The Psychology of Performance

1. Sport Psychology: A Science of Excellence

There is a science to excellence.

Historical Roots. Sport psychology emerged in the late 19th century, initially focusing on reaction times and social facilitation in athletes. Pioneers like Coleman Griffith established the first sport psychology lab, laying the groundwork for applying psychological principles to enhance athletic performance. The field has evolved from early experiments to a multidisciplinary science, incorporating research, ethical guidelines, and professional standards.

Performance Enhancement. Performance psychology extends beyond sports, encompassing the performing arts, business, and high-risk professions. It integrates applied sport psychology, psychotherapy, and consultation, focusing on psychological skills training (PST), cognitive behavioral therapy, and mindfulness approaches. Ethical practice requires familiarity with the goals and culture of each performance domain.

Ethical Considerations. Ethical practice in sport psychology involves prioritizing the client's best interests, maintaining confidentiality, and addressing multiple relationships and boundaries. Psychologists adhere to ethical codes, psychology board regulations, and professional guidelines. Training and competence are crucial ethical issues, requiring consultants to either develop necessary skills or refer to qualified professionals when issues fall outside their expertise.

2. Deliberate Practice: The Cornerstone of Expertise

Practice not only matters, but determines everything.

Purposeful vs. Naive Practice. Deliberate practice, characterized by specific goals, intense focus, and pushing beyond one's comfort zone, is essential for expertise. It contrasts with naive practice, which involves repetition without clear objectives or engagement. Talent, often overrated, can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, while those who work harder early on develop perseverance and a strong work ethic.

Brain Adaptability. Purposeful practice leads to biological changes in the brain, enhancing mental representations and improving the ability to detect and correct mistakes. The 10,000-hour rule, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, suggests that expertise requires extensive practice, though the exact time varies depending on the skill and individual. Motivation, often a barrier, can be strengthened by choosing activities one deeply wants to improve in, setting aside fixed practice times, and ensuring adequate rest.

How to Practice. Deliberate practice involves finding a coach, stepping outside your comfort zone, setting specific goals, maintaining full attention, and seeking feedback. It requires building and modifying previously learned skills, constantly striving for the next level. The challenge lies in its labor-intensive nature, requiring intense concentration and a willingness to persevere even when it's not enjoyable.

3. Values and Goals: The Compass and Map to Success

Performers who are focused on the values that underlie their goals train harder and more consistently than those who lack value clarity.

Values as Guiding Principles. Values are consistent standards that guide behavior, reflecting integrity and the kind of person one wants to be. They provide both direction and energy, influencing choices and promoting perseverance. Identifying and living by values in performance areas such as teamwork, competition, and training is essential for long-term success.

Effective Goal Setting. Goals, serving as the roadmap to values, increase motivation, confidence, and focus. Effective goals are moderately challenging, specific, and absolute, with both short-term and long-term components. Competitive and cooperative goals have a greater positive effect than mastery goals, and participant-set goals are more effective than assigned goals.

Types of Goals. Outcome goals define specific end results, performance goals focus on personal improvement, and process goals concentrate on skill execution. Linking process and performance goals to a single outcome goal improves results. The sport research supports SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-limited—with an emphasis on relevance and deadlines.

4. Mindfulness: Enhancing Performance Through Present Moment Awareness

The core belief of a mindful approach is that a person performs best when staying with a nonjudgmental, moment-to-moment awareness and acceptance of one’s internal state, with his or her attention focused on what is essential for performance and a consistent, intentional behavioral effort of actions that support what he or she values most.

Mindfulness Defined. Mindfulness, rooted in Buddhist philosophy, involves paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgment. It changes the brain and the way it operates to enhance performance. Mindfulness and acceptance-based models change our relationship with internal experiences rather than changing the experiences themselves.

How Mindfulness Works. Mindfulness meditation changes brain structures and functions, increasing gray matter concentration in areas involved in learning, memory, and emotion regulation. It improves responses to emotions and behavioral decision-making under stress. Consistent practice leads to improved mental efficiency, greater awareness, and acceptance of internal experiences.

Models of Mindfulness. Approaches to mindfulness in sport include Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE), Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC), and Mindfulness Meditation Training for Sport. These models emphasize nonjudgmental awareness, acceptance of internal experiences, and commitment to values-driven actions. Increased mindfulness skill is associated with improved flow, positive emotions, and pain tolerance.

5. Cognitive Defusion: Separating Thoughts from Reality

It isn’t what we think that matters, but how much we invest in it.

Fusion vs. Defusion. Cognitive fusion occurs when thoughts dominate behavior, treating them as absolute truths. Cognitive defusion involves separating, detaching, or distancing from thoughts, recognizing them as mere words or pictures. The purpose of defusion is not to control thoughts but to engage fully in the world of experience.

Workability of Thoughts. Instead of focusing on positive versus negative thinking, consider the workability of thoughts. Ask whether a thought leads closer to or farther from a rich, full, and meaningful life. Prioritize thoughts that help, and detach from those that hinder.

Value of Negative Thinking. Negative thinking, a survival instinct, warns of potential danger. It signifies caring deeply about something, creating vulnerability to disappointment. Rather than suppressing negative thoughts, acknowledge their purpose and defuse from them, acting in a way that aligns with values.

6. Acceptance: Willingness to Feel for Peak Performance

There is a willingness to feel things as they are.

Acceptance vs. Control. While control can be effective, acceptance becomes necessary when control is not the solution. It involves a willingness to feel things as they are, without fighting or resisting them. Experiential avoidance, the attempt to escape unwanted private experiences, can hinder performance and increase suffering.

Creative Hopelessness. Creative hopelessness highlights the ineffectiveness of experiential avoidance, encouraging performers to give up the struggle for control. It involves asking: What have you tried? How has it worked? What has it cost you? This process opens the door to mindfulness and acceptance.

Acceptance Exercises. Acceptance involves a combination of things that center around exactly where you put your attention and energy into. To be our best, we have to be focused on the moment, immersed in our performance activity. We can’t be struggling to change what we think and feel. When we willingly feel the painful emotions in service of our performance-related values, that is acceptance.

7. Commitment: "No Matter What" in Pursuit of Excellence

Commitment is not a try.

Commitment as Behavior. Commitment is not a feeling or promise but a behavior, demonstrating specific actions that lead to optimal performance. It involves a choice to prioritize values over emotions, persevering through pain, difficulty, and setbacks. Commitment determines potential, reflecting the willingness to endure unpleasantness in service of a goal.

Commitment to Performance Values. After identifying a specific value, such as being a good teammate, set both long- and short-term behavioral goals that reflect that value. Identify behaviors that need to be added or changed to achieve the performance value. Use mindfulness and acceptance skills to be the most effective.

Studying Commitment. Commitment moderates the relationship between goal difficulty and results. High commitment allows for highly difficult goals to be associated with the best results. Factors such as enjoyment, attractive alternatives, personal investments, and perceived costs influence psychological and behavioral commitment.

8. Internal Motivation: Fueling Performance from Within

Self-determination theory is a meta-theory comprised of five mini-theories.

Self-Determination Theory. Self-determination theory emphasizes the natural tendency for growth and development, driven by intrinsic motivation. Meeting the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness enhances motivation, well-being, and engagement. Frustration of these needs can lead to burnout and subpar performance.

Motivation Continuum. Motivation exists on a continuum, ranging from amotivation to intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation, driven by external factors, can be internalized through identified and integrated regulation. Autonomous motivation, characterized by higher effort and persistence, predicts better well-being and performance.

Self-Determination in Practice. Coaches, parents, and supervisors can influence the environment to increase autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy support, reinforcing choice and understanding, promotes internal drive. Overcoming controlling behaviors and fostering a supportive environment are crucial for maximizing motivation.

9. Imagery: Mental Rehearsal for Physical Mastery

Imagery activates neural and behavioral responses similar to the genuine experience.

Imagery Defined. Imagery, a cognitive process activating the same brain areas involved in movement, is a mental technique for preparing for action. It involves visualizing from internal (first-person) or external (third-person) perspectives, incorporating kinesthetic (feeling) imagery, and engaging all senses. Functional equivalence, the neural overlap between imagery and physical performance, makes it effective.

The PETTLEP Model. The PETTLEP model maximizes neural overlap by emphasizing physical, environment, task, timing, learning, emotion, and perspective. It involves physical movement, recreating the performance environment, adapting to skill level, using real-time imagery, and incorporating emotions. Combining physical practice with PETTLEP imagery yields superior performance results.

How to Do Imagery. Include physical movement and equipment, practice in the performance environment, and combine imagery with physical practice. Practice at least three times per week for about 20 minutes per session. Avoid negative language and unrealistic perfection, and ensure each session has a specific purpose.

10. Confidence and Self-Talk: Empowering Beliefs for Action

Sport confidence is the degree of certainty individuals possess about their capability to be successful in sport.

Confidence and Self-Efficacy. Confidence, often used interchangeably with self-efficacy, involves judging one's ability to accomplish a goal. Self-efficacy beliefs vary in level, strength, and generality, influencing goal selection, effort, and interpretation of events. Confidence serves as a cognitive buffer, limiting the effects of negative self-talk and emotions.

Sources of Self-Efficacy. Albert Bandura identified four sources of self-efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences (modeling), verbal persuasion, and physiological and affective states. Additional factors include feeling good about one's physical self, believing in coaches' abilities, feeling comfortable in the competitive environment, and thinking the situation is in one's favor.

Self-Talk. Self-talk, verbalizations made to oneself, serves instructional or motivational functions. It can be automatic or deliberate, positive or negative, and have facilitative or debilitative effects. Positive self-talk can improve confidence, while negative self-talk, such as worry, can interfere with performance.

11. Focused Attention: The Key to Unlocking Potential

There might not be a more important psychological skill for performers than focused attention.

Dimensions of Attention. Attention involves concentration, selective attention, and divided attention. Performers direct their attention across broad to narrow and external to internal dimensions. Maintaining focused attention in the moment is crucial for optimal performance.

Ironic Process Theory. Attention wanders because we try to control it, as explained by Daniel Wegner’s ironic process theory. The mind searches for the ideal focus thoughts while simultaneously searching for any sign of the unwanted thought, making it be there. This is especially likely to occur under conditions of mental load.

Principles of Effective Concentration. Effective concentration involves deciding to concentrate, focusing on one thought at a time, aligning thoughts with actions, focusing on controllable factors, and focusing outward when nervous. Mindfulness training, simulation training, pre-event routines, trigger words, and performance goals can develop focus skills.

12. The Sport Parent: Nurturing Growth and Independence

At the foundation of good sport parenting is the unconditional love and support throughout the process of raising an independent young adult.

Common Mistakes. Sport parents often make mistakes, such as criticizing on the car ride home, failing to provide time to sulk, treating kids differently after wins and losses, yelling at referees, and engaging in sideline coaching. These behaviors undermine the child's autonomy and create unnecessary pressure.

What Parents Should Do. To show unconditional love, treat kids the same after wins and losses. Let them own their experiences and provide space for them to think. Encourage them to have fun, play hard, and know that they are loved.

Parental Influence. Parents have a tremendous influence on a child's social and sport development, shaping their beliefs, values, and behaviors. In the early years, emphasize play and fun, support high-quality coaching, and create a learning climate with process-oriented training and an absence of competitive pressure.

Last updated: March 1, 2025