We are all familiar with Goldilocks and the Three Bears right? For those who aren't, this is a classic children's tale of a young girl who stumbles upon the home of a family of bears who systematically judges the quality of each bear family member's food, sleeping arrangements, etc. Generally, she tends to settle on the Baby bear's things because, unlike Mom and Dad bear, Baby bear tends to have their stuff somewhere in between the two extremes of their parents. For example, Mom's bed is too soft, Dad's bed is too firm, and Baby's is juuuuust right.
So what does this have to do with mental performance? Quite a bit actually.
Here's the thing. I can't think of anything in performance psychology that isn't at least marginally dependent on you getting a real good sense of where in between two extremes you lie. For example, when we discuss something like energy management (or how fast your mental engine is running) we all tend to performance best when we mentally show up somewhere in the middle of being asleep and embodying the chaos of a toddler on too much ice cream. Same goes for confidence; you probably are at your best when your confidence lies somewhere between hiding under a blanket and proclaiming your invincibility to the world. This list could theoretically go on forever...
Great, so you know now that you probably shouldn't be at a 0 or a 100. That leaves 99 other digits of mental nuance for you to figure out. Which brings us to...
Mental Awareness
When we think of awareness, we often think about our ability to monitor information in our surroundings. Don't get me wrong, that skill set is important. But, I'd argue that it is more important to first develop a sense of an awareness of self. It's not guessing, but KNOWING what it is that you personally need to give you the best chance of performing at your best.
The first step of figuring this out lies in learning from what you have already done. Chances are high that you are not 100% a failure in whatever you are performing at. Let's say in the worst case scenario you are only successful about 10% of the time. Cool, let's just go ahead and toss the other 90% of your experiences straight out the window for now. (Note: I said for now, failure is absolutely your best teacher and we will be coming back for it in another post).
Let's ask for questions about that 10%. First off, what went well? You are probably going to want to replicate that success in the future so it might be useful to define what exactly went well in that moment. After you've figured that out, how did you feel? Were you calm, energized, somewhere in the middle? What were you thinking about? Were you prepared and mentally rehearsing up until the moment of performance or were you trying to keep your mind from overthinking? How did your body feel? Were you loose, fidgety, or mostly still? Try your best to remember these details and write them down somewhere.
You need to know that nothing above is inherently good or bad. An athlete who plays better calm is not somehow better than one that plays better when amped up. There are only the things that work for you to achieve your aims and goals and the things that do not. The thing is, you need to pay attention to figure this out. There has to be intention because every single person is going to perform their best in different mental conditions.
For a good example of this in action, watch this quick video below. You may have seen it before, but watch anyways!
While I am fairly positive that it wasn't the original intent of this video, it certainly does a great job at demonstrating the nuances what a performer needs and how it can be different from others or the group as a whole.
Watch the video one more time, except this time keep your eyes on number 11 (sitting two to the left of the guy who is singing) and number 55 (on the floor in front of the guy singing).
If you actually watched again you will have noticed that in the midst of all this energy they are completely calm. Nearly static. It is very possible that they are not the kind of athletes who perform best by getting hyped up. In fact, this team's action could be pulling 11 and 55 right out of their performance Goldilocks zone by surrounding them with too much mental energy. Again, it is important to remember that no one is right or wrong here; some players just perform better when hyped up, others do better when they are in a state of calm focus. AND THAT'S OK. The real question is, what is it that YOU need? And then, once you have figured it out, what is it that you are going do to to make sure you are showing up that way as often as possible?
You have to become aware of what YOU need to perform at your best. You are welcome to try what others have done; however at the end of the day you need to become responsible for intentionally noticing your personal patterns when you have performed at your best. So start noticing yourself, you just might be surprised in the patterns that you start to see.