Lately I have been hearing a lot of coaches complain about their athletes inability to be present. I've also had many athletes acknowledge the same problem. For once we are all on the same page ;-)
What I am about to share with you is something that you likely have never really thought about. I found a major connection between a few HABITS that our athletes have and their INABILITY to be present in sports.
Lack of Presence = Inconsistent Performance
Period.
You are either going to love this message about be like "YES! Holy Moly! This is a game-changer!! Or, you'll hate it and think it is dumb...
Let's dive in.
Athlete, if you aren’t present it usually means your mind is somewhere else:
- Thinking about someone else, their accomplishments
- Thinking about drama you have in your life or someone else’s
- Thinking about something random
- Thinking about your future
- Thinking about your past
- Thinking about current challenges you are facing
When we aren’t present, one of two things is happening:
- We are intensely focused on one other thing
- ***We are jumping around in our own minds from thing to thing (unintentionally) because our tiny little attention span has been trained to do so
To keep this short and impactful, let's just talk about #2.
Short form social media (scrolling, short form videos like TikTok and reels) is KILLING your ability to be present and in the zone, athlete!
You are conditioning yourself every single day, many, many times a day, to not be present but rather be fully distracted and incapable of staying focused on one thing for longer than 3 seconds.
⚾️ A baseball player needs to stay locked in for anywhere between :15 and 2 minutes depending on how long they are up to bat.
⛳️ A golfer needs to lock in for :20-:40 as they are in the tee box going through their pre-stroke routine.
🏐 Volleyball players? 🏀 Basketball players?🥍 Lacrosse players? 🏑 Field hockey players?
A single play could last for :30, :45, :60 depending on certain factors.
Every sport is the same- to be the best you can be requires focus and presence. It's wild that no one has really made the connection between social media and an athlete's inability to stay present...
You may be thinking, “But coach Andrew the only time I really DO feel present in when I am playing sports, they kind of force me to focus."
That’s partially correct. But what you are actually experiencing is your current, very minimal ability to be present. What you have right now is a weak, damaged, low current potential to staying locked-in and focused.
Your addiction to stimulation, short form content like social media, task jumping, or switching to a new show or video because you didn't like the first 4 seconds of the one you were watching, etc. is costing you performance.
This may be a stretch to you, but the results from a recent challenge we started doing with athletes have proven that this concept has some validity...
You can begin more PRESENT 3 weeks from now by doing our 21 Day Social Media Detox Challenge.
21 Day Social Media Detox Challenge for Athletes
Here is how it looks:
Week 1: delete ALL social media apps (yep, you can do that)
Week 2: introduce ONE social media app back in and pick one - 30 minute block during the day to be on it
Week 3: add in ONE more 30 minute block (if you want to--some people actually stick with no social media OR just one 30 minute block once they start to see the benefits in their school work, sports performance, and relationships after week 1 and 2)
That's it. During the 21 days there are specific journalling prompts and reflection questions to go through. If you want access, email andrew@pfpfit.com and we will hook you up.
We are considering doing putting this challenge out to the world and engaging more athletes in it. What are your thoughts on that?
Anyway, take this message to your coach or athlete and ask them what they think about it. Don't tell them they "need to do it", lol. Just put the information in front of them and let them know you think it'll help them perform better with less anxiety, worry, and distraction.
Dedicated to your athlete's success in sports and life,
Coach Andrew J Simpson
