Leif Smith, PsyD, is president of a sports psychology and performance consultancy. His work has been cited in publications such as The New York Times. Todd Kays, PhD, is president of the Athletic Mind Institute, a sports and performance consulting firm. He's a licensed psychologist whose training and guidance have helped thousands of athletes.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting the Winning Edge: Sports Psychology Fundamentals 5

Chapter 1: Introducing Sports Psychology and Mental Training 7

Honing Your Sharpest Weapon: Your Mind 8

Knowing how your mind influences your sports performance 9

Discovering your ideal mindset in sports performance 9

Building your ideal mindset with awareness and the right processes 10

Understanding your motivation 10

Understanding and building confidence for your athletic performance 10

Building, Preparing, and Practicing Your Mental Toolkit 11

Seeing Sports Psychology in Action 12

Knowing the Hot Trends in Sports Psychology Today 12

Becoming a Sports Psychology-Savvy Coach 13

Chapter 2: Starting with the End in Mind: Know Your Ideal Athlete Mindset 15

Tapping Into Your Ideal Mindset 16

Discovering your ideal performance mindset 17

Performing without thinking 19

Developing a Plan of Attack to Make it Consistent 19

Preparing your ideal mindset 21

Practicing your mindset 21

Assessing and improving your mindset 21

Avoiding the mindset of perfection 21

Slipping into the flow state or zone 22

Chapter 3: Setting Goals: Aiming High and Hitting the Bull's Eye 23

Setting Effective Goals 25

Determining your goals 25

Making your goals specific 28

Setting goals that challenge you 28

Setting deadlines for each goal 29

Working with tiny goals 30

Tracking Your Success in Reaching Your Goals 30

Holding yourself accountable 31

Celebrating your achievements 31

Measuring your goals 32

Giving yourself permission to adjust your goals 33

Realizing that perfection doesn't exist 34

Chapter 4: Stoking the Fire in Your Belly: How to Fan the Flames of Motivation 37

Debunking Common Myths about Motivation 38

You can get your motivation from other people 38

Fame and fortune are great motivators 38

Motivation alone can lead to success 40

Defining Motivation 40

Understanding the two types of motivation: Internal and external 40

Identifying which type of motivation is better 42

Knowing your own personal motivations 42

Assessing and Understanding Your Current Motivation Level 43

Measuring your motivation 43

Making sense of your motivation 43

Building an effective motivation plan 45

Maximizing Your Motivation: How Small Sparks Can Become Bonfires 45

Being completely honest with yourself 46

Thinking about why you play the game 46

Being curious and non-judgmental 46

Focusing on tasks, not ego 47

Finding ways to experience success 47

Mixing up your training 48

Surrounding yourself with highly motivated people 48

Being disciplined 48

Seeking support 49

Moving on from your mistakes 49

Thinking positive 49

Overcoming Obstacles to Staying Motivated 49

When your role on the team has changed 50

When you're burned out 50

When you're being pulled in different directions 51

When you're not seeing eye to eye with your coaches and teammates 52

When your priorities in life change 53

Chapter 5: Swagger: The Art and Science of Building Real Confidence 55

Understanding What Confidence Is and Why It Matters 56

Debunking Myths about Confidence: Don't Believe

Everything You See or Hear 57

Tapping into the Confidence Cycle 59

Thinking positively 60

Taking risks 61

Experiencing success 62

Building Your Confidence 63

Focusing on day-to-day success 63

Concentrating on process, not outcomes 64

Tackling the Obstacles That Get in the Way of Confidence 66

When you have a bad game 67

When you're not getting playing time 68

When you're sick or injured 68

When you aren't as prepared as you could be 70

When you are feeling pessimistic and negative 71

Part 2: Your Mental Toolkit for Success 73

Chapter 6: Tool #1: Mastering the Art of Focus 75

Understanding What Focus Is and Why It Matters 76

Where your mind goes, your energy flows 76

Limiting distractions and focusing 77

Knowing the Zones of Focus 80

Focusing on What Matters 81

Relevant points of focus 82

Irrelevant points of focus 82

Using Focus to Reduce or Eliminate Pressure 86

Overcoming the Obstacles to Focus 87

Thinking about outcomes 87

Getting caught up overthinking and overanalyzing 88

Getting too emotional 89

Letting off-the-field stuff get in the way 90

Dealing with fans, officials, and coaches 91

Developing Tools and Habits for Improving Focus 92

Chapter 7: Tool #2: Seeing Is Believing: Employing Imagery 95

Introducing Imagery 96

How imagery helps change and build better mindsets 97

Internal imagery: From your own point of view 98

External imagery: Looking at yourself from the outside 98

Determining What Type of Imager You Are 99

Visual: Monkey see, monkey do 99

Auditory: I hear you loud and clear 100

Physical: I feel you, man 100

Considering the Key Characteristics of Ideal Images 101

Painting images with vivid detail 101

Picturing images of your success 103

Getting Started with Imagery 104

What to imagine 105

When to use imagery 107

Where to use imagery 110

Setting up an imagery program 111

Evaluating the Success of Your Imagery 111

Chapter 8: Tool #3: Self-Talk: Don't Yell in Your Own Ear 115

Your Inner Critic Is Not You 116

Considering the Consequences of Self-Talk 117

The two types of self-talk: Positive and negative 117

How self-talk affects performance, mindset, and mood 118

Changing the Channel on Ineffective Self-Talk 121

Paying attention to the messages you send yourself 122

Stopping the negativity 124

Replacing ineffective self-talk with effective self-talk 125

Using Self-Talk to Improve Your Performance 128

Journaling and practicing self-talk before, during, and after practice 128

Coming up with cue words, mental anchors, and mantras 129

Creating a mental recovery routine 131

Practicing effective imagery to improve self-talk 132

Chapter 9: Tool #4: Winning Habits: How Routines Improve Performance in Competition 133

Identifying How Routines Improve Focus and Performance 136

Recognizing the Difference between Routines and Superstitions 137

Exploring the Routines of Elite Athletes 139

Example #1: First on the field 139

Example #2: Leisurely and relaxed 140

Example #3: Movies and meditation 141

Coming Up with Effective Practice and Game-Day Routines 141

Practice routines 142

Game-readiness routines 146

Post-game routines 148

Knowing When and How to Adjust Your Routines 149

Modifying your routines 150

Learning great routines from others (and making them your own) 151

Chapter 10: Tool #5: Handling Pressure: Playing with Fire without Getting Burned 153

Probing into Pressure: What It Is and Why It Occurs 154

The signs of pressure 155

What causes pressure in sports 156

Why some athletes choke under pressure 158

Pressure exists only in the mind 159

Pressure is energy steered in an ineffective direction 159

Understanding the Difference between Arousal and Pressure 160

Developing Your Ideal Mindset for Competition 164

Handling Pressure Like a Pro 164

Preparing your mind and heart to manage pressure 165

Focusing on the task at hand 165

Being prepared in every way 165

Getting perspective 167

Changing your self-talk 168

Understanding what you can control 169

Journaling 170

Breathing and stretching 171

Developing your personal plan for managing pressure 173

Chapter 11: Tool #6: Handling Adversity: The Art of Resilience 175

Resilience: Returning to a Better Mindset after a Struggle 176

Accepting adversity and mistakes as opportunities 176

Knowing that perfection is a myth 177

Developing your ideal mindset builds resilience 177

Looking at Loss Differently 178

Recognizing that loss isn't necessarily failure 178

Knowing the difference between getting beat and losing 179

Pulling Yourself Out of Slumps 180

Understanding why slumps happen 180

Focusing on fundamentals 181

Being mindful 181

Bouncing Back after Mistakes in Competition 184

Knowing what happens mentally after a mistake 184

Establishing a post-mistake routine 186

Dealing with Injuries 189

Preventing injuries 189

Coping with injuries 192

Dealing with the Fear of Reinjury 196

Chapter 12: Tool #7: Sharpening Awareness: Being Mindful 199

Being Mindful in the Moment 200

Using mindfulness to change your mind, heart, and body 201

Improving your sports performance 202

Slowing down your thoughts and emotions 202

Practicing Mindfulness 203

Practicing mindfulness off the field 203

Practicing mindfulness on the field 206

Developing a plan of action for improving mindfulness 207

Part 3: Hot Topics in Sports Psychology 209