How to Train Awareness in the Moment Despite Pressure
A well developed mental game toolkit is useless if you aren’t aware of when you need to reach in for a tool.
Awareness precedes the application of mental skills, making it an essential skill to develop. You can train it in a micro (small moment) and macro (big picture) way. This article discusses how you can train your awareness on the micro level.
When I talk about awareness on the micro level, it's about becoming aware of your thoughts in a given moment by “checking in.” You do this by asking yourself “how am I feeling right now?” This check in question can be taken many directions, for example:
How is the quality of my thinking right now?
What am I currently focused on?
Where is my confidence?
Don’t do this while you’re involved in the play. If you miss a shot and you’re hustling back on defense, stay engaged in the moment. You should be present and focused during game-time. Wait for a break to check in; this is a time when your mind is more likely to drift into negativity.
Asking and answering a check in question like this is helpful in two ways.
You detach from potentially negative or ineffective thoughts you were having, refocusing on the question at hand. This awareness exercise in and of itself helps you think more rationally and less emotionally.
You can easily course correct to a path toward productive thoughts.
After checking in, you do one of two things:
Maintain your quality mental game. You checked in and confirmed that you’re thinking effectively. Great! Keep doing what you’re doing.
Enhance the quality of your mental game. You checked in and realized you’re thinking ineffectively. As a result, you apply a mental tool from your toolkit.
This is the key to consistency; having an effective monitor to catch ineffective thinking when it inevitably arises. You cut it off and course correct, leading to more thoughts throughout your game that build confidence and optimize focus.
It's important to have confidence in your ability to refocus or reframe your thoughts. Otherwise, you’ll be aware of ineffective thinking without being able to do anything about it.
Typically, in sport psychology training, you train your ability to catch the ineffective thoughts from appearing before training mental skills. Once that awareness muscle has been flexed for a week or more, you can start pairing this exercise with other mental skills in your mental game toolkit.
At this point, you understand how to train awareness - ask yourself how you’re doing to be able to step back and analyze your thought train, after which you’ve opened the gate to apply mental skills if necessary.
Understand the moments that are important to check in rather than doing it randomly. Here are 3 opportunities to routinely check in with your thoughts
After making a mistake. Your mental game is susceptible to being hijacked after making a mistake. Become comfortable getting ahead of this pitfall by checking in after the mistake occurs to quickly refocus.
Moments before game-time. This is another common pitfall for athletes’ mental game. Feeling a bit anxious and tense before you get into a rhythm is common. Increase the chances that you start on time by checking in.
After a great play. Checking in isn’t only useful for recovering your mental game. It can also facilitate more confidence throughout practices and games. After making a great play, like scoring or creating a great opportunity for a teammate, check in with your thoughts when you have a moment. Ideally, you’re gaining confidence from understanding what went well and how you can keep it up going forward.
Remember, training your mind is like going to the gym. You want to get mental reps in throughout every week, not just one day here and there. Start by checking in 5-10 times at practices and games. It’s a quick process - for now, just ask yourself the question, “how are my thoughts right now?"
