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.

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.

1. Visualise
The same parts of your brain are activated when you imagine doing an activity as when you actually do the activity.  Studies show that athletes who use visualisation perform better than those who don’t when other variables are taken into account.  The key with visualisation is to make the image as real as possible and to practise, practise, practise!  That way you can continue to train even when you can’t get on the field!  Visualising a successful return to sport can also assist with building confidence and managing self-doubt, particularly with injuries that keep you out for an extended period.

2. Set goals and record your progress
Keep a record of your successes and how you have progressed using a Training Diary.  Many injured athletes focus on setbacks and everything that they can’t do, however this reinforces feelings of frustration and helplessness, which can hamper the recovery process.  Focus instead on what you can do and have done and measure your success based on progress not comparison to others or how you were pre-injury.  Train yourself to look for the positives and opportunities in tough situations to assist with recovery.

3. Be ‘active’
The two biggest risk factors for depression occurring as a result of injury are inactivity and isolation.  Finding things to do that stimulate your brain while resting your body and being intentional about planning time to catch up with people even if you don’t feel like it, can help to lower the risk of depressive symptoms.  You may have to be creative about what you do depending on your injury, but there is always something you can do!  Add some variety to your activities, particularly if you have a long-term injury.  Choose activities that stimulate your brain in different ways, for example, learning how to play chess, leading to additional brain benefits.

5. Work on your mental skills
Taking the time to focus on your mental skills while injured can assist with improving your performance despite physical limitations keeping you off the training field.  Mental skills training can also assist with a quick and confident return to injury once you are physically cleared to compete again.

Our team of sport psychologists in Australia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom work with athletes of all levels to keep their mind active and assist with their injury rehabilitation process.

Book an appointment to keep an active mind while you’re injured at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre or Allsports Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine.

The post Bouncing Back from Injury appeared first on Mental Notes.

How do you train your brain?
Think of your brain like a muscle.  Neurons are like the muscle fibres of the brain and create pathways that contribute to thinking patterns and behaviours.  Pathways are developed over time through practice and experience.

Muscles need repetitive strain to build strength and power.  In the same way, repetition and practice is required to create new neural pathways.  Established neural pathways are like highways that are easy to travel on.  These behaviours and thinking patterns seem to come naturally as they are well trained and the path is easy to travel along.  Creating new thinking patterns and new behaviours are more challenging; like forming a new path in the bush.  Increasing traffic flow down that pathway through practice of desired behaviours leads to a clear path that eventually becomes a highway.  Deliberate practice of behaviour and thinking patterns such as optimistic or resilient thought patterns changes your brain!

Different focuses of physical training lead to different results in your body.  If you want to build muscle size rather than power, you will have a different training regime.  Bodybuilders have different goals and body requirements to marathon runners and therefore their training looks different.  In the same way, brain training needs to be targeted and goal-oriented.

To gain maximum results from training you need to have good technique.  There is nothing to be gained by changing a behaviour or thinking pattern without knowing what you want to change it to.  Have a clear plan of what you want, rather than what you don’t want, and how to get it.

Muscles need consistent training for lasting results.  So does your brain!  Practice, practice, practice!  Sport psychology sessions lay a great platform for change but lasting change only happens when people keep training their brains outside of sessions on a regular basis.

Physical growth happens when you lift heavy weights (in safe conditions).  Every difficult situation that you face, every failure, every challenge is an opportunity to grow stronger and develop resilience.  When athletes want to build muscle, they often go through a phase of ‘training to failure’, which means lifting a weight that pushes them just over the limit of their strength.  In that moment, tiny tears occur in the muscle fibres that cause them to get help to build more muscle to cope with a heavier load than it could before.  Similarly, adverse situations create an opportunity to build resources and strength and experience to increase your capacity to cope.  You do not have to seek difficult situations, however, this analogy can help you to bring an optimistic outlook to challenging circumstances and failures.

Is it time to train your brain?

Book an appointment to train your brain with our sport psychologists in Brisbane at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre or on the Gold Coast at Allsports Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine.

The post Train Your Brain appeared first on Mental Notes.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase, which is literally translated as “Who will guard the guards themselves?”.  It is frequently associated with the political philosophy of Plato and the problem of political corruption, however it has just has much application to the world of sport where multiple support systems are required for ultimate success.

Support is required for the people supporting the athlete.  How do we make sure this support is provided and how do we monitor the quality of the support they are receiving?  By support, I do not just mean the coaching and medical support staff, I include family, partners, friends, and colleagues.

Coaches are almost always under enormous pressure to make athletes perform.  They are constantly under media, owner, and governing body scrutiny.  In addition to the sports science and sports medicine personnel that attend to athletes’ top to toe needs, family members are often unsure of what to say and do to best support their athletic offspring.  Partners can find the role of the unconditional supportive spouse extremely straining on their relationship.  Friends often lead very ‘normal’ lives and struggle to understand the demands of life as a professional or full-time elite sports person, whilst colleagues sharing similar ambitions have their own performances to consider but can be the richest source of support.

For those who know me and have worked with me this will be no surprise, we all need to work together.

Multidisciplinary work is vital for athletic success as performers and as people, for performance and health.  Egos – of which there are no shortage of in elite sport – sometimes need to be ‘left at the door’ when working out how to win a premiership, how to make history with defending a title, or simply how to make a living in this industry that we are all so passionate about.  Whether it’s the team around an individual athlete (e.g., tennis, golf, triathlon, athletics) or the team around another team (e.g., football, hockey, rugby), each supportive role will be amplified in their support when a common goal is always front of mind.  People who provide supporting roles as sports science and sports medicine professionals are typically very intelligent specialists and so it’s normal for some (or many!) differences of opinion, however the key is that the individual or the team hears one voice from their support team.

I am a true believer that the support around an athlete is one is the biggest indicators of success… This belief means that the support around athletes and the team that the support personnel creates is vital in playing a pivotal role in the likelihood of athlete success.  True multidisciplinary work is nowhere near where it could be – it’s the case that the collective is stronger than the individual parts.  We as support teams encourage athletes to work this way but in my soon to be 15 years working with elite sport there is still too much of a single discipline approach to working with athletes.

I have the luxury of working with individuals in an environment where we really get to know what works and what doesn’t, and part of that process is encouraging communication with all that are a support to that individual.  To-date the best success stories are those where the team is committed to one goal so that whatever turn life takes we unite with that goal in mind, with our egos at the door.

Andrea Furst PhD | Sport & Exercise Psychologist CPsychol
Get in contact with Andrea – andrea@mentalnotesconsulting.com – to embrace multidisciplinary teamwork.   Andrea is based in London and provides both face-to-face and virtual sport psychology services to athletes and their support teams worldwide.

The post Support Required! appeared first on Mental Notes.

What drives these performers to push human limits and overcome pain and fatigue barriers to achieve extraordinary results?

According to Angela Lee Duckworth, the answer is a simple four-letter word, grit.  Duckworth describes grit as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, in other words, successful high achievers keep going and going and going…because their goal is so important to them that they will stop at nothing to overcome any obstacle in their way and achieve their goal.  Duckworth has conducted a number of studies on success, looking at who is successful and why they are successful, and she found grit to be a key predictor of success.

How do you develop grit and become extraordinarily successful?

1. Find out what you’re passionate about and pursue it.  At the recent World Scientific Congress of Golf that both Andrea and I attended on the Gold Coast, Philip DiBella, CEO of DiBella Coffee, used the phrase, passion equals sacrifice.  If you are passionate about something, it will be difficult for you to give up and easier for you to sacrifice other things to ensure you can see it/do it/achieve it.  For example, if you are passionate about swimming you will be more likely to get up when everyone else is sleeping and follow the black line up and down the pool for hours a day.  This may seem like a mundane task to some, but when it is backed by passion it is worth it.
2. Set goals based on your passion so you have a direction and a purpose behind your actions.  If you have a goal of being a pro golfer one day, you can rationalise giving up other things you enjoy to make more time to practice as well as choosing to spend your money on coaching and equipment.  These sacrifices are more difficult if you have no goal you are aiming towards.
3. Visualise your goal and you achieving your goal.  If you can see it and clearly define it, you increase the chances that you can have it.  Visualisation will stir up and support your passion.
4. Maintain a growth mindset.  Carol Dweck has written a great book called Mindset in which she describes the difference between growth mindset and fixed mindset.  Growth mindset relates to the belief that you can improve your intelligence or abilities in any area through hard work and learning, regardless of where you begin.  Fixed mindset is the belief that you are born with fixed intelligence and abilities and cannot change with learning and hard work.  Fixed mindset leads to restricted learning and promotes fear of failure.  Dweck found that when children with a growth mindset understood about the brain and how it grows with challenge, they were more likely to accept failure and have an increased drive to embrace adversity as important for learning and as a result, and were more likely to succeed.

At Mental Notes we work with athletes to assist with developing grit and base our practice on growth mindset – if you can train your body, you can also train your brain!

For more information on Grit, watch Duckworth’s TED talk.

Book an appointment to develop grit and make the most of your mindset with our Gold Coast sport psychologist at Allsports Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine.

The post Lasting the Distance appeared first on Mental Notes.

I am the sport psychologist leading the charges in London and it’s fair to say that I work best with serious athletes who are  genuinely interested in maximising their performance.  In short, I work best with ‘doers’.

Here are the two locations for you to book in to work with me:

THE INSTITUTE OF SPORT EXERCISE & HEALTH
170 Tottenham Court Road
London W1T 7HA
T +44 203 447 2800
www.iseh.co.uk

THE PORTOBELLO CLINIC
12 Raddington Road
London W10 5TG
T +44 208 962 0635
www.portobelloclinic.com

I look forward to working with loads of athletes who want learn psychological skills and strategies to help them perform when it counts!

You can contact me on andrea@mentalnotesconsulting.com or contact the clinics directly for further information and/or to make a booking.

Cheers,
Andrea

The post London Gets Sport Psyched Twice appeared first on Mental Notes.

But what about failure?  Does this principle mean that if you fail you are doomed to a never-ending cycle of failure leading to dented confidence, increased anxiety, and underperforming under pressure?

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way.  Here are three ways to turn failure into success and short-circuit the cycle of failure before it becomes a habit:

1. Be optimistic
Optimistic people view failure as an opportunity to learn, like they are determined to drain every last drop of positivity out of what might seem like a bleak situation.  For example, an athlete who fails to gain selection for the Commonwealth Games may identify that this gives them more time to prepare for their next competition that their competitors may not have, providing drive and motivation to work hard and increase their chances of selection for the next big event.  Being optimistic does not mean lying to yourself or pretending that you are not disappointed.  The key is, what are you going to do about it?  According to Barbara Fredrikson, optimism broadens your perspective which increases your options and your coping resources, ultimately contributing to improved performances.  In contrast, pessimism narrows your perspective, leading to reduced options and increased likelihood of being trapped in the cycle of failure.  For more information on this viewpoint, read her book Positivity.

2. Balance
Remember that it’s who you are, not what you do, that defines you.  Even though your performance on or off the field may be important and something that you have worked hard for, make sure that you have a safe place outside of your sport/performance that you can go to where you are not judged by your performance.  You may enjoy going for a walk with a loved one, playing with your kids, going for a picnic, watching movies/TV series, listening to music or grabbing coffee with friends.  All of these things can help you to feel grounded and provide balance especially when it feels like everything else is out of control.  In one of my research projects when I interviewed a coach about what it takes to be an elite athlete stated, “to be a professional sportsperson you’ve got to have a bit of an outlet that takes you away from that single focused desire because it will increase that desire to succeed.”

3. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
When you are building muscle in the gym, strength coaches will encourage you to load your muscles with weight that is slightly more than what you can lift to reach a ‘failure’ point.  It is at this point that the magic happens and your muscles grow in response to the increased demand that is required of them.  In the same way, tough situations such as injury, increased pressure and failure, stretch your mental capacity, and provide an opportunity for you to develop your mental muscle, proving to yourself that you can cope with more than you thought you could previously (resulting in increased confidence).

While you do not want to expect failure or set yourself up for failure, reducing the threat of failure by following the above steps will help you to make the most of difficult situations, leading to increased mental muscle and resilience.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

Book an appointment to make success out of failure with our Brisbane sport psychologists at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre.

The post How to Make Success out of Failure appeared first on Mental Notes.

Dispelling the myths – Athletes are humans too!
Traditional support structures for elite athletes are based around managing physical injury.  So when an athlete experiences physical injury, a team of medical professionals, exercise physiologists, and physiotherapists swoop in and work together to ensure a speedy return to training and competition.  However, there is a vastly different process for treatment of an athlete who suffers from mental illness or even just general life stressors.  This is because many elite sporting programs still do not engage the services of sport psychologists.  Driving the lack of support for psychological services in elite sporting programs is the underlying assumption that athletes are not affected by mental health conditions.  Perhaps this is because many perceive them to be physically healthy individuals?  Without this support network athletes often do not seek help from mental health services or fail to fully participate once they have begun.  In addition to this, athletes are often geographically estranged from family and usual support networks as they move away to pursue their career as an elite athlete and their career frequently requires both domestic and international travel.

The facts about mental health in sport
It is well accepted that physical activity has a positive impact on mental health and well-being, and can play an integral role in the treatment of many mental health issues.  However, this does not mean that athletes are immune to mental illnesses.  In fact, athletes competing at higher levels face unique stressors which may increase the risk for developing mental health problems.  The fact is that athletes face an enormous amount of stress and pressure from frequent competition that predisposes some to developing feelings of depression or anxiety.  Beyond this, there are a myriad of challenges an athlete must negotiate such as:
– physical injuries;
– performance issues;
– relationship breakdowns with coaches and teammates;
– the rigors of training and associated frequent physical exhaustion; and
– aging and of course the challenge of retiring with identity and purpose.
In addition, recent research indicates that collision sports where an athlete experiences head trauma, even to a mild degree regularly, increases an athletes chances of developing depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

A major issue in athletes and non-athletes alike is not seeking help for mental health problems.  Common reasons for this include stigma around mental health problems, a lack of knowledge and understanding about mental health, help-seeking being perceived as a sign of weakness, and mental health not being linked to performance.  The perception that seeking help for mental health problems indicates ‘weakness’  in an athlete needs to be addressed from both a general media perspective and from the perspective of the athlete themselves.

The take home messages
When an athlete and those close to them fail to identify and/or acknowledge early signs of physiological distress they may progress to more pervasive mental health conditions which effect performance, and as we have recently seen in the media, can go on to unravel life after sport.  We must view athletes as humans and vulnerable to both physical and psychological damage.  We must continue to challenge traditional support structures to include personnel who can monitor psychological stress and mental wellbeing of athletes and who can respond in a timely manner.

Early identification and intervention for mental health problems is extremely important, as this can mean less disruption to an athlete’s life and quicker recovery.  Good mental health in athletes provides a foundation for consistent and optimal training and performance.

Book an appointment with one of our sport psychologists to be proactive with mental health in sport.

The post Mental Health in Sport appeared first on Mental Notes.

Allsports Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine is the home to one of the board members, Dr Kerrie Evans, of the World Scientific Congress of Golf.

Allsports Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine
76-122 Napper Rd
Parkwood QLD 4214
www.allsportsphysio.com.au

There is parking available directly out the front of the clinic.

If you have any questions prior to booking your appointment please email us on aus@mentalnotespsych.com

The post Looking for a Sport Psychologist on the Gold Coast, Queensland – Australia? appeared first on Mental Notes.