"It is the brain, not the heart or lungs, that is the critical organ."
Sir Roger Bannister
In 1954, Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, and many said it was impossible and that anyone who did would die; he lived and received worldwide recognition. Two other runners had also run within 2 seconds of the four-minute mile. Bannister was a medical student, and he knew he had a positive belief in himself, that running 2 seconds faster was possible, and it was going to be him that achieved it. In his book, The First Four Minutes, he says how he used visualisation (a light hypnotic state) to win the 'Miracle Mile' race against Australian John Landy in 1954 in Vancouver, "I tried to imagine myself attached to him by some invisible cord. With each stride, I drew the cord tighter and reduced his lead." He was "In the Flow/Zone," which is a hypnotic state.
These 10 Elite Mindsets Are Inter-Related
They Bounce-Off Each Other In The Mind & Body of an Elite Athlete
1. Visualise Your Success
Easy access to the "In the Flow/Zone" state. A light hypnotic state is also known as meditation and mindfulness. Whenever we visualise anything, we are in a light hypnotic state, watching a movie, driving our car home, and visualising our next Personal Best Performance. Learn how to get into a light hypnotic trance instantaneously, and you automatically improve your performance because you are connecting with your unconscious mind. (Your unconscious mind is in control of all your bodily functions, heart beating, digestion, oxygen and nutrients going to every cell of your body, everything outside your conscious awareness).
2. Plan Meticulously to Improve Performance
Specific practice with the "intention of improving" is the mindset of an elite athlete. K. Anders Ericsson's empirical evidence proves that focused and tailored training overrides performance plateaus, leading to improved physiological changes in the brain. [1]
3. Setting and Hitting All Incremental Goals Are Journaled
Having planned meticulously and practised with the "intention of improving", you now need to have every thought, emotion and physical action of your practice journaled because you need to have a laser-like vision toward your goals. What do you need to add or eliminate from your practice?
4. Elite Athletes Have Game Intelligence Skills
Game Intelligence Skills (GIS) give you the ability to anticipate and make the right decisions at the right time. Having a subconscious intuition that picks up micro-movements in your opponent's body language is learnt via game-play. The more seasoned players have this subconscious intuition of where they need to be and what they need to do, responding instantaneously. Wayne Gretzky, named as the greatest hockey player ever by the NHL and many sportswriters, said, "To be a winner, you don't skate to where the puck is, but you skate to where it will be."[2] Hypnotherapy can help you achieve faster game-play intelligence skills.
5. Elite Athletes Thrive On Learning New Skills Whilst Practising
Practice needs analysis and interpretation skills; it's a state where elite athletes push the boundaries, noticing what works and what doesn't; it presents opportunities for ever-improving performance. Elite athletes reinvent themselves continually to achieve ever-improving performance.
6. Elite Athletes Use Competition to Hone Their Skills
This mind skill understands the difference between Practice and Performance. Performance is a 'Now' state that elite athletes enjoy and have fun playing and competing, motivating them to practice and improve. The new skills they learn whilst practising are tested during a competition, and adjustments are consciously and, more importantly, unconsciously remembered and utilised. Their smiles and fist pumps on game-day say it all!
7. Wins Are Celebrated
Whenever elite athletes achieve a win or personal achievement, they celebrate because having fun increases motivation. Neurobiology tells us that experiencing fun increases our dopamine levels, and we think faster, move faster, and improve our performance.[3]
8. Elite Athletes Have A Developmental Mindset
They have a desire to improve and develop new skills. Developing new skills can result in more failures; elite athletes have the mindset that failures are an opportunity to improve and develop their game. They have developed resilience and a conscious and subconscious need to improve.
9. Elite Athletes Have a Fierce Desire to Compete
Elite athletes have a fierce desire to compete because they thoroughly enjoy the satisfaction of winning. They push past failing at a new challenge during practice (increasing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which ignites laser-like focus) so they can win during competition.
10. Elite Performers Compartmentalise
They focus on what is essential for their ever-improving performance. I have seen this first-hand many times; being in 'The Zone/The Flow' is vital for any sport or performance; being "so involved in what they are doing that the activity becomes spontaneous, almost automatic".[4] Getting into 'The Zone' is living in the Now, allowing the unconscious mind to take charge, and if you're a skilled tennis player, it is automatically hitting a 220 kph ball within seconds and winning the point. For example, Tom Brady and Beyonce train at their personal best; however, when they perform for huge crowds, they thoroughly enjoy themselves on 'Game-Day', which sets their mind-skills soaring with dopamine, noradrenaline and acetylcholine for ever-improving performance.[5] They unconsciously remember that state of excellence and build on it in practice because they want more of the feelings associated with fun, success, achievement, and feeling good when they perform.
Having read the 10 Elite Athlete Mind-Skills for Your Ever - Improving Performance, What Is Your First Step Towards Achieving Your Goals?
Contact Kay at sportssuccessinfo@yahoo.com to discuss your options
because You Can Easily Develop All of These Elite Mindsets
[1] Bannister, R. (2004) The First Four Minutes. Sutton.
[2] Ericsson, K.A. (2007) Deliberate practice and the modifiability of body and mind: Toward a science of the structure and acquisition of expert and elite performance. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 38(1), 4-34.
[3] Gretzky, Wayne: http://www.brainyquotes.com 2021
[4] Fabritius, F. (2017) The Leading Brain: Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance. Tarcherperigee.
[5] Csikszentmihalyi,M. (1991) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Performance (New York: Harper Collins)
[6] Fabritius, F. (2017) The Leading Brain: Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance. Tarcherperigee.
Dr Kay Green is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Mind Skills Coach with over 30 years of experience empowering people to achieve their full potential by utilising the latest neuropsychological,
biological and behavioural techniques and strategies.
Want to know more?
Email Dr Kay Green at sportssuccessinfo@yahoo.com
Comments