USOC Mental Training Skill #2: Mental Imagery Exercise 4

“Controlling Outcome”

The key to imagery as a performance enhancement tool is not just to make vivid
images but ones that you can control - making what you want to happen, occur.
Go back to Exercise 3, but decide in advance how you want to be feeling and what you want to be saying to yourself before you approach that competition site. Repeat each step, adding those changes that reflect your changed thoughts and feelings.

1. Approach a place, through imagery, where you have recently competed or have vivid memories of a competition.

2. Imagine yourself at various different times prior competition.

3. During competition.

If making this change is difficult, you may find yourself returning to images of what TYPICALLY happens, rather what you WANT to happen. If this occurs, “rewind” or repeat the image experience until you are able to control it. It is counterproductive to imagine scenes that you cannot control or that lead to undesirable outcomes.