by Jack Singer, Ph.D.

Licensed Sport/Clinical Psychologist

Overcoming the Top Barriers to Peak Performance

[contentbox width=”500″ borderwidth=”1″ borderstyle=”dashed” bordercolor=”000000″ dropshadow=”0″ backgroundcolor=”F5F5F5″ radius=”0″]This is the 6th of a series of cutting edge tips from the field of Sport Psychology to help you reach peak performance, both as an individual athlete and as a team. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Dr. Jack at 1-800-497-9880 or email him on the contact page.[/contentbox]

Teaching peak performance skills is the most frequent request I receive as a Sport Psychologist.

Here are 7 key barriers to achieving peak performance and proven methods for overcoming them:

Inability to Get Motivated to Train. Write down your main performance goals and the exact training regimen necessary to achieve each. Keep track of your progress in training. Lack of Confidence. Be aware of the negative self-talk habits you use and learn a method to stop them dead in their tracks. Seek support from teammates to overcome adversity and bounce back from disappointing performances. Too Much Anxiety During Games. Recognize the worrisome thoughts that lead to worrying before and during your performances. Learn relaxation techniques, deep breathing and even self-hypnosis to control anxiety. Always focus on the process of performing your sport…not the outcome. Focusing on winning and the outcome subtracts from your focus on what the process of a winning performance entails. Too Many Distractions During Your Performance. A simple formula for success holds true, regardless of your sport: Your Performance=Your Talent + Your Motivation- Distractions. The number one distraction is negative self-talk. See number 2 above. Non-Productive Emotions. Anger, fear, worry, lack of enthusiasm, etc. are all emotions that prevent optimal performance. Understand the triggers for those emotions and you can begin to eliminate them. Look to role models who display the emotions that lead to high performance and emulate them. Talk to them for inspiration. Too much intensity. Ideally, if we measure intensity on a scale from 1-10, try to stay within the 5-6 range. Too much intensity will lead to early exhaustion. Not enough intensity will lead to mediocre performance. Make a plan based on your fitness and strengths and stick to it throughout the game/event. Disregarding Injuries. A mistake that many athletes make is not giving their bodies a chance to completely heal from injury before continuing in competition. The notion of “no pain…no gain” is archaic. Get diagnosed early and be patient with rehab before returning. Stop thinking about the time you’re missing, the disappointment in your coach, etc., and instead, focus on your long term plan to become even better once you are completely healed.

Core Sports Performance

You know the importance of training your muscles. But you should also know the importance of training your mind. It’s no secret that elite athletes like Tiger Woods, Ken Norton (who used hypnosis training before his famous victory where he broke Mohammad Ali’s jaw), and Nolan Ryan all used hypnosis to propel them to the next level.

Now, you can acquire these same techniques, and reap the benefits of unconscious peak-performance training.

In just four sessions, Dr. Jack’s unique hypnosis techniques and visualization exercises will help you fully utilize your unconscious mind for peak sports performance. You’ll learn to enlist all facets of your consciousness to help you overcome obstacles. Each session will take you into deeper states of relaxation and focus.

All athletes train hard. But less than 1% know how to apply the techniques you’ll learn from Dr. Jack Singer’s Core Sports Performance program. Hypnosis can make the difference for every athlete who wants to gain a competitive edge. Click here to purchase.

About the Author:

Dr. Jack Singer is a professional speaker, trainer and psychologist. He has been speaking for and training Fortune 1000 companies, associations, CEO’s and elite athletes for 34 years. Among the association conventions which Dr. Jack has keynoted are those which serve financial planners.

Dr. Jack is a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, FOX SPORTS and countless radio talk shows across the U.S. and Canada. He is the author of “The Teacher’s Ultimate Stress Mastery Guide,” and several series of hypnotic audio programs, some specifically for athletes and some for anyone wanting to raise their self-confidence and esteem. To learn more about Dr. Singer’s speaking and consulting services, please visit DrJackSinger.com and FunSpeaker.com or call him in the U.S. at (800) 497-9880.