aHEAD IN THE GAME

1. You’re Thinking Too Much

2. Stop Thinking

3. Just Relax, Don’t Think About it

4. Just Do It

5. You’re Too In Your Head

6. Get Out of Your Head

7. Don’t Think

8. Don’t Think

9. Don’t Think

10. Don’t Think

Tell me something like that and I literally crash out. Idk to me it seems like a lazy trope. Just something coaches say when they run out of ideas, but why is it so common? Even Grover titled the first chapter of his book, “Don’t Think.” But what does it meannnnnn? The more I read Relentless, and the more my completely justified and not-at-all blind rage subsided, I thought back to my own education in motor control. I thought MAYBE, just maybe, there’s some minute piece of truth we MIGHT be able to excavate from that stupid saying. Grover likens not thinking to the idea of being in the “zone,” everything just happening naturally and almost effortlessly. It reminded me of “flow,” a term we learned about in grad school.

“Flow” refers to a state of complete absorption in an activity. Athletes who experience this state don’t have to consciously think about their actions; it happens almost automatically and is often linked to peak performance. The idea of being so completely immersed in your sport and exerting an almost unconscious control is clearly attractive to athletes, coaches, and researchers alike. As a result, many are interested in what constitutes flow, how to facilitate it, and its relationship with performance.

Flow was initially introduced by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Like I said, it describes a state of total immersion in an activity, complete focus on the task at hand, and competing just for the sake of the activity itself. It’s more complex than just being focused, there are specific dimensions that define flow. I like to think about the first three dimensions, (unambiguous feedback, challenge skill balance, and clear goals), as what you need to achieve flow and the next six dimensions (sense of control, merging of action and awareness, concentration on the task at hand, autotelic experience loss of self-consciousness, and transformation of time) are more concerned with what an individual experiences while in the flow state.

Unambiguous Feedback: the individual has a strong sense of what success in their task is due to immediate and clear feedback

Challenge-Skill Balance: the demands of the task match the individual’s abilities

Clear Goals: objectives are defined, and the individual has a strong sense of what they need to accomplish

Sense of Control: the individual feels they are able to complete any task they want

Merging of Action & Awareness: feeling a sense of oneness with the activity; the individual stops seeing themselves as separate from their task

Concentration on the Task at Hand: complete focus on the task

Autotelic Experience: the task is intrinsically enjoyable

Loss of Self-Consciousness: individual has complete control without trying to exert any control

Transformation of Time: perception of time changes (can speed up or slow down)

I think that one of the most notable factors of the flow experience is loss of self-consciousness. Maybe this is where the whole “Don’t Think” thing comes from. I just wish coaches knew that this is simply a by-product of the experience, it’s not what gets you into the flow state. Achieving flow is dependent on satisfying those three antecedents. Athletes in a qualitative study highlighted preparation, confidence, and positive attitude as the important variables that facilitate. These three variables appeal to the three antecedents of flow. For me, preparation is the greatest influence on flow. Athletes mentioned that having established pre-performance routines, mental routines, and competition plans as being conducive for the flow state. This gives the athletes specific goals for performance, a well-defined sense of what they must do to be successful, and a clear image of success. Additionally, proper training should allow the athlete to understand the demands of the competition environment and their ability to perform within that setting.

Confidence (I prefer the term efficacy but…) and positive attitude were also mentioned as being factors that lead to flow. I agree that they are important, but I think these are simply byproducts of preparation. I’ve always been told that training should be harder than the match. When I am able to perform in a challenging practice environment, during the match I trust in my abilities, therefore I am more confident. This confidence is derived from the quality of my preparation. The better the practice environment trains my skills for competition, the more confident I am during competition. This is representative of the most influential source of efficacy, past performance. Further, when I am more confident it’s easier to be positive because I am more likely to believe in my abilities to achieve the desired outcome. I can admit that preparation doesn’t always translate to confidence and positive attitude. Sometimes these things are more subjective than objective. For me, some days I feel great. I feel like there’s no attackers that could get by me, I’m a literal brick wall. On these days I stg I am Puyol reincarnated. Other days, I feel like a literal baby taking their first steps could juke me. It’s not like my actual skill level/ability has changed just from one day to another. Rather, the perception of my ability that has changed. This can happen regardless of the quality of my training. However, mental preparation such as imagery and mindfulness can help combat these negative feelings. Imagery involves creating an accurate mental representation of the competition environment. It’s not just limited to sight; it can include all the senses. Athletes can use this tool to visualize performances, tactics, and strategies. They can also use these tools to prepare themselves for negative feelings such as anxiety, nervousness, and stress prior to competition.

Additionally, mindfulness is a technique used to describe a state of being focused in the present moment. This becomes useful when trying to achieve the flow state as one of its main tenets is being completely immersed in one task. There is evidence to show mindfulness can positively influence the different antecedents and consequences of flow. Preparation, both mental and physical, is important in bringing about flow. It should allow the athlete to anticipate the potential obstacles they will face in the competition setting. Proper training helps athletes to build their decision making skills, allowing them to responds to challenges faster even to the point where it becomes like reflex. Preparation gives athlete the opportunity to “not think” because training has conditioned their responses to become innate.

This is what Grover refers to when mentions trusting your instincts. However, like I said, this type of automaticity doesn’t just happen, we have to cultivate it through repetition and also believe in our abilities so performance during competition it becomes more like a reflex. Nurturing this type of automaticity can help us induce the flow state.  This also explains why more experienced and higher level athletes achieve flow more often because they have had more time to cultivate these instincts through years of preparation. Thinking of flow in this way, as something that can be trained, at least in some ways. It makes more sense why Grover uses the idea of “not thinking” as the foundation for his book. It’s all about properly preparing and trusting in this preparation to bring about quality performance.

So here’s the thing, you know the whole chicken vs egg thing? Yeh we kind have that same thing with flow. We don’t know what comes first, flow or good performance. Right now, there’s two avenues by which we speculate an individual can achieve flow. We either appeal to flow’s different dimensions which in turn trigger good performances, or we are already having a good performance bringing about the flow state. I think that it’s kinda both. I think the relationship between the two is cyclical, but I think it has to be because flow is transient. I think it’s something you can jump in and out of. In my opinion, having a good performance can induce flow. It can relax us enough to give us confidence, and trust in every decision we make. I think this can lead to the flow state. But, there’s no time constraint on flow. It’s not like once you’re in it, you’re in it. I think the competition environment is too unpredictable. For example, in soccer sometimes we have long pauses due to injuries, arguments, or deliberations. I think it would sometimes be impossible to stay locked in, to stay in the flow state during these pauses. So maybe you drop out of it. That doesn’t mean that all of a sudden you’re playing poorly it just means you’re not as automatic. However, as you continue to play well maybe you enter back into that state. So, I don’t think there’s necessarily only one avenue that leads to flow, I also don’t think once you get there it’s permanent, I don’t even think that it’s completely necessary for good performance. Clearly, there’s still a lot of research to be done. Right now, all we know is that there is a positive relationship between flow and performance.

Imagine practicing for your entire life. Years, potentially decades, of knowledge and experience to fall back on, and someone says, “just don’t think about it.”  Like me, your first thought is probably roll your eyes, ignore them, scoff. But, even if it’s a watered down way of thinking, it’s kinda accurate. Through flow we can achieve peak performance by “not thinking.” Don’t be confused, there’s a lot of very intentional, deliberate, and heavily thought out preparation that goes into “not thinking.” Proper physical and mental training hones athletes’ instincts, creating efficient habits that helps to limit the conscious decisions we must make during competition. So even though we don’t know the specific direction of the relationship between flow and performance, we know that the flow state isn’t some completely abstract thing that we just happen to achieve by chance. It’s controllable, to some degree. To achieve it is to trust in ourselves and our experiences playing the sport. It means un-complicating things and having faith in our abilities. I guess in some ways it does mean, “don’t think, just do.”