As an athlete, even when you’re laser-focused on a goal, life can be distracting. You might have things outside of your sport on your mind, but you still have a job to do. How can you clear your mind and focus on practicing or playing?

There you are looking at the time. Practice is about to begin but something else is occupying your mind. It needs a resolution and it feels stressful. You’re fully locked in on the problem at hand, but now you need to switch up your focus to playing, where there is also a lot at stake, intense competition, high expectations, and the pressure of responsibility. Even so, it’s still your space to play and an outlet where you can let your problems go for a short period of time. It’s a place you’re comfortable being in. The problem is you’re not mentally there. What do you do?

How to Align Your Thoughts and Emotions

When I was younger, I learned that regardless of the problem, the solution was to walk it off. Save your emotions for your alone time. Everyone has problems. Why are mine any different? 

While this way of thinking did help to toughen up an otherwise super-sensitive kid, it created an issue of internalizing my frustrations until they turned into outbursts and bigger mental health issues.

I share this here because there is immense value in learning to manage your emotions so that you can step up to meet your responsibilities (i.e., get out of your own way.) However, this doesn’t mean that you have to pretend that your problems don’t exist, avoid what you’re feeling, or deal with it all on your own 24/7. I’ll explain.

As I mentioned above, as a kid I learned to keep things to myself, but on the other side of that, when I learned to release my emotions, it was like the barrier to a waterfall was unleashed. There was no in between.

It took me a long time to learn that there is a way to honor your feelings and heal without letting it run you every moment of every day. In other words, it is possible to go about your business and stay focused without completely and totally ignoring your personal journey.

You might want to think of it as pairs of shoes. There are shoes you wear for immense focus, and there are shoes you wear for self-care, and there’s room for both in your closet even when you can’t necessarily wear them both at the same time.

5 Ways to Improve Your Focus

1. Meditate. Ironically, practicing focus can help you lock in quicker and easier. The best way I know how to do this is through meditation and breathing exercises. Why? Because meditation is nothing more than a concentrated focus that trains your brain to let go and observe through breathing and affirmations. It is said that whatever you are thinking about at any given moment is what you’re meditating on. So, why not train your brain to notice when your thoughts are all over the place? The goal is not to achieve nirvana or a total zen state (although that’s cool if that happens.). Rather, the goal is to learn how to deliberately slow down your thoughts so you can focus.

Rather than just being in your feelings, you can observe your emotions without judgment like clouds in the sky, which can provide clarity. It also helps to relieve tension mentally, emotionally, and physically. And just like anything else, the more you practice it, the easier it is to relax and focus by taking in a few deep breaths.

Let’s say that you’re feeling anger or confusion or sadness or fear or anything that might be distracting you from focusing on the task at hand. Maybe you’re overthinking and your thoughts are running rampant.

At that moment, you can use your mindfulness and breathwork training to help you balance out and relax. Again, you’re not ignoring what the issue is, but you’re giving yourself the space to let it be. If you’ve ever experienced being in the zone—a free-flowing place of clarity and confidence where time seems to slow down—then you can relate to this concept of letting things go and being fully present in whatever it is that you’re doing.

Here is a sample meditation exercise you can try:

• Find a quiet and comfortable space to sit or lie down. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to settle into the present moment.
• Focus your attention on your breath. Feel the sensation of each inhale and exhale. Notice the rise and fall of your chest or the sensation of the breath passing through your nostrils.
• As your thoughts and/or emotions arise, just let them be. Observe that they are there, and then come back to your breath.
• As you breathe, imagine a beautiful, serene lake. Picture the water as calm and still. Your thoughts and emotions are like ripples on the surface of the lake.
• With each breath, visualize your racing thoughts or intense emotions as small pebbles. As you exhale, gently release these pebbles into the lake. Watch as the ripples disperse and the water returns to a calm state.
• Continue to breathe and release, allowing any thoughts or emotions to be acknowledged without judgment. Simply let them come and go, like passing clouds in the sky.
• If your mind starts to wander or if new thoughts arise, gently bring your focus back to your breath and the calming image of the serene lake.
• Take a few more deep breaths, gradually becoming aware of your surroundings. When you feel ready, open your eyes.
• *Note you can visualize any serene place you want. It doesn’t have to be a lake

2. Write it out. (AKA “brain dump.”) You might also want to try journaling. Give yourself 10 minutes to jot down responses to these questions. Write without stopping to think or analyze. Just write. (This is why it’s called a “brain dump” exercise. Let everything go.)

• What am I so distracted by?
• What am I feeling?
• I acknowledge that I am feeling ______________ about ____________. I give myself permission to let that go for a little bit so I can focus on ______________.
• What do I want to focus on right now?
• Why is it important to focus on this right now?
• I care about the other thing but I also care about this practice/game because _______________.

You can also do an open journal exercise where you write about anything on your mind so that you release those thoughts.

After the game or practice, I would encourage you to journal about the problem that you’re facing. Just write without stopping and without judgment. Writing is another physical outlet, but it’s also an emotional outlet. The goal, again, is to not try to bury your problems, but to work through them at the right time.

3. Use movement to build up your concentration strength. This, too, can be practiced. For example, stand up and literally take one step at a time focusing only on each step. Feel your foot glide onto the ground beneath you rolling from your heel to your toe until your foot has completed the step. Notice how your shoe, sock, or even bare-foot, feels. Allow your breath (inhale and exhale) to match your steps. Take your time and refocus when your mind wanders. This will help you train your mind to eliminate distractions. Then, in a game or a practice, you might focus on one drill, circuit, exercise, or play at a time.

4. Create your own cheat code. Come up with a word or a phrase so that when you find yourself zoning out, you can remind yourself of that word or phrase to help you refocus. It could be something silly and unrelated like the word “potato” or it could be something meaningful like, “right now, I am a baseball player.”

Some people also prefer a movement like clapping their hands three times. Find whatever works for you to help you redirect your thoughts to focus on what you need to do.

5. Commit to a time to work on all your stuff in a designated space. Give yourself the space to allow for support in your regular schedule. For example, setting an ongoing appointment once a week for 30-60 minutes with a mental health coach can help you work through the mental and emotional things that you have going on. It gives you the space to talk your talk without expectations or judgment. The benefit of doing this is that it helps you keep the inner stuff from piling up or overwhelming you.

If you find that you still can’t focus and you just don’t feel like yourself, and this goes on for more than just a couple of days, speak up to a coach, a parent, a sports psychologist, or other counselor. Sometimes, there’s more going on that requires the support of a licensed mental health professional.

Want more support? Contact me to learn more about athlete mental health coaching.