Routine & a consistent case of kick-a@#
Routine Well defined and consistent habits minimize stress and distractions and funnel athletic energy toward peak performance. Routines should be repeated as close to the same way as …
Simone Biles, the Twisties, and mental skill training
Simone Biles has started a dialog about mental health and athletics and that’s great. The magnitude of that discussion overshadows an interesting piece of the mental performance …
Deliberate Practice, neurology, & high-performance
I am sure many of you reading are familiar with what I am talking about in this post, either intuitively, or formally. I can tell you …
Simone Biles, mental health, & what’s next…
Hi there, Dr. J, here. Because I work in sport and performance psychology and traditional therapy settings, and in response to Simone Biles pulling out of …
My coach is in my head!
I gave a clinic about self-talk to a room full of Division I college athletes. I told them that if they really pay attention to it, …
The 3 Needs, Motivation, & Peak Performance.
According to Deci and Ryan’s Self Determination Theory (SDT), 3 basic psychological needs underlie the operations of a functional and motivated person. They are autonomy, competence, …
A Starbucks Grande Lava & the art of Gratitude Practice…
In my sport and performance pyschology practice, I ask athletes what they are grateful for. They often give me the “Thanksgiving prayer” list. They will say, …
Barking up the Right Tree & A Case Study on Hustle
Parents (myself included sometimes) and coaches often have the wrong idea about the roots of an athletes perfromance problems. I call it barking up the wrong …
Winning Comes 1st… The Dark Side of Peak Performance
I was listening to a podcast about the “dark side” of performance, and the crazy and often counter productive things people will do to win. It …
Peak Performance: Activation & the Inverted U
Activation is a term that means one’s level of physical and psychological arousal and excitement. Activation exists on a continuum from low (sleep) to high (overly …