Elevate Your Performance: Secrets from the World of Sports Psychology

I have always been interested in sports psychology, because I have always looked up to athletes ever since I was a kid. I knew ever since back then that to perform at such a high level, one would need the utmost level of self-mastery. Such natural curiosity led me to stumble on a 2009 book called Sports Psychology by Britton W. Brewer.

The Only Chapters You Will Need To Read

Although I read it entirely, not all of the chapters are relevant unless you are an athlete or a sports coach. Instead, it is much better to simply read the following chapters for practical life advice:

• Introduction (Chapter 1)
• Motivation (Chapter 2)
• Attention, concentration and thought management (Chapter 3)
• Mental preparation for training and competition (Chapter 6)

The Book’s Top 10 Most Life-Changing Tips

1. The most robust finding in the scientific literature is the effect of goal setting on task performance. 
2. Scientists find general principles that apply to most people in most situations, but good coaches and teachers know when to apply these principles and to whom which is the art of coaching and teaching.
3. Research and practice have revealed that performance and process goals should be emphasized and outcome goals should be minimized. Reaching one’s process and performance goals increases the likelihood of achieving one’s outcome goals.
4. A critical point is having an action plan to reach one’s goal. 
5. For maximum commitment, goals should be self-determined. The more goals are self-determined, the more committed and persistent one will be in attempting to achieve them. 
6. Whether one perceives an outcome as a success or failure depends on how they define success or failure in the first place.
7. Generally speaking, task-oriented goals have been linked to more positive outcomes than ego-oriented goals.
8. Interestingly, research has revealed that the more athletes are solely interested in winning, the less likely they are to win.
9. Optimal performance emerges when there is no gap between what athletes are doing and what they are thinking. 
10. Setting and prioritizing appropriate goals are important components of mental preparation.

All of these insights are so helpful to me regardless of the project or life aspirations I seek to accomplish. Therefore, I will often refer back to this post in my future ones to constantly assert how true they are no matter what.