This characteristic is typical of teams low on self-confidence and lacking mental toughness – not something you would expect to find in the best team in the world. In test cricket when you have lost a wicket it is important to stabilise the team and ensure that you take your time to play yourself in. What happened to England was that when they lost a wicket the incoming batsmen made some poor shot selections. When working with athletes I refer to this as the ability to think clearly under pressure – ‘T-CUP’. A team low on confidence and with fragile mental toughness will struggle to think clearly when they are put under pressure and become distracted by irrelevant factors instead of just thinking about the task in hand.

T-CUP is an invaluable asset for any team in sport or business. Most people, in sport and business, are able to think clearly and make rational and correct decisions in everyday life, but what happens to your ability to stay focused and make informed decisions when the pressure is cranked up. T-CUP when under pressure is something that I help athletes and businesspeople with all the time, in order to ensure that they can stay focused and resilient when it really matters. Whether it is your ability to make the correct decision on the pitch to ensure victory for your team, or the correct decision in a pressurised business meeting to secure a contract for your company, T-CUP will give you a winning edge over your competitors.

At Watt Works we offer a range of consultancy, training and coaching services within the areas of sport psychology, life coaching and executive coaching. Contact Us to find out how we can help you perform at your best.

As an experienced sport psychologist, what I think happened was that Wade started to think about already being in the final and this distracted him from what he needed to do to get there. The key here is that he failed to remain in the present and allowed himself to get distracted by looking into the future.

Once he started thinking about all the distractions that being in a World Championship Final brings, he started to miss his shots. This would have started to slowly chip away at his confidence. Whilst this was happening, Lewis started to take his chances and slowly picked up the individual Legs and, eventually, the Sets required to get back into the match. As Wade’s confidence started to dwindle Lewis’s confidence began to soar. This swing in momentum was amazing to watch and once the game entered the final set I knew that Lewis was now the clear favourite to beat a disconsolate Wade.

One of the things that I always encourage athletes to do is to stay in the present during a performance. As soon as athletes get distracted by dwelling on what has already happened, or start to think about what is going to happen in the future, their performance suffers. Once you have battled hard to get ahead of your opponent don’t let them back into the match by becoming distracted about what might happen in the future.

This principle of being able to anchor oneself in the present, when appropriate, is crucial in both sporting performance, in business and in life. ‘When appropriate’ is the key phrase here. There is a time to reflect upon and learn from the past and a time to plan and strategise for the future. In the heat of competition is not such a time, however. The only way to influence sporting competition in the here and now is to be in the here and now.

This ability to master such temporal orientation, rather than drifting unproductively into the past or future, is one of many skills that we teach clients who avail of our Sport Psychology coaching, training and consultancy services.

In this, the Olympic year, why not give a little more attention to the mental side of your game?

This is similar to an activity that I use with athletes. When something unexpected happens to an athlete they often start to panic because they don’t know what to do and when they decide what they need to do it is often too late, or the wrong decision. What I do with athletes is to get them to write a “What If?” list. The athlete writes down things that might possibly go wrong with their performance eg. “My opponent scores an early point.” I then get them to write down exactly how they are going to respond to that situation. Because the athlete knows exactly how to react, when the unexpected happens they are able to stay relaxed and deal with the situation effectively rather than make poor decisions when they are not thinking clearly – just as the POWs did in The Great Escape.

So make sure you plan for the unexpected (your equivalent of ‘Tom’ being discovered) and know exactly what you need to do when it happens to get your performance back on track.

If the approach of the New Year is a time when you may be thinking of re-committing to your sporting or exercise goals, sport psychology coaching could be just what you need to get you back on track. Contact us to find out about the services we offer.

26^th May 1999 and Roy Keane is sitting in the dressing room with his Manchester United team mates just after they had beaten Bayern Munich in injury time to secure the Champions League trophy and complete the final leg of a never-before-achieved  treble. Keane recounted how in the midst of his celebrating team mates he heard someone say “If I never win another trophy this will be enough for me.” Keane was disgusted at this comment and couldn’t understand how a one-off achievement was enough for a professional player.

Many athletes will achieve “greatness” in their sport by performing on a particular day or at a particular competition. The interesting issue from a psychological perspective is whether, once an athlete has reached a long term goal and achieved their dream, how they choose to react to it. Some players will think “That’s it, I’ve done everything.  Now I can relax and take a step back.”  Others will think “I’ve achieved my goal.  Now, what’s the next one?”

Which sort of athlete are you?

I’ve met many athletes who will settle for attaining that one-off achievement and then take their foot off the pedal, but the athletes with truly great mental toughness will use a great achievement as a springboard for further triumphs.

Do you want to relax in your comfort zone once you have achieved a goal or are you prepared to push yourself out of your comfort zone and strive to achieve new goals? Staying in your comfort zone is by far the easier option but taking the easier option is not always the path to fulfilling your potential.

 Would Steve Redgrave have won gold medals at five Olympic Games spanning sixteen years if he had sat down after his first gold medal in Los Angeles in 1984 and thought “That’s it.  Now I’ve done it”?  Instead the triumph only served to motivate him to become one of the most successful Olympians of all time.

My tip is to commit to being an athlete who uses achievements as a stepping stone for further triumphs and not as the finishing point. You might be surprised what you will end up achieving if you think like this.

When Orwell wrote this statement he was referring to the post-revolutionary society in Animal Farm and not directly to elite sport. But what did Orwell know that can guide the psychology of professional sport and how successful managers apply these principles to their teams.

In any team each player brings a unique set of attributes to the group and there will be some players in the team who have more influence on the rest of the team than others. Sven-Göran Eriksson called these players “cultural architects”. These are the players who the rest of the team admire; they set the attitudinal and behavioural “norms” for the rest of the group. This is what Orwell was referring to when he made the point that people contribute different amounts to any society, or in our case, sports teams.

Eriksson deliberately set out to select David Beckham as his “cultural architect” because of Beckham’s ability as a player and his model professional attitude off the pitch. Eriksson knew that the rest of the team would follow Beckham’s lead with regards to adopting an exemplary professional attitude to their sport.

Sir Alex Ferguson had Eric Cantona as his cultural architect at Manchester United in the early 90’s. When Cantona first arrived at United he started staying behind after morning training to take extra practice. The group of younger players coming through – Scholes, Beckham, Butt, and the Nevilles – saw their talismanic leader doing extra training and thought “If it’s good enough for the best player in the club then it’s good enough for us”.

Cultural architects can have a massive positive influence on their teammates though it is vitally important to make sure that they promote the behaviour and attitudes that are important to improving the performance of the group. Whether it is in sport or business it is important to select your cultural architect wisely to help you be successful.

Equally, if one is a cultural architect oneself, it is worth considering the question “Am I truly representing values that are in keeping with and relevant to the organisation I am involved with?  Am I demonstrating behaviours and ways of being that others are actually capable of modelling and adopting themselves in a useful way?”

Through the concept of cultural architects, whether in sport or business, even those who are not the overt leaders can nonetheless lead and inspire.  These are concepts we explore on our Leadership & Management Development courses, delivered both in-house and at our training venues throughout the UK.  We also explore the importance of leadership principles through our professional sport psychology consultancy services.

During the last couple of seasons Rio has been plagued by a succession of injuries that have seen him struggle to secure regular first team football. The result of these regular injuries on the aging 32 year old is that he has lost some of his famous pace.

Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted in a national newspaper recently saying “He (Rio) has lost that yard of pace he had. He used to rely on that pace and now he can’t do that. We’ve all faced that decisive moment in a career when you have to realise you have to change your game.”

Now this is the interesting point, Is Rio Ferdinand an Ostrich or a Chameleon type thinker?

This is a metaphor I often use with my athletes when they are at a “defining moment” in their career. The Ostrich is a bird that when it is in danger will “bury its head in the sand”. When athletes who are “ostrich” thinkers are pushed out of their comfort zone they will typically avoid confronting the situation. They tend to be in denial and use that it as an excuse not to do anything. To avoid looking at the situation, they focus on blaming others, or looking for excuses. Being an “ostrich” is a really unhealthy mindset for an athlete. They tend not to recognise when they have to change to avoid failing and their coping response to a defeat, or poor performance, is to concentrate on how they have always done things in the past. Ostriches see change as a negative experience and something that should be avoided at all costs.

The chameleon is a lizard that is famed for being able to change its colour to adapt to their environment. A “chameleon” athlete will recognise that their performance world is one that is dynamic and constantly changing and that for them to be successful they have to adapt how they think and perform to keep at the top of their game. When the “chameleon” athlete is put under pressure their coping strategy is to think “What do I need to change to be successful?” Having this type of mindset is an invaluable asset and will allow the athlete to tackle the situation and come up with a clear plan of what they need to do to adapt to the new challenges they face.

It will be interesting to see if Ferdinand heeds Sir Alex Ferguson’s advice that he needs to change his game and shows he is a “chameleon”, or whether he buries his head in the sand and denies to himself that he needs to change his style of play due to his lack of pace, and shows he is an “ostrich”.

My tip for any athlete is to commit to being a chameleon thinker and this mindset will give you the best opportunity to perform to your potential.  Exactly the same principle can be applied to managers, leaders and business people.  When confronted by changing circumstances do you tend to ignore them and prefer to bury your head in the sand or do you address the facts as they are and adapt your approach to maximise success in face of a changing reality?

‘Hassle’s are everyday inconveniences that cause low level but frequent stress such as misplacing your keys or sitting in a traffic jam. ‘Uplifts’, on the other hand, are small positive events such as bumping into a friend and having a coffee or winning a small amount on a lottery ticket. Most of us spend energy trying to balance the hassles with the uplifts and this can result in us striving to stay within our comfort zones.

However, if you want to fulfil your potential you have to be brave enough to step out of that comfort zone … to actually seek out challenge and cope with (dare I say, enjoy) the discomfort.

One of my most rewarding jobs in Education is working with adults returning to education and preparing to move onto University. These students are particularly inspiring, as many of them have made significant and life changing decisions – choosing to dedicate the energy to investing in their personal development. Many of them are taking action to fulfil long held dreams and feel that if they don’t do it now then they’II never do it. For some, they have experienced significant life events which have dropped them from a great height and often, shaken them to their very cores.

However, these experiences have also led to reflection on the purpose of life and to a decision to make a significant life change and, indeed, to step out of their comfort zones.

Are you drifting along in your comfort zone? Is there something you’ve always wanted to do or to achieve? Taking that first step out of your comfort zone is likely to be scariest step. However, it can take you on a rewarding and life changing journey.

And, you know what they say … the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Last year I completed the London to Paris charity bike ride, with my husband and sister, and in preparation for this I committed a huge amount of time and energy to training and fundraising. The training was challenging but always enjoyable and I rarely lost the motivation to ride several times a week and every weekend.

However, during this winter and spring my love of road cycling slowly disappeared. I was riding my bike to work and one week had 4 punctures. I was also struggling to maintain enough pace and fitness to cycle out with my club on a Sunday morning and I had no inclination to do something about it. I began reflecting on why I had lost my love for the sport and decided a change of focus would help.

When I started cycling again, as an adult, I started with mountain biking in my local forest and completely fell in love with it. I loved the freedom to explore, the technical challenge and it reconnected me with what I loved doing as a child which was basically messing around on my bike. Over the past month I’ve started mountain biking again and I’ve regained my mojo. I’ve laughed and screamed in Wales and the Lake District and the roller-coaster; out of control; adrenaline-fuelled experience of riding single track has reconnected me with what I love about cycling. This has had done more for my performance improvement – both on and off the bike – than anything else.

Sometimes we need to return to the roots of something we love to reconnect with it. If you’ve lost your mojo for something go back to the roots of your passion – it’s well worth the trip.

However, Lance Armstrong’s performance in the 2010 Tour de France did not go to plan. It was a challenging race for many riders with a significant number of crashes and casualties. After the 8th stage, Armstrong reportedly stated that his tour was finished but that he intended to complete the race and support his team. I think this demonstrates another remarkable facet of Lance’s personality…

Preparing for the Tour and preparing for an eighth win takes huge physical and psychological investment. Lance built a team (Radioshack) with the goal of enabling him to win the 2010 Tour. The ability to reappraise and quickly accept that this goal would not be achieved – and refocus his energy and attention on his new role as a supporting rider – shows true resilience and mental toughness.

I think we can all learn a lot from Lance’s situation.

How quickly can you refocus your attention and energy when ‘plan A’ has to be abandoned? How much of a team player are you? Are you able to focus on the needs of the team as well as your own? Do you value, equally, members of your team who may not be leaders but play a key supporting role? Are you able to play different roles if you cannot play your preferred role?

Lance Armstrong is a remarkable athlete and true role model for mental toughness and resilience both when he is winning and when he is losing.

Sport Psychology applies psychological theory and research to enhance sport performance and enjoyment. Through our very own BASES Sport Psychologist, Watt Works utilise many aspects of Sport Psychology extensively in our consulting, coaching and training services for organisations across the private and public sector. We also provide dedicated Sport Psychology Services to the world of sport (as well as business) to develop athletes of any age or level.

Dr. Raj Persuad’s top tips for preventing procrastination may help, whilst enabling you to manage stress more effectively:

1. Vague priorities increase procrastination
   
   If you think everything is a high priority then you’re less likely to get started on anything. Deciding what can wait will allow you to focus and start tackling the important things.




2. Make sure you are in the right mood to make the right decision
   If you’re feeling a bit low then you’re more likely to be pessimistic. This may cause you to put off starting a large project as you feel there is no point. Wait until you’re in a better mood!




3. Getting distracted by small tasks
   
   Minimise distractions before you start. Turn off your phone and don’t have email open behind whatever you are working on.




4. Authoritarian parents
   
   Procrastinating may be a form of unconsciously rebelling against over-controlling parents. Take control by getting started on what you have chosen to do.




5. Huge tasks can be overwhelming
   
   Sometimes when we leave things they become a larger task and even more off-putting ( what does your cupboard under the stairs look like?). Break these tasks down into smaller, achievable steps – sounds obvious but it works.




6. Reward yourself
   
   Do the things you really enjoy as a reward for completing tasks you have been avoiding. Often we do the reverse and this can spoil the things we really enjoy so turn the sequence round – get whatever you need to do done and then go and enjoy yourself!




7. Stop rationalizing procrastination
   
   It is easy to come up with excuses to stop yourself doing what you really should be doing. Take control to stop being driven by these excuses – you have a choice.




8. Set realistic and achievable goals
   
   Sometimes we put off tasks at work as we feel it won’t make much difference and won’t help us get that promotion we aspire to. However, the achievement of small tasks will be a step in the right direction.




9. Prepare to get started
   
   Before you start making sure that you have a clean and tidy desk and all the things you require will prevent distractions such as going off searching for something and can put you in the right frame of mind to begin.




10. Get rid of the task hanging over you
    
    We can waste a lot of energy trying to ignore tasks that are hanging over us. Become aware of how unpleasant that feeling is and focus on how you will feel once you begin.

What are you waiting for – get on with it!