Sleep is a powerful and often underestimated tool that can lead to noticeable changes in performance. Unfortunately, as a society we value not sleeping and celebrate those who can do a lot of work on little or no sleep.  The theory seems to be that if everyone else is sleeping and you’re working/training, you are gaining an advantage over your opponents.  The opposite is actually true, especially if you are consistently sleep deprived.

What happens when you sleep?

When you sleep, your brain works to process and consolidate your memory and all that you’ve learnt during the day.  If you’ve been reviewing a track or planning for a race, sleep is an important part of helping you to process and remember what you’ve done.  Sleep is also important for restoration and recovery for both your body and your mind and is like putting fuel in a car, a necessary addition if the car is going to keep going!  Neural connections that are important for sending messages around your brain and your body are reinforced and strengthened during sleep, leading to more efficient brain function.

What are the performance benefits of sleep?

The benefits of regularly getting enough sleep include faster and more accurate decision-making under pressure which is crucial in motorsports.  Improved focus and concentration, improved health, better social relationships, increased creativity, faster reaction time, increased alertness and improved memory are further benefits of getting enough sleep that contribute directly or indirectly to improving performance.

What happens if you don’t get enough sleep?

Sleep deprivation or lack of sleep can be dangerous at extremes, especially on a bike.  Smaller decreases in sleep can also interfere with performance.  Reaction time and accuracy of decisions decreases, you become more likely to feel stressed because your body is not functioning at its best and you may experience tremors in your hands.  Other effects include mood swings, anger, irritability, inability to focus, poor decision-making and a tendency to eat or drink unhealthy things.

How do you get good sleep?

The ideal amount of sleep is between 7–9 hours per night with more or less sleep associated with negative effects.  Our bodies like routine and consistency.  Aim to have a sleep routine with a similar bedtime and waking time to help your body develop a good rhythm.  You will find that soon you are naturally waking up at the same time without having to rely on your alarm.

Screen time should be limited and stopped half an hour before bed, as the light from the screen tells your brain it’s time to wake up.  Breathing exercises or light reading can be a good way to relax.  Avoid doing work or training right before bedtime.  Use power naps (20-30mins) during the day to get an extra boost.  Aim for consistency.

Now, of course the effects of sleep do not replace good quality training, however, getting adequate and consistent sleep can help you to get the best out of your training!

NB This is an article we wrote for Motorcycling Queensland’s eNewsletter that we wanted to share with you…

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‘A Game’ performance mindset is the state of mind you have when you perform at your best.

Terms that you may have heard referring to this mindset include ‘bubble’, ‘zone’, ‘ideal performance state’, or even ‘flow’.

It’s a set of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that promote you to consistently compete at your highest level in any given circumstance.

It’s often the mindset that you’ve experienced when you feel like your mind is ‘on your side’ and contributing positively to a solid performance.

Why use it to perform?

We use it to perform to be consistent.

The perspective we are taking is that if you can consistently understand the way you think, feel, and behave then it gives you a greater chance of creating that state of mind, repetitively and reliably.

There can be a lot of variables to consider in sports performance.  Given that, through understanding your ‘A Game’ performance mindset you’re taking charge of one of the things you can control.  A common piece of advice in sport is ‘control the controllables’.  In this case, we’re encouraging you to learn to control the way you think and behave to influence the way you feel.

Consistently being able to create your ‘A Game’ performance mindset will provide greater opportunities for you to transfer your training to competition.

How does it work?

It works like any other skill.  You need to work out what is and what is not working in terms of your competitive mental approach.  Appreciate the stuff that has been working.  Use this as your starting point.

Recognise the times when you may have achieved this state of mind before.  Reflect on existing skills and existing strategies that you’ve used to create it.  Start to appreciate the very things that contributed to that ‘best’ performance.

Taking a Cognitive Behavioural Therapeutic (CBT) approach to the way that we prepare our mindset we are working with thoughts and behaviours to stimulate feelings.  To repeat the feelings associated with your better performances you’re encouraged to understand the thoughts and behaviours that were present and helped you to feel that way.

You use it to perform in training and competition whereby your pre-performance routines will be geared towards getting yourself into the state of mind that helps you perform.  Set yourself up to begin your performance with this mindset.  There will be situations that arise during competition that may detract from your mindset but use it as your ‘compass’.

Your ‘A Game’ performance mindset is your goal competitive mental approach.  You’re always trying to achieve it. Some days it will be easier than others however it’s always something that you’re in charge of and can influence, regardless of circumstances.

Just ask us if you’d like to access mind activities and tools on how to create your ‘A Game’ performance mindset.

The post The ‘A Game’ Performance Mindset Guide appeared first on Mental Notes.

Our brains are clever and complex but incredibly lazy and like to create patterns of thoughts and behaviour that become like programmed reactions to increase efficiency. One of the principles of programmed patterns of thought is that you find what you look for. If you are used to finding errors in your game, you will always find something wrong, even if you hit the most beautiful shot, and consequently can develop a bias to make sure that information holds more weight than any other information. While it is helpful to understand what needs improvement and to be able to analyse your mistakes, a more balanced approach will lead to better results.

Here’s how to develop a great mindset.

What is it in your golf game that you do well? Can you read the green well, do you have a beautiful swing, is your ball striking great or is it your putting, chipping or long game what you do well? These do not have to be chosen in comparison to others but rather are they a strength compared to the rest of your game. It can be useful to incorporate a positive about your shot as part of your post-shot routine.

Recognise great shots and savour them.  Aim for a perfect shot not a perfect round. Adam Scott once said, “You can hit a perfect shot. And that’s the one that brings you back every time. You know, even if it’s just one shot in a round. You’ve had a horrible day playing and on the 17^th you hit that perfect 6 iron and that’s the one that you’ll remember and that’s the one you’ve got to appreciate. You have to…Perfect shots are certainly more satisfying than they were in the past. They were almost expected (in the past). But you (learn) a bit more perspective about what perfect is.” In this quote, Scott redefines the search for perfection as the search for the perfect shot instead of the perfect round. Aiming for a perfect round creates an expectation that anything less than perfection is a failure, leading to fear of failure and setting yourself up to fail. If you think you should be perfect, you increase the pressure on yourself, increasing tension and the likelihood of mishitting the ball. “Should” is another word to get rid of. It can do a lot of damage by reinforcing unrealistic expectations.

Recognising what makes you great, adding positive feedback (after EVERY shot!)  and looking for perfect shots instead of the perfect round are important steps on the pathway to greatness. The goal is not to forget about what you need to improve but to multiply the information you receive and build on what you do well as well as fixing what you are not doing well.

NB This article featured in Ladies GOLF Magazine Summer/Autumn Issue 22

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Why do mental blocks occur?

Mental blocks can occur as a result of a trauma, such as a serious injury, a scare, such as almost falling off the high beam in gymnastics, witnessing another performer receive a serious injury, or can occur over time as a result of a specific, often subconscious belief, for example, fear of failure, fear of letting others down, fear of success, lack of confidence in self and ability to do the skill or lack of trust in coaching staff.  Sometimes a belief can develop in response to an innocent statement made in the vicinity of the performer, such as, “this sport is so dangerous”, or “someone is going to be killed on this track/equipment”.

In response to this experience of trauma or subconscious belief, the brain develops a fear response that becomes linked with a particular movement or skill.  The emotional and fast part of the brain, which takes over in fear situations, then subconsciously associates any situation that looks like, sounds like, feels like the traumatic or feared event, with a threat to survival and immediately activates the fear response, which is the body’s alarm system.  The logical and slow part of the brain, which knows that the performer should still be able to perform the skill, is shut down by the emotional part of the brain as part of the fear response, because of the need to act quickly to protect the body and preserve survival.  The body then goes into fight, flight or freeze mode and performance is compromised and in some cases not possible.  Over time, this becomes a learned response, sometimes continuing after the beliefs have changed.

How do you overcome a mental block?

The first step to overcoming a mental block is to identify the underlying cause.  This can be done through discussions with a sport psychologist as it is not always easy to identify and may be a combination of factors.

Once the cause is identified and the fear is challenged or accepted, it is important to implement skills that specifically change the learned response of the brain to the situation in which the mental block happens.  The best way to do this is to intentionally engage the logical part of the brain to avoid the activation of the fear response.  Strategies such as imagery, key words, breathing, focus, attention training, self-talk play a part in this process.  This takes practice to develop new patterns of thinking and responding and to train a new learned response to the same situations that developed the fear response.  Previous methods have attempted to train out the mental block behaviour through repetition, however, this method only strengthens the fear response, training the brain to continue to respond out of fear.

In short, mental blocks are a complex experience that can affect performers from all different competence levels.  Mental blocks require a disciplined approach to the reflection and understanding of their cause.  This approach in addition to the retraining of your brain’s habits will give you the best chance of returning to performing with mental freedom.

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Researchers describe mental toughness as “having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to, generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands that sport places on a performer and, specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure” (Jones, Hanton, & Connaughton, 2002). Mentally tough jockeys believe in themselves, are resilient in the face of whatever is thrown at them, remain focused under intense pressure and are able to push themselves further than they thought possible in order to achieve the result they want. Just like physical skills, mental toughness is best developed in challenging environments that stretch capabilities to develop skill, coping, and toughness.

Mental toughness is connected to physical toughness and assists with the discipline needed to train, complete trackwork and make weight. Mentally tough jockeys must maintain a present moment and process focus in a sport where they are continually reminded of the importance of winning. Right before the barriers open, jockeys need to have a simple and clear focus, staying in the moment, not thinking about the winning post before they hit the first turn and limiting the noise in their minds. Too much information  or thinking about the result before the end of the race can lead to second-guessing, hesitation, missed opportunities or dangerous mistakes.

The mental demands of horse racing extend outside of the track. Athletes are people too and as such, jockeys need to make sure they are developing themselves off the track as well as on it by investing time in relationships, hobbies and other career opportunities. Having things outside of riding reduces the chance of burnout and increases freshness and focus when they are on the track.

There are many ingredients that make up a successful jockey mindset and mental toughness is key. Horse racing is one of the most mentally demanding sports in existence and therefore something special is required to pull off incredible feats like a Melbourne Cup win. The secret to success is to train your brain as well as your body!

NB This article featured in Ladies in RACING Summer 2015/2016 Issue

The post A Jockey’s Mindset appeared first on Mental Notes.

As a result, something special is needed. Players need a mindset that can withstand the pressure and can manage the uniqueness of the grand final lead-up and atmosphere without getting carried away or overawed by the enormity of the occasion. A ‘big moment’ mindset is not exclusive to grand finals as it’s also required in high pressure, high stakes situations such as tournaments, qualifying rounds, big presentations and Olympic or Paralympic Games.

Here are the key attributes of a ‘big moment’ mindset:

Emotional control. No matter what is happening or how they are feeling, big moment performers are able to keep their mind and body relaxed under pressure during preparation and the performance. Staying calm helps them to engage the rational and logical part of the brain instead of letting the stress-response take over, which can lead to poor decision-making or choking.

Keep it simple. There are often a lot of external distractions prior to ‘big moment’ events, making it easy to feel overwhelmed. The performers who are most successful in these situations limit their focus to 2 or 3 simple processes to implement instead of overthinking the situation and trying to do everything at once. Their mental preparation for a big moment is consistent with their usual preparation and they keep their focus on the present and play moment by moment without getting too far ahead of themselves.

Good decision-making. Staying calm under pressure and reducing mental noise by keeping things simple help to make this attribute possible. Good decision-making includes choosing to move on after mistakes and sticking to the game plan.

Do what works. Big moment performers remember what makes them great and what strengths have led to this big moment opportunity. They keep doing what works for them and playing their game, instead of completely changing their plan for the big moment or trying to be like other performers. Sometimes the game plan doesn’t work so they have to adapt.

Trust. Big moment performers trust themselves, their coach, their teammates, and their ability to do what works for them under pressure. They also trust their ability to bounce back from mistakes so don’t panic when things go wrong.

Let us know your review of the players’ big moment performance once the final whistle is blown!

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Our team developed a training diary to assist with improving the quality of training and competitive performances.

The Mental Notes Training Diary is an essential tool for anyone who wants to gain the most they can, both physically and mentally, from their training.

We have been getting some enquiries about the features of our Training Diary so we’ve updated the shop with more details.  Here are the greatest hits for its features…

Mental Notes Training Diary features:

• No set dates.  No wasted pages. Start it whenever you like and use it for whatever time period you like.
• It consists of the equivalent of 12 months worth of training and competition entries.
• Annual Goal Setting kicks off the Training Diary with references to these goals throughout in the 12 Monthly Goal Setting & Record pages.
• Draw your own ‘mud map’ for the year ahead with the Competition & Training Planner.
• Each week has 4 pages whereby the first page has Monday/Tuesday, the second page has Wednesday/Thursday, the third page has Friday/Saturday/Sunday, and the fourth page has a Weekly Review.
• Ample space to record multiple training sessions each day.  Each weekday has space for 3 sessions, Saturday has space for 2 sessions, and Sunday has space for 1 session.
• Includes vital Weekly Review to describe what happened in the week, total the amount of hours/kms etc, and then a review of what went well, what needs work, and what you will do about it.
• Filled with inspirational quotes and images as well as room for Contacts, Notes, and Reminders.
• Dimensions: Approx. A5 (H: 21.2cm x W: 16.5cm x D: 2.2cm).
• Held together with strong white plastic rings so that each page can be turned over and written on easily.  No difficult-to-write-on pages.

If you want a sneak preview of the Mental Notes Training Diary, you can check out the FREE SAMPLE.

If you’re serious about building your self-confidence then using a Mental Notes Training Diary is one way to help you do just that by…

1. Tracking progress and improvements in your skills through your training and competition;
2. Reviewing training and competition performances as a tool for analysis and continual improvement;
3. Identifying and solving problems as they begin to arise rather than after the fact when they become bigger concerns; and
4. Building self-confidence through recognition of consistent progress and good performances.

As we approach the last three months of 2015 we are offering people the chance to buy our Training Diary for a reduced price of AUD$25 on our online shop.

Head to our shop to select the quantity.  Once you’re in the cart you will see a box on the left-hand side of the cart where you can write training matters and click on Apply Coupon, which will adjust the price to reflect AUD$25 per Mental Notes Training Diary.

This is a thank you from us to you for reading our blogs and providing feedback so we keep getting better at providing a range of informative, educational, interesting, useful, and thought-provoking pieces for you to read!

Thank you!

The post Keep a Training Diary to Build Self-Confidence appeared first on Mental Notes.

What about your brain?

There is an increasing awareness about mental health issues but often the focus is on fixing poor mental health rather than aiming for thriving levels of wellbeing.  As mentioned in a previous blog post, if you consider your brain like a muscle, some of the mystery and fear of the unknown that seems to lie around the brain and psychology is lost in lieu of something more powerful – the ability to care for your brain and be proactive about getting the most out of this precious resource.

Here are some ways that you can keep your brain healthy:

1. Nutrition and exercise
Like muscles, your brain needs fuel from food to function at its best.  This is why if you skip breakfast or lunch you often notice feeling lethargic and find it difficult to concentrate.  You might even notice mood swings or an increased likelihood of snapping at an unfortunate colleague or teammate who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Giving your brain the right fuel is important to maximise brain performance.  Hydration is also essential.  Exercise has a number of brain benefits including improved concentration, improved mood, increased self-esteem, decreased risk of developing mental health issues (e.g., depression, anxiety), increased life satisfaction, increased confidence, improved memory and learning, and increased motivation.

2. Spend time with friends
Set aside time in your calendar to catch up with friends.  There are many brain benefits of social time.  It reduces the experience of depressive symptoms, increases confidence, self-esteem and the experience of positive emotions.  It is important to prioritise and plan social time as it is often pushed out of our calendars to make way for work and other tasks that can easily take over.

3. Stress less
There are a number of stressors in today’s society, particularly in the lives of high performers who are expected to maintain a fast pace and perform at a high standard on a consistent basis.  However, when we are constantly stressed there are consequences for our brains and bodies, including sickness, fatigue, lapses in concentration and emotional overreactions instead of logical decision-making, leading to impaired performance.  During sudden and prolonged stress, our brains can go into fight or flight mode, where the default response is to react rather than respond, often by becoming aggressive, overthinking or alternatively avoiding stressful situations by pretending nothing’s wrong.  Each of these responses can be dangerous in the long-term, particularly if the stress continues or builds.  Find ways to reduce the negative consequences of stress by have good time management plans in place, delegating work if needed, asking for help and support, talking through stress instead of avoiding it and finding outlets in social settings, exercise or other fun activities.

4. Set aside time to plan and set goals
Having a plan and setting goals helps you to connect with your purpose and life meaning, leading to a healthy brain and a happier life.  Aim for 30 minutes a week to review your goals and the steps you took towards what is important to you in the past week and put a plan in place for the week ahead.  This exercise will help you to get closer to living the life that you want instead of mindlessly going through life, missing out on what you want to do.

5. Relax and sleep
Discover what helps you to relax and switch off from your work or sport and make a plan to include it in your weekly schedule.  Some athletes play golf or other sports to relax and switch off, others go for a coffee with friends or on their own, while others spend time with their pets as a way to get away from their sport and training.  Also aim for 7–9 hours sleep most nights of the week for improved brain health and performance.

The post Is Your Brain Healthy? appeared first on Mental Notes.

Our Approach

• We emphasise treating the whole person with pain rather than the pain itself.
• We teach psychological skills and coping strategies to help individuals become healthy, optimistic, and resilient people.
• We are committed to being a leading provider of performance psychology services in all life areas as we believe training your brain is as valuable as training your body.

Our Goals

• To enhance health-related quality of life.
• To reduce dependency on potentially addictive pain medication.

What We Do + How We Do It

• Challenge unhelpful beliefs and habits
  Many individuals suffering chronic pain develop unhelpful beliefs about themselves and their condition, consequently building psychological roadblocks around their daily activities.  We are experts in guiding behaviour change that hinges on the development of productive, optimistic thinking.

• Maximise strengths and restore self-confidence
  Our specialty lies in identifying and maximising individuals’ strengths towards achieving their goals.  We take time to profile an individual’s unique strengths and unrealised strengths that can be concealed by a chronic pain disorder and build action plans that utilise these qualities.

• Guide healing visualisation and mindfulness practice
  The mind plays a crucial role in our ability to manage our physiological state in stressful conditions.  Self-regulatory therapy involving visualisation techniques and mindfulness practice for pain management is an essential component of our interventions with chronic pain.

• Set goals in collaboration with physiotherapists
  We understand the importance of working closely with physiotherapists to build an effective holistic intervention for chronic pain cases.  Regular communication and setting goals together that help the patient achieve step-by-step progress physically, emotionally, and behaviourally is an integral part of our practice.

Book an appointment with our Australian-based sport and exercise psychologists at Queensland Sports Medicine Centreto learn more about how we can help with chronic pain.

The post A Future Without Chronic Pain appeared first on Mental Notes.

This is one of my favourite questions to ask athletes and teams because it directs their focus.  It shifts their focus from fixating on a problem to creating a solution, leading to reduced negativity and increased confidence.

The Negativity Trap
Often the first response I get when I ask this question is discomfort and awkwardness.  Few are willing to identify their strengths, with some watering down the question to what makes them “okay”.

As humans, we have a negative bias to help us to identify danger, which means that we pay attention to negative information so that we can adjust our response to protect us from new threats.

This response is really helpful if we have a problem to fix, but it means that we can often miss positive and meaningful data.  A lot of athletes can give me a detailed description of what went wrong during a poor performance but cannot give details of a positive performance.  It takes practice to train your brain to recognise what makes your great.

Focus on the Target
In target sports such as archery and golf, you need to have a narrow target to reduce your margin of error.  As soon as you start focusing on where you don’t want to aim, your mind becomes distracted and you are more likely to miss your target.  Your body follows your mind, therefore if you focus on the area away from the target, that’s where your ball or arrow will go.

In the same way, the best way to overcome weaknesses is to maximise your strengths and maximise your focus on what you do well and what you are going to do, rather than what you’re not going to continue doing.  In other words, allow yourself to focus on what you do well and continue to refine, rather than continuing to find fault with yourself.

What Makes You Great?
So, what makes you great at what you do?

Make a list, write it down and set goals to continue building on your strengths.

When you find yourself in pressure situations remind yourself of what makes you great and go back to those goals and actions.

Being aware of what makes you great does not deny your weaknesses but gives you a more balanced focus.  Enjoy being great and celebrating who you are!

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