Looking on the Bright Side!

We have often heard that a person’s attitude can colour their view of any situation. Someone with a positive attitude will see a situation quite differently than someone with a more negative attitude. When we have a positive attitude about a situation things seem to go much easier than if we are fighting ourselves. So how can attitude affect us in our fitness and sporting lives? And how can we work with attitude to improve our performance?

A recent article from the SIRC Collection points to 10 things we should all know about attitude and how it affects us:

1. Having a good attitude is a choice.  A person’s state of mind is what they choose it to be. We can choose how we think about something and how we will act in response.
2. Attitude can be changed.  While we may have what we consider an automatic response to something, we can choose whether or not to have a different attitude to it, we can make our attitudes whatever we want them to be.
3. Attitudes aren’t shaped in a vacuum.  A great number of factors influence the development of an individual’s attitude, from personality and temperament, to family and social environments.
4. Attitudes can be enhanced by adversity.  Successful people recognize that adversity can be used to learn more about ourselves and in effect turn failures into successes.
5. Attitude can determine whether a person is a success or a failure.  Research indicates that for the most part, people with positive attitudes are much more likely to achieve success than people who look at things from a negative perspective.
6. Attitude affects a person’s relationship with other people.  A positive attitude often gives off an infectious energy just like another’s negative attitude often feels like the energy is being sucked out of you
7. Attitude can affect outcome.  Having a positive attitude will be more likely to breed success than an negative expectation or outlook.
8. Attitude affects what a person expects from life.  “Positive people expect more and tend to achieve more”.
9. Attitudes can turn problems into opportunities.  People with a positive attitude can adapt to just about any situation and see where it can be improved.
10. Attitude determines who a person is.  A person with a positive attitude engages in life unlike those with a negative attitude who see life as something that happens to them. “Individuals with a positive attitude live their lives with passion.”

Attitude can be developed as one aspect of mental training. Being mindful of our attitude during training, competition and performance, we can exert a conscious effort to approach situations with an attitude focused on success. Use attitude as one more tool in your arsenal for personal achievement on and off the field.

Reference:

Peterson, J.A. (2012). 10 Things Health/Fitness Professionals Should Know About Attitude. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 16(1), 46.

Confidence for Competition

Having confidence is the key to achieving many great things - whether it's on the field or off of it. Highly confident athletes have the ability to focus on the task at hand and execute it, all while under intense competition pressure.  Although some athletes have a natural "knack" for this, there is an element of control required that anyone can learn to increase their self-confidence.

Below are some strategies that can be employed to help you on your way:

1. Realize that confidence requires effort and is not a gift - Most athletes don't feel that gaining confidence is something that they can actively work toward achieving.  Make building confidence a daily discipline.

2. Know your strengths - The last few weeks before a major event is when doubt and worry can creep up on you, so remind yourself how good you are.  Have a list of your best attributes written down and/or imagine some of your best performances. Remind yourself that you have done it before and can do it again.

3. Focus on the positive - If you do something well, don't be afraid to compliment yourself on it. Believe you are awesome!

4. Talk nicely to yourself - Taming that voice in your head can be the most difficult and also the most crucial element in how your feel about life and obtaining confidence. Incorporate self-talk into your training sessions so that when the pressure is on, you'll have the mental strength needed to get through low points.

5. Surround yourself with positive people - This part is easy, try to have people around you that build you up and only want the best for you.

Psychological strategies can play a huge part in an athlete's success, adopting training programs that improve mental skills adds an extra advantage for the athlete trying to cope with the added pressure that competing can bring.

References from the SIRC Collection:

1. Covassin T, Pero S. The relationship between self-confidence, mood state, and anxiety among collegiate tennis players. Journal Of Sport Behavior. September 2004;27(3):230-242.
2. Hays K, Thomas O, Maynard I, Bawden M. The role of confidence in world-class sport performance. Journal Of Sports Sciences. September 2009;27(11):1185-1199.
3. INDIVIDUALIZED CONFIDENCE: Let elite athletes guide your self-confidence enhancement. Journal Of Pure Power. January 2010;5(1):65-71.
4. Koehn S. Pre-Performance Confidence as a Predictor of Flow State. Medicine & Science In Tennis. February 2012;17(1):16-21.
5. Levy A, Nicholls A, Polman R. Pre-competitive confidence, coping, and subjective performance in sport. Scandinavian Journal Of Medicine & Science In Sports. October 2011;21(5):721-729.
6. McCann S. What to do before hitting the road: Three key tasks while preparing for the "Big One". Olympic Coach. Summer2008 2008;20(3):20-21.