The 6Ps of Peak Performance

By: Brian M. Cain, MS, CAA

Peak Performance Coach

http://www.briancainbaseball.com

Have you ever had one of those days when everything went your way? Everything went right and you played the game of your life? But when you look back on that performance, you can’t remember what you were thinking, or what your preparation was; it just…happened?

If you’re nodding , you’ve experienced a “peak performance.”  And if you’re anything like the college and professional athletes I work with, you would like to be able to recreate that performance consistently.

Well, know that you did NOT “play over your head,” as many coaches and teammates may have told you. Greatness does exist inside of you and understanding the 6Ps of Peak Performance will allow you to recreate your best performances on a consistent basis.

Live In The Moment

When baseball players play at their greatest it’s because they are totally focused on the here and now. This is why you can’t remember, in detail, what you were saying to yourself or how you were feeling during the game because you were totally engaged in what you were doing—your mind and body were one.  To get yourself focused on the here and now, I want you to focus so intently on a sound in the room that everything else disappears.  Know that you DO NOT block out the crowd, you focus so intently on what you are doing, that everything else disappears.

Focuses on The Process

When you’re at your best you focus only on the things that are within your circle of control. When you struggle it’s because you focus on  what’s inside your circle of concern: the weather, the other team, officials, the politics of the team, playing time, coaching decisions, etc.  During peak performance, you’re totally focused on your circle of control:  your attitude, performance, and effort.

The process focused athlete isn’t concerned with winning and losing, because its in their circle of concern. The Process focused athlete is concerned with playing well, because they know that winning is a by-product of playing well.  To become a process focused athlete, you must first know what you need to do to play well – A great learning opportunity for you is to talk with your coaches and find out what they see you doing when you are playing your best.  Once you have identified what YOUR GAME is, your goal becomes – PLAY YOUR GAME – if you play your game, the end result will take care of itself.

Plays With A Positive Mindset

Most athletes are confused about having a Positive Mindset. Most athletes think that having a positive mindset is never getting upset about striking out, making an error , or losing a game. Not true.  A positive mindset is focusing totally on that which you are trying to do, not what you are trying to avoid.

The pitcher should focus on throwing their curveball down in the zone, and avoid the thoughts of trying not to hang the pitch.  To train yourself to have a positive mindset, wear a rubber band on your wrist and every time you catch yourself saying what you want to avoid, or what you don’t want to have happen, snap yourself back, and it won’t be long before you are a positively programmed, peak performing machine.

Keeps A Healthy Perspective

When you win, are you fun to be around?  When you lose are you miserable till you win another game?  If that is the case, you have an unhealthy perspective on baseball and that perspective is limiting your ability.  You are “personalizing the performance”.  When you personalize the performance, you feel worthy to the degree to which you played.  Personalizing the performance puts too much pressure on the performer without them even realizing it.  Don’t be careless, but maybe you need to care less about end results and focus more on the process of playing well, that is a healthy perspective.

Quality Practice

There is no more key ingredient to your success as an athlete than quality practice.  Practice does not make perfect, practice makes permanent.  It is unlikely that you will perform better in games that you do in practice.  If you are thinking to yourself as you read this “what is Cain talking about I am a gamer, I turn it on in games.” Then you are in trouble.  If you are someone who says, “I CAN STEP IT UP” – you will get beat every time by the person who has been practicing hard all year long and will go out there with the mindset that all they have to do is do what they have been doing in practice because they will then be playing their game.

If you think you can STEP IT UP in games, you need to start stepping it up in practice.  The athletes that have peak performances on a consistent basis are the athletes that don’t change their intensity and focus from practice to games – they go all out in practice to make practice more game-like, so that they can make the games more practice-like.

Take Pride In All You Do

Peak Performers know that life is not like a light switch.  They know that in the pursuit of greatness you can not be less than excellent in one area of life and expect to excel in another.  The light switch must always be one.  Excellence is an attitude and a full time commitment.  Many athletes think they can slack in school or be dishonest with their family and friends and excel on the field.  Those athletes may perform well because they are more physically gifted than those who they play against, but they are NOT SUCCESSFUL.  The only true measure of success is how good you are compared to how good you could be, not how good you are compared to others.

How You Can WIN Every time

The word WIN is an acronym for What’s Important Now - If you live in the present, focus on the process, have a positive mindset, keep a healthy perspective on sport, increase your quality of practice, and take pride in all that you do, regardless of what the scoreboard says, you will be a winner, However…

NEWSFLASH - If you follow the 6Ps of Peak Performance, the scoreboard is more likely to reward you, because you will be playing at your best and winning is a byproduct of playing well.

Brian M. Cain, MS, CAA is an Instructor of Sport Psychology and Advancing Human Performance at The University of Vermont.  He is also one of the top Peak Performance Coaches in the country and works with high school, collegiate and professional baseball players on increasing the effectiveness of their Mental Game.  If you are interested in working with Brian M. Cain, MS, CAA in his limited enrollment 1-1 coaching program, log onto www.briancainbaseball.com call (802) 487-3046, or send an e-mail to briancainbaseball@adelphia.net