Master your Emotional State, Master your Results

How are you showing up for your game, or even for training. Are you showing up to win? Are you showing up the same way each and every game, ready to perform, like a champion?

Many athletes are reactive in their emotions and therefore placing control of their results outside of themselves. If you have ever said “I am anxious (or any state) because “event’ happened” then you have been reactive.

I was working with a golfer and I was asking him to think about his confidence levels. And every time he stepped up for a hole, I asked him, “What’s your confidence right now, out of 10?” And it would be either a seven, seven and a half, or six or something, and he always gave a reason. He said, “I’m confident on this hole because I like this hole,” or, “I’m confident because I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well now.” Or, if the confidence dropped off, “I missed that past drive, so I’m less confident.”

It often seems that the emotion is controlled by some external situation, or by other people. Have you ever said, “Oh, he makes me mad,” or, “that makes me mad,” or, “that upsets me.” No one, or nothing can make you do anything – you do have a choice.

It’s often what you decide about that situation that will create that emotion. I’m urging you now to choose to be a master of your emotional state. You can choose HOW you want to be, particularly when it comes to being on the sporting field, in the sporting arena.

Isn’t it important how you control your emotional state? Our optimal emotional state will vary person to person. Some people like to be cool, think of Chris Evert-Lloyd, Chris Evert on the tennis court, and her being very cool and collected, not showing much emotion. She was the ice queen. Compare that, and let’s stick to tennis, to the emotion of Lleyton Hewitt, or Baghdatis, who really had to fire up to play at his very best.

It can vary for you, what your ideal emotional state is for you to play at your very best. The players described above had found those optimal states, and took control of being in that state.
The results that you get in your sporting endeavours are the result of your actions, that’s quite obvious. The actions you take, whether it’s specifically on the sporting field in the moment, or the actions you take with regards to your training - your training behaviour, the intensity of your training, the intensity of your playing – you know, how fast do you run, etcetera? All those actions will determine the results that you get.

So what determines your actions? How come you can play well on one day and not the next? Your actions are determined by your emotional thoughts. Just think about driving a car. I would hazard a guess that you all consider yourself decent drivers, pretty safe out on the road at the best of times. Now, imagine yourself being a little bit heated, a little bit more emotional. Either you’re feeling really angry about something, or perhaps you’re even down: how does that affect your driving?

One day you’re sitting in peak-hour traffic, you’re feeling great, you turn on the radio and nothing can change how you’re feeling. You just listen to the radio and it doesn’t matter about the peak-hour traffic. The next day, same traffic, and you got up on the wrong side of the bed, and then suddenly you’re going in and out, changing lanes and it changes your actions. And it can change your results, whether it gets you quicker to your destination is questionable, but it can change your results.

So, your emotions will determine your actions, and the same in your sporting endeavours. Your emotions will determine your actions. Determine what is the ultimate emotional state for you to be able to play at your very best? It will vary for each person.

You can probably remember your greatest games and that’s probably an indication of how you want to be in any situation. Think now about what some states might enable you to be at your best, to be able to play at your best; is it confidence, is it powerful, is it strength? Perhaps a bit of playfulness? Compassion sometimes is needed when you’re playing with a teammate. Do you need to be fired up or passionate? Would it be useful if you were creative?

A performance coach can help you create an “anchor’ for these resourceful states, so that you can access the desired state on command. By taking a certain action (eg a fist pump) or touch of a certain body part, (eg. the earlobe) and associating it with the ideal emotional state(s) you create a resource anchor to use anytime.

One of the keys to being a champion is to master your emotional state. Choose how you want to be when you need to play at your best and then create a resource anchor for those desired emotional states. It is important to commit to being in the states you have chosen whenever you play or perform to make this really work.