I’m not saying that you shouldn’t set outcome goals. I think you should know what you are working towards, why and how you are going to achieve it. Time is precious and we need a plan to allocate our time most effectively. Goals can be inspiring and motivate us to put in the effort each day.
However, if the only goals we have are results based goals, there are drawbacks to the approach, such as:
1. It takes us away from the present
2. We can tie our identity in with the achievement of the goal
3. It can cause frustration and a loss of motivation if you don’t achieve them
4. It can leave a hole once we achieve them
A Better Approach To Goal Setting: Living by A Personal Philosophy
An outcome goals approach should be combined with a values-based approach. Values are unlike outcome goals in that we don’t achieve them, instead we live by them.
When I begin working with a bowler and ask them the question “Why do you bowl? What are your goals in bowling?”, more often than not I get a list of tournaments they would like to win or “to become a Tour player”. To be honest I find the most refreshing answer to be “I love the game and I just want to keep getting better”.
A values-based approach to goal setting will make your outcome goals in line with the bowler or person that you want to bring to each day (in the present), rather than chasing results in the future.
Don’t get me wrong, choosing value-based goals doesn’t mean that you want to be a great bowler any less than you currently do. If I was to say to my elite players, “score doesn’t matter, success is about values”, they might take issue with it. My view is that if you keep living by the philosophy of being a better human and a better athlete, you will improve and bring these more commonly thought of measures of success (tournament wins, higher average, etc.) closer towards you.
Let’s turn the goal setting process upside down. Instead of thinking about the outcomes you want to achieve - let’s think about the values and purpose first (that will really make you feel more fulfilled) and set outcome goals that support you developing those values. This means that every thought and action that you take will be in accordance with those values. Let’s find a deeper purpose for bowling than making this the year that you win your league championship, local scratch tournament, USBC Eagle or professional tournament. Results will come and go but values will stand that test of time.
Being an extraordinary human being should be your number one goal. Who is the person/bowler that you want to be? What is the philosophy that you want to live each day, game, tournament and practice session by? Write it down. Here are a few examples of values: curiosity, focus, integrity, acceptance, growth mindset, work ethic, kindness, being class on and off the lanes, compassion, preparedness, gratitude, patience.
Put together a statement which encompasses the values that you want to uphold and do so in every day and every game you bowl. You always win when you live by your personal philosophy no matter how you bowl or how the day goes. Winning trophies and tournaments is great but developing values is the most rewarding thing we can take from the sport of bowling.
Develop your personal philosophy today to Win the Day!
A second way in which a solid mental game plan augments bowling performance is through the influence it has on your neuromuscular system. Vivid mental images actually enhance muscle memory. Your body responds to the image in your mind, not only at the muscular level but also in the nervous system. When you visualize a movement, you map a neuromuscular pattern that will increase the chance of repeating the movement you imagined. The process is called subliminal motor movement. We’ve discussed the power of visualization on many Mental Monday’s.
This powerful concept can bring you consistent bowling performance or cause inconsistent performance if you don’t take control of it. To demonstrate just how sensitive subliminal motor movement can be, take time now to watch the video clip on Chevruel’s Pendulum. Dr. Jack Curtis practiced this technique with me on my very first visit 30 years ago and from that moment on have realized the power of the mental game. This technique emphasizes the mind/body connection and illustrates how visualization, regardless of where you do it, can improve or hinder performance in the bowling center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxoP4zKbZ74
The graphic I included in today's blog is a simple diagram that illustrates how potential - your God given talent - is prevented from being released. On the top , Line A represents your potential. Below that, Line B indicates the false ceiling that prevents you from reaching your potential.
This invisible ceiling is what you must break through to bowl up to your potential. So what is this false ceiling? What is it made of? One word: beliefs. What's holding you back are the false beliefs you've developed over the years. These beliefs shape your current habits, attitudes, behaviors and expectations - all of which combine to make up you self-concept. It's these beliefs that cap your performance and prevent you from bowling up to your potential. No matter what you do, you can't outbowl these inner beliefs, your self-concept. But you can change it, and you must change it before you can permanently expand your success zone.
The goal of the mental game is to raise the invisible ceiling and close the gap between your potential and your performance.
We have all fallen short of fulfilling our potential. Regardless of how successful you've been, at some time during your career, you've been frustrated because you know you haven't bowled up to you potential. You know you have the talent to bowl at a higher level, and you've done everything imaginable to unleash your talent.
You have set goals and outworked you teammates and competitors. You're driven and have the passion and the desire to be great. You get "locked in" for short periods or maybe even for extended periods, but you can't sustain that momentum. You constantly tweak your bowling game - but at the end of the day (or the year), the results are the same. You've seen other bowlers with less talent excel. They seem to get all the breaks and all the accolades. It's as if your foot is on the gas and you're revving your engine - but it feels like the parking brake is on. How do you release it?
The process is not as daunting as you might imagine. You won't even need to make any major changes - only a slight shift in your approach.
You've been successful because 95 to 98 percent of your behavior has been correct. Those skills go you where you are today. It's the behaviors that fall into the remaining 2 to 5 percent that have placed a false ceiling on your talent, thus capping your success. It is only the small percent of your behaviors that needs to be identified and addressed.
We're not talking about making major changes. You don't need a complete makeover. What I'm suggesting is that you make minor changes MENTALLY, much like you do when you are tweaking your swing, footwork, etc. It's these minor changes that can make a major difference in your results.
If you want to reach the top level of your bowling ability, you must focus on attainment.
Becoming great at what you do doesn’t stop at learning the craft of bowling. Attainment means mastering your craft, being able to focus consistently in pressure situations, having the confidence that you can succeed, and setting and reaching your goals.
If you focus on the success points, build on your ability and incorporate these strategies in your plan, success becomes probable, not just possible.
Jason Selk is one of the world’s leading mental toughness coaches. He tells us that the best among us athletes have a “relentless solution focus.”
Here’s the game he tells his elite athletes to play:
When something goes sideways, give yourself 60 seconds (that’s it! 60 seconds!) to feel bad about it, blame someone for it, etc.
60 seconds. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
DING!
Whining over.
Now, it’s time to find a SOLUTION to your problem.
You don’t need to solve the whole thing—and you shouldn’t try to. Just find one TINY thing you can do right now that would move you forward in a positive, constructive direction.
So… What’s your #1 bowling stressor right now?
Give yourself 60 seconds to whine/complain. Find something Tiny that moves you forward and move on.
Huge budget. You have an amazing crew. Best actors in the world and an impeccable script.
Question: Do you think you’re going to film the whole movie in one long, perfect take?
Even with decades of experience and the best of everything you know that’s ABSURD! Of course you’re going to have to re-do most scenes. Some over and over and over again until you get them right. (sound familiar when developing your bowling game?)
Those are all just mis-takes.
No big deal.
All part of the process, right?
Well, guess what? Same rules apply to your bowling career..
You WILL need to re-shoot some scenes (shots, drills, etc). A lot of them. Some a ton of times.
Those mistakes you’re making? They’re really just “mis-takes.”
Not a big deal. Just step back and make another shot!
Today remember when bowling it is a “mis-take”. Now Win the Day!
One of the best ways to assure your long-term success is to recognize and celebrate your daily wins.
We’ve talked about the Pillow Test on Mental Mondays. Each night before you go to bed, take out your an index card and write down three wins you had today.
Your thoughts determine your actions, your actions determine your performance, and your performance determines your destiny and what you will or will not accomplish.
By celebrating your wins each day, you build off of your previous success and can see your progress on a daily basis, which adds up over time to great success.
In 90% of cases, the yips is more mental than it is physical. Mostly occurring in the spare game and when the shot becomes more important, It’s caused by a mental interference between what you want to do (the shot) and the muscles required to do it.
In practice, a player with the yips can often perform well, which makes it even more frustrating when that same game doesn’t appear on the lanes. During the comfort of the practice area, a quiet mind allows them full access to their skills. At the lanes, with the pressure higher, bowlers/competitors watching and their score at stake, their mind is agitated and the pathways which take the information about the shot to the muscles are blocked by fear, overthinking and the focus being on the shot outcome.
Instead of being athletic and letting their body react, bowlers become very internal. The brain no longer has the necessary input to tell the muscles what to do. During the delivery, there is too much control (to prevent a yip), too much tension and some form of swing effort, which makes the movement very inconsistent.
Overtime, the bowler loses confidence in their ability to make shots. With more and more negative experiences, there is a highly negative association with those particular shots which becomes ingrained in the “belief system”. The fear of it happening again causes performance anxiety which further affects the player mentally, emotionally and physiologically.
3-STEP CURES FOR THE BOWING YIPS
If you can implement this 3 step approach to curing the yips, you can see big improvement over a short period of time.
STEP 1: BUILD A PROCESS
Develop a “performance process”, which will become the measure of success for their bowling competitions. Bowlers with the yips become very outcome oriented – if a yip happens it represents failure in itself and it quickly damages the player’s confidence, ego and scores. Whenever we measure success by the outcome, it puts a lot of pressure to achieve that outcome (in the case of the player with the yips, that outcome is not yipping). The outcome of any shot or competition will always be uncertain and out of your control, however, “the process” is something that can be achieved with certainty and is 100% within your control. The brain doesn’t like uncertainty and triggers the stress response to try to keep you away from it. Focusing on certainty makes us feel safer and more comfortable. So what exactly does it mean by PROCESS? Simple steps that you can do before, during and after each shot, which maximizes your chances of success. This can also include what that bowler does in between shots to manage their thoughts about the yips (self-talk, body language and being more present).
STEP 2: TRAIN THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
The subconscious mind is the store of all your memories. If you have the yips and you think of shooting a specific spare, there will be an automatic response that will trigger those feelings you get when a yip happens. Successful cures for the yips require “re-wiring” the brain to have a more positive relationship with that area of the game where it shows up.
This will take time but it will come down to repeating a positive story/memory (instead of the one you might currently tell yourself), visualizations and using techniques which can then be used during your pre shot routine. After a while, you will begin to see yourself as someone who is proficient at the spare shooting, specific lane conditions, etc. and that there is opportunity there and not fear.
STEP 3: PRACTICE IN THE RIGHT WAY
When I ask bowlers/students with the yips how they practice, they invariably describe something very repetitive – throwing many shots in practice (quantity practice), “trying to practice it away”. In practice this works great, as the process of making each shot is driven by the (subconscious) memory of the previous shot. In the bowling center during competition, you might make a shot every 1-2 minutes, not every 10-20 seconds.
Develop elite PROCESS routines. Make sure your pre and post routines are consistent, concise and are filled with the key elements (breath, self-talk, visualization). Make sure you spend part of your practice simulating a real competition that includes your routines and the time between shots. Make it as close to the upcoming bowling competition as you possibly can.
Practicing in this way trains the bowler in a way that will place more emphasis on the process than the result, help them manage their “performance state” and become better under the pressure.
Most big, deeply satisfying accomplishments in life take at least five years to achieve. This can include building a business, cultivating a loving relationship, writing a book, getting in the best shape of you life, raising a family, becoming a PBA Champion, and more.
Five years is a long time. It is much slower than most of us would like. If you accept the reality of slow progress, you have every reason to take action today. If you resist the reality of slow progress, five years from now you'll simply be five years older and still looking for a shortcut.
Do the hard work today, tomorrow, the next day... to get where you would like to be in whatever that is.
