The Performance Mindset. Anthony J. Klarica

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PREFACE

      Australia is a sport‐loving nation. Our opportunities to be actively involved in sport are abundant. Beyond participation, many people follow and support their favourite athletes, teams or sport with great passion. For our nation's size, Olympic and other international sporting performances are impressive, especially considering the range of professional sports codes women and men participate in.

      The Performance Mindset evolved from my experience over 30 years of working with many sports and individual athletes in Australia. In that time, interest in the mental space of sport has grown significantly. Antiquated views that saw athletes simply as either ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ have been overtaken by a greater understanding of what is involved in maximising performance. A common perception is that talent and hard work are the only, or at least the key, prerequisites for high performance in sport. There is, however, another vital ingredient — mindset.

      From my experience, I know that while talent and hard work are extremely relevant, they are not the foundation of performance. What underpins an athlete's performance is their mindset. As well as contributing to work rate, mindset is the key to unlocking any talent a person may possess.

In this book I explore a range of factors that influence mindset, including:

      Naturally, the above overlap and interact. Importantly, I emphasise that mindset skills can be learned. They can be learned in many ways, beginning with a willingness to embrace mindset concepts. This learning is both intuitive and the result of overt focus and coaching. My goal is that performance mindset skills be learned from deliberate engagement in some of the processes I examine in this book.

      The introduction puts forward a case for mental skills being the foundation of performance. Each of the seven ‘steps’ that follow explores a specific mindset topic: motivation, resilience, focus, leadership, culture, wellbeing and performance. I believe these topics are central to and contribute fundamentally to a mindset that enables maximum performance.

      To gain insight into these important areas, I interviewed a wide range of amazing performers and athletes, as well as outstanding coaches, who willingly shared stories and experiences from their own journeys. Some of these stories are referred to across several chapters; others are presented in stand‐alone features.

To balance these real‐life examples, I have drawn on empirical research from the field of psychology and collected information from publications, documentaries and even social media. Additionally, I have offered some of my own thoughts, models, strategies, program examples, checklists and activities from my work in performance and other fields. At the end of each step I have included a ‘build’ section that lists practical strategies.

      Ideas around performance clearly extend beyond sport. I see a performance mindset as applicable to many fields beyond sport and as relevant for anyone interested in improving their performance. Athletes, coaches, parents, teachers or people working in or just interested in sport may enjoy and benefit from the pages ahead. I hope people in other fields interested in performance may also profit from what is presented. While the concepts examined through the book are interrelated, each step may be read as a stand‐alone topic.

      One of the fascinating aspects of performance and human behaviour is how powerful the mind is. Also interesting is how individual a path to higher performance can be. This book sets out to inspire and upskill readers to develop their own performance mindset. Whether or not you agree with the ideas and philosophies put forward, I hope you gain some benefit and enjoyment from reading The Performance Mindset.