This is where that funnel comes in within athletic performance. There isn't just the pre-performance routine, there is the doing performance, the moving in from one pitch, one swing, one stroke at a time so that the funnel comes in and it goes out and it goes in as you go through. In baseball, a pitcher may have to take 120 pitches. That means an outfielder has to move in and out, for each one of those pitches.
When they move in, they're ready, they're right here; they're where they need to be. Their energy is there. It doesn't mean when I'm the outfielder that when I step back and the pitch is doing is things between pitches, that I don't lose my focus of attention. I may, but then I step back in and when I step back in, I'm right here, because this idea of moving in and out, the performance during a routine, I would like you to try this exercise now.
I want you to give me five seconds of attention as you're sitting there. Ready, set, go! One, two, three, four, five, space up, let it go, let it go. Now, give me another five, one, two, three, four, five, space up, let it go. This time, three seconds, one, two, three, space up, pinch your arm, I want you to hurt yourself just a little bit, little bit of pain, ooooh! Okay, give me three: one, two, three, another little pinch, pinch, pinch. Okay. Give me a three: one, two, three.
What's that about? That's about the clicking it in for short periods of time, the pinch is the bad call by the official. Next play, another bad call, next possession, another bad call, next pitch. So you practice dealing with that adversity. There is a pre-performance routine, there is the doing performance routine. Then, of course, there is the post-performance routine.
We go into the performance, we do that performance, we come out of the performance. What is it that you do in certain sports, in golf? You hit your shot but what do you do to let go over that shot and come out? In baseball, you may hit the ball hard but you're making out, you come back to the dug out, you take off your gloves, you put the bat in the rack. You let that go. Then you come back to the dug out and you focus your energy on teammates and that gets you back where you need to be.
So the routine involves these three components of going into the performance, doing the performance and then coming out of the performance. As we do this, it helps us compete by being prepared to win the next pitch, the next possession, the next shot. By going in, doing, coming out.
Now, after the performance, your coaches very often will sit down, they'll talk with you in going through what were some of the lessons learnt? What are some of the things that your team needs to work on? There is an individual athlete, these are questions that you need to ask yourself and this is where you can use a feedback sheet to just write down what some of the lessons learned are, in terms of your preparation, in terms of what happened to you.
You took maybe two hours out of your life to play this game, what is it that you learned from it to get better? Because remember earlier, we talked about everyday you make a choice to take a step forward, remain the same or take a step back and it's your responsibility to learn these lessons and this is where your post-performance routine and de-briefing can help you, so that you have things you're working on the next time to get better and as you work on those things, you're going to have more confidence going into your next performance.
The key thing with routines and I mentioned it at the end, being prepared to win, that next possession, that next point. That takes mental toughness and preparation to give yourself the best opportunity for success.
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