Vlog: Peak Performance Shouldn't be Your Goal in Sports

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When you compete in your sport, you will, in fact, be competing in two competitions. The obvious competition is the one that occurs against your opponent. The more important competition, though, is the mental game that you play inside your head against yourself. Here is a simple reality: If you don’t win the mental game, you won’t win the competitive game.

Contrary to what you may think, at whatever level in which you’re competing, the technical and physical aspects of your sport don’t usually determine the winner. Athletes who compete at the same level are very similar technically and physically. For example, is LeBron James a better basketball player than Stephen Curry? Is Roger Federer in better physical condition than Rafael Nadal? I would say no. So, on any given day, what separates the best from the rest? The answer lies in who wins the mental game.

Whenever I talk to athletes, I ask them what aspect of their sport seems to have the greatest impact on how they perform. Almost unanimously they say the mental part. I then ask how much time they devote to their mental preparation and their answer is almost always little or no time.

Despite its obvious importance, the mental side of sport is most often neglected, at least until a problem arises. The mistake athletes make is that they don’t treat their mental game the way they treat the physical and technical aspects of their sport. You don’t wait to get injured before you do physical conditioning, do you? You don’t develop a technical flaw before you work on your technique, do you? Of course not. You do physical and technical training to prevent problems from arising. You should approach the mental game in the same way, training your mental “muscles” with exercises that will prepare you to perform your best when it matters most.

In my first of 12 vlog segments for athletes and coaches (parents can enjoy them too!), I challenge the popular notion of "peak performance" as the goal that athletes should strive for. In its place, I introduce my concept of "prime performance" or related to sports, Prime Sport, and how understanding it will provide you with a clear goal that you can strive for as you pursue sport success.

To watch this Prime Sport vlog segment, click here.

Want to get your mind in the best shape of your athletic life? Learn more about my Prime Sport 101 online mental training course.