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A Load of BS on Sport: The Behavioural Science Podcast with Daniel Ross and Dan Biggar

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Now, I’d like to say that this is me practising what I preach and using cues to help me perform.  Sadly, it’s not.  Living so close to some of London’s beautiful parklands, this is what I find myself having to say to fellow humans with whom we runners have to share our footpaths.  My message of “eyes up” is delivered to people of all shapes and sizes – walkers, runners, people pushing prams, walking dogs, hanging out with family, friends and loved ones.

The obsession with phones seems to permeate into every corner of society.  Just like smoking, mobile phone obsession is an addiction that is difficult to kick.  The journey to digital wellness starts with an admission that you have a problem and that you are willing to work on it.

I read this quote on the tube in London during my commute in early 2019 (!):

Social media has colonized what was once a sacred space occupied by emptiness; the space reserved for thought and creativity. – Mahershaia Ali

On the contrary, there is almost an equal and opposite interest in clearing our minds… The self-help industry is going nuts with gurus who have all the secrets to this process!  The popularity of ‘mindfulness’ is because we’re obsessed with filling our minds at all times.  We are losing the ability to be still.  Any time we’re not being entertained we’re labelling it ‘boredom’.

Psychologists working with elite athletes know that the ability to relax and to concentrate is imperative and part of the multitude of ingredients for successful performance (which in many sports requires thought & creativity).  Frequent questions are posed to us – “Why can’t athlete X seem to pay attention?” or “Why does athlete Y seem so unsettled?”  Frustratingly, athletes can be passive participants in this process of learning to relax/focus/quieten their mind… “What app can help me to relax/focus/quieten my mind?”

Don’t get me wrong some of the apps are amazing – I’ve mentioned several in previous articles.  However, we also need to be able to transfer the use of these to the performance arena, which is always phone-less.  If you believe in the simulation and the creation of habits, then finding time without your phone is also a fundamental step in this process.

We need to understand that the ability to relax, to be bored, to concentrate are skills.  If we keep avoiding them by filling every single moment with doing something (many times with our ever so handy phone) then we lose the gaps, the pauses, the moments of nothingness that helps our mind rest.

Here are some simple day-to-day activities to consider in relation to phone use to embrace the task you’re doing at the time:

• Buy an alarm clock.  Place your phone on charge in the living room overnight. Commit to a pre-sleep routine that sets you up for one of the most effective recovery modes we know.
• Wake up in the morning and do your own morning routine (e.g., exercise, breakfast, shower – in whatever order) without looking at your phone.
• Walk through a park without looking at your phone.  Take this chance to notice the green space you are passing through and breathe in the fresh air.
• Drive somewhere from door to door without looking at your phone (vs checking it at each traffic light!).  Put on some tunes and pay attention to the road in front of you!
• Stand at the pedestrian crossing of traffic lights without looking at your phone.  Embrace doing nothing while waiting.
• Watch a movie at home with your phone in another room.  One.  Thing.  At.  A.  Time.
• Spend an entire night out with friends/family with your phone either at home or out of sight (vs on the table the right way up!).

None of these suggestions will be new nor do they seem particularly ‘high performing’ however what they do highlight is that it’s often our day-to-day habits that add up to high performing behaviours that withstand and triumph in pressurised elite sporting environments.

There is clearly a bit of tongue in cheek in my writing as while I thoroughly enjoy teaching strategies to relax/focus/quieten minds, I am an advocate of some wise advice about being what we repeatedly do as well as embracing being in the outdoors taking in the surrounds and being present with the people and/or animals with whom we’re sharing the experience.

Andrea Furst PhD | Sport & Exercise Psychologist CPsychol HCPC Registered
Get in contact with Andrea – andrea@mentalnotespsych.com.  Andrea is based in London and provides both face-to-face and virtual sport psychology services to athletes worldwide.

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We are often told from a mental skill training perspective, “train your mind like any other muscle”.  Therefore, the question is, should we be stretching our mental muscle and having greater flexibility ‘up top’? My answer to this question is, absolutely! We can adopt a similar approach to that applied to our physical flexibility.

As humans, we are presented with a wide range of experiences in life.  From finding love, to losing people we care about.  From the joy of winning, to the heartbreak of losing.  From feeling confident before a performance to feeling nervous or anxious about performing in an unknown environment.  Like the muscles in our body, we need to have the flexibility ‘up top’ to be able to manage all kinds of common and normal human experiences.

Those that have read my blogs before, or have worked with me, know I tend to preach that we need to be able to perform no matter what’s going on internally.  We need to have the flexibility to be able to manage all kinds of crazy, hurtful, and uncomfortable internal experiences to be able to consistently perform at our best.  Just like we need our hamstring to withstand a great deal of different physical situations.  We need to show a willingness to experience all types of internal and external situations.

Flexing our psychological muscle is not just about the willingness to experience all types of thoughts, feelings, and emotions.  That is just one part.  The key is how we respond.  If we are flexible enough to have all types of internal experiences, we then have the freedom to commit to key actions that help us do what matters at that moment. If we are not willing, our internal experiences take over and control us.  They dictate our next move.  Whereas, from a place of willingness, we can then commit to improving the situation or performing actions that help us perform at our best.  Having the flexibility to experience all types of thoughts, feelings, and emotions enables the ability to commit to doing what matters to perform at our best.

For example, at times during a game, event, or a meet, you might need to adapt your plan.  You need to be willing to experience the discomfort of knowing your plan is not working, and commit to adapting that plan in the moment.

Flexibility = Willingness + Commitment

With our hamstring, if we have the flexibility within the muscle, we are free to move, run, jump, to the best of our ability.  If we have mental flexibility, we are free to perform at our best, consistently, no matter what is thrown our way.

As humans, we are so amazingly adaptable. Start to flex. You’ll be surprised at the outcome.

Kai Morris | Psychologist BSocSc Psych Hons MPsych (Sport & Exercise)
Get in contact with Kai – kai@mentalnotespsych.com.  Kai is based in Queensland and provides face-to-face consults at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre and Allsports Physiotherapy as well as virtual sport and performance psychology services to athletes nationwide.

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What message is this sending?

We have been reinforced throughout our lives that anything that we perceive as ‘negative’ is bad and we should not feel or think these things. It is taboo! It negatively impacts performance. Anxious? “Need to get rid of that.” Scared? “Better start to feel confident.” There are major issues with this.

For starters, I could almost guarantee that every single person reading this has felt the following: fear, joy, happiness, sadness, frustration, nervous, &/or anxious. You get the point. As humans, we all experience a range of different thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It is completely normal. Check out Andrea’s article about the movie Inside Out for a little more about this.

So, the question is, if we all feel these things if it is normal, why the fuss about positivity? I have nothing against positivity, when we feel good it is amazing! We feel motivated, ready to go like we can conquer the world! The issue is if our performance is dictated by the presence of positivity. If we believe that we can only perform when thinking and feeling positive, then we are essentially saying we can perform, but only if our thoughts and feelings are at the ‘positive’ end of the spectrum.

Sport and performance settings, as well as life, are designed to put you under pressure, to put you in uncomfortable situations. When we start fearing fear, being anxious about anxiousness, or stress about being stressed, we spend our time avoiding these things at all cost, because hey – that is what we have been taught all our lives! When this happens, we lose focus. Our attention and resources go onto trying to control our thoughts or feelings (which can be a massive uphill battle) and not on what we need to do in that particular moment.

Positivity is not necessarily about our internal experiences. Positivity is about displaying consistent positive action towards our goal, no matter what is going on internally. The notion that there is a desired internal state to perform well can limit our performance potential. Essentially, we are saying that we can only perform under these certain conditions.

It would be like a marathon runner saying that they can perform as long as they do not get lactic acid. Crazy, right! Like the physical side of performance, we need to build our capacity to perform under all types of stress, both physical and mental. This is the nature of resilience, mental toughness, and consistency. It is the ability to perform consistent positive actions in the face of adversity. Savour and enjoy those times when our thoughts and feelings are harmonious, but be ready to perform no matter what.

If you want help to be able to build your ability to perform consistently under pressure, please get in contact with us, we love working with you to understand what mindset helps you to consistently perform.

Kai Morris | Psychologist BSocSc Psych Hons MPsych (Sport & Exercise)
Get in contact with Kai – kai@mentalnotespsych.com.  Kai is based in Queensland and provides face-to-face consults at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre and Allsports Physiotherapy as well as virtual sport and performance psychology services to athletes nationwide.

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It’s Mental Health Awareness Week. In 2020 it takes place from 18-24 May. The theme is kindness. So, I am going to be kind to myself with my ‘last minute-ness’ (it’s 20:15 BST on 24 May as I post this).

I remember reading a post by an elite female athlete in 2019 about International Women’s Day which argued that – despite celebrating these days, we look forward to a time when there’s no need for a day, or in this case a week, it’s part of our everyday lives. That’s kind of how I feel about this week.

February 2020 marked twenty years since I was in the final stages to become qualified as a psychologist.

Ever since the choice was made to do my fourth year in psychology rather than exercise physiology, I’ve banged the proverbial drum in an attempt to make psychology matter. Whilst each psychologist will have different therapeutic approaches, styles and personalities – the basic premise that we all share is that we believe that our brain and its amazing attributes and characteristics are worth looking after for the desired goal of a healthy human at a bare minimum, right through to a focused high achiever. Hence, why I’ve referenced the term ‘healthy high achievers’ in my work with humans who want to squeeze the living bejesus out of their chosen pursuits.

My twenty-year journey of making psychology matter has involved working hard to show that a psychologist has a necessary and valued place in any elite sport set up.

Weeks like these are positive in so many ways, none more important than the simple fact that society is becoming more aware and interested in the health of our human brain. What’s even more exciting is that there are massive overlaps in what makes us physically healthy and what makes us mentally healthy.

Breathing. Eating. Exercising. Socialising. Talking. Listening. Goal setting. Writing. Reflecting. Learning. Improving. Resting. Relaxing. Sleeping.  To name a few…

Don’t get me wrong, we need discipline-specific research and expertise. We also need to work together, as last time I looked we don’t have an air gap between our head and the rest of our body. Hence why I’ve tried to stay away from buzz words or too much psychobabble, as it can do my head in so I can only imagine what it does to those outside of our profession.

Go out, experiment with what works for you and commit to it. The parallels between physical health and mental health are appropriate as there are similar challenges – some people will nail it, and others will be in a continual state of experimentation with good intent and others will never settle on the things that work for them.

My first ‘clients’ were in 2000 and my reflections 20 years on are that what makes psychology matter is that people want to be understood. Humans benefit from being understood. Whatever your belief, like/dislike, opinion is of psychology and the psychologists you’ve worked with; it’s highly likely they were trying to help you understand yourself, to understand others and to understand how to live/work/play and ultimately thrive together. More often than not, we (psychologists) succeed. Sometimes we fail. But, like most people, we are always trying to do our best.

Let’s promote mental health like physical health and then maybe we can look towards a day where we all take responsibility for our health – physical and mental; a holistic approach. I often find myself saying that the past doesn’t have to define the future; it will influence it, always, but it doesn’t need to ‘direct play’ in our present lives. Our present and future are our stories to write, and I sure hope that the continuation of value (with gusto!) in our mental health is part of our future stories of being healthy humans.

Andrea Furst PhD | Sport & Exercise Psychologist CPsychol HCPC Registered
Get in contact with Andrea – andrea@mentalnotespsych.com.  Andrea is based in London and provides both face-to-face and virtual sport psychology services to athletes worldwide.

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I started my career with ambitions of filling my days working with elite athletes on an international stage. Now I do. This is not a “well done Andrea” moment – quite the contrary. It means more than ever I am learning about my craft with every interaction I have with these extraordinary human beings as they pursue athletic greatness in whatever discipline they have chosen.

I am fascinated with people and what they do to perform at their best. I want to help them perform as consistently as they can to be their best while helping them understand how to look after their mental health.

I test and try things with them as I see each individual as unique. I don’t have a ‘ten steps to …’; I have always struggled to apply one way of doing things to most people despite the financial benefits of quick fix rules to live by, which sometimes seems to appeal to the masses. I assess the performance challenges and then aim to address them with a combination of therapeutic techniques and strategies.

It’s fair to say that I am a bit of a bowerbird … constantly collecting new methods and strategies based on continual learning in the field.

When asked questions at conferences, it pains me to simply answer, “it’s individual” or “it depends on …”  It would be much simpler to have the ten (or seven or three!) steps as if it’s something that can apply to all (because it sells). The reality is that it won’t work for everyone. Contrary to all of the business development advice I receive with respect to scaling products for larger fee-paying audiences, for me, I focus on what’s going to work for the individual and team in front of me. My solutions are bespoke. I treat each performer and the work we do together like an ongoing n=1 experiment.

We are always learning more about the human mind. Our conclusions about what’s possible constantly evolve, which means my way of working must always evolve. It is however confirming the fundamentals of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – we can change our thoughts which in turn alters our behaviour.

I won’t bang on about who I’ve worked with and the successes we’ve had working together. Yes, there will be times when I post something about a team or an individual as I’m ‘proud’ to be a part of the journey; it’s a raw and exposing one (compared to most occupations). I am more than likely to post things about teams or individuals that inspire me and my work and that I can learn from, or more importantly that I aspire to be like.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise then that I also have just as many stories of when I’ve/we’ve got it wrong, the opposition was much better, it wasn’t our day, etc. On days when we get beaten, we reflect, and we learn.

Then the ‘next day’ we try again, keeping what’s worked and learning from what hasn’t, potentially experimenting with a new strategy. That’s part of the way I work; I want to be better as I work together with you to be better.

How does this relate to the new look for Mental Notes?  It represents where my forever evolving head is at right now after just shy 20 years working with elite athletes, coaches, sports scientists, sports medicine professionals and management.

Despite it being this long (!), I’m stuck using pen and paper. I am often the joke of my fellow sports scientists and sports medicine professionals as I carry my copious notebooks, both leather-bound A5 and cardboard-bound A6, in addition to my A4 white notepads, around the world.

I scribble and jot and draw (that’s probably being too kind). It’s my way to make sense of the stories people are telling me…

Through this process I help people reflect and in doing so they and I change the way we do things to lift our collective games.

I’ve noticed I am not reading or writing as much since my days are filled with working with those at the top of their game, but I am observing and listening and talking more. I’d like to readdress the balance. One blog each month – stories of what’s worked and what hasn’t, with plans of some of the athletes I have worked with in the past or I currently work with sharing their take on what aspects of our work make the most impact to them. Your job is to help me keep to it!

Andrea Furst PhD | Sport & Exercise Psychologist CPsychol HCPC Registered
Get in contact with Andrea – andrea@mentalnotespsych.com.  Andrea is based in London and provides both face-to-face and virtual sport psychology services to athletes worldwide.

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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.

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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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Inside Out is one of the movies I sat through whilst eating meals on trays.  It’s an animation by Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures that explores human emotions.  It follows five emotions (and characters) – Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust – of Riley, an 11 year old girl experiencing stress when her parents decide to move their family to another city.

My primary aim here is to applaud Inside Out and highlight that experiencing a range of emotional experiences is good for us.

Positivity is not always appropriate let alone useful.  Similarly, emotions labelled as ‘negative’ can be very helpful.  Access to a range of emotions is a valuable skill, both for ourselves and the way we interact with others.

Coincidently, this article – Inspiration overload on social media prompts rise of ‘demotivational’ movement – was published the same week that I watched Inside Out.  It made me reflect on how too much positivity can have an unproductive impact on performance in all of life’s performance domains.  Whilst I am an absolute advocate for positive psychology and spent a good part of seven years researching its application in elite sport, I can’t help but think Stark’s article has similar (less subtle) messaging to Inside Out.

Riley’s emotional intelligence developed from Joy and Sadness, with the help of Anger, Fear, and Disgust.

Understanding why you feel the way you do and doing something with that information is much more ‘life changing’ than forcing yourself and everyone around you to always feel positive.

How do you feel about this?

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

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