Video transcript:
How much more consistent would your performance be if you were locked in on 5 more pitches per game? Or if you’re a pitcher, 10 to 15 pitches per game? In a training session, 10, 15, maybe even 20 pitches in that training session?
The number 1 tool that I wish I would have used in my own baseball career would be a simple but consistent refocus routine. Something that you can use every time you notice that your mind has become distracted by unhelpful thoughts, feelings, worries, distractions, anything really, that pulls your attention away from the task at hand.
Something that you can go to that pulls your attention back into that task at hand, with a relaxed, external style of attention that just has this complete trust in your abilities because that’s really where the magic happens.
Creating a refocus routine for yourself is really simple. It really only involves three main components. That first one is awareness. So being able to recognize when and where your mind wanders when you need it to be on the task at hand. Does it go to thoughts of self-doubt or does it go to worries of what might happen? Does it go to mechanical thoughts when you don’t need it to? It’s really important that we’re aware of these things because if we can’t catch our mind wandering, we can’t bring it back.
The second one is that we need to have an anchor. So, we need to have an anchor to the task at hand. Something that pulls our attention out of this and into the physical environment. This might be a focal point or it might be writing on your equipment somewhere or a self-talk cue that you like to use. But one thing it should always include is a breath. Nothing is better at slowing our minds and bodies down just enough to allow us to think and process more clearly.
Third one, make the choice to focus your attention back to the task at hand with full trust that your body will know how to get the job done. It’s this full commitment to that relaxed, external style of attention. Now doing all this really well sounds simple, but it is really difficult. And that’s because in the heat of competition, your ability to recognize those distractions when they pop up is not very good. On top of that, your ability to just commit to that relaxed focus and trust your body to get the job done when everything around you seems to be going poorly is also not very good.
Here’s two ways you can make those good. One, practice your routine in practice. Just like any other skill, your routine will not work for you in games, where it really matters, if you do not practice it in practice. Two, plan when you’re going to use it in games. Get super specific on which situations you’ll use your routine in.
And not just things like bad calls or after mistakes. Like yes, use your routine in those situations, but ask yourself, what unhelpful thoughts might show up for me? What might they sound like? What unhelpful emotions might show up for me? What is my mind actually going to tell me and what am I going to feel like in those situations? And make a plan to use the routine in those situations.
This might sound like overkill until you think about how consistent your attention would be if you had a routine like this and you used it and you planned and you practiced it. How consistent would your performance be if you were locked in on 5, 10, 15 pitches a game or training session. Because over time this adds up to thousands of reps. Don’t miss out.