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How To Stop Worrying About Uncontrollables

I received an email from a coach in the States recently asking how to stop swimmers from worrying and reacting to uncontrollables in races, those things which we simply have no control over in a race whatsoever.

She gave examples of when her swimmers would: not the like temperature of the water, or think there were too many people in the warm-up pool, or they would not like the lane they were assigned. She said they would get stuck on these small problems and they would put in a bad performance.

These were all just very minor details which their mind would often focus upon to use as a ready excuse in case they didn't swim well in the meet.

The best way to overcome 'uncontrollables' in a race is by knowing this: "What You Focus Upon, Expands".

This means that if you constantly worry about something going wrong, it will actually program your mind for it to happen! For instance, if you worry too much about not hitting the touchpad properly at the end of the race, sure enough, that is exactly what WILL happen - unless you can take your focus OFF that negative thought, and focus on something more positive (such as hitting that touchpad perfectly).

What we focus upon, expands. It's that simple.

So what you must do in this situation is say to yourself:

"I'm not going to worry about that, because I refuse to let it affect me. I am only going to focus on what I want, not on what I don't want. This will keep my mind focused on the goal, not the obstacles".

It is important to know that there will always be obstacles in the path of your goal. That's what makes goals worth achieving - otherwise they would be boring and not worth achieving.

There will always be other competitors to compete against, but there may also be other variables - such as slow pools, tiredness, bad weeks in training, ill health and many other uncontrollables, which there is no point worrying about.

You see, it is not the obstacles which are important, it is how you treat those obstacles which makes all the difference.

So your choice becomes: do I choose to give these obstacles power by focusing upon them, or do I choose to blow them away by focusing on my goal?

As soon as you take your focus off the 'negative', it won't bother you again. It's only when you gives these negative thoughts lots of attention that you have to really worry!

This brings us to the subject of tunnel vision. Tunnel vision means being able to focus upon your goal so completely that you cannot see any obstacles getting in your way.

Try this exercise for a moment: Imagine that you are looking through a narrow tunnel, directly at your goal (try making a 'tunnel' with your hand and look through it at something on the other side of the room) and you'll notice that this 'goal' is all you can see, because the tunnel stops you from seeing anything else - right?

So this means that the goal is all you can focus upon, because there's absolutely no distractions or uncontrollables for you to see. This is tunnel vision, which is the best way to achieve a goal, and this is what most champions use.

Now, imagine that this tunnel is becoming wider and wider (open your hand out more and more until the whole room is in view), and suddenly you'll see there are lots more distractions going on to stop you focusing on your goal, and these are the obstacles that get in your way before races. I'm sure you can see that it's definitely better to see 'just the goal', than to try and focus on everything at once.

So the choice is obvious - if you use tunnel vision, you simply won't 'see' the distractions or uncontrollables anymore, they'll disappear and you will not have to worry about them. Try this at your next meet and see what a difference it makes.

"The Mind controls the body, and the mind is unlimited".

The best of success, Craig Townsend