The clients that I work with know that the first question I ask when they come to see me is ‘What do you want?’ I don’t ask them about their problem as my intention is to move them away from their problem and start working on the solution. You would be surprised at how many struggle with this question and proceed to tell me what they don’t want. Most of them, for many years have been focusing on not wanting to be anxious, or not wanting to be overweight, or not wanting to feel sad. No wonder they don’t know what they want!
If I say ‘don’t think about a pink elephant’ what happens? You thought of the pink elephant. Why? Your mind automatically has to think of a pink elephant before it cannot think of it. So, if you are always thinking ‘ I don’t want to be anxious’, your mind has to think of anxiety before it can even go anywhere near beginning to imagine you calm. Have you notice what happens when you start thinking of not wanting to be anxious? Most likely you will get anxious as your subconscious processes can’t differentiate between a real or an imagine experienced.
Knowing this, it came as no surprise to me when I read an article in the NY Times about Novak Djokovic’s (world’s No. 1 ranked tennis player) mental preparation as being as important to his success as his physical preparation. To the journalist, Djokovic mentioned meditation as a key tool for peak performance. Here is what he said:
“One of the ways is to kind of meditate but not meditate with the intention of going away from those problems, but visualise.
Visualisation is a big part of everybody’s life, not just athletes. I strongly believe in visualization. I believe that there is a law of attraction: You get the things that you produce in your thoughts. Life just works that way.”
Visualisation, which can be done through meditation or by inducing a state of trance through self-hypnosis is the ability to use one’s sense to create or re-create an experience in the mind. It’s a key mental skill for success, essential to maintaining the high motivation, focus and self-control that is the fuel to achieve one’s goals. An important aspect to visualisation is to practice is daily several times a day in order to develop the skill and in order to retrain your brain to focus on what you want.
Djokovic like many of us had limiting beliefs about himself, as he stated in the interview:
“I used to freeze up whenever I made a mistake; I was sure that I wasn’t in the same league as the Federers….
Now, when I blow a serve or shank a backhand, I still get those flashes of self-doubt, but I know how to handle them: I acknowledge the negative thoughts and let them slide by, focusing on the moment.
That mindfulness helps me process pain and emotions. It lets me focus on what’s really important. It helps me turn down the volume in my brain.”
Even today at his level, Djokovic can still experience moments of self-doubt. Of course, we are humans and as such we experience various emotions. The key is to have the tools available so that when we do get these feelings we can handle them in a more resourceful way. Many of us, when we experience negative thoughts or emotions, our first reaction is to want to avoid these feelings or to get upset because we are getting these feelings. From now on, instead of denying the feeling, you are going to acknowledge the feeling. Acknowledge that you are angry, frustrated or sad. Talk to the feeling and say yes to being angry or sad. Afterwards, release the feeling; using your imagination visualise the feeling leaving your body, imagine a window and imagine the feeling leaving your body through the window. (Give it a shape and colour).
Djokovic also mentions as part of his mind training exercises, turning down the volume in his brain. Literally that is what you have to do when you start with the internal dialogue especially during the night. Imagine a volume knob and turn the volume down. First, you acknowledge that inner voice, and you tell your inner voice that you will talk tomorrow and in your mind’s eye, you bring that imaginary volume down. Try it next time, it works really well!
In the NY Times interview, Djokovic also describes how changing his diet helped his physical performance. Another key aspect when wanting to achieve our peak performance relates to how you present yourself to others. As Djokovic states:
“If you feel good in your clothes, it affects you psychologically somehow, whether players admit it or not.”
It becomes clear that for athletes to achieve their peak performance they have to look after themselves as a whole – nutrition, mind, body and spirit. The same applies to all of us. There are many components that will determine our success. One of these factors relates to how we think, our attitude, our health and our own self- image.
Today, start practicing mindfulness, meditation, and visualisation. Look at something simple that you could change from your nutrition. Empower yourself with the conviction that by taking methodical action with these practices you can get the same benefits and mental excellence that contributes to the peak performance of athletes like Novak Djokovic.