Think like an Olympian

Olympic Athletes: They’re Not Like Us. They eat differently; They sleep separately; And they certainly think differently.

Mindset is a huge part of what makes an elite competitor elite, he says Kai Laird, who leads a sport and performance psychology group based in Illinois and Virginia. “Athletes who reach this level are generally around the same athletic standard,” he says, but what separates the champions from the rest is that “it really comes down to that mindset.”

Laird coaches both athletes and non-athletes who want to improve their performance and has found similarities between high performers, whether on the race course or in the classroom. He says the best stand out from the best by being able to replicate top-caliber achievements more consistently than others, which is more complicated than it sounds. Adaptation requires resilience, which requires confidence, which requires prior success, which requires discipline, which requires motivation. “We see the final product on TV,” he says, but it’s “that accumulation of skills that they’ve used every day that got them there.”

You may never be able to run the way an elite athlete runs, jumps or swims, but sports psychologists say we can adopt some of their techniques to better live our daily lives. Here’s where to start.

Get specific about your goals

Olympians tend to focus their improvement efforts on specific athletic events, rather than trying to be good at many things at once. That specificity is one of the keys to their success, he said Francesco DandekarA sports psychologist at Stanford University.

“I’m sure I can beat Michael Phelps in a sprint on the ground,” Dandekar said. This is because Phelps dedicated himself specifically to training as a freestyle and butterfly swimmer, not a runner – so all of his physical and mental skills are honed to excel at those specific tasks. “No one performs at a high level in everything,” Dandekar says.

It’s easier to find and stay on the path to improvement if you strive to get better at a particular task and you’re clear about what that task is. Instead of aiming to get fitter or learn a language in general, choose more specific goals, like safely lifting a percentage of your body weight or reading a short story in a foreign language.

The “unsexy reality” is that getting better at something means repeating that thing over and over again, and having some way to track your progress, Dandekar says. For elite athletes, having a focused goal makes that repetition sustainable—and it can make the ideal feel less overwhelmed by their own ambitions.

Plan ahead for the best conditions

The best athletes know where they shine and where they don’t – and as much as possible, they put themselves in situations where they will excel. This means training and competing in not only their best events, but also anticipating any obstacles they may face during those events. Anticipating the unexpected — and having a plan for how they’ll respond — allows them to more easily maintain a high level of performance in the moment, even when fans get excited or the weather turns bad.

We can gain a lot by adopting these techniques in our own lives. For example, instead of planning to have dinner with a group of people you dread, think ahead about what makes the situation anxiety-provoking, Dandekar says: “Is it, ‘That person never smiles? In my jokes, ‘That The person always talks about me’?”

Having a clear view of the challenges makes it easier to plan a strategy, he says. If you can’t stand a person’s flat reaction to your jokes, you’re probably planning to focus less on their reaction and more on other people’s reactions. If someone’s chronic inhibitions bug you, plan to have less one-on-one conversations with them. You can plan to excuse yourself for a quick break halfway through dinner to take care of yourself and check in with your feelings.

“It’s not like it’s going to be the most fun you’ll ever have,” Dandekar says, but “it might not be so stressful, overwhelming, generally vaguely unpleasant.”

Imagine your success

One of the best evidence-based mental techniques for improving athletic performance is visualization—that is, creating mental image You are successfully performing a movement before you actually do it. There are many athletes who constantly fantasize greater chance of success Those who don’t, say Andrew Jacobsis a Kansas City-based sports psychologist who has worked with Olympic cyclists and various professional and collegiate athletic teams.

Visualization can look different depending on what works best for different people, but it usually involves physical relaxation, getting yourself into a positive and confident mindset, and mentally rehearsing an event in your head as you want it to unfold — often all Including the sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and physical sensations that will accompany the performance. Some of Jacobs’ clients do these exercises the night before a big event, while others prefer to do them minutes before competing.

Mental imagery can help prepare you to deal with challenges, says Jacobs. “If you’re going to give a speech and it’s to a tense audience, or an uncomfortable situation, or bad lighting,” he says, “imagine what it’s going to be like so you’re more prepared.”

The best results come not only from imagining the physical activity, but also from the sense of calm and control you want to feel while you’re performing it, says Laird. While people may begin the exercise by imagining a narcissistic setting, “you’re bringing the focus back to what they can control,” he says. Focus less on the annoying colleague who will interrupt your presentation and more on your breathing and movement.

Use routines to prepare, but avoid relying on superstitions

Successful athletes have a pre-performance routine that tells both the body and mind that it’s time, says Kensa Gunter, is an Atlanta-based sports psychologist who has worked with both NBA and WNBA athletes. These routines can last anywhere from five to 30 minutes and can include anything from a meditation to a playlist. Whatever is in the routine, if it is done habitually just before a performance, it becomes an important cue that puts the athlete in a state of preparation.

Routines are different from superstitions, Gunter says: “Superstitions are, ‘If I don’t do this, something bad will happen, or I’m not as prepared as I want to be.’ They are rooted in fear and anxiety, and they relinquish control over your success to some external event.

You may have a pair of lucky socks, “but they don’t determine your ability or your ability and they don’t affect your preparation,” Gunter says. Increasing both your confidence and your skill level at a task can help change your ideas about what it takes to be successful.

You’re going to give a killer presentation not because you’re wearing your lucky socks but because you’re prepared and you know the subject. “It’s shifting from an external source of success to an internal one,” she says

Reframe performance concerns

Much of what separates the minds of elite athletes happens outside of actual competition, but they also have a few strategies to deploy in crunch time.

We’ve all been nervous at various moments of truth; Those sweaty palms and that pounding heart are part of our body’s normal response to stress. The most successful competitors interpret that physiological response as a sign of something positive, Laird says. Instead of calling yourself nervous, “frame it as exciting, like, ‘This is a challenge. This is an opportunity, versus a threat.’

During those high-adrenaline moments, elite athletes also engage in a lot of positive self-talk, which may include signal sound or Positive affirmations which instills a sense of confidence and power or reduces stress. Olympic snowboarder Shaun White liked to ask himself “who cares?” before every race, and on Friday Night Lights the high school football team got a real kick out of “clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose” (even though they were fictional). High-performing people apply these strategies effectively outside of sports — witness Quick talk For example, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put herself before a televised debate during her 2018 primary.

Different people need different types of advice at different points in a performance. Finding words or phrases that speak to your own biggest challenges can help you maintain the mindset you need, when you need it.

Don’t forget to rest

Gunter, a self-described “short word person,” says it’s important for athletes to rest — that is, to restore energy through rest and time. Rest isn’t just about sleep, she says, although sleep is important: “Rest is taking a break, a break where you’re not engaged in an activity that leads to some kind of outcome,” she says. Recharging your batteries is what enables continued engagement in high-level activities, so take regular breaks.

However you replenish your energy, be selective about the mental strategies you use to improve your performance like an elite competitor. “Rarely are they trying to do something because everyone else is doing it,” Gunter says. Rather, “they’re doing the things they’ve learned work best for them.”

In today’s comparative culture, it’s worth remembering that pursuing performance is an individual journey, he says: “There’s no one way to do it.”

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