Tight Mind Monday: Creating the Habit to Hit

Doc Ali’s Tight Mind Monday 1-9-17: Creating the Habit to Hit

Many people say that our lives are the sum of our habits, both good and bad. Today’s Tight Mind Monday will look at some habits to cultivate in the gym and how to create a new habit called the Habit to Hit. First of all, here are three important habits to work in the gym every day.  

1. Practice with proper technique and excellence every turn.

2. Change negative thoughts quickly to avoid spirals and condition the mind.

3. Put yourself in competition situations or visualize competition as much as possible. This helps practice feel like competition so competition will feel like practice.

Next, to create our new Habit to Hit we will use the three tools of habit formation. Every habit we have, both good and bad, have these three components: Trigger, Routine, and Reward.  

Our Habit to Hit will be used before, during, and after routines:

Step one:
Create the Trigger before every routine. The trigger is a combination of a breath with feeling and a statement. Pull this trigger on every event before the routine. The statement could be “just like practice”, “I got this”, or whatever statement makes you feel confident.

Step two:
Lock your mind down during the routine. Create a habit of saying the same cue words during your routine. You can say to yourself corrections, confidence, statements, or even count.  Whatever works for you. Just say the same thing every time to create a habit.  

Step three:
Reward yourself after a good routine. After a good routine, take a deep breath and notice how you feel. Say to yourself, “I feel great, that was awesome.” Coaches, after a great routine ask your athletes how they feel. Acknowledging a good feeling is a reward and anchors the habit in your body.

Aristotle said, “Excellence is not an act, but a habit”. Starting today, create good habits that will fuel your success all season.