“See it, believe it.”

Imagery, sometimes called visualization or mental rehearsal, is widely used by athletes, business professionals, musicians, and almost anyone looking to enhance their performance. It involves creating mental images of your performance to help you perform better under pressure, improve skills, evoke emotions, or create an immersive mental experience (Ramsey et al., 2010). I should also emphasize that Imagery is a mental skill; like all skills, it requires practice.

How does Imagery foster confidence and enhance performance?

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What can this French Philosopher teach coaches about mental toughness?

The late French Philosopher Michel Foucault (1926–1984) was well known for his explorations of power, control, and social discourse. He was particularly critical of how political institutions organize and control workers, students, soldiers, and prisoners to the extent that they surrender their power and become passive and docile bodies (Denison & Mills, 2014). Although this criticism emerged from the social-political sphere, they are also applicable to sports coaching, particularly when coaching becomes mainly about the power to control, monitor, and intervene to the extent that athletes become passive learners.

High Discipline + High Control = High Performance?

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The Myth of the “Zone”

The “Zone,” also known as the flow state, has been described by performers as effortless, where everything clicks perfectly, and they achieve a heightened sense of performance (Jackson et al., 2001). While this state undoubtedly leads to enhanced confidence and focus even under competitive pressure, it is essential to understand that the “Zone” can be elusive and cannot be directly summoned at will.

When the zone calls, you must listen. You never know how long being in the zone lasts.
John Passaro

Since the flow state may happen spontaneously or fleetingly, but it cannot be consistently manufactured, does that also mean that we have to leave our confidence and focus to chance?

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