3 Journal Prompts to Maximize Your Performance
One of the recommendations that I make for every athlete, coach, and team that I work with is to journal. It doesn’t make to be daily, although it helps, but it should be after practices and certainly after games. Journaling has multiple benefits but today I want to focus on a major performance benefit. Through journaling you can get additional repetitions at the lowest level of each skill to help you to better understand the process, application, or movement. If you receive feedback from coaches you can reflect on it in your journal and discuss approaches for implementing it. If you struggled with a skill, take the time to break it down to see where the struggle was and help to develop a plan of action to overcome the struggle at your next practice or game. Regardless of the approach you decide to take, there is no better skill for increasing self-awareness than journaling.
Today I am going to highlight three simple journal prompts you can use to maximize your performance. Write these in the front of your journal as a reminder if you need something to help you start writing, and make sure to give them a try.
Today I feel like _____________, this is why:
This seems like a simple one, but there is a lot of power in understanding how you feel each day. Today I feel like_______ , I am unstoppable… I am struggling… I am loved… I am unloved… a failure… a great success… an athlete… a spectator… a coach… tired… energized… excited… anxious… etc. The list goes on and on. The first step of this prompt is to reflect inward on how you feel. This is best performed in the morning and it gives you a chance to reflect on how your sleep contributed to your mood or how the events from the previous day carried of. Major cues that you should focus in on are if you are feeling extremely negative, or extremely positive. If you are extremely negative then find out what influenced that so you can figure out how to either stay away from that stressor, or how to react better to it in your life. If you are feeling extremely positive, then learn from it. What made you feel positive? How can you leverage that for your day?
For the, “this is why:” portion, you can make a list, write a narrative, or draw a picture. Find what works for you. I use this prompt and make a shopping list of things that I felt influenced my mood and then I challenge each one to see if it really have the influence on me, and if it did then I challenge it to see if it SHOULD have that influence on me. I often found that I gave a lot of power to things that I should not have, and by realizing that important insight, I could adjust my mindset when it started to occur again.
2. A new skill/play I learned is ____________. These are the steps needed to accomplish it:
Reps, reps, reps, and more reps. Physical reps and mental reps, both have the ability to build neural pathways to help you master new skills and plays. By writing out the new skill or play and all the steps involved to accomplish it, you are giving your brain another repetition and you are building a visualization script at the same time. This is a template that you can come back to if you are unsure prior to the upcoming practice or game, while visualizing each step from first person and third person perspectives. It might seem tedious to write out each step of a new play or each step for a new skill, but there is a mountain of evidence that shows the power of visualization and mental repetitions. Use this to master new skills quicker and help your body and mind to sync when it comes time to perform.
3. Coach gave me feedback during the game/practice and he/she said _____________________.
When your coach is giving you feedback, their goal is for you to succeed as well as your team. They aren’t giving you feedback with the hopes that you completely forget it so they have to repeat it each week. Take the time after each practice and game to reflect on the feedback that your coach, or teammates, gave you. What was the situation that caused them to give the feedback? How did the play look from your perspective, what were you thinking, and what did they tell you? If you applied their feedback to that situation, how would the play have changed? How can you apply that feedback to future situations?
Again, this is an opportunity to get mental repetitions but with this prompt we are reflecting on a previous performance and applying new knowledge to the situation. This is also a check on learning to see if you truly did understand the feedback that you received, and if you didn’t understand it you can ask your coach clarifying questions at the next practice. When you imagine how the situation would have played out different with the feedback that you received, it gives you an opportunity to have additional options for future situations that are similar. You understand your own reasoning for your choices, perhaps the coach saw something you didn’t. It can help you keep your head up and look at the bigger picture to open up more options.
While journaling can be daunting to start, it doesn’t need to be. There is no right or wrong way to journal. It is an opportunity to reflect and learn more about yourself and by increasing your self-awareness you can better control your mindset and ultimately your performance. Take the time to use these three journal prompts to start the habit, get the reps, learn the lessons, and work to build a bulletproof mindset and a game ready attitude.
If you give these journal prompts a try, I would love to hear how it goes for you. Leave a comment below or write a message on our contact form.
- Dr. Ty