After finishing a test, have you ever gone back and second-guessed yourself into changing several of your original answers?  Usually what happens when you go back is that you think too much, read too much into the question, and end up changing the right answer to the wrong one.  Educators suggest roughly 90% of the time your first guess is the right one and you need to trust yourself and your intuition.

Similarly, trust is critical in athletics.  Too many athletes second-guess themselves on game day rather than trusting their instincts. Trust is one of the most important mental skills an athlete can ever learn. You spend countless hours consciously focusing on and perfecting your movesand mechanics in practice throughout the week.  However, when it comes time to actually compete, the best athletes have clear minds as they trust themselves and their bodies.  They realize that when it's time to perform, itís time to trust themselves and their training.

What exactly is trust?  In honor of our Nike contract, perhaps the best way of understanding trust is the phrase, "Just do it."  Trust is going on automatic pilot and letting your mind and body react naturally, the way you have painstakingly trained yourself to react in practice.  It is believing that you have developed the necessary skills and strategies and now it is just time to let them come out.

Think about it.  How many thousands of times have you thrown a pass, hit a drive, kicked a ball, swung a bat, hit a backhand, swum a lap, shot a jumper, done a vault, dug a ball, nailed a dive, or run a race (I hope that covers everybody)?  Trust is believing that the proper skills are already established within you and now it is simply time to let them surface.  Put simply, trust is believing "It's in there."

However, too many athletes second-guess themselves on competition day, allowing doubts and distractions to dominate their thinking.  Instead of trusting themselves and their training, they worry about not performing well.  These doubts and distractions can clutter your mind and cause your body to tighten up, which, of course, hurts your performance.

Just as you spend time working on your mechanics during practice, be sure to have some repetitions where you clear out you mind and trust your body.  If you are having trouble trusting, try performing a skill with your eyes closed (be sure this is safe for your sport!).  Performing with your eyes closed requires you to tune into and trust your instincts.

If you tend to be one of those athletes who performs well in practice, but can't seem to reach the same level in competition, learning how to trust yourself can be a big key to performing to your potential.

For more tips on learning how to trust yourself, stop by and see me (Jeff Janssen) in McKale 109L.