Sport Psychology Tactics - 3 Behavioral Traits That Define Elite Professional Racecar Drivers
About the Author
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & performance specialist. He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), PTSD, ADD / ADHD and achieve flow states through the techniques of Brainspotting & Neurofeedback. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
Table Of Contents
Introduction: How Sport Psychologists Train Athletes To Behave Like Professionals
Part I. How Sport Psychologists Help Athletes Shape Their Support System
Part II. Elite Athletes Filter Out Worthless Opinions & Filter In Honest Assessments
Part III. Professionals Self-Evaluate, Train & Act Like Professionals
Introduction: How Sport Psychologists Train Athletes To Behave Like Professionals
Over the course of my career as a licensed psychotherapist and mental performance expert, I have been fortunate to be able to work with some of the most talented athletes in the world…individuals who compete at the professional & Olympic level of sport. Through my work with my clients they have taught me so much about the ins and outs of competing at the highest level of sport. But one thing that I have been shockingly surprised by is how many of these individuals do not necessarily know HOW to be professional athletes. This is no knock on these individuals seeing as how none of them lack the desire to push themselves to their peak capabilities.
However, the obstacle that these athletes run into is that many of the strategies that their colleagues use do not necessarily work for them. It becomes difficult to know what strategies to implement versus which ones to ignore. Interestingly, I believe many of the same traits that successful professional athletes such as racecar drivers use, are neither fancy nor extremely complex. These approaches are simple, universal and have application for all athletes (and non-athletes) at every level of competition. Because I believe this is an important issue, I want to use this Training Report to discuss 3 common strategies that successful professional athletes use to be elite in their craft. Let’s dive into strategy 1: curate your support system.
Part I. How Sport Psychologists Help Racecar Drivers Shape Their Support System
When people watch racecar promotions such as NASCAR, Formula 1, & Petit Le Mans, it’s easy to assume that the driver in the cockpit is only responsible for him or herself because the competition appears to be an ‘individual’ focused sport. This could not be further from the truth. Regardless of what the individual sport is (e.g. Olympic weightlifting, Ultra-marathons, Boxing, etc.) there is always a team of people that support the professional athlete’s journey. Where professional athletes make common mistakes is by not surrounding themselves with the proper individuals who share the same goals as themselves. An example of this would be if the athlete spends quantity of time with others in social situations rather than being selective with the quality of individuals in their social circle. So how should athletes approach this differently?
There are two key considerations athletes need to focus on when curating their social circle. The first is making sure that all individuals in their social support system have the exact same goal as the athlete: being the best performer that they can be in their specific sport. If the athlete senses that these individuals do not share the same goals nor the same enthusiasm, less energy should be allocated to those relationships. The second and possibly most important consideration is that members of the athlete’s social support system primarily value their non-athlete identity over their athlete-identity. Research shows that athletes with high athlete identity are at increased risk for anxiety, poor social engagements, and decreased use of effective coping skills. In order for athletes to achieve their goals, the WHOLE person needs to be valued and not just the performer.
Part II. Elite Athletes Filter Out Worthless Opinions & Filter In Honest Assessments
Whether professional racecar drivers have championship level performance outcomes or DNFs, there will always be someone with an opinion on how they competed. People are under the misconception that elite athletes ‘don’t care’ about what others think…this could not be further from the truth. Any athlete that says they do not care what others think is lying because humans are inherently social creatures. Our entire biological system relies immensely on whether others accept or reject us. Through my work with this athlete population, I have seen that one key behavioral trait that separates top level performers from everyone else is their ability to filter in opinions that matter versus opinions that don’t. So the common question is how do they do this? It comes down to recognizing scale.
Imagine if you (the reader) are walking down the street, and a random individual starts taunting you. This may be uncomfortable and strange, but ultimately you will view this taunting person as unhinged, deranged and will not place any significant value on that persons opinion. Now imagine if I take that same experience, but multiply the taunting individual by 200. Your brain will perceive this situation differently because the scale of the situation has changed. Elite athletes and even highly successful business executives recognize that this is a ‘bug’ in the software of the human brain, and as such are then able to disengage and filter out those opinions. What is the catalyst mechanism to strengthen this experience? Relying on the fact that you have hopefully curated a high quality, strong social support system. For this to work, Part I. needs to be an established foundation of the athlete’s life.
Part III. Professionals Self-Evaluate, Train & Act Like Professionals
This may be the most simple, yet sometimes the most overlooked component of being a professional. As I have said before, there truly is nothing secret or extra special about being a professional athlete. But there is something special about being recognized as a professional in one’s specific field of occupation. What does this mean? Professionals carry themselves in specific ways that are recognizable to others, which in turn garners respect from their peers. Specifically, professionals are masters of self-evaluation and are always seeking to increase the quantity and quality of their training. What does this look like in practice?
First, professionals ‘check their ego’ if they feel for one second that is getting in the way of their learning and development. Professionals consistently look to surround themselves with experts who are as good if not better than them at either their specific profession or another field of study that can help them enhance their performance. Secondly, professionals constantly sharpen their training and find new ways to both increase the quantity and quality of their preparation process. Sometimes this can mean doing less and being more efficient with your time in other places, most of the time this means you need to be doing more. Again, there are many strategies athletes can use to enhance their professionalism, but these three examples seem to consistently separate the consistent performers from the inconsistent ones.
Note To Reader:
If you are an athlete reading this segment of the TRAINING REPORT, hopefully this content was helpful! I put the Training Report together because I felt like many of the discussions on issues such as the Yips/mental blocks, strength training & other subject matter on athlete performance concepts were really missing the mark on these ideas (e.g. how trauma is the direct cause of the Yips). If you are interested in learning more, make sure to subscribe below for when I put out new content on issues related to sport psychology & athlete performance! Also, if you are looking to work with a mental performance specialist, you are in the right place! USE THIS LINK to reach out to me to see if my services are the right fit for your goals!
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