Energy and Performance

My study’s into the mind and how the mind impacts performance has led me to some pretty interesting areas of research that I never had suspected it would take me. When I started out I simply wanted to know how I could relax more at the plate and become more consistent. As I dove deeper and deeper into the human mind and began to educate myself on what creates true athletic performance I found myself going deeper then just your basic positive self talk or goal setting steps found in most sport psychology books. Just like in my study of mechanics I wanted to know more, I wanted to know why I responded in game situations like I did and why many of those same responses played themselves out in my everyday life. What I’ve come across is the same principles that create success in athletic performance also create success in everyday life.

Maybe many of you have seen the movie “The Secret” or perhaps you’ve picked up a book on the Law of Attraction. Don’t worry, I’m not getting into a spiritual conversation about how you can improve your life or get the things you want in life (I’ll save that for my other website). But, if you have, then you are at least familiar with the idea that we are all energistic beings and we all radiate a different vibrational frequency based on the thoughts we have and the emotions that we are feeling. Okay, okay so how does this relate to baseball and performance. Well, very simply the vibrational frequency you are emanating has a tremendous impact not only on your ability to repeat your mechanics but also your overall strength and ability to drive the ball or throw the ball hard not to mention avoid injury. And, this vibrational frequency is linked to the thoughts you are thinking and emotions you are feeling.

I know this may sound a bit out there however think back to the last time you were in “the zone”. What were you feeling? What were you thinking? I can guarantee you weren’t feeling angry, depressed, anxious, or any other negative feeling. I can also guarantee you weren’t thinking about personal glory, winning or loosing, it’s probably safe to say you weren’t really thinking at all.

There have been studies conducted to show the effect negativity has on an athlete’s strength and performance. In kinesiology we use strength testing to determine how something effects human performance. With strength testing an athlete may be asked to hold something in one hand or even hold a thought in their head. The person conducting the test will then ask the athlete to hold out the other hand and try to resist him/her from pushing the arm down. When the athlete is around something negative or thinking something negative the arm goes week. When the athlete is around or thinking about positive things the arm is strong. I had the privilege to witness and be a part of one such test. At the front of the room there were two sealed manila envelopes. Myself and the other athletes in the room were instructed to hold each envelope separately while the instructor tried to push our arm down. Each athlete was unable to hold our arm’s up while holding the envelope marked “H” while we were each strong with the envelope marked “L”. When the test was over the instructor opened each envelope. Inside the envelope marked “H” was a picture of Adolph Hitler while in the envelope marked “L” was a picture of Abraham Lincoln. To say I was blown away would be an understatement.

In the book “Power vs. Force” Dr. David Hawkins did research to this very thing. He found that athletes who are motivated by negative emotions or are surrounded with negativity will go weak during competition. “The competitor who is motivated by pride, greed, or interested in primarily beating their opponent, will go weak at the moment of the starting gun and be unable to achieve the maximum continued effort necessary for great achievement.” However he found that athletes that were motivated by the shear joy of playing or playing to their own highest potential for the sake of excellence remained strong and performed better.

The point to all this is that you need to be careful with what you are surrounding yourself with. Are you up to the plate thinking negative thoughts? Are you listening to negative music or “pumping” yourself up before a game instead of clearing your mind and focusing on being as efficient as possible? Remember that only you can take responsibility for what’s going on in your own mind. Understand that while you might think that focusing on kicking the opponents ass might be the way to get you fired up to perform in reality you are just making it more difficult on yourself and limiting what you are capable of accomplishing on the field. Surround yourself with more positive people, spend time before each game quieting your mind and visualizing your mechanics. While you may not feel the same pre-game pump up, you’ll find that you will be far more consistent in your performance.