Sports Psychology: How to Win Your Next Competition: 31 Tips to Help You Perform at Your Best

Whether you’re a salesperson, manager, entrepreneur, trial attorney, weekend warrior, or professional athlete, you often need an edge to perform to your full potential.

If you know how to get in the zone and stay there, you’ll definitely have the edge you need to win, beat your competition, and perform to your full potential.

What is the zone?

In short, the zone is a state of relaxed concentration where there is no self-criticism. You are confident, relaxed, focused and living in the present. In addition, there is a sense of enjoyment, your actions seem automatic and easy, and there is a greater belief that your dreams can come true.

It is interesting to note that the zone is parallel to and coincides with a hypnotic state of mind.

Thirty One Tools You Need To Use Effectively To Stay In The Zone

The author has worked with thousands of world-class athletes, youth athletes, and weekend warriors. He has tested and helped Olympic champions.

Below is a simple quiz and rating system that can help athletes, coaches, and parents of athletes understand the elements that comprise the zone. Readers of this article will also understand what are the common barriers to entering the zone.

Here are the questions.

Just rate yourself from 1 to 10 on each of the questions.

You can use grades from zero to ten and you can use decimal points. Ten is the highest rating you can get, and zero is the lowest rating.

1. How safe do you feel?

2. How relaxed do you feel?

3. How focused do you feel?

4. How well have you been practicing?

5. How resistant do you feel?

6. How well do you sleep the night before a competition?

7. Are your eating, sleeping, and exercise patterns in balance with each other?

8. How much fun do you have when you compete?

9. Can self-criticism be silenced?

10. Do you engage in positive self-talk?

11. Are you able to disconnect from distractions?

12. Are you able to stay in the present?

13. Do you have pre-shot routines that you use constantly?

14. Do you have a “Plan B” if your “Game A” isn’t working?

15. Do you follow and eat a diet that makes sense for your body and your sport?

16. Can you empty your mind and trust your athletic body?

17. Can you still your mind to focus on just one thing?

18. Are you injury free?

19. Are you able to control any interpersonal problems or stressors?

20. Do you use a simple mantra, phrase, or melody to reset your mind and body before, during, and after your competition?

21. Do you know how to recover from a loss, a setback or a losing streak?

22. For young athletes-How is your relationship with your parents?

23. Have you seen yourself on video in the last ninety days?

24. Are you grateful for the opportunity to master a sport or a skill?

25. Do you have any techniques to go from choking to the zone?

26. Do you have fun competing and practicing?

27. Do you set measurable short- and long-term goals and objectives?

28. If you are a religious or spiritual person, do you use prayer as part of your training and as part of your pregame routine?

29. How well do you handle the ups and downs that are part of any challenge?

30. How is your relationship with your coaches, teammates and teammates?

31. Do you practice meditation, visualization, guided imagery, or visualization before you compete and when you practice?

“Ideally, I like to see athletes scoring 8.5 on most of the above items. Being 85 percent ready is usually enough to produce good performances. So a perfect score on this test is about 263.5 If you get this score, there’s a good chance you’re in a mental frame of mind that will allow you to perform well.

If you discover weaknesses that cause you to lose matches and tournaments, you need to develop strategies and techniques to overcome these deficiencies.

It’s hard to make these kinds of changes on your own. A sports psychologist, coach, or mentor can often be very helpful in building confidence, reducing anxiety, improving focus, and showing you how to get into the zone more often.

If your scores are very low, you can probably benefit from some counseling, mental toughness training, or self-hypnosis training.