Consistency through Variability

Many still believe that “perfecting” the same movement through endless drill repetitions will help athletes replicate these skills under competitive pressure. This often backfires because competition is anything but predictable. Athletes face constantly changing variables—opponents’ strategies, weather, playing surfaces, and their own fluctuating mental and physical states. Therefore, when the game doesn’t match what they’ve rehearsed, they’re often unprepared to adapt since their training has not equipped them to handle such variability.

It may seem counterintuitive, but the key to achieving consistent performance in sports lies in embracing inconsistency during practice. However, the idea of training with variability often faces resistance, as many argue that it undermines the development of “muscle memory”, leads to poor fundamentals, and risks creating inconsistency in skill execution (especially for closed-skill dominant sports such as bowling, wushu and golf).

What evidence do we have for making this claim?

Continue reading →

Part 3: Unlocking the Superpowers…

As performers become more acquainted with the three principles—Control Your Controllables, Confidence Follows Competence, and Focus Leads Your Performance—the superpowers of Self-awareness, Gratitude, and Kindness naturally emerge.

For example, as performers consistently apply Control Your Controllables, they become more aware of their emotional triggers and habitual reactions during competition. A practitioner can then underline how Self-awareness enhances this principle by helping performers recognise when they are fixating on uncontrollable factors, such as an opponent’s performance or a referee’s call. By noticing these patterns, they can consciously redirect their focus toward what they can control—such as their breathing, focus routines, or tactical adjustments—allowing for more composed and effective performance. Self-awareness also helps them tap into their innate confidence by recognizing areas of growing competence (Confidence Follows Competence) and redirecting attention toward task-relevant cues (Focus Leads Performance) during high-pressure moments.

By now, you’ve seen how Self-awareness enhances the three principles by helping performers recognize and manage their internal responses. As I expand on Gratitude and Kindness, I encourage you to think about how these superpowers might also amplify the principles, and how they could transform a performer’s approach to challenges and growth.

Continue reading →

Principles First Approach to Mental Resilience (Part 2 of 3)

In this second part of my post, we’ll explore how the principles—Control Your Controllables, Confidence Follows Competence, and Focus Leads Your Performance—translate into practical psychological skills. Coaches and sport psychology practitioners can use experiential activities where participants perform a task under pressure, or reflective exercises where they contrast their best and worst performances. For example, they might ask:

• “How did you maintain your focus? What helped?”
• “How did you lose focus? What distractions did you face?”
• “How did preparation or skill level contribute to your performance?”

Do note that a certain competence in facilitation skills is necessary to help performers expand on their reflections, uncovering deeper insights and connections to their experiences.

Thereafter, the practitioner can ask the performer to consider which of the three principles best aligns with their insights. For example, a performer who recalls being overly concerned with the outcome during their worst performance might resonate with Control Your Controllables, while one who identifies a lack of trust in their abilities might connect more with Confidence Follows Competence.

This process helps performers internalize these principles by linking them to their personal experiences, making them more relatable and actionable as they move forward.