Tips from the pros for strengthening mental skills

While regular coaching might involve leading athletes in repetitive drills and scrimmages, mental skills coaches supply athletes with psychological tips and tricks to instill a winning mind-set.

Here are some of the strategies they teach, and how to apply them to your own life.

Let your imagination run wild. One of the most popular mental skills techniques is imagery training, where athletes picture themselves executing key plays in the hours, days, weeks and months before a big competition while they call the sounds, smells and atmosphere of competition to mind. Regular practice of this sensory-based imagery technique can improve performance as much as a similar amount of physical practice — without putting any strain on the body.

If you have an upcoming challenge, like giving a speech, imagine yourself reeling off the talk from start to finish, incorporating as many sensory details as you can. What will it feel like to stand on the podium? What sounds will you hear in the auditorium?

Stress yourself out — on purpose. Mental skills coaches might also devise “pressure training” regimens that induce the anxiety athletes will face in competition. To create your own pressure training plan, find ways to ratchet up your stress levels as you prepare. For example, if you’re anxious to nail a crucial work presentation, do a few practice runs in front of colleagues.

Loosen up. When competitors must perform a high-level skill, their minds can start to race, leaving them at risk of stumbling or freezing up. To combat overthinking and disrupt negative thought spirals, a mental skills coach might ask an athlete to do a fun, loose dance step or other physical movement right before they perform, or crack a joke to make them laugh.

Before a pivotal moment in your life, do something physical, or watch a YouTube comedy sketch. Not only does laughter signal your body to produce endorphins, chemicals that can induce calm, it’s a mental icebreaker that stops you ruminating on the challenge ahead.

Justin Lewis / Getty Images Mental skills coaches supply athletes and others with psychological tips and tricks to instill a winning mindset.