Help players author great narratives. It won't happen ceteris paribus.
Search Inside Yourself shares insights into developing better attention, self-awareness, and confidence. Meng-Tan includes the following:
Know when you are not in pain. (Gratitude)
Do not feel bad about feeling bad. (Waste of energy)
Do not feed the monsters.
Start every thought with kindness and humor. (Attitude adjustment)
What does he mean by "do not feed the monsters?" We have energy to disburse in our lives...it is "bad economics" to spend our energy on monsters, like the Anger Monster or the Envy Monster. Manage the Anger Monster and he will go away, seeking the abundant food elsewhere.
Triggers for our monsters vary in availability and intensity. I know of a patient who had nausea and vomiting when their oncologist walked in the room. The patient associated him with chemotherapy. Red Sox fans know former Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent as "Bucking Effing Dent". Jerry West experiences emotional pain when even visiting Boston.
The amygdala is our "threat response" center. It initiates a cascade of physiologic events that helps us respond. Jumping out of the way of a speeding car requires automatic behavior. The adrenal glands surge, releasing stress hormones (epinephrine-adrenaline and norepinephrine) and cortisol. Calling a timeout or making strategic changes demand more input from "higher level" brain centers.
We have stereotyped responses:
Physical - shallow breathing, heart racing, nausea
Emotional - anger, depression, distraction, inability to concentrate
Thoughts - "I am a victim", self-doubt, giving up
The great news is that we can "downregulate" the physical, emotional, and thought responses to triggers. Few can maximize our mind-body relationships.* The effects are real and measurable.
Our best self combines physical, technical, tactical, and emotional inputs. Achieving the right mindset helps champions thrive. The New Zealand All-Blacks call it the "Blue Head" instead of the "Red Head".
Starbucks encourages the "LATTE" solution. "Listen to the customer. Acknowledge the problem. Thank the customer for the information. Take care of the problem. Explain the issue to coworkers so it doesn't repeat." This exemplifies the "performance-focused, feedback-rich" environment I've discussed.
"Fake it until you make it." Amy Cuddy has shown experimentally that merely adopting more expansive body positions reduces stress hormones in saliva within two minutes. This has implications for anticipating and surviving stress...like job interviews. Her TED Talk has over 42 MILLION views.
Can it work? My daughter told me that she walked into the gym as tall as she could, projecting power. "I want everyone to know that the best player in the gym just came in." She said it didn't matter if it were true, it's about being her best. In seven seasons of high school basketball and volleyball, she played on teams going 156-13 including the post-season.
Siberian North Railroad. Meng-Tan shares a participant's acronym, the cooling, dispassionate SBNRR...STOP, BREATHE, NOTICE, REFLECT, RESPOND.
You've seen another version before.
Does it REALLY work? The Atlantic article* above references muscle electrical readings in a patient with chronic pain. "The higher the readings, the more activity in the muscles, meaning the more strained they were. Relaxed muscles have a baseline reading of two to three mV, she said.
Sonty told her patient to visualize an image of his pain. The man pictured his surgeon holding a knife and stabbing it into his back over and over. The electrodes displayed more than 150mV. She then told him to picture a way for that knife to be removed. He envisioned an ethereal hand—perhaps that of an angel—pulling the hand with the knife back, slowly pulling the knife out of the skin. As he pictured that, the EMG readings continued to drop. When the knife was completely out of his back, the levels on the screen were below 10mV. On the ride home, the patient was able to sit up without any pain."
This anecdote shows over a fifteen fold somatic (bodily) response, entirely emotional.
We shape players by expanding their toolbox. We shortchange ourselves and them if we neglect their emotional resourcefulness. Send the monsters away.