How To Keep Your Head In The Game For Playoff Season!, By: Dave DePew
You have either made it this far in the season with minimal injury or you have managed to push through the pain even as the gridiron pressure mounts, and your body develops a sort of constant ache and a general feeling of weakness between games.
Your training has been hard and you have made the necessary effort to earn your standing as a champion of your division. It would be all too easy to pat yourself on the back and take pride in the spoils of your accomplishments, but there is still a prize unclaimed, a challenge that must be met with conviction.
To take aim is not enough; we must awaken a part of us that many only know in moments of desperation as a tool for survival. We must not accept ill thoughts that attempt to weaken our body much in the way we are weakened with a temperature, cold or flu!
How much energy will be wasted thinking of past or future failures? Past failure is no more beneficial to the present than a lifetime of success! The past and future is but a lie to serve or destroy our present. Here and now is the truth and all that matters.
Past, Present, & Future
A person is never judged based on what they plan to do and unless you reach legendary status, time goes on and few people care about what you have accomplished and focus only on what you are doing now.
Yes, you are a champion! You made it this far winning your division and securing you place in the playoffs, no person can take that away from you. You've earned it and rightfully so deserve all that comes with the title, including any disappointment.
Just as you have prepared and successfully hit the mark, you must also forge ahead with the same fire and passion to become victorious over all who stand in your way!
Uninterrupted and untainted progress is vital to reaching your athletic goals. Negative thinking will short circuit your training and recovery.
Stressors
Both intense training and intense emotional stress has an impact on your sports performance. Your ability to manage, avoid, or cope with the events in your life going into the playoffs will no doubt effect the outcome.
Your success during the playoffs is dependant on maintaining strong mental focus!
I'm going to show you how to do this, but first let me briefly explain what mental focus is.
Mental Focus:
Mental focus, as I see it, is the ability to continue ahead with a predetermined outcome despite external influence. Mental focus is a sort of peripheral awareness that provides you perspective and an intense desire to succeed. It is this intense desire that keeps you sharpening your skills for intense precision.
Without the ability to maintain mental focus, much of your hard-earned progress is lost.
Having explained mental focus, please allow me to give my thoughts on how you can best prepare yourself for the surmounting challenges ahead.
Preparation
Personally, I am not immune; at times I struggle with maintaining my focus, too.
This has been a life-long battle for me, one that has improved with age. Perhaps I have picked up a few things along the way that have helped me, and I can pass them on to you.
1. Discuss Your Goals!
First off, I think talking about your goals might help to sort of clear the mind a bit. It is very important to have someone you trust to talk with. This is someone who you feel will be supportive and can give you honest feedback.
2. Write It Down!
I find that many times when I get great ideas, ideas that would take my mind wandering from the more important and urgent tasks, it is best for me to write things down.
With so many possible scenarios running in your head like a playbook on a slide show, it is important to put your thoughts down on paper in order to see things more clearly. Journaling a few thoughts can do a great deal for helping me to find my center.
3. Have A Vision And Not A Fantasy!
It takes vision to be successful. You must see yourself with the win, doing all that is necessary to bring about this victory. However, don't let your vision become a fantasy.
If I find myself fantasizing about my future achievements rather than spending the necessary time working towards accomplishing the vision then I find it takes me off track and I don't get the things completed that I should. You know the steps taken to get you this far and little should change to prepare for the next game.
4. Always Take Action!
If you spend too much time evaluating and contemplating you will become distracted from your goals.
I find that if much of my time is spent in idle thought or the "planning to do something" state, a sort of fear develops out of this; feeling as though I am not doing enough or working hard enough to accomplish what I feel I must do.
5. Let Go Of Your Resentment Towards Others!
This resentment zaps your energy, affects your domineer, and hinders your ability to interact with others on the team breaking down the cohesiveness you need to destroy your competition!
I find that any resentment makes me into a person I don't like to be and others don't want to be around. Are you still upset from a missed block or a bad call? Let go! Today is a new day with a new challenge and a new prize to be claimed.
6. Have Courage!
One of the things I just don't understand is the saying "Have no fear," or someone saying "Just do not be afraid." The most important thing about overcoming fear is to understand that you have the fear for a reason; you develop fears in order to survive.
We must embrace our fears so we can train and condition or bodies and our minds in order to rise up over our challenges.
No person will succeed at everything they do or take on any obstacle without the possibility of being hurt. Hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition are fired on a firing range so when a solder is put to the test the solder will fire despite the fear!
A better thing to say besides "Have no fear" might be:
"Courage is not the absence of fear,
but the ability to perform when fear is present."
