Take the Mental Toughness Challenge:

Please sit down with your young athlete, or if you are a more seasoned athlete take some time to write down on paper what you wish to achieve this season.  Identify 1-2 (Long Term) season goals and write them down.  These can be challenging, but not impossible to achieve. Each of these long term goals can be outcome related. If you are a 20th ranked high school junior 100 butterfly swimmer, it might be too difficult to become number 2 in the conference for this season, but it might be achievable to achieve a 10th ranked position. Second, identify 3-4 (Mid Term) Intermediate or mid season milestone goals that when achieved will strongly position you for achieving your long term goals. For example: “finishing in the top 10 of at least 50% of the meets by mid season.” Lastly, identify a series of 3-6 (Short Term) goals focused on skills improvement.  These are very specific task objectives focused on physical and mental skill execution.  For example: “Improving the time of my underwater flip turn”. Finely tune the identified skills with the help of a skills coach. With this help you will undoubtedly achieve your intermediate milestone goals and will be well on your way to achieving your long term season goals. Again, the critical thing to remember is to set goals that are achievable, but not too easy. They must be tough, but not impossible. The end result = success, confidence, and enjoyment.

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Goal Setting Can Make a “Difference”
Written by John R. Ellsworth, M.A.,
Sport Psychology Consultant & Mental Game Coach

Frustration in sports comes as a direct result of not having fun or getting the intrinsic rewards you desire out of sport competition. Not having fun can be a result of sport specific skills not matching up with the challenge at hand, or performance expectations are well beyond the current skill level of the athlete. Even if the athlete’s skills are below the challenge it makes sense that enjoyment could be achieved if they knew achievement were actually possible?  Would helping athlete’s set achievable goals be helpful?  I believe the answer is yes!

Every day I hear from parents, coaches, and athletes who want to better understand what can be done to foster greater levels of achievement. This phenomenon is not only focused on the sporting green, but also carries over into academic and life success.

One parent came to me wondering how she could help her daughter achieve her goals. I asked the parent a series of questions; (1) who established the goals in the first place? (2) are the goals set by your daughter or someone else for your daughter? (3), were the goals written down? (4) are the goals measurable? (5) and are the goals achievable or in line with her skill level?

The daughter in this example was a high school senior softball player who had been scouted by a number of Division 1 universities. She had been told that she needed to work on specific skills to secure her chances of playing at the Division 1 level. This young athlete had great natural ability, but lacked the drive and desire to work on the skills that would secure her chances of playing at the next level.

One of the bigger challenges had to do her personal belief about her ability to improve her skills? Was the level of improvement required simply too challenging for the young athlete to bee that it was possible to achieve?

Another parent wants to increase her child’s motivation without being too intense, or too demanding.

How do I motivate my son to consistently reach his highest potential in wrestling? How do I get him to not go into matches with a pre-conceived notion that he will not win?  “It just frustrates me to no end to see the lack of joy in his face and know it has nothing to do with his abilities”, the parent said.

The most important point to remember is that an athlete’s success regardless of age has to be on the athlete’s terms. Setting goals for the athlete, or expecting some level of performance success for the athlete is setting expectations.  Expectations result in a huge amount pressure because the athlete is not playing for themselves or to achieve their own goals, but performing for the pleasure of others.

The critical success factor to this equation is to let athletes choose their own goals, while at the same time offering guidance to help them set goals that are achievable and will build confidence and enjoyment. When athletes set their own goals, they are more likely to take ownership in them and stick to them. It’s one thing for an athlete to feel pressure to perform from a world outside of his control (mom, dad, coach), versus allowing the athlete to tackle the challenges associated with meeting their own performance goals. Athletes place enough pressure on themselves to perform. The added external pressure to perform up to someone else’s standard only adds stress and distracts the athlete from being present and performing in the moment.

Goal setting is tricky and should consist of long term, intermediate and short term goals. Set 1-2 long term (season goals), coupled with a series of 2-4 milestone goals (mid season goals), and finally supported by a series of 4-6 skill related task objectives (short term goals) designed to help the athlete achieve the midterm goals.  It is critical, however the short term goals are challenging yet achievable. The intention is to foster incremental success and build confidence. If the long term goals are not balanced with previously assessed skill proficiency, skill success will be fleeting. The ultimate goal is to achieve repetitive success.  Success builds confidence and confidence builds trust. A strong sense of confidence and trust continues to bring athletes back to the challenge time and time again.

In my recently released book, Mental Edge – Performance Journaling System I have developed a series of steps to help athletes, parents, and coaches with the goal development.. This process takes one through goal creation, performance plan development and short term execution strategies designed to monitor performance and build success.  For more information please go to http://www.protexsports.com/journal_page.html or email me at jre@protexsports.com.

Dear Coach John,

I am a Division III college swimmer living in Michigan. Last year as a Junior I was very close to breaking the school record in the individual 100 butterfly, but due to an injury I was unable to finish the season. All summer I worked very hard to recover from surgery and improve my stamina. Everyone advised me to keep the faith and work to get my physical strength back to a point that I felt confident to compete.  Consequently, I did not have a plan to improve my technique to the degree required to give me the edge I need this season.  Although, I am confident in my ability I really want to surpass the college record for the 100 butterfly and qualify for the summer nationals. I know this is a stretch, but I really believe I can do it.

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Dear Goal Setter,

First things first, you are to be congratulated for persevering and keeping motivated during the long process of post surgery recovery.  This is a huge accomplishment. 

It sounds like you already know what your long term season and post season goals will be. This is a great first start.  You now need to establish the critical mid-term milestones that when accomplished will give you the opportunity to achieve your long term goals. The 2-3 mid-term goals should be achievable, measurable and accomplished by the mid-point of the season or slightly thereafter.  The most intensive work will be encountered in the short-term goal phase of the process. The short-term goals will be the task oriented executable skills you are required to master to put you on track to meet your mid-term goals. By working with your skills coach you identify your strengths and weaknesses. This is  a critical pre-requisite before you establish the short term goals. With the knowledge of your weaknesses you will define and outline a practice plan including “skill set process focused objectives” for each week and day of practice. Keep track of your success, challenges, and positive self-talk in your journal. By writing down, tracking and reviewing your daily practice performance you will be able to identify common themes of success. In additional you will see themes illustrating where you must continue to enhance your technical and mental game abilities.

To learn more about how the Mental Edge Success Journaling Program works, and the details behind establishing a vision statement, designing performance objectives, creating tools for keeping you motivated, establishing criteria for success tracking, and building confidence along the way please email me at jre@protexsports.com.  I am about to release a 12 week program entitled: The Mental Edge: Success Monitoring and Journal System designed exactly for this purpose.

Motivational Note:

For those of you about to undergo surgery for injuries sustained while engaged in a sporting activity or for anyone about to undergo surgery, here is a positive self-talk statement used by one of my clients who experienced ACL surgery and the process of post-recovery.

“I accept and commit to the process of rehabilitation and recovery with a positive mindset and know success will come by focusing in the present – one day at a time.”

Very soon I will be introducing a NEW product entitled, Mental Edge Flash Card System which will include a 5 –set package of Flash Cards focused on improving performance through the use of Positive Self-Talk.  Stay Tuned!

 

Have a mental game performance challenge? Ask sports psychology expert, John Ellsworth your question and he’ll respond to you personally. Email your mental game challenges and questions to jre@peotexsports.com or post your question on my Mental Toughness Forum (MTN) at http://mentaltoughnessnetwork.ning.com

 

NEWS BULLETIN:

RELEASED!!!   August 2009 John Ellsworth – Mental Game Coach - will release his first published book entitled, The Mental Edge Success Monitoring and Journaling System.  This is a 12 week program is designed to help athletes, non-athletes, and business professionals create a detailed goal oriented program for performance improvement, track weekly performance success against established goals, and build confidence.

Go to http://www.protexsports.com/journal_page.html for more information. 

 

Mental Edge Performance Journal System
By John R. Ellsworth, M.A.

When performing at the elite, professional, or amateur levels in sports, athletes require constant and consistent hours practice to train the mind and body to perfect skill mastery. Skill mastery and goal achievement requires monitoring in order to achieve training and competitive success.

Mental Edge Performance Journal System will provide athletes, parents, coaches, and trainers with a unique approach to positively condition the mind, log performance goal accomplishment, log thoughts and feelings, track performance trends and plateaus, build confidence, and incorporate daily mental strategies to help the athlete achieve peak performance.

 

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John Ellsworth, M.A
Sports Psychology Consultant
PROTEX SPORTS, LLC
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John Ellsworth knows that every athlete wants one thing—to achieve peak performance, especially in competition. As both president and founder of Protex Sports, LLC, John is dedicated to helping serious athletes strengthen confidence, refine focus and build composure to provide them the winning advantage—mental endurance.

With over 30 years of experience in business, education, coaching and sport psychology, John is highly regarded as an accomplished authority on achieving excellence and reaching optimal performance. He brings a multi-faceted approach to the mental aspects of sports and health by looking at the attitudes, beliefs and thoughts that influence performance behaviors.

In addition to his extensive experience in both clinical and applied sports psychology, Mr. Ellsworth has worked with sports parents, sports teams, coaches, athletic trainers, sports agents and physicians to train them in the skills to boost mental toughness or assist athletes recovering from a sports related injury.

John works throughout North America with athletes and teams from a variety of sport backgrounds. He earned his Masters Degree from John F. Kennedy University in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Sport Psychology (2001); has obtained undergraduate degrees in Business, and Psychology, as well as teaching credentials from Hillsdale College; and is presently working on his doctorate degree.

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