| From my experience, many athletes spend too much | | | | become anxious, scared, worried, and perform |
| energy worrying about things that they cannot control | | | | tentatively at best. |
| on the athletic field, court, or course. They waste | | | | If you want maximum composure, you must learn to |
| energy on irrelevant thoughts. | | | | train yourself to focus only on what is in your direct |
| Have you ever become distracted because you were | | | | control in sports. You can divide the competitive arena |
| arguing with an official about a bad call? Even when | | | | into two areas: |
| you knew the official was not going to change his call, | | | | 1. Things you can control: your thoughts, behaviors, |
| you gave energy to an *uncontrollable.* | | | | performance, and reactions in both practice and |
| The result: You became upset or frustrated, lost your | | | | competition. |
| composure, and it affected you for several minutes to | | | | 2. Things beyond your control: events or persons that |
| follow or even until the end of the game. | | | | you cannot influence during competition and which |
| If you focus on thoughts or events that are outside of | | | | cause you to be distracted from your real mission. |
| your immediate control, you are distracted at the very | | | | Your goal is to separate these two areas in your mind |
| least. | | | | and focus only on what you can control during |
| Athletes also get sidetracked easily when feeling | | | | performance. You should ask yourself, "What do I |
| intimidated by the opposition. They focus too much on | | | | need to focus on that will help me perform my best? " |
| an opponent's record or abilities. This can cause them | | | | The other important question to ask yourself is, |
| to doubt or become anxious. | | | | "Where should I direct my energy during my |
| You can classify all result-oriented thinking about | | | | performance? " |
| outcomes into things that are beyond your direct | | | | Your answer to these two questions will help you |
| control (in the present moment). | | | | improve your composure in sports. You will not get as |
| Athletes who focus too much on results or what | | | | anxious or frustrated by giving energy to things that |
| others think, instead of the process, are likely to | | | | are beyond your control. |
