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Power Up! – a unique Performance Psychology program designed to help kids 10 to 16 years excel at sporting, musical, artistic or academic pursuits.
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To get where you want to go, you need to take steps one at a time to bring you closer to your goals. It’s important to plan ahead, have a timeframe for when, where, and how you will work on your goals, and keep track of your progress. Try to make goals that are very specific and small. The video above will share a simple, useful, and powerful technique to define and manage your goals. Use the video in combination with your workbook.
Goals for good performance should be specific. Goals can relate to a particular skill or technique, or they may relate to an attitude or habit you wish to change, such as your sleeping or eating habits. It helps to work backward. Determine your future goals and then work out what you need to do each week.
The most helpful goals focus on WHAT you can do and HOW you can do it. It doesn’t help to focus on things like "winning" because it doesn’t tell you anything about what you can actually DO to move closer to your goals. It’s also important to include a WHEN as it helps to commit to a timeframe.
Using the Bullseye tool can help you work out what you need to work on. The video above and your workbook will explain the Bullseye tool, so you can use it to make specific goals.
It’s important to be SMART about goal setting. The most effective goals are those that follow the SMART framework, which recommends that goals are: Specific (focus on the details), Measurable (so you can keep track of your progress over time), Achievable (goals you know you can reach), Realistic (not so easy that you don’t need to put in any effort, and not too hard so you won’t ever reach them), and have a Timeframe (so you know when you need to achieve them by).
The action plan template will make it easier for you to plan your goals. It will also allow you to review your actions, ensure they make sense, and assist you in achieving your goals.
You probably count on many adults to finance, manage, and provide transportation for your events or training. It is important that your entire support network is recognized. This will assist you in having a genuine understanding of the commitment and effort required by your team, not just yourself. Being able to express appreciation and gratitude can help you stay grounded.
This is especially important when you are away from home or in the spotlight. Knowing the people who are on your team can also boost your sense of well-being and confidence, as well as motivate you to do your best.
You will be invited to map, acknowledge, and show appreciation for your entire support network. Keep in mind that some members may be less obvious than others.
In this module, you will be introduced to self-talk as a strategy to improve your skill development and manage your emotions and ability to focus on performance situations. You will identify both helpful and unhelpful thinking patterns and how these may impact you physically, emotionally and behaviourally. This section will also discuss the different ways self-talk can be used to improve your performance. Further, you will be encouraged to develop realistic and helpful thinking patterns related to your experiences prior to, during and after practice or performance situations.
We all experience conversations in our heads. This is called internal dialogue and it means that our cognitive thoughts and internal voice can influence how we feel and behave in both practice and competition.
This internal dialogue can be both helpful and unhelpful. For example, in a performance situation, positive cognitions can help us push that ‘little bit extra’ to achieve our best, whereas unhelpful cognitions can contribute to performance anxiety that can negatively impact performance. The skills covered in this section are relatively complex and require practice and support from your parents and coaches/teachers to implement.
Power Up! has adopted the use of cognitive strategies for the specific purpose of performance enhancement, teaching you to manage unhelpful thinking patterns to develop and reinforce positive thinking patterns.
By identifying your own self-talk patterns, you will be able to gain a better understanding of how your thoughts can affect how you feel and behave. The exercises may also help you to utilise self-talk in a variety of situations and contexts, such as in relation to other events and throughout times when you may be experiencing stress, anxiety or when more attention and focus is required, for example.
This section explores the benefits of positive imagery. Mental rehearsal or imagery offers you the opportunity to imagine a specific technique, experience, environment or even a specific state of mind. Applying imagery techniques to your performance rehearsal will facilitate optimal performance for participants.
Imagery is a mental skill commonly used by elite performers and is among the most important skills for managing the mental demands of performance. By regularly completing imagery exercises, you are able to stimulate your muscle memory and improve a specific skill through imagination.
By using the techniques presented in this video and in your workbook you are likely to achieve the following:
In this section we will explore Robert Nideffer’s theory of focus styles and explore the different styles of focus and identify the most appropriate focus style for a variety of situations. You will be invited to analyse scenarios and review helpful focus styles through case examples and then relate them to your own performance. Using the different focus styles you can better manage distractions during training or performance.
Focus and attentional control is a complex area but very important when planning for long term sustained performance. It can be used in combination with other aspects of performance psychology, like imagery for example. By completing and practising this section you will likely be able to:
Robert Nideffer’s (1976) Theory of Attentional and Interpersonal Style can be a complex theory to learn and best done in a visual and dynamic fashion, drawing on your experiences. This means that you will need to practise and try to activate the different focus styles over a period of time. Watch this video several times to help you along the way.
Physiological activation or arousal refers to how switched on our bodies are at any given time. Signs of the level of physiological activation include measures of heart rate, breathing rate, muscle firing and skin conductivity. Mental activation or arousal refers to thought processes and the ability to focus appropriately.
The ability to manage your arousal level is an important skill for performance management. This section explores the impact of arousal on performance. It also helps you to develop your ability to regulate your arousal levels for different circumstances or aspects of your performance.
Arousal refers to both physical and mental activation. It can be useful to think about arousal like temperature, where a temperature is always present, and that the judgement around whether it is “too hot”, “too cold”, or “just right” is based on multiple factors, rather than being categorical.
Learning to monitor and manipulate physical arousal is an essential skill for all performers. Arousal levels that are too low often result in an activity requiring more effort than usual and a lack of energy. Arousal levels that are too high can result in feelings of nausea, feeling jittery and result in poor decision making and errors. Emotional experiences can also significantly impact arousal levels. For example, feelings of sadness can lead to physical sensations of fatigue and lethargy. Feelings of worry or anxiety can create sensations of agitation or breathlessness.
Learning to manage your arousal levels also helps to manage emotional states. This is particularly important as competitive pursuits can be highly emotional experiences where it will be normal to encounter difficult emotions such as frustration, anxiety, anger and disappointment. Using arousal control skills in combination with self-talk skills is the most effective combination for managing emotional experiences that are impacting on practice and performance.
Once mastered, arousal regulation skills can ensure that you have the skills and confidence to shift yourself back into an appropriate state and manage the normal ups and downs of day to day practice and competition.
Are you excited about taking part in tests, events, or competitions? Did you know that taking responsibility for planning and preparing for these activities can help you become more independent and successful? In this lesson, we will explore how to develop critical time-management and organisational skills to help you achieve your goals.
Planning is an essential part of achieving success in any performance-related activity. It is important to take responsibility for your preparation with the help of your parents and coaches. By doing so, you will progressively increase your ability to plan, organize, and take responsibility for event preparation. This will not only help you manage performance anxiety through adequate preparation but also foster your independence by assisting you in practicing organisational skills and time management.
To make the planning process more practical and engaging, we encourage you to practice it as often as possible with your parents and coaches using the exercises provided. For example, you can visit the event venue, record distances and travel time, and conduct a full trial of the event in advance. You can record all this information on the planning page, which we have provided for you to download and use.
This lesson includes a three-minute video and a downloadable document that can be used on its own or as part of the Power Up performance psychology program that contains six lessons. By completing this exercise regularly, you will progressively increase your ability to plan, organize and take responsibility for event preparation. This can also assist you in managing your anxieties better, as you know preparation has been completed in advance. By planning and organising necessary tasks and things prior to the event, you are likely to avoid disappointment during events.
Remember, good planning has many benefits, such as increasing your autonomy, helping you manage your anxieties better, and avoiding disappointment during events. So let's get started on our journey towards becoming independent and successful performers!
Power Up® is an award-winning social and emotional program that helps children aged 10 to 16 who are involved in competitive sport, music or academics to improve their performance and manage the demands of competition.
The Power Up® program includes an interactive workbook and a series of constantly evolving animated videos. Based on a wealth of performance psychology research, Power Up!® teaches a comprehensive set of skills practiced by elite performers around the world.
There are six core psychological skills covered in the program. They are:
To get the most out of this program, participants will already be training or practicing under the instruction of coaches or teachers to improve their skills and prepare for regular competition or performance.
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