Determination, Preparation and Concentration

"Stay task-focused. Interrupt negative self-talk and images the moment they arise, shut them down on the spot. Replace them with positive self-talk and positive images. Concentrate on showing your brain exactly what it is that you want to achieve, never dwell on what you do not want to happen."

- D.C. Gonzalez, The Art of Mental Training - A Guide to Performance Excellence


Recently, I have discovered a habit of myself which I used to believe is good: prepare for the worst scenarios before I start to perform the task. 

Let me share a bit of myself: I'm someone who is easily nervous and not flexible enough when encountering unexpected situations. I used to become completely frozen on stage in the middle of a public presentation; had my mind totally blanked when my clients did not want to follow the initial schedule, etc... Are these because I didn't prepare well? No, I have always tried to do the best preparations. After doing many research and self-reflection, I think my main issue is, I'm in fact mentally preparing myself for a failed outcome. 

Due to some unhappy past events, I began to prepare for the worst-case scenarios. I kept imagining what would happen if I fail to do well and then persuaded myself that the results were acceptable. For me, this is like self-protection and mental preparation. I thought it is a way to keep myself relaxed, unafraid and to be optimistic (like, "I've already pictured the worst of worst, what else's do I have to worry about?"). Turns out this way of thinking is a big "No". 


Why it is a Big "No" for Preparing the Worst Scenarios?

Preparing for the worst scenarios makes us look flexible, resilient and optimistic, however, this preparation actually leads our performance to downhills. Our mind is complicated and it can alter our performance, and we ourselves are, of course, the controller of our own minds. If we keep thinking about one thing, then our minds will automatically regard it as a goal and prepare our behaviours to work towards it [1]. 

That's why we should highlight the importance of training our minds to believe in positive outcomes. When we want to perform well in one thing, there are three mental elements we have to equip with: the determination to succeed, the preparation for success and an event-focused mind. 


Determination: Tell Your Mind, You Want to Become Successful!

First thing first, let's tell our mind that we want to become successful. Only when our brains know it, we are empowered to feel positive, energetic, motivated and confident towards our goals. Though it is okay to fail, don't trick your brain into thinking that you're more incline towards a negative outcome.

It is important to remember that: don't submerge yourself in the thoughts about failure before your actions. Every time you're aware of yourself thinking about negative scenarios, try your best to shut it down by shifting your mind back to thinking about the good aspects [1]. 


Preparation: Feel Free to Imagine You have Already Achieved Your Goals!

After telling yourself you want to success, you have to prepare yourself for success. If you put yourself in that successful mood, then no matter what difficulties you face on the way, your mind will regard it as a beatable challenge and lead you confidently overcome them. 

The term "Imagineering" is used to tell us how imagining can change our attitudes and performances [1]. Now imagine that you are a football player and you did a good job in a match. All the audience, your coaches and teammates are cheering for you. Close your eyes and put yourself completely in this environment and imagine a bit, what would you feel? This kind of thinking will bring you excitement, confident and also enthusiastic, which will lead you to real success in the coming event.


Concentration: Focus on Your Tasks and Behaviours

Finally, when we are in process, try to focus on what you are doing, instead of your feeling. Let's bring back the football example. When you are in a game and are running in the field, it is very likely you feel nervous. If at this time, you keep telling yourself you feel nervous and thinking about "What if I cannot catch the ball", then you cannot put your attention on the ball. In other words, there is no room in your brain to think about what techniques you are going to use and in which direction you are going to pass the ball. 

This is also what makes me inflexible and easily caused me an emptied mind. When I faced difficult situations, I would firstly focus on myself and think, "I cannot do it, I'm nervous", "I made a mistake... why am I frozen here again?" and "I can tell my mind is blank now, I just know this will happen". Since I kept capturing my feelings and repeating the above thoughts to myself, I definitely have no energy to think about solutions and take the next step. The capacity of our brains is not unlimited. If we use up too much space to think about how we feel, we have no spare room to plan and process our actions. 

One good way to keep ourselves task-focused is to take deep breathes and shift our minds [1]. Next time when you feel you can't stay focused, try to close your eyes and take deep breathes. Then try to ask yourself, "what should I do next?" This may help you to refresh your mind and redirect your mind to concentrate on thinking about your actions. 


Overall, we have to be the controller of our mind and master our mind. It is definitely true that we should accept failure because none can always achieve success. Nevertheless, we should never mentally trick ourselves to failures. Instead, we should always tell ourselves that we are capable of doing what we want, and we are ready to succeed.  


Wholeheartedly,

The Lights Within


Source:

[1] D.C. Gonzalez. (2013). The Art of Mental Training - A Guide to Performance Excellence. Maharashtra: Gonzo Lane Media. 



P.S. We continue to Walk for Autism!

By taking part in Walk for autism, we will help provide the best opportunities for people of all ages on the autism spectrum from tailored educational support to fulfilling work lives and improved social environments. 

To help create a world where no-one on the autism spectrum is left behind, we are currently raising funds to support. We'll be walking 10,000 for 8 days. Please help make our steps count and show your support by donating today!

https://www.walkforautism.org.au/fundraisers/thelightswithin/walk-for-autism

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