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Archive for the ‘Performance Psychology’ Category
Friday, June 25th, 2010
Hi Guys
Just wanted to share my experience last week when I was asked to appear on the Eddie Mair 5pm show as a sport and business psychologist. I was paired with Andy Logan from Cranfield University High Performance Unit to discuss the psychology behind the Rob Green goalkeeping mistake against the USA and whether Mr Capello the England manager should replace him with David James.
The audio clip is posted here detailing the discussion and removing the remainder of the programme. I hope that you enjoy as I did and gives you some thoughts about performance psychology by transferring the sports science skills into business.
This text will be replaced
Geoff
Business Psychology
Tags: business psychology, business psychology for peak performance, mental skills, mental strength, mental toughness, performance goals, sport psychologist, sport psychology, sport psychology for sports performance
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
The term intensity covers a wide spectrum of areas in performance psychology. I like to consider this term intensity in sport psychology as the fine balance between stress, arousal and anxiety. Each individual sports performer or business member has a different optimal intensity level from the next person and this is why as sports psychologists we need to help the individual understand the issues and find their level of intensity that is right for them.
The process then has to be self managed by the athlete or executive. Too much intensity and the performance is destroyed with poor judgement, decisions and loss of control and too little and the performer is lethargic, unconcerned and not focused.
So this is my tip for you. Recall a past performance when everything went well and just happened automatically. See and feel how your anxiety levels were. Were you able to control the nerves to help rather than hinder your performance? Did your muscles feel loose and relaxed and your mind concentrated and were you excited for the up and coming challenge? If so this was your optimal level. When you are visualising this past feeling you will know how your muscles and breathing felt. Are you experiencing that feeling now prior to the event. If not and you are too lethargic then stand up and shake out your body posture. Stand up straight and stamp around the locker room, shout a little and enjoy some motivating music and breathe shallow and fast from the top of your chest. If you are feeling too tight and quite ill then you need to manage your anxiety levels urgently. This will help you enjoy the performance and remove the risk of injury due to tight muscles. Practice some deep breaths low down in the stomach area. Breathe in slowly through the nose and hold for 6 and gently allow the breath out of the mouth in a slow controlled way for the count of 12. Continue this 10 or 12 times until some of the physiological symptoms subside. Remember we want some anxiety to help us perform well so learn to enjoy the feeling and work with it.
There are many more intensity control techniques that we can discuss at a later date. Visit www.geoffgreenwood.com/sports_psychology
Geoff
Sports Psychology
Tags: anxiety, arousal, intensity, mental skills, mental skills training, mental strength, mental toughness, sport psychologist, sport psychology, sport psychology for sports performance, sports psychology, stress
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Friday, January 15th, 2010
It has been a very difficult time over the holidays to see my clients due to the extreme weather conditions so I have taken the time to write some more material for the site. The article and links will take you to our new pages covering some of the areas that we are working in and some of the ways that we do it. There is a page on the work that can be done with stage fright and overcoming stage fright. This is a very debilitating condition not only affecting your performance but affecting your enjoyment of the performance. A closely related page is included for performance anxiety which is a derivative of stagefright probably affecting the enjoyment more due to the physical and mental difficulties. A third page has been written for executive coaching for performance which shows our unique approach to helping managers perform even better with the learning and understanding of what mental skills does and how it affects them. A business coach can bring tremendous value and if you couple our mental skills approach to this the benefits and rewards are extrapolated.
Our online training courses are being completed at the moment and new products will be added on a regular basis. This allows all our clients to learn at their own pace from anywhere around the world. E learning is an area that we are excited to pursue. This will allow us to help and train more people in performance enhancement skills. Web training allows us to reach more people in need on an ongoing basis. Our workshops for business performance are proving very successful. We are finding that more and more companies are happy for us to deliver the mental toughness workshops inhouse for selections of their staff and management. Workshop UK is a fun and interactive way to understand how the mind affects performance and how you can develop the skills. In house training can be delivered specifically to your needs and can include elements that are specific to you. The flexibility appeals to many companies that engage in on site training.
Stress management training has tremendous benefits to the individual, the team, the family and the organisation. To perform at an optimal level needs a reduction of stress and a clear relaxed thought process going forward. This is what can be achieved if we take stress and anxiety seriously and personal development training is enhanced. Sport performance psychology has allowed us to understand that improvements can be achieved by harnessing the power and strength of the mind and because of this we package these skills up and teach them for business psychology for peak performance. We consider the athlete and the executive to be performing under similar conditions and pressures.
A page has also been written for mental toughness and mental skills training. Mental toughness is a term often misunderstood, with it you are on the way to becoming a winner in life, without it and your talent will not be enough to take you through. A final page has been included as this is where it all started, sport psychology for sports performance. The research of a scientific and anecdotal nature has ensured the improvement of many performers in many sports of all levels and standards to achieve the ultimate success.
I hope that you can take time to browse the pages above and understand what we can achieve with the correct mindset that has been developed and trained in this ultra competitive world of performance.
Geoff Greenwood FCCA MBA MSc
Sport Psychology Consultant
Tags: business coach, business psychology for peak performance, e learning, elearning, executive coaching for performance, in house training, mental skills training, mental toughness, on site training, online training, online training courses, overcome stage fright, overcoming performance anxiety, personal development training, sport psychology for sports performance, stagefright, stress management training, web training, workshop uk for business performance
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
With all the talent in the world, success cannot be guaranteed without the correct professional attitude. All our work in mental skills enhancement is built upon this solid foundation. If you have this and the talent then you are probably a champion at the moment, however, if you don’t then start work on building this foundation.
The difficulty for many athletes and business people is that they do not know the pieces that form together to complete the jigsaw. I consider that there are 9 parts;
1. A strong desire to succeed.
2. The ability to stay positive under all circumstances.
3. Understanding that you can only control the controllables.
4. Always offer a high commitment level in everything that you do.
5. Develop a high level of self-belief.
6. Demonstrate positive body language at all times.
7. Treat those around you with respect, empathy and kindness.
8. Learn to overcome the fear of failure and stop it holding you back
9. Develop your mental preparation for battle.
These 9 long term strategies will develop you as a person , competitor and all round human being. You will start to enjoy what you do and look upon obstacles as challenges ultimately developing mental toughness for superior performance.
Geoff Greenwood
Sports Psychology Consultant
Tags: mental skills, mental skills training, mental toughness, professional attitude.
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Motivation is one of the most misunderstood areas in performance psychology. In general life we look at someone and see that they are just not motivated. We label them as an individual that that is the way that they are. However, we make errors when we do this.
Firstly, individuals can be de-motivated in themselves or by the situation. If it is in themselves then we must seek and understand the reasons that are making them feel this way. Are they devoid of goals in their lives; perhaps short of social suport on a regular basis; could they be feeling blue and down in the dumps or maybe they are experiencing clinical depression making a full effort to get out of bed in the morning to try and complete a day.
An individual may show lack of motivation due to the situation that they find themselves in. In our work in sports psychology we find these shows of de-motivation if an athlete cannot blend into their team; feel threatened by the ongoing demands of competition; dislikes the training regime or in fact has problems with their coach or mentor. This second area is easy to remedy as we can just look at changing the situation such as team integration or more interesting and challenging training regimes.
Secondly, we need to identify what motivates the athlete or business person. Many individuals are motivated by rewards which we term as extrinsically motivated. This can range from medals, money, fame or social benefits such as getting the girl. However, the real driving force in other people is what is happening intrinsically to them, their yearning to be the best; to contribute more to their profession; be held in high esteem by their peers; their ability to go as far as is humanly possible and to acquire the ultimate achievement in whatever they do. This is the hunger and burning desire inside that we see with many sportsmen and sports women.
The tip here is to identify what your style is and if it is all geared to the fast car or the Rolex watch then you need to start seting new goals which are achievement based rather than reward based. This will give you desire and longevity. Take Ryan Giggs the new sports personality of the year 2009 at the age of 36. Do you think he is driven each day by the rewards of cash or girls or maybe he has a goal of going down in history as the most decorated player in the Premiership? I think I know which one it is.
Hope this gives you something to think about as the New Year approaches and we sit down to start writing our new goals for the year ahead.
Geoff
Tags: Add new tag, goal achievement, mental skills, mental skills training, motivation
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Friday, December 11th, 2009
A mental skills training tip to achieve your goals is to understand the difference between the different types of goals.
A poorly prepared performer wll just focus upon the outcome goal. I will win the Olympic gold in London 2012. With this as their only goal they have no direction, no performance requirements and no benchmarking on improvements or declines. If the performer wakes on the day of the final and does not feel too good and comes in 2nd, they will consider that they have failed as they did not achieve thier goal.
However, in real terms they have come second in their event against the whole world and cannot be classed as a failure. This is why it is imperative to have an outcome goal but that stays then in the background as your chosen destination. The importance is to get to that destination and that will be achieved in mental skills training by the use of process goals and performance goals.
A process goal will be the day to day practice, tactics and technique used in your efforts and a performance goal is one that can be measured as to the times, weight or height etc that you deliver in your practice and competition. These goals should be worked on daily, weekly, monthly and annually to take you towards your desired outcome goal.
Mental skills training can help you develop your short, medium and long term plan for goal achievement.
Geoff Greenwood
www.geoffgreenwood.com
Tags: goal achievement, goal setting, mental skills training, outcome goals, performance goals, process goals
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
I am always asked when I tell people what I do, How can sport psychology be used in a business setting? Simple I say because in today’s competitive environments it is the same in the boardroom as it is on the sporting field. First is first and second is nowhere!! To win at sport needs the same skills as to win at work.
Firstly, sports psychology teaches athletes the power of using mental skills for performance enhancement and to acquire the competitive edge. These mental skills range from self-confidence to concentration to emotional control to mental toughness. We work on 12 mental skills to develop this psychological edge.
Secondly, sport psychology incorporates these mental skills into the training regime alongside physical fitness, nutrition, strategic sporting approaches and technical sporting skills.
Finally, sports psychology develops the individual or team to become the best that they can become but at the same time to embrace other parts of their lives for a balanced viewpoint on all other areas and for fulfilling enjoyment on an ongoing basis.
Business psychology needs this same approach; the ability to defeat an opponent; the determination to respond to setbacks; the substance to stay the course and the control of their personal lives away from the workplace. This makes for a productive and satisfied winner.
Yes but how do you know it works? Lets consider this…if we believe that a business person is an athlete in a suit then if we can show that psychological skills training improves athletes then we have the evidence. Take a look sometime at the sporting scientific literature and you will discover that there are controlled experiments all over the world in all sports covering all performance areas, every day of the week and it has been like this for over 100 years. The scientific evidence is there coupled with a wealth of empirical and anecdotal evidence.
Hope that answers your question
Geoff
www.geoffgreenwood.com
Tags: business psychology, mental skills, psychological skills training, sport psychology, sports psychology
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Hi Guys
It seems that everybody is now catching on to the ultimate power of developing their mental skills to achieve more and succeed in their performing lives whether on the sporting field or in the boardroom. I refer to an article in the Financial Times dated Friday 31st July 2009 penned by Rhymer Rigby in which he discusses the incredible benefits and the major organisations that are now using meditation in the workplace.
In sports psychology we have used relaxtion techniques for hundreds of years because with the practiced technique comes less injury, less tension and less anxiety leading to better performance. Interventions we use range from progressive muscle relaxation to mediation to hypnosis and allows the performer to practice in their own time and before during and after performance to bring their intensity levels to the optimal point ideal for them. Interventions can be divided into cognitive approaches (thoughts) and behavioural (breathing and muscle relaxation) ones.
The article highlights its use at the Massachusetts head office of Reebok the sports manufacturer. The company explains that the technique helps the individual by reducing stress, improving focus and strengthening the mind. Other contributors talk about the ability to clear the mind and to step back to become more productive and decisive.
The article goes on to talk about Google whom we have all heard of, as they offer meditation to their staff to improve clarity of vision. Employees unwind in the midst of busy days to refresh themselves and become quite innovative in their thinking. The author goes on to talk about Twitter’s head quarters which includes a meditation room in their building.
Business psychology meditation is a technique to clear the mind by becoming focused on a specific object even for as little as 2 or 3 minutes that declutters the mind, lowers heart and blood pressure rates, reducing body tension and produces deeper rhythmic breathing and much more. The technique can be used on the tube, at your desk, toilet in fact anywhere that it is needed on demand.
If you or your organisation is interested in introducing business psychology mediatation to your team or staff for better productivity then please contact us to hear what we can help you achieve.
Geoff
Mental Toughness
Tags: business psychology, meditation, mental toughness, sports psychology
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
Just a quick note to update everyone on our very special workshop “An Introduction to psychological skills training for business performance”. The workshop is set in the beautiful Cheshire countryside located in the middle of a PGA championship golf course. On hand are speciality teas, coffees, lattes, pastries along with a beautiful 3 course cooked lunch. The facilities are second to none for total peace, tranquility and relaxation.
The workshop is an introduction to mental skills training and how it can help achieve peak performance. Each of 12 areas are covered and are thought provoking, interactive and merged with some practical demonstrations. The metaphor of sports psychology is used as we have 100 years of scientific research that demonstrates the improvement to performance by the use and practice of mental skills training. The business world is ultra competitive as is sport where seconds or inches can mean the difference between success of failure, wealth or bankruptcy etc.
Full information about our workshop for business psychology is available by clicking this link Workshop for business psychology
I am looking forward to welcoming you on our workshops very soon. Remember that we are creating more all the time and also we can deliver the workshop at your premises for your organisation, with areas specially tailored for your needs.
Geoff
Business Psychology
Tags: business psychology, mental skills, psychological skills training, sports psychology, workshop
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
I have been asked constantly for sports psychology tips, strategies or interventions that can be introduced very quickly and have an immediate impact. This is a very difficult thing to do because we are all individual and have specific idiosyncracies along with different needs at different times.
However, the beauty of sports psychology is that there are common problems with all sports performers and certain interventions can apply across the board to differing degrees. For instance, if an athlete or business person does not set written goals and pursue them then there is an immediate impact if a system is installed. Whereas if someone wants to turn the mental toughness switch on overnight then I am afraid that will only follow after a detailed plan is introduced for more the medium or long term.
So my tip for today is a concentration tip. In sports psychology everything can be lost if we are unable to concentrate at the right moment. We lose the point, miss the corner coming over or have a car crash if we are a driver. So what I want you to do is to create some verbal cues such as the word “Focus” and some visual ones such as bouncing the ball or looking at the laces on your trainers. Add some physical ones such as taking a deep deliberate breath between points. These should be used whenever you need to re-centre yourself back into the moment following disturbance or periods of deep concentration and you wish to rid yourself of internal or external distractions.
Sports psychology introduced by mental skills training will build mental toughness and deliver peak performance.
Geoff
Sports Psychology
Tags: mental skills, mental toughness, sports psychology
Posted in Performance Psychology | No Comments »
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