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What are you doing today to
guarantee greatness tomorrow?
 BY DR. ALAN GOLDBERG//Sport Psychologist
What if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what you did today, in this
set, how hard you pushed yourself and how precise you were
with your strokes and turns would guarantee a
“meet-of-your-life” performance in your events come taper time? How motivated would you
be? Would you concentrate more? Would it bother you that you went
into practice a little tired? Would you allow yourself just to go
through the motions the way you sometimes do or cut as many
corners? Would you complain to yourself or a teammate about how you
hated this set?
Chances are pretty good that if you knew that today’s practice would guarantee
you great swims at the big meet, then you’d be totally
psyched and willing to work your butt off. In fact, you’d
probably go into practice with a seriousness of purpose that would
instantly raise the quality of your training.
It’s this mental approach to practice that you need to adopt
right now to help get you through the grind and drudgery of this,
the toughest part of the training cycle.
Come December and January of the short course season, the intensity
of your practices has increased, your body is more broken down and
your motivation may be at an all-time low. The taper meet seems
months away, and it’s easy to lose sight of why you’re
doing what you’re doing. This is the time when swimmers are
most vulnerable to wasting valuable practices by giving in to their
mental and physical fatigue. Take note: If you want to become a
winner, then you can’t allow yourself to do this.
You have to approach today’s training as if this is
championship time! You have to mentally
connect what you are doing right now in the pool with what you want
to be doing at the taper meet. You have to create a sense
of inner importance for today’s practice by directly linking
it with your end-of-season goals. You do this by asking yourself
the question, “How is what I’m
doing today and right now going to help me get to where I want to
go?”
By continuously connecting your big goals with what you are doing
right now, you will out-work the competition, and in the process,
distinguish yourself as a champion.
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