What We Focus On Matters: Here’s Why

Where athletes place their focus during training, preparation, and competition has a significant impact on how they perform. And, whether the focus is placed on uncontrollable or controllable factors of performance can influence energy, fatigue, motivation, and enjoyment.

“Uncontrollables” are things in our environment that are out of our control or cannot be chosen. 

What is out of our control?

• Outcomes 

• Coach decisions 

• Teammates’ performances 

• Weather or Conditions 

• Changes in schedule or start time

• Refs or Officials 

• Opponents 

• Injury

Paying attention to these factors distracts us from the present moment, drains our mental and physical energy, and restricts our ability to show up confidently. We have no influence in field conditions, if there is a delay in start time, if the coach decides to change the lineup, or whether our opponent is highly skilled - It can be easy to focus on these situations because they are often upsetting and highly distracting. But, allowing these things to take our focus away from where we need it to be lets the environment or other people dictate our confidence, enjoyment, and behaviors.

So, why focus on controllables instead?

“Controllables”, or factors in our preparation and performance that we have 100 percent control over, connect us with the present moment, turn our focus inward, and prepare our mind and bodies for competition.

These include:

• Effort: Athletes can choose the intensity of their effort and intentionality during training, recovery, and competition

• Perspective & Attitude: Approaching situations with an opportunity-mindset (“I have an opportunity to challenge myself today”) and growth-mindset (“What can I learn from this experience?”) turns focus inwards

• Mental & Physical preparation: Athletes have control over aspects of their training, recovery, nutrition, and physical and mental preparation to put in them the zone where they perform their best

• Self-talk: We have control over what we say to ourselves to enhance our confidence and attitude (“I am excited for this opporutnity” or “I am resilient”)

• Breathing: Connecting with the present moment through breathing grounds us in the here and now, giving us a moment to respond with purpose

• Responses to setbacks: There is choice in the behaviors we show after a mistake or setback. How we respond to the emotions and experiences we feel set ourselves up for the next play, shift, quarter, etc.

• What we are focused on: Are we distracted by our environment? Or are we locked in on the controllables?

Choosing to engage with these actions, behaviors, and mindsets fuels our performance, pours energy into the preparation that sets our mind and body up for success, and purposefully guides our actions to align with what we value. These shift our perspective towards “the process” and building consistency, while fostering a mindset that is compassionate, driven, and disciplined.