So now that this worst case senario is very much ON the radar, how do we stop our over-active imagination eating away at our performance, our effectiveness and even our sanity?

1.  The Root Cause

Establish what was the catalyst to the fear. Was it a past incident, a past observation or something concocted in our over active minds. There would have been a start point, a stage where the irrationality started. Even the concocted option would have it’s roots in something tangible.

2.  Smother that cause in logic
Take the emotion out of the cause and replace it with logic. Desensitise it’s effects and break it down into so many components that for all those ducks to be in a row again would be so unlikely it would almost be impossible.

Establish why it initially occurred in detail, so as to build structure around it, preventing it happening for a second time.

Just the pragmatic process of establishing a plan will instantly reduce the emotional weight of the imagined option, but to completely sideswipe this unproductive emotional thought – we replace it. We replace it with something desirable and with just as much emotional weight. This can be achieved through active strategy structuring and with targeted hypnosis.

If you think about how we ‘beat’ the monster in the closet or the ghost under the bed – it was either by growing up and thinking logically there is no such thing nor could there be, or we employed our own bigger, meaner monster to overpower the weak closet monster!

Whichever option works for you – employ it!!