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Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
#120 - Focus Cycle Pt 2: What if I'm having trouble focusing on what I choose?
In this episode, we continue our deep dive into the Focus Cycle, exploring what to do when athletes struggle to implement this powerful tool during competition. Coaches, you’ve laid the groundwork, but now it’s time to troubleshoot. Whether your athletes are forgetting to use the Focus Cycle, not taking it seriously, feeling overwhelmed with thoughts, or trying but just not succeeding, we’ve got you covered. We’ll break down the most common challenges and provide practical strategies to help athletes regain control of their mind and body in high-pressure situations. If you're looking to fine-tune your mental performance training and equip your athletes to handle the heat of competition, this episode is a must-listen!
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Hey you welcome to the coaching minds podcast, the official podcast for mental training plan. We help teams and individuals perform at their best through online and in-person training. More than 20 years ago, I experienced firsthand what it feels like to struggle during competition and had no plan to take back control of what was going on, not only in my mind, but also physically, on the baseball diamond. We talk about all the time making a plan and putting it to work, because just hoping you'll be able to perform at your best in big moments isn't a strategy that high performing athletes use. So if you're looking for tools to help you perform at your best on the field or in the workplace, you've come to the right place. Today, I'm so excited to dive in a little bit deeper to the focus cycle. If you did not listen to episode 119, I would encourage you to pause this episode right now. Go back and listen to 119, and then come back. This is going to dive in a little deeper. This is assuming that you've already used the focus cycle. So, just as a quick reminder, this came from 2013. We go down to state championship and we've got some guys just losing physical control. They got shaky hands trying to catch a kick. We got guys that just mentally were not able to make the right decisions, making silly plays. We had kids emotionally losing control. We had tears on the sideline and it was like where do we even begin to address these problems? Because everybody's got something different, but really it was the same things that were going on. There was some big event and then what people were focused on saying to themselves and how their body was reacting physically were creating these emotions and we weren't able to play at our best. And you know, we brought in some experts that that next off season to. You know, teach our guys, hey, you know, use this and do this and try that. And I would say it worked for like 80% of our team. But then there was always a small pocket of athletes that it was like well, what about those guys? They need something a little bit different. And so we developed this framework, called it the focus cycle, wrote a book on it.
Speaker 1:It is definitely the most common presentation that I do for in-person trainings for teams, for companies. It's my starting point with athletes that I work with one-on-one every time and after they make their plan, then they go and put it to work and then sometimes, when they come back and I say how'd it go, the answer is they didn't work. And so today we're going to be looking at what if it's the focus part that just quote unquote didn't work. Now, what do I do If I'm a, if I'm a coach, and my player says, hey, this tool that you have me use, it's not working. Well, what do I do next? Or you know, if I'm a, if I'm an individual athlete, and I did the focus cycle and I've got my plan and I tried it out and something's not working, what do I do next?
Speaker 1:So to to start us off, you know when, when an athlete comes back and says I was, I'm, I'm having a hard time with the focus element, um, the first thing that that I asked them as well, did you focus on what we wrote down? And a lot of times that's, you know, next shot or the next play or the next possession, but not getting caught in the past. We're not worried about, you know, things that have happened. We're not worried about the future, we're dialed in in the present moment, right now. Sometimes they just forget to do that and you know, I've had athletes that are like oh yeah, shoot, yeah, I forgot about that, and so you know we had this plan, but then, when it was time to put it into action, it it didn't happen, and so you know what do we do next time?
Speaker 1:Is that something that maybe you can write down on your hand? This play or this pitch, this serve? Is it something that you can practice during practice? Can you remind yourself before every single play or every possession at practice this week? Hey, I'm going to dial in right now. I'm going to focus on this play. Is it something that you can practice using visualization? Can we do a visualization activity where you're seeing yourself in that moment, where we're going through, we're using as many of the five senses as possible, we're making this as realistic and as lifelike as possible, and then we're practicing.
Speaker 1:Okay, I've got some other things that I could be focused on, but I'm going to choose to dial in on and focus on this. That would be where I start. You know, did you actually remember to try and focus on this play or whatever you wrote down? Maybe, maybe that was controlling the controllables. Did you actually try to do it? If they tried to do it, then the next thing I'm going to ask is like all right, let's, let's take that sheet back out and let's, let's look at all the things that you wrote down that you could control and could not control. And then it's like, oh, could control and could not control. And then it's like, oh, uh, I, I didn't really. I didn't really do a lot of that. And so if, if that's the case, then I would say maybe they didn't take the activity seriously.
Speaker 1:And there have certainly been times where, you know, not so much in my one-on-one sessions, because I'm sitting there, it's literally me and this athlete in the room and I'm looking across the table at what they're writing down and I can see if they're not taking this serious and they're not coming up with enough. You know things that they can or cannot control. Then I'm going to walk through it with them and we're going to do it together. But in a team setting where, you know, I've I have had times where I'm working with a golf team, for example, we do the focus cycle session. This athlete comes back to the coach and says this just isn't working. The athlete reaches out to me and you know we then okay, well, let's, let's look at that sheet. What do you have written down in all those boxes and it's not much. Then in my mind I'm saying, as the coach, like, okay, you didn't take this serious, so we need to actually go back and we need to go through the activity again. So you know, we need to figure out what are the things that you can control or cannot control. What are the things that you can control or cannot control in that moment.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the issue is, you know, let's say, like a golfer, for example, they wrote down. When we did this as a team, they wrote down. My big moment is before the golf match starts starts, and then where they actually got hung up later on in the tournament was after they went bogey, bogey, double, and now the wheels are starting to fall off and now they don't know what to do. Okay, well, perfect.
Speaker 1:So now we're going to go back. We now have a new big moment and we're going to go through and we're going to figure out what can you control in that moment, what can you not control. And we're going to talk through things like you know, the, the past scores, the, the score that you just wrote down for the previous hole. Can't do anything about that. What, how you're going to end up at the end of this round, can't do anything about that. What are the things that you can control? Well, your attitude and your effort, your intensity, your focus. Then we're going to figure out what are the things that matter right now and the things that don't matter right now. We're going to go through this whole activity again and we're going to basically now come up with again, and we're going to basically now come up with okay, well, now that you know all of these things that we shouldn't be focused on, all this stuff that you've written down, that you've gotten out of your mind, now we're a little bit more dialed in on what we should focus on, and maybe that's going to be our routine. Maybe that's going to be the things that we can control, and maybe that's going to be our routine. Maybe that's going to be the things that we can control.
Speaker 1:But a lot of times, just taking the athlete back through the process again can be super helpful. Another common thing that I hear is I tried, but I just couldn't do it, and it's like I knew what I was supposed to do. I know exactly how this is supposed to be working, but I'm telling you it didn't work. And so what I do a lot of times. In that case and I'll actually invite all of you to do this right now go ahead and try this you're going to count backwards by fives. So a hundred 95, not that's. You're just going to say it kind of, you know, quietly, mumble it out loud to yourself, and the only other instruction is don't listen to anything that I say until the activity is over. Makes sense, all right, makes sense, all right.
Speaker 1:So you're gonna start at 195, 90, 80. I want to hear you say it out loud ready, go? No, no, wait, wait, that you're not doing it right. No, that's wrong. Oh, you're going the wrong way. Why are you counting down by five? You, you never. You didn't even listen to me. Are you doing what I asked you to do? Why are you not doing what I asked you to do? This is wrong. This is wrong. You can't.
Speaker 1:You kind of get the idea, and so you know it's, it's kind of weird and it's kind of uncomfortable and the athlete sort of looks at you and sometimes they need a prompting like keep going. But eventually, like they get the picture that they can choose to count down by fives and then I say, well, what if, instead of just me telling you you're doing it wrong. You were standing in the middle of pick. Whatever local athletic venue you're at, we're in the Indy area. So I say, let's say you're in the middle, you're standing at the 50-yard line of Lucas Oil Stadium and now, instead of just me telling you you're doing it wrong, now you've got 65,000 people that are yelling at you and screaming and saying you're terrible, it wrong. Now you've got 65,000 people that are yelling at you and screaming and saying you're terrible, you can't count, you're no good.
Speaker 1:Like if I said if you can go from a hundred down to zero, counting backwards by fives, I'll give you a million dollars. Would you be able to, like, dial in on that and focus on that and do that? And yes, yes is the answer. You would absolutely be able to do that. And so, like, what we want them to know is yes, it's difficult. Yes, there are distractions. Yes, I was telling you you're not doing it right. You're going to have, maybe opponents talking trash, maybe the coach isn't helping you out, maybe your teammates are saying negative things, maybe all the negative voices are just in your own head, but like there are going to be things competing for your attention. But that doesn't mean that just because it's hard, that you can't do it, you can do it. It's just maybe going to take a little bit of practice. It's going to take maybe a little bit of intentionality. And so helping them understand that hard isn't the same as not possible, I think, is a great first step and just encouraging them like, okay, we tried this, it was hard. We know there's other things competing for our attention. Let's try it. And maybe a maybe a little bit lower stakes or more of a low key situation. Maybe we want to do this at practice, maybe we want to do this, you know, right here in the team room outside of practice. Give them the confidence that, yes, they can focus on what they choose. Um, there are focus activities that you can do. Uh, there's.
Speaker 1:There was an actually like a website or an app that was called like focus grids or something like that, and they had imagined like a, a, a, three by three square that has the numbers one through nine on there, and you know, the first time you say, all right, you're going to circle every number in order and they do that. And then you say, all right, now cross them off going backwards. And so then they go nine, eight, seven, six, and they do that, and then you know you put another grid up there. And then this time, maybe you wave your hand in front of their face and give them a little bit of distraction, maybe you yell in the background and say no, no, no, you're not doing this right, stop.
Speaker 1:And what they get used to doing is focusing on the task at hand, whether that's counting up from one to nine, whether that's counting backwards, whether that's circling all the evens, underlining all the odds. Like you, give them a task and they focus on that task and ignore whatever else is going on. Sometimes I'll send them home with a little worksheet that I made up. That's just got a bunch of different grids on there, and they'll actually be able to practice using those grids at home. Maybe do it with the TV on, maybe do it at the kitchen table while mom and dad are having a conversation, or something like that. Maybe put your phone right next to it with all those notifications and all the beeps and the flashes and the things that are popping up, and practice focusing on what you choose, because you can do it. It's just hard.
Speaker 1:Next one that I would say is probably the most intense is like I just yes, I know, but it's just so hard and I've got so many other thoughts swirling around. And if that's the case, then there's a few things that we can do beyond just the focus grids, which I think are a fantastic activity. One of them is just silent breath counting. And so tell the athletes, set an alarm for 10 minutes on your phone, or maybe even five minutes on your phone, and I want you to sit in a room that's dark and I want you to close your eyes and all I want you to do is count how long you inhale and then count how long you exhale. And so they're literally just sitting there in the dark One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, and that's all they're doing.
Speaker 1:And undoubtedly, there are going to be other thoughts that try to work their way, like oh man, this, this is uncomfortable, my back's kind of tight, or why are we doing this? This is a waste of time? Is this actually doing anything? Am I doing this right? How do I know if I'm doing this right? And as those thoughts come in, all we're trying to do is redirect our focus back to the breath. Why? Because we're trying to reduce brain activity we're trying to slow down, kind of the you know the opposite of PTSD.
Speaker 1:You know, ptsd is where, like a soldier on a battlefield, for example, is in such a high threat situation they are. Just their brain is completely in that that fight or flight mode all the time and that switch almost just gets like stuck on and they can't calm back down. This is trying to do the opposite to your brain. This is trying to take away some of that extra stimuli. This is trying to slow down brain activity. This is trying to get you to relax, to realize that we don't have to be completely go, go, go, go, go, turned on, a hundred percent engaged, entertained all the time. And so this is this is something that you know some athletes will absolutely love this. I'll be honest. Some athletes, it makes them super uncomfortable and they don't like it. Um, but we need to find something that's going to slow down their brain. I've got a golfer who tried this and she hated it. But then she went to a yoga class with one of her teammates and all they were doing was stretching and listening to, you know, their instructor tell them to inhale and when to exhale, and it was like they were doing the exact same thing.
Speaker 1:Neurologically, they're reducing brain activity. They had some physical elements tied in with it. So, you know, find some way to reduce brain activity. Find some activity that's going to help you with that. There are mindfulness apps out there. The Calm app was one that I used for a while. They used to give free lifetime accounts to educators. I don't believe that they do that anymore. There's YouTube videos out there. There are resources that can help you slow down. I know getting into like Eastern meditation kind of weird some people out. This doesn't have to have anything to do with religion or anything like that, or being one with the religion or anything like that, or being one with the universe or anything like that. This can be purely. You are thinking about the present moment that you are in right now and focusing on what you're doing, which, at this moment, is just taking some breaths. Um, we, you know.
Speaker 1:Another thing that I'll talk about a lot with athletes is like what's your input? You know, what are the, what are the things that you consume? Help me understand when you're at home. Are you on your phone? Are you playing video games? Are you watching tv? Like what are the things that you're filling your mind with all the time, because a lot of times, athletes especially will get into this comparison game, where their algorithm has so many highlight videos and recruiting clips of other kids that they just get so caught up in playing the comparison game and so they're literally laying in bed, raising cortisol levels, increasing anxious feelings in their amygdala, like they are. They are doing more harm than good with their phone, and so it's like take some time to get off your phone and put it away and put it in airplane mode or, better yet, turn it off. Put it away at least a half hour before you're trying to go to bed and quit filling your mind with all kinds of input and content and just relax and rest and really recover.
Speaker 1:Another one that I think is super powerful is journaling, and so there was there's, an activity that that we use, called the permission to forget journal. We're like a golfer who, let's say, is worried about slicing their long irons in the middle of a round. Say, that's all right, just put it in the, put it in the notebook, fix it later, and what that does is it gets it out of your working memory and so your brain is able to go oh, there's a plan for that. We'll fix it later. We don't need to be in panic mode. Let's just go back to playing golf and it comes from.
Speaker 1:There was a study that was done, a sleep study, where they tracked the quantity and quality of sleep alongside of self-reported stress levels. And, no surprise, as stress went up, the quantity and quality of sleep went down. But what was amazing was the number of people who, when they just gave them a notebook and they said write down whatever's on your mind, nothing else, no other instructions, no fancy writing prompts, just write down what's on your mind, nothing else, no other instructions, no fancy writing prompts, just write down what's on your mind. Almost across the board there was an improvement in quantity and quality of sleep, even in the face of stress. Why? Because it's just like a to-do list.
Speaker 1:If you've ever ever been, if you've ever felt stressed out and you just you feel like you have a million things going on and you come up with a to-do list and it's like, all right, I'm gonna knock these off one at a time and it's like, oh, all right, this doesn't feel so overwhelming, I'm not so stressed or panicked or anxious. It's you're getting things out of your working memory and you're clearing your mind and you're saying, yes, I have these thoughts, but I don't need to worry about them right now, I can take care of it later. And so you know, journaling is a super powerful activity and a good place to start is just what's on your mind, just do a brain dump, unload everything out of your brain so you don't have to carry it. It can be somewhere else. Sometimes, just the act of writing down. You know I'm thinking about this. And now, instead of this imaginary thought that's just rolling around inside of your mind, now it's this concrete thing on a piece of paper that you can see and you're like, oh wait a minute, if I was filling in that chart that we did with Coach Carnes, that would be in the box. That I cannot control. And it's like, once it becomes a tangible thing, a real life thing that is written down, that you can see, now we can do something about it. Now it's not just these imaginary, anxious, what ifs that are rolling around inside of our head all the time. So that is where I usually start.
Speaker 1:There are some other things, if we need to go a little bit deeper, that I do with athletes.
Speaker 1:There are some other things that I've actually got a team of counselors that I refer people to that can go a little bit deeper even than what I do, but if you need help in this area, please don't hesitate to reach out to me, happy to help out in any way that I can. If you are a coach, I would highly encourage you to check out the MTP Academy. We offer year-round performance training for your team. You don't have to be the expert. All you do is print the worksheet, play the video, we deliver the content and then you come alongside your kids and say, hey, what's this plan you put together? How can I help you implement this? Or how can I help hold you accountable, remind you things like that? So appreciate you guys tuning in today. If you found value in this episode, please share it with a friend or maybe another coach that you think might benefit from this discussion and, until next time, make your plan and put it to work.