Establishing a Refocus Routine
1. Recognize Distractions. Identify the factors in your sport that are likely to distract your attention or draw your focus away from crucial elements of performance.
2. Select your focus. Identify the factors in your performance that require your concentration. Where should your focus be?
3. Prepare to concentrate. Concentration requires a passive, relaxed mindset. It is helpful to recognize and reduce stress and anxiety. Too much stress destroys attentional focus. While it may be unrealistic to keep your environment stress-free, pay attention to the stress you can control or limit versus that which is out of your control and not worth your attention.
4. Create concentration cues. Use additional words, images, or actions as reminders to concentrate. Called cues, these words, images, or actions should be simple, positive and personally meaningful.
5. Create you own refocusing routines. Anticipate possible distracters and decide how you will respond to them. These responses are your refocusing routines. Practice your refocusing routines until they are effective and instinctive. If you plan what you will do between points, having a refocusing routine reduces uncertainty and decreases your susceptibility to distractions.
During your training sessions over the next week, make a mental note of the distractions that interfere with your concentration. Record this information in the graph on the graph below, under A, B, and C. Do this immediately after practice or during breaks when the experience is still fresh in your memory.