The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most online retailers! Click Here to Order
In the heat of battle, it is important to recognize the cognitive difference between productive solutions based thoughts and the noise of unwanted contaminants.
When emotions are negatively controlling performance, the solution is finding a calm state of mind by applying a pre-set protocol specific to each athlete. This requires some thought. Quieting the mind and getting to a place of emotional stillness is emotional aptitude.
SOLUTION: Recognizing the Arousal State
A tip for athletes is to begin to acknowledge their arousal state. Be mindful. Why? Because without your knowledge … those emotions could be sabotaging your peak performance.
If most intermediate athletes could read their own minds during play, they’d be traumatized by what they find. Without getting too “text book like,” an athlete’s state of mind is critical to control. The state of arousal can affect performance both positively and negatively. Of course, there’s a broad spectrum of negative stimuli called arousal. They range from low stimuli (under arousal) to high stimuli (over arousal). Low stimuli leads to a wandering mind and boredom. Such as thinking about the future- “Where’s the trophy going in my room?” High stimuli leads to panicking and fear without any proactive strategic thoughts. Such as hyper breathing, and going for more than the moment demands.
Be aware of your state of mind because it greatly impacts your performance.
