How Does Mental Performance Work?

Mental performance works by focusing your attention on 3 key things. Those key things don’t cost anything, they’re always with you, and can be trained.

The first thing is your body and senses. By strengthening your connection with your body and senses, you can learn to manage your ups and downs better and read yourself and your environment more accurately.

The second thing is your words. Your words can be instructional: “one step at a time” or motivational “I can do this.” Your words show you how you’re thinking about what you’re thinking about. When you use your words well, you become more aware of the conclusions you’re making, the evidence you’re using to support your conclusions, and that reveals the options that are available to you, moment to moment. Beyond managing attention, your words translate into critical thinking skills, and that’s useful for every area of life.

The third thing is your imagination. Your imagination is a powerful tool for rehearsing, planning, reflecting, and learning. One of the basic practices is to imagine in detail the positive, successful result you see yourself achieving. Learning to use your imagination involves stabilizing the images in your mind, addressing imagined challenges, and ending on success.

The foundational level of the mental game is this, learning to use these 3 key things towards your desired outcome.