Level Up Sports Psychology

Athletes often measure success by the clock – but when the time becomes the only thing that matters, you lose sight of the real progress you’re making.

In this post, I break down the “time trap” and show you how to shift your mindset from results to performance.

👉 learn how to:
-Break free from time pressure
-set goals that build confidence
-feel proud of your race, even if the time isn’t there
-Enjoy competing more

⭐️ your best races come when you’re focused, free, and fully present - not when you’re chasing a number.

👉 save this for your next competition.

Let me know below what is one thing you can focus on next time that has nothing to do with your time?

📷: Reuters/ Clodagh Kilcoyne

Athletes often measure success by the clock – but when the time becomes the only thing that matters, you lose sight of the real progress you’re making.

In this post, I break down the “time trap” and show you how to shift your mindset from results to performance

👉 Learn how to:
-Break free from time pressure
-set goals that build confidence
-feel proud of your race, even if the time isn’t there
-enjoy competing more

⭐️ your best races come when you’re focused, free, and fully present – not when you’re chasing a number.

👉 save this for your next competition.

Let me know below what is 1 thing you can focus on next time that has nothing to do with your time?

📷: Reuters / Clodagh Kilcoyne

Unconscious mental blocks can happen to any athlete at any level at any time.

The explanation for poor performance isn’t always physical. Old emotional wounds that the athlete has forgotten or shrugged off, can create a mental block.

Unconscious fears, past disappointments, pressure to win, etc., can create mental blocks that hijack performance – especially in high-stakes moments.

This isn’t just mindset. It’s your brain and nervous system protecting you from what it thinks is a threat.

Your unconscious isn’t trying to ruin your performance.

It’s trying to protect you from pain, pressure, or repeating past distressing experiences.

Brainspotting is a break-through therapeutic method to access and process the unconscious blocks.

Instead of your unconscious holding you back, with Brainspotting, your nervous system becomes primed to perform.

You’re not broken. You’re blocked.

Let me know if you feel blocked and would like to overcome it. Or send this to someone who might be struggling with a mental block.

📷: Olympic Channel

The game can be won before the competition even starts.

In the final days before a competition, your mental state matters as much as your muscles

Swipe through the above mental strategies to stay confident, focused, and race ready.

Which strategies will you try for your next big competition? Let me know below.

Clutch mindset is the brain and body chemistry working together to increase the likelihood of an excellent performance.

The prefrontal cortex is sharp and leads.

The amygdala stays cool and quiet.

Dopamine motivates and drives the athlete.

Adrenaline fuels and powers the athlete.

it isn’t magic. It is mind – body chemistry. Where your brain and your body follows pressure turns into performance.

let me know below if you have ever experienced clutch mindset.


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Your mind can be your biggest asset or your biggest opponent.

If you tend to overthink before a race, you are not alone. The best athletes know how to shift gears and find that locked in mindset.

The above mindset hacks are tools, not tricks. Use them to quiet the noise, focus in, and let your body do what it’s trying to do.

Let me know below what your mindset is before a race.

How an athlete perceives a competition – as a threat or a challenge - can have a significant impact on their performance.

❌Threat Perception
When athletes see a race or a game as a threat, their body goes into survival mode.

✔️ physically- heart rate spikes erratically, muscles tense up, and coordination can suffer.
✔️ mentally – they are anxious, they focus on not failing, worry about consequences (worst case scenario thinking), and overthink every move.

Ex.: before an NCAA championship prelims heat, the athlete is thinking “if I don’t make the A final, I’ll let the team down.” They feel anxious and tight and overwork the first part of the race, leaving them exhausted for the second half of the race.

Ex.: a high school soccer player fears making a mistake in front of college coaches & plays more cautiously, avoiding risks, and under performs.

What it looks like:
- Low confidence
- Outcome based thinking & what if… thinking
- pressure from coaches, parents, media, rankings, financial consequences, etc.
- focusing on past failures

✅ Challenge perception
When the same event is seen as a challenge, the athlete feels energized and focused.
✔️ physically – heart rate increases in a stable way, muscles are primed, but loose, reflexes are sharp.
✔️ mentally – they feel motivated, confident, and in control.

Ex.: the swimmer reframes the prelim heat as a chance to show what they have training for.

Ex.: a basketball player sees college coaches attending the game as an opportunity to prove their growth and development. They are able to stay present, adapt, and take smart shots.

What it looks like:
- focusing on solid preparation
- confident
- process focus thinking, such as “I have trained for this and I want to see how well I can execute this”
- focusing on past successes

It is not the event itself. It is the athlete’s interpretation of the event that is crucial. Most of the time, the interpretation is unconscious. Athletes need to learn to train their mind just like they train their body.

📷: nineoclock.ro

The #1 mistake athletes and coaches make about peak performance is to stay in a training mindset, rather than shifting to a performance mindset, which causes upon a different part of the brain.

The best performances tend to just happen. The athlete is not overthinking, not hesitating, but rather is in flow state. When you’re in the zone, you’re not thinking, you’re doing.

That’s peak performance, and it comes from your hind brain – the primal, instinctive part of your brain, responsible for “muscle memory” as well as movement, reaction, and survival.

Characteristics of the hindbrain include:
-fast decision decisions
-smooth reactions
-Total presence in the moment

Once stress or pressure kick in, the frontal lobe of the brain takes over. This is also the part of the brain that is mostly used during training because it is the part of the brain where you learn and analyze. For example, thinking about keeping a high elbow on your catch, must start with the frontal lobe. Once it becomes automated, it switches to muscle memory in the hind brain.

When you’re in the frontal lobe, performance drops and athletes struggle. It’s not because the athlete isn’t capable. It’s because the athlete is no longer letting the body do what it knows how to do.

Rather than thinking about a lot of strategic or technical details, going into a performance instead:
-trust your training
-Quiet the noise in your mind
-Visualize and feel in your body how you want to perform
-then perform from instinct or muscle memory

let me know below if you have any questions about this.

📷: The Canadian Press/AP/Eugene Hosiko

Here are some tips to help you get into a race day mindset and to feel confident before your event:

1. Trust your training.

Knowing that you have prepared specifically for these races should give you a boost of confidence. Recall the hard sets you have pushed through. Trust that you have put in the work and are ready to perform.

2. Focus on process and how to challenge yourself.

Instead of focusing on how much you want to make that cut/that final or that best time, instead focus on how you want to execute your race. Pick one or two things and challenge yourself by asking “I wonder how well can I execute 5 dolphin kicks off the wall?” Or ask yourself “ I just want to see how well I can grab the water the last 50.”

Focusing on process and on a challenge has the effect of priming your body to perform. Focusing too much on the outcome actually hinders performance. remember, the outcome is beyond your control. (If you could guarantee a certain outcome, you would.)

3. Stay in your lane.

Focus on your race plan no matter what anyone else in the race is doing. It seems natural to want to race the people around you, but don’t let that throw off your race plan. Toward the end of the race is the time to race someone.

4. Use mental rehearsal (aka visualization).

Even if you haven’t been visualizing leading up to the meat, it can help build confidence and prepare you mentally to spend some time mentally rehearsing how you want to execute your race. The key is to feel in your body how you want to feel during your race.

Do these tips help you feel ready on race day? Let me know below.

📷: USA Today/ Robert Hanashiro

Many athletes make the mistake of taking their training mindset into competition. Usually they don’t even realize it though it makes it harder for them to do well.

What is the difference between a training mindset and a competing mindset?

A training mindset involves a lot of thinking. During training, an athlete should be focusing on their technique and consciously working on refining skills, and how they want to execute their details like turns and starts. The athlete should be questioning if they are pushing themselves enough. Can they get more out of themselves? In short, a training mindset focuses on deliberate practice, analysis, and intentional improvement.

In a contrast, a racing mindset emphasizes trusting that the work has been enough & is done, trusting that the technique will be there, & the feeling of flow.

In a racing mindset, the athlete will not be overthinking. The athlete will stay focused on the present moment.

Do you find yourself in a training mindset when it’s time to race? If you’re overly focusing on technique, you probably are still in that training mindset. Remind yourself that the work is done and trust that it will be enough.

The formula for success or excellence is well known, and not that difficult to explain. The challenge comes from working through the process each and every day.

First, an athlete needs a dream. But a dream alone isn’t sufficient. There must be action taken daily in support of that dream. In fact, many actions daily are required: not just physical training, but also diet, sleep, recovery, etc..

As the athlete goes through the challenges of daily training & competing, their mindset must also be focused on their dream and on how they can show up that day to get the very best out of themselves.

Some days, the progress will be straightforward. But every athlete will experience setbacks, whether it’s a bad practice or a poor performance in a competition. Learning from those experiences and bouncing back is crucial for success.

The definition of success here is not necessarily reaching the athletes’ dream. This is confusing for a lot of new athletes. But only a very small percentage will achieve an Olympic gold medal or a Super Bowl ring. However, any athlete who follows this process and gives it their all will benefit from this process.

The process in itself is the gift and the reward. And it can be applied to anything in life.

📷: Getty Images