Kacey Gibson is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant and partner at The Performance Pursuit. She earned All-American status as a cross country runner for Florida State University and uses her past sport experiences as a guiding force in her sport psychology consulting services. Kacey is the Lead Sports Psychologist for the YourNextSuccess program, which you can learn more about at abyournextsuccess.com.
Although everyone has different needs when it comes to mental skills conditioning and we create individualized plans, the following are common strides made by our clients:
GOALS (AND MOTIVATION) THAT WORK
We know that goal setting is something we need to do. However, often times, we just say my goal is “X.” We don’t take the time to dissect our goal and make sure that we are very clear about what steps need to be taken to reach that goal, but most importantly we don’t check that we actually align who we are with that goal. You can expect to tap into motivation that will assist in goal achievement. We might be motivated to accomplish our goal, but not necessarily motivated to do all the day-in and day-out steps to be successful in reaching that goal in a timely manner. It is actually very difficult to use the right type of motivation at the right time. When working with a consultant, you can expect to learn more about what motivates you from within and how you can leverage this to move you closer to your goal.
SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION
Of all things — communication?? Yep, communication. You read it correctly. It confused me at first as well. One of the skills that people need to work on the most is how they communicate their athletic or exercise needs with those that influence their sport life the most; parents, coaches, teammates, friends, etc. Whether it is communicating wanting more difficult practices, a miscommunication on the court or field, needing additional practice help, or simply a ‘this is what I need from you’ conversation, communication is essential. We believe this comes from a better understanding of a client’s motivation, goal commitment, and increase in confidence in their abilities.
DEALING WITH YOUR WORST ENEMY – YOU!
Most of the time when our clients search for what it holding them back in their athletic or exercise performance, they get to a point when they realize the biggest problem is actually them (and that’s okay!). Often, we have extremely poor ways of dealing with doubt when it creeps into our mind or hesitate to have the confidence when we need it the most. We teach you strategies to utilize when your brain is not working for you in the way you need it to. Whether it is improving how you talk to yourself in high pressure situations or relaxation techniques to use when nerves are getting the best of you, clients find self-talk strategies very beneficial to tapping into the confidence they need.
SUSTAINED FOCUS
No matter what sport you compete in or what exercise is your ‘go to,’ having focus throughout is critical to success. We find that our client’s often lack refocusing routines to turn to when they find their mind wandering away from the task they need their focus attuned to. We are not saying you need to by hypervigilant all of the time, but mistakes can often be attributed to lack of focus when it is needed. Learning about different types of focus and how to regain focus when you need to yields an increase in performance rather quickly.
