Embrace Pressure
Ask any elite bowler whether they would rather be slightly nervous or completely relaxed before and during a competitive bowling event and they will probably tell you “slightly nervous”, the reason being is that they are more likely to access Flow and play better. When we are playing with high stakes with an uncertain outcome, it activates the nervous system. Research by Steven Kotler of Flow Research Collective suggests that a person needs to reach a certain level of stress (or “arousal”) to trigger Flow.
You will know this as pre-event nerves or first shot jitters which you probably think of as being a sign that you won’t bowl well. But in fact it can be a performance enhancer, provided you can keep your mind in the present. Along with that increased heart rate and feeling of butterflies, comes increased focus and higher sensory awareness that can elevate your bowling performance – we become more mentally and physically alert.
Remember this next time you feel nervous before a league night or tournament. Choose to embrace being out of your comfort zone as it can actually raise your game by inducing Flow.
Start by Simplifying Your Thoughts Over the Shot
One Technique Thought — Before each bowling competition, find one technical thought that you will use for making every shot–preferably simple, and somehow related to a “feel” you are trying to achieve, such as “Smooth Pushaway, Free Swing,” “Soft hand, Smooth Follow Through,” ”Tempo,” etc.
First Impressions — Use first impressions as much as possible when reading lanes and when deciding how to make an adjustment.
Emphasize Tempo — Agree with yourself that you will not work on your swing, footwork, etc. during competition–make your tempo more important than your mechanics.
Relax Between Shots — Take your mind off your round between shots with daydreams, small talk, etc. as much as possible during competition. Do this in Quadrant #1 after you have made a decision to win the next shot.
Visualize — Take a brief, quiet moment behind the approach (Quadrant #2) or on the approach (Quadrant #3) before every shot to visualize the ball path down the lane and through the pins.
Signs of Over-Thinking
Fatigue — One indicator of over-thinking is related to how you feel at the completion of your bowling competition. If you finish feeling mentally drained and very tired, there is a good chance you are thinking too much about your bowling between shots.
Suggestion: Choose to take your mind off your round and on to something positive or neutral that allows you to mentally “rest” between shots. Remember once you make the decision in Quadrant #1 (Think Box), you can now relax.
Distrusting Alignment — Another indicator of over-thinking can be the degree of difficulty you have in trusting your physical game (swing, release, etc), lane play, etc.. As you think more about bowling mechanics, you become too involved with playing “mechanical bowling,” making it difficult to use your natural and trained skills.
Suggestion: Make a commitment to yourself to not work on your any part of your physical game while you are bowling in a competition.
Frustration — Higher than usual frustration levels can also indicate over-thinking. Players that have high expectations and extreme desires to bowl well can slip into trying too hard to get results from their game. Behind it all is a mix of conscious and subconscious obsessive thinking about scores, making perfect shots, stats, making spares, making money, impressing others, winning, etc.
Suggestion: Recognize that priorities for your bowling have become too outcome or result oriented. Challenge yourself with new goals that emphasize simpler thoughts related to the process of making shots.
Rushing or Slowing Your Routine — Changes in your routine can also signal over-thinking. Aggressive players usually rush their normal routines and submissive players generally slow them down. In either case, the results are generally not good because the player gets away from seeing and feeling his or her shot as they do when they are playing well.
Suggestion: Concern yourself with the quality of your routine rather than the importance of the shot when preparing to make the shot. Emphasize (1) commitment to your shot, (2) visualization of your shot, and the (3) feel of one physical thought. A good routine will displace excess, negative and irrelevant thoughts if you make it your priority. In the sport of golf, take a lead from Jack Nicklaus and be especially mindful of coming to a complete stop for a brief quiet moment behind the ball before every shot and putt to get a clear picture of what you want the ball to do.
Over-Thinking
Is the Problem Mental or Physical?
Over-thinking is a problem for bowlers of all levels and it is a problem that is very difficult to recognize in one’s self. Because over-thinking is hard to “self-diagnose,” even the self-aware player can find it difficult to tell whether his or her problems are “mental” or “physical,” especially since the decline of either leads to the same results–poor performance. Over-thinking can sabotage a bowler’s personality strengths by increasing tension, elevating emotions, reducing patience, interfering with commitment and focus, and lowering confidence. These mental changes automatically lead to reduced physical skills. When performance then drops, most players will habitually go directly to work on mechanics without considering that their real problem could simply be over-thinking.
Complicating matters for bowlers is the fact that physical and mental skills are very intricately balanced and intertwined–so much so that it is difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends.
For that reason, any time you are struggling with your game, it will benefit you to assess your mental skills during competition. You can save yourself considerable time and frustration if
you will take steps to ensure you are not over-thinking, ideally, before you work on mechanics.
Examples of Over-Thinking:
Abstract thinkers often must discipline themselves to “play bowling” instead of “playing bowling mechanical tips”–even the pros find this to be a perpetual task. The more an abstract (intelligent) thinker you are, the greater the challenge to manage your thoughts during a bowling competition (game, league night, tournament, etc.).
For one thing, the abstract thinker usually knows much more about the physical bowling game than most and can develop a bad habit of endlessly analyzing his or her play. This was my challenge while competing on tour. The abstract thinker will also fall into other bad habits of over-thinking, such as:
- Over-analyzing the lane conditions.
- Giving yourself far too many options for choosing the correct bowling ball.
- Constantly assessing your play relative to present and past scores, or to the play of other bowlers.
Keep in mind that for bowling, unlike a lot of sports, you have to wait between frames, which gives you plenty of time to think between shots. This typically provides an even greater opportunity for the over-thinker to over-analyze what he or she is doing rather than just doing it, especially when under pressure.
Consider hitting a shot in tennis, for example, where you often have little more than a second to react to the returning ball. You obviously do not have the idle minutes between every tennis shot to be as involved with thinking about how to hit the next shot, or how your various misses can cause you trouble, or how the results will affect your score and position in the tournament, as you likely do when you bowl.
It should be the objective of every over-thinker to manage their thoughts so that natural and trained athletic abilities are used freely to make shots without mental interference.
Stop over thinking to Win the Day!
A conversation between a Cherokee elder and his grandson
One evening a Cherokee elder told his grandson about the battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between the two ‘wolves’ that live inside us all. One is Unhappiness. It is fear, worry, anger, jealousy, sorrow, self-pity, resentment and inferiority. The other is Happiness. It is joy, love, hope, serenity, kindness, generosity, truth and compassion. ”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”
The old cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed”.
Feed happiness, joy, love, kindness and compassion to Win the Day!
Be More Present
“The ego doesn’t exist in the present moment: To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only past and future are considered important.” – Eckhart Tolle
Being “in the present” is so important in bowling. It frees your mind from negative thinking and your ego, allowing you to just be and get access to your best skills. The challenge we have today, is that nobody is ever truly present – we are constantly distracted (mostly by our mobile devices), and this doesn’t help us in the bowling center. We’re losing the ability to be present, and we are at the mercy of every thought that pops into our heads.
The ancient practice of meditation and mindfulness is all about improving a person’s ability to access the present moment and increasing awareness of what they are focusing on and how they feel. With this practice you develop more self-control, and more control over your “performance state”, instead of allowing your thinking to dictate it.
I advise all my students to start a daily practice of meditation and mindfulness, as it has so many benefits (beyond bowling). We have discussed this on Mental Monday.
Samurai Warriors adopted Zen Buddhism and meditation because it allowed them to fight with an “empty mind”. For these swordsman, having an empty mind was vital in the midst of combat as it freed them from doubt, fear and focus on technique. Of course they trained technique, but when combat began, all thinking departed and the purity of the action took over. This is how we need to be on the approach– less thinking and more playing.
Tomorrow we will discuss being more MINDFUL and I’ll share an exercise with you.
Start thinking about becoming more PRESENT to Win the Day!
Find The Groove
Hunt Your Way
Hunt your way to Win the Day!
WIN
Learn How To Visualize
