Sport & Performance

Affective forecasting: Challenges in predicting the intensity and durability of emotions

In this article, I discuss the poor track record people have in predicting how strong and long-lasting their emotional reactions will be to activities in which they participate. We often decide whether to participate in activities based on affective forecasting. This entails predicting the emotions we are likely to experience by engaging in activities. For example, you would be more likely to participate in an activity which you predict will lead you to experience happiness and excitement compared to an activity which you predict will lead you to experience frustration and anger. But just how accurate is this affective forecasting which guides our decisions whether to participate in activities? In the following sections, I will answer this question and discuss the implications for deciding whether to participate in activities...[more]

2025-04-13T19:49:47-06:00By |Categories: Anxiety, Sport & Performance|

How to feel energized to take action on tasks and goals

In this article, I discuss how various factors affect how much energy you can channel into taking action on a task or a goal. Doing the hard work necessary to pursue a goal or accomplish a task is much easier if you are feeling energized. In turn, there are several factors which you can target to feel energized in relation to a goal or a task. I will discuss these factors in the following sections...[more]

2025-03-26T20:14:58-06:00By |Categories: Depression, Sport & Performance|

Visualizing for success: Focus on processes more than outcomes

In this article, I discuss what you should focus on in your visualizations when your goal is to succeed at an endeavour. Visualization is a widely used strategy for people whose goal is to achieve success in an endeavour. Sports, finances, career, and relationships are just a few of the domains in which this strategy has been used to facilitate success. Although visualizing has been found to facilitate success in achieving goals, it is important to spend most of the time visualizing in a manner which is most conducive to success and spend less time visualizing in a manner which is less conducive to success. In the following sections, I will explore this topic...[more]

2025-03-17T14:37:01-06:00By |Categories: Psychology, Sport & Performance|

Self-efficacy: The engine which drives motivation

In this article, I discuss why believing you can succeed facilitates motivation to participate in challenging activities. Participating in challenging activities and pursuing goals related to these activities is for many people a fulfilling part of life. Having said that, trying out activities and engaging in them in the pursuit of goals requires motivation. This is the energy, interest and excitement which leads a person to initiate and persist at these activities. A key factor which facilitates motivation is self-efficacy. In the following sections, I will discuss this concept and how you can use it to spur motivation in yourself and in others...[more]

2025-03-02T20:00:36-07:00By |Categories: Depression, Sport & Performance|

Self-regulation: The complement to motivation when striving for success

In this article, I discuss why motivation combined with self-regulation is necessary to achieve your goals. Recent research indicated that only nine percent of the population who make New Year’s resolutions stick to them throughout the year. Given that many people who make such resolutions begin with high levels of motivation, the statistic indicates that motivation by itself is typically insufficient for people to achieve their goals. The missing ingredient to success in achieving goals is often self-regulation. The importance of this factor in goal achievement is discussed in Motivation Myth Busters by Drs. Wendy Grolnick, Benjamin Heddy and Frank Worrell. In the following sections, I will discuss how you can use self-regulation to complement motivation to achieve your goals...[more]

2025-02-16T21:24:42-07:00By |Categories: Psychology, Sport & Performance|

How to address the fear of making mistakes

In this article, I discuss psychological strategies you can use to address the fear of making mistakes in various endeavours. As someone who is learning to play the piano, I attend a monthly adult music performance class where I and the other students play our instruments and/or sing in front of an audience. A teacher provides us with helpful feedback. At the most recent class, one of the students expressed fear of making a mistake each time he performed a song with his guitar. He said that the fear was so strong that he could not help but think about the part of the song where his mistake occurs. In turn, he said that this fear made it more likely that he would make the mistake. In effect, the mistake occurred because of a self-fulfilling prophecy. After the teacher had offered her advice, she invited me to contribute to the discussion from a psychological perspective. Following the class, I thought that the ideas we discussed would make for a good blog article. In the following sections, I will discuss psychological strategies to deal with a fear of making mistakes, in music, sports, work, school and other activities...[more]

2025-02-02T20:37:14-07:00By |Categories: Anxiety, Sport & Performance|

Habit tracking: A simple but effective technique

In this article, I discuss how recording details of incidents involving behaviours can help you to cultivate good habits and break bad habits. There are many tools which I offer my clients when their goal is to cultivate good habits and break bad habits. Although I encourage my clients to use as many such tools as possible, one tool is so simple and effective that I typically offer it early in therapy. I have also used this tool successfully when my goal has been to cultivate good habits and break bad habits such as practicing piano for 75 minutes each day. The tool is called habit tracking and it is discussed in Atomic Habits by James Clear. In the following sections, I will discuss how you can use habit tracking to your advantage...[more]

2025-01-05T19:55:20-07:00By |Categories: Psychology, Sport & Performance|

Making attributions in the wake of a failure: Democratic soul-searching

Using the 2024 United States presidential election as an example, in this article I discuss how people cope with failures by identifying and acting on causal factors. Experiencing failures is part of life whether they happen in school, career, sports, relationships and many other areas. Nobody is immune from at least some failures. As such, having psychological skills to cope with this adversity is beneficial for mental health and long-term success. One set of skills for coping with failures focuses on how we think about them. In particular, the factors which we decide on as the causes of the failures have consequences for our emotional reactions along with our ability to be resilient following such adversity. In the following sections, I will discuss how this cognitive, emotional and behavioural process unfolds by using the Democratic Party’s loss in the 2024 United States presidential election as an illustrative case...[more]

2024-11-17T18:20:10-07:00By |Categories: Depression, Sport & Performance|

Should I go high or should I go low? The political challenges of self-monitoring

Using the United States presidential campaign as an example, in this article I discuss the challenges politicians face in balancing between behaving as a high self-monitor and a low self-monitor. In my education as a psychologist, I was taught about a personality characteristic known as self-monitoring. It refers to the extent to which people keep track of the impressions they are making on others in social situations. High self-monitors do more of this keeping track than do low self-monitors. The benefit of self-monitoring is that it makes it easier for the person to fit into various social situations and get along with the people in them because the person regularly monitors and adjusts their behaviour to give off a positive impression. Low self-monitors tend to fit in less well than do high self-monitors but they enjoy the benefit of acting consistently with their attitudes, values and principles more than do high-self monitors. High self-monitors and low self-monitors are often referred to as ‘pragmatic’ and ‘principled’ respectively. Although there are individual differences in whether someone leans toward being a low self-monitor or a high self-monitor, there is an ongoing attempt by most people to balance the two ways of thinking, feeling and behaving to gain the benefits of being a low self-monitor while also enjoying the benefits of being a high self-monitor. That is, people attempt to fit into social situations while also trying to behave consistently with their attitudes, values and principles.’ Balancing these two elements of self-monitoring is easier said than done. The challenges inherent in the balancing act are evident in politics. Politicians are faced regularly with the goal of being principled on the one hand while being pragmatic on the other hand. The current United States presidential campaign features many examples of these challenges faced by Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump. I will discuss these in the following sections...[more]

2024-11-03T21:02:41-07:00By |Categories: Psychology, Sport & Performance|

Focus with balance: The recipe to follow when pursuing goals

In this article, I discuss the importance of focusing on tasks while maintaining balance in one’s life when pursuing goals. I recently watched a compelling documentary film entitled The Weight of Gold. Narrated by swimming legend Michael Phelps, the film featured the mental health challenges faced by several American Olympians in various sports. The common theme underlying the emotional difficulties of these athletes was the pressure they felt from focusing completely on their Olympic goals while having little balance from engaging in activities and relationships in other parts of their lives. This led me to consider the importance of combining focus on tasks to achieve one’s goals with having balance in the form of activities and relationships apart from these goals. In the following sections, I will discuss why this combination of focus and balance is important both for fostering good mental health as well as making it more likely you can achieve your goals...[more]

2024-10-20T15:59:44-06:00By |Categories: Sport & Performance, Stress|
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