The strongest source of motivation lives within the athlete.

When an athlete has a burning desire for something, motivation is high and consistent. So “self-reinforcement” is the most powerful source of reinforcement and learning.

Internal control is stronger than external control. The athlete’s ability to reinforce him or herself is internal control. In essence, the athlete coaches herself a portion of the time. A coach cannot be everywhere all the time. So the ability of a player to self-motivate, to self-reinforce is key to performance improvement.

An internally controlled athlete who uses self-reinforcement is the most motivated athlete. The coach’s challenge is to teach their athletes how to coach and reinforce themselves.

Here are a few ideas:

• Have the athlete set a performance standard for a particular task.
• Have the athlete self-reinforce only when the standard is met or bettered.
• Help the athlete construct a menu of reinforcing self-talk.

Stay “Tooned” – I’ll reveal the second and third strongest sources of motivation in upcoming posts.

Note: This post is adapted with permission from The neural and psychological bases of baseball pitching. Rushall, B. S. (2009). Spring Valley, CA: Sports Science

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Yet, how about rewarding the stuff that leads up to the outcomes? Hustle, defense, assists, picks, floor burns? If you want more of these behaviors from your team, then reward it. I’m not talking about expensive trophies or gifts. Watch today\’s video and discover a simple, inexpensive yet powerful way to get more of what you want out of your players.

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Where does one begin?

In developing any skill, the best place to start is with an assessment of the current situation. A tool I’ve used with all of my teams is the Competitive Adjective Profile (C.A.P.) developed by Dr. James Loehr. Each item on the profile represents an important competitive quality.

A key to developing an effective mental strength game plan is to establish a 360-degree view of the current situation. The C.A.P. will give you and your athletes a composite view of their current state of mental toughness.

You can download a blank copy of the C.A.P. by clicking here.

Here’s how it works:

1. Have each of your players fill out the C.A.P. on themselves. Instruct them to think hard and portray the most accurate picture possible of themselves when they compete in their sport. It’s vital to avoid making themselves look a lot better or worse than they really are.

2. Next give each of your athletes three blank copies of the C.A.P. and ask them to put their name at the top. Instruct them to get three people who know them well competitively to anonymously complete the C.A.P. on them.

3. You also fill out the C.A.P. anonymously on each of your players as well.

4. Have each athlete create a composite C.A.P. form on themselves. The composite represents the averages of all the scores they received. Once each athlete has a clear, well-rounded view of their current level of “mental strength”, it’s time to create a mental game training program.

Here are the steps to give your athletes:

STEP 1: Identify your four weakest areas from the C.A.P.

STEP 2: State the weaknesses in positive factor form: Examples: I’m very patient, I am a great actor, I’m highly motivated.

STEP 3: Make those 4 positive factors the most important themes in your life as an athlete Suggestions: Put reminders up in your locker, on your bathroom mirror, next to your bed – everywhere you can.

STEP 4: Write a one- page summary of what you will do to improve each positive factor over the 30 days. Example: My plan for Showing Strong Body Language

STEP 5: Track your progress daily for one month.

Rinse and repeat every 2-3 months

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The fist bump, the high five, a quick hug or even the Bryan Brothers famous chest bump – are all powerful forms of non-verbal communication used by high performing teams.

Scientist at UC Berkeley recently analyzed physical interactions among every team in the NBA.  Michael Kraus led a research team that observed and coded every high five, hug and bump in a single game played by each NBA team early last season.  Basically, they found:

“With few exceptions, good teams tended to be touchier than bad ones.  The most touch bonded teams were the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers … and at the bottom were the mediocre Sacramento Kings and the Charlotte Bobcats.  The same was true, more or less, for players.  The touchiest player was Kevin Garnett, followed by Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer.”

The study corrected for the possibility that the better teams touch more simply because they were winning.  They found “Players who made contact with teammates most consistently and longest tended to rate highest on measures of performance, and the teams with those players seemed to get the most out of their talent”.

If you’d like to hear more about building team chemistry from one of today’s coaching masters, Phil Jackson, click here to listen to PCA’s Jim Thompson’s recent interview for Liberty Mutuals Responsible Sports series.

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I’ve read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology for Success and I recently participated in a talk she gave to Positive Coaching Alliance trainers.  Dweck’s research on fixed mindset and growth mindset is essential for every coach to understand. To summarize, a fixed mindset reflects a belief that talent is inherent and cannot be altered—meaning we have fixed abilities, be they athletic, academic, artistic, musical, etc. A growth mindset involves a belief that you can develop talent—that talent is not fixed. Typically athletes with a fixed mindset tend to fear real challenges. Competition is seen as a threat as it “measures” an innate ability that they are powerless to change.

On the other hand, athletes with a growth mindset welcome challenge. Effort, learning and confronting mistakes is inherent in their framework. Someone else’s growth and improvement presents an opportunity and not a threat.  They are empowered by the belief that they can work hard every day to develop their talents and maximize their own potential. Losing is an opportunity to learn and is therefore not a failure at all.

What does all this mean for coaches?  How can we make sure our athletes remain learners with a growth mindset?  Here are a few ideas:

• Watch your language!  Our words tell our athletes what we believe and what we value.  Praise effort, persistence in the face of set backs, learning, improving, strategy, choosing a difficult task, focus, overcoming obstacles etc.
• Present your staff as mentors in your athletes learning process
• Learn, teach and talk about how the brain works.  Let your athletes know that effort and learning increase the number of neurological connections in their brain.  This is what makes them better, smarter.  Check out Dr. Dweck’s site www.brainology.us – she calls it “the owner’s manual for the brain.”
• Read Dr. Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology for Success.

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