Back to the Root

Mental Training Part 2 - Nerves and Anxiety

From the time most people reach age twenty one they have been exposed in their life to some kind of training. For many it would be a sports coach, or another coach to enhance your skills. Unfortunately most folks by the time feel that a trainer is no longer needed because their skills are developed. At some point this opinion true from a direct abilities perspective but have you given thought to lifestyle coaching and how your situation could affect in a way that is positive?

A Life coach may sound like something that's fanciful and unhelpful but it is an issue of what you're expecting from it. Yes you may have developed your abilities related to the situation you are in but life training can enhance the process you use to get there and the outcome. Of us do not like the concept of the coaching that a life coach provides. They do not wish to get told exactly what to do. This mindset is completely contrary to a life coach that is fantastic works.

Emotional training is all about gaining perspective. That is why it's so vital to make sure that which you entrust this undertaking to isn't a peer reviewed, but is somebody who can offer an alternative perspective to the issues you face. For example if you're a marketing executive and, even after months of work pitching your companies product the results are somewhat less than satisfactory, the pressure is mounting for you to get some interest generated for your product. What is wrong? You have the skills for the career, why are they neglecting you? This is where the psychological coaching from a life coach would bring another perspective. That individual you trust comes in as the neutral voice to make you flexible, to apply your abilities using a different focus, and to greater effect.

The lesson is to not be afraid of it. We want that little coaching voice in our mind to ship us in the right direction. Sometimes we just need that little push down a path, outside our comfort zones, to see results from our abilities. Find a life coach and listen to their mental coaching. Where it leads you to, you may be surprised.

In work for a golf mindset specialist and my travels, I'm amazed by the frequency which golf players say, 'Oh, you are that mind man, once I get my match shape I will be in touch'.

Which got me thinking, does your golfing match need to be of a standard to profit from coaching? Can you separate the technical side of your golf game?

If you believe that our body and mind are just two parts of the system, why would a club golfer wait patiently before attending to the other till one part worked better? What if another couldn't be improved without by one part. What if all golf instruction, so as to be of some value that is long, had to integrate both, where would this leave conventional swing trainers?

Interestingly, over the last few years, despite better equipment, better coaching facilities etc, the average club golfer hasn't advanced at the exact same speed. Can it be, speaking back to the initial question the belief structure of the Club player, which views mental coaching could be one reason.

The fact you're reading this means that in some capacity, you have an interest in golf. Consider your own game for a minute, do you feel the two parts go hand in hand or do you think you need a sound swing base before mental strategies can be constructed on top.

My perception so much, is that for the majority of club golfers, mental instruction is for 'the better player', the game's elite and represents.

After all, if they're struggling with an area of their game, it is simpler to go out and invest dollars or pounds on new gear than to devote a fraction on your ideas and run the risk of club mates looking at you as if you've grown another head! Is coaching about lack of knowledge your skill, a fatigue, or a view that it is just out of your price bracket.