By Lindsey Wilson of positiveperformancetraining.com

Here at Positive Performance, our business circles around one big question:

“How do I perform better?”

The answer isn’t so simple, involving a really broad set of answers that reach into various facets of athletic and mental training.

But, in the spirit of this season of giving thanks, I’d like to talk a bit about how thankfulness affects performance. Mostly, being grateful means you have to

Think outside of “you”

Within our mental training program, we teach a principle called ‘Belief in a Purpose’. Essentially, this is about playing and living for something beyond the scoreboard.

For some people, this “something beyond the scoreboard” might be their religion, personal growth, or spirituality. For others, it might be about the pride of a job well done, the challenge of hard work, or the joy that comes from being a part of a group working towards a common goal.

It doesn’t matter WHAT the purpose is. It matters HOW that purpose makes an athlete feel.

Gratitude accomplishes the same thing within us: it instills an appreciation for things that can’t be scored, like comradery, friendship, accomplishment, and blessings, whether big or small. And, by being grateful, we can tap into what makes us tick as athletes, driving us harder to do better. (And this ‘Belief in a Purpose’ principle doesn’t only apply to athletes, but coaches as well.)

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” – Thornton Wilder, playwright and novelist

While gratitude can be applied to many facets of life, I’d like to focus specifically on three that are geared toward athletic competition. So, here are the

3 Ways gratitude helps you perform

1. Gratitude for the big picture

Winning is important. I hate when people say it isn’t, because it is. If winning weren’t important, there wouldn’t be any incentive to improve, to be better and to, well, WIN.
‘Winning’ can take on many forms and mean something different to each athlete. It can mean…

• Fighting the entire game;
• Never giving up;
• Pushing yourself harder than you thought possible;
• Pulling up your teammates when they have lost hope; or
• Simply being better than you were the day before.

But, when someone defines winning as what happens on the scoreboard and by that definition ONLY, there is truly only one winner: the one with the most points. And it’s natural for us to want to be that one.

So we obsess. But obsessing about winning is a counterproductive mindset that, ultimately, makes winning LESS likely to happen, not more.

Therefore, be grateful for the big picture, for that thing beyond the scoreboard that drives you to be your best. Thinking less about winning now and more about ‘winning’ in the way the term applies to you – in essence, believing in your purpose – will help to reduce game day stresses and, in effect, help you to get closer to being the literal winner of the competition.

2. Gratitude for opportunity

It wasn’t so long ago that women, African Americans, and other minorities weren’t allowed to play competitive sports. I come from an athletic and competitive family, and remember distinctly the women in my family lamenting that they played street ball with all the boys until they started menstruating. The pain of having to sit on the sidelines was something they remembered long into adulthood.

Go back further in time, and participation in competitive sports was exclusive to the wealthy and politically influential. In an excerpt from Aristocracy in England, published in 1886, author Adam Badeau said this about the great sport of the time, hunting:

…this pleasure [sport] is a matter of privilege … strictly reserved for the great … God’s uplands and valleys themselves are the playground of the nobility … for the amusement of the aristocracy.”

Sports are that special. They are not only what we, as athletes and coaches, do, but they’re a part of our greater culture and, scientifically and historically, a part of our success as a species.

For ALL athletes (not only women and minorities), the opportunity to play an organized sport is truly a remarkable one. A lot gets invested in an organized sport – a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of energy – and not only from you directly. Other parties (i.e. investors, parents, fans, etc.) put a lot of money, time, and energy into the sport, as well, and showing your appreciating their sacrifice and investment by doing your best is all part of the game.

Entitlement is about the worst thing an athlete or coach can go into a game with. Understanding – and being grateful for – the opportunity to play in an organized sport can help prevent an athlete or coach taking that honor for granted.

3. Gratitude for the process

When you are grateful, you pay more attention. Senses are sharpened; our brain kicks into a higher gear, creating a special little spot in our memories for that “unforgettable” moment.

The ever-grateful athlete knows these moments well: you feel the grass under your legs as you stretch for the big race; you hear the rumble of the crowd deep in your bones before kickoff; the smells of the locker room no longer fade into the background, instead coming forward, reminding you of how much you love what you do.

When your senses come alive in these ways, you lose yourself in the process of playing your sport. You might notice a heightened awareness of what is going on around you, or feel a sense of flow or rhythm about what you are doing. It won’t be until later that your realize you had a sense of un-thinking that allowed you to leave self-doubt and hesitation behind.

We call this The Zone. So many athletes have experienced this, enjoyed it, reveled in it, become instantly addicted to it…

…and then, after trying hard, stressing out, and ironically attempting to force their minds to “let go”, wondered why they couldn’t get there again.

So, how do you get back to the Zone? My mentor, Dr. James Hollingsworth, would always tell me,

Fall in love with the game again.” – Dr. James Hollingsworth

Gratitude and love go hand-in-hand

And, overall, that’s what gratitude is: a love for THIS moment, THIS opportunity, THIS game. ALL of it –not only the ups and successes, but also the downs and the tough challenges – leads you to becoming the person you were meant to be, and the winner you ultimately are.

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What are you grateful for that drives you to do your best? Share your gratitude in the comments section below so that we might be encouraged through your thankfulness.

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Lindsey Wilson - Co-Founder of Positive Performance, Lindsey has been teaching, writing and speaking about mental training for the last 6 years. Lindsey writes regularly on mental training. Her articles have appeared in ESPN’s HoopGurlz.com, AVCA, NSCAA, NYTimes.com, VISIONS magazine, FullCourtPress. com. Contact her atlindsey@positiveperform.com

7 Life Lessons Swimmers Can Learn From John Wooden

by Olivier Poirier-Leroy. Join his weekly motivational newsletter for swimmers by clicking here.

What does a legendary basketball coach from the 1960’s have to do with your swimming?

Well, let me tell you.

John Wooden is one of the most revered coaches in the history of sport.

During his time coaching the UCLA Bruins he won ten NCAA national championships within the span of 12 years. Outside of also winning 7 of those titles consecutively (no team or coach has since won more than two in a row), having four perfect seasons, his team also at one point won a record 88 straight games.

He was beloved by his players, including NBA Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, with the “Wizard of Westwood” remaining close with many of them until his death in 2010.

Here are 7 life lessons swimmers can take from one of the greatest coaches of all time:

1. THERE IS NO “I” IN TEAM.

“It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.”

Although swimming is largely competed at an individual level, we train within a collective. When we are supportive and encouraging of the goals of the athletes we train with we help to foster a culture of excellence.

One swimmer trying to accomplish great things is powerful. But the wake that is created by a group of athletes all chasing a common goal is nearly unstoppable.

2. MASTER THE FUNDAMENTALS.

At the beginning of each season Coach Wooden would sit his players down and instruct them on how to properly put on their socks and shoes.

Newcomers unfamiliar to this would be forgiven for being thrown into shock. Here was the top basketball program in the country, some of the very best players in the nation, being instructed on how to correctly put on a pair of shoes?

Long before you master the intricacies of the playbook Wooden had you start at the very beginning.

The same can be applied to your swimming goals. When you execute the basics correctly, and build a foundation with proper fundamentals, everything else falls into place.

3. DO WHAT YOU CAN, WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.

“Don’t let what you don’t have interfere with what you can do.”

There will always be someone who has a better set-up than you. A better coach. Nicer facility. Better access to services.

And there will always be someone who has it far worse than you. A bad coach. A 15-yard pool. No access.

Don’t allow your current circumstances be the defining thing of whether or not you take action today. Don’t allow your environment to be the decider when it comes todeveloping killer training habits in the pool, or having a positive attitude.

Make the most of what you have, for it is usually more than enough.

4. SET THE EXAMPLE.

“Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.”

There are many memories that I carry from my age group swimming days. The most potent ones?

Where an older swimmer reached out to help me with a technique correction. Or when the swimmer I looked up to most on the team was leading the cheers for my race.

These things matter, and they create more impact than you can imagine.

Spend time working with the youngsters on your team. Share your knowledge and experience of the sport. You might not think it’s a big deal, but to the kiddos it’s a huge deal.

5. PRACTICE LIKE YOU WANT TO RACE.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”

It’s tempting to think that we will figure it all out on race day. But the way we swim in competition is a direct reflection of how we train every single day in practice.

The way we finish at the end of a close race is how we finished those hundreds of times in practice. The breathing pattern you hold during your repeated sprint efforts in practice is the breathing pattern you are going to hold during the big 50 final at state. And so on.

Practice with intention. Practice with focus. Practice “right.”

6. EFFORT IS EVERYTHING.

“Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time.”

Is there anything more disheartening than watching a swimmer give up in a race? Their shoulders sag, they roll from side to side from breaths, hand entry goes from precision strike to a hand slapping the water.

Whether they give up on the final lap of a race, or the final rep of a tough set (or earlier),

Giving up is a habit, and not a good one.

7. FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE.

“If we magnified blessing as much as we magnify disappointments, we’d be much happier.”

Our brains are hardwired to focus on the negative. It’s a survival instinct—“Hey look at that sabre toothed tiger hanging out in the bushes over there!”—that has served us well. But the modern man or woman continues to experience the pull of fear even though there isn’t a 500-pound jungle cat hiding around the corner.

Which means that we have to go out of our way to be grateful for the things that we have. Keeping a nightly gratitude list has been shown to help you feel more positive and optimistic, and can also help you fall asleep better at night.

There is lots to be positive and optimistic about. It’s simply up to you to seek it out.

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On a side note: Best story ever about Wooden, and what this said about his idea of TEAM: Bill Walton was considered THE best center ever to play the college game, and perhaps the greatest player ever (21 for 22 in the previous season’s national title game). At the beginning of Walton’s senior season, he walked into the first practice with long hair and a beard. Wooden reminded him of the team rules: no long hair or facial hair. Walton asked Coach to respect his individual expression, and reminded him that he had won the Player of the Year and the National Title the year before. Wooden said he could respect that, but that Wooden had the say in who was on the team, and Walton had 15 minutes to get back with a shave and a hair cut. Walton ran out the door, got on a bike, and got the shave and hair cut, and was back in line for drills in the first practice.

If the greatest player of all time is held to the rules and the same standard as everyone else, that says so much about the coach, and says so much to the other players.

The story about Wooden teaching his players how to tie their shoes has both a practical and a subliminal purpose. In a practical sense, avoiding blisters in those primitive shoes was important. At a deeper level, it was an important message about fundamentals at all levels, and a message that Coach will give a player everything that is needed.

The results are clear: Wooden is considered the greatest college basketball coach ever, and his titles and players attest to that.