Hi, it’s Rick Sessinghaus. Now, I teach golf mental game pre-performance routines to golfers, athletes, and executives. Why do I do that? Because it works. So think about it, so often we go to an event, sales call, presentation, team meeting and then after the fact we go, “Oh boy, I really blew it.” Because we weren’t prepared to go into it. So when I work with golfers, for instance, we talk about a pre-shot routine as a part of the golf mental game approach.
Identifying an Intention
How do I want to show up to this shot that’s going to occur in 30 seconds? Now, showing up has a lot to do with cognitively, what are we thinking about? Well, I got to think about all these factors. I got to think about my target, my intention, but guess what? There are obstacles out there too that I also have to deal with. So routine is first about identifying an intention. What is the outcome that you want from this shot or from that next sales call?
Pre-Performance Routine: Priming Your Emotions and Visualizing Success
Well, the next thing I need to do is, I have to remind myself of how I want to show up emotionally. Now, do you think if I’m nervous and tight over the shot, that it’s going to produce the result I want? Of course not. So how do I want to show up? Well, on golf, I want to show up with confidence. Do I want to be relaxed right, to allow my physical skills to shine?
How do you want to show up for that sales call? For that presentation? Probably with confidence, composure, well think ahead already of how you want to show up. That’s part of your pre-event routine. So if we have an intention, that’s the first step. What’s the best possible outcome, that’s underneath your control, right? What’s my best path possible out and I’m going to hit that shot right on the green, right over there, that’s the intention?
How do I need to show up to help me achieve that goal? I’ve got to show up with confidence. I need to be calm. I need to be composed. Now, how do I go about doing that? Well, let’s visualize success. Let’s actually rehearse it in your mind first, of how that sales call is going to go. How that interaction is going to go. Visualizing success is very, very important and powerful for your performance.
Now, guess what? It doesn’t always go well. So I also want you to actually visualize and rehearse what could happen in that sales call. Maybe they say no, maybe there’s objections. How are you going to deal with that? Well, in golf, there’s a lot of objections out there. I’ve got sand, and I’ve got all kinds of stuff out there, but I want to make sure that I stay focused on what I want.
So a pre-performance routine, it really does come down to what your intention is. Okay? Visualizing success, showing up, rehearsing, and then trusting your abilities. So now let’s trust this. I’ve got a clear intention. I know I can do it, and I’m ready to go.
So a pre-performance routine is in your control. What can you do five minutes, an hour beforehand, to get you in the correct state of mind, so you have a clear intention, you’ve primed your emotions, you visualize success, you even rehearsed it, practiced it, so it becomes your skill? When you start teaching and training the golf mental game, those outer game skills take care of themselves.