Sport Psychology Math

While not all athletes like math, there is often a lot of mathematical analysis (aka STATS) that surround sport. Every sport has at least some component of statistics, even if it is simply a win percentage. Stats can often be useful to analyze the larger picture and get a better sense of what is happening. Unfortunately, it also can be taken out of context and not be an accurate representation of what is truly going on. This inclusion of math in sports led me to create my own sport psychology math equations.

Progress > Perfection

Athletes like perfection, but it truly is a myth. Perfect means no errors, no mistakes, no defects. Part of why we love sports is because anything can happen. There are no guarantees. It is that uncertainty that creates the excitement in the game. Rather than focusing on perfection, focus on progress. Making progress often leads to more progress. It also helps you to focus on improving yourself, one small baby step at a time.

Process > Outcome

Just like perfection, athletes spend WAY too much time thinking about and chasing after outcomes. The outcomes are the shiny trophies and the parts that are included in stats. Ironically, the more you focus on the outcome, the more you have a tendency to push or force things, and the more unlikely that outcome is to occur. Instead, you need to put your time and energy into the process. In other words, do the controllables that you need to do that put you in the best position for the outcomes to happen. Your focus on your process leads to your progress which gets you your success.

Recovery > Failure

Failures aren’t fun, but they also aren’t fatal or final. The best athletes in the world aren’t the ones that never fail, they are the ones that recover the fastest. Rather than spending all of your time avoiding failure and working so hard to minimize it from happening, take some of that time and energy into developing your recovery skills. Even at the top of their game, athletes will fail. There is no way to train yourself out of failures (that’s the perfection myth creeping back in!). You can improve your recovery time so that no matter the failure, the impact on your overall performance is minor.

There you have it. Some sport psychology math that you can actually use to really improve your game. Write these formulas where you can see them often when you are training and competing.

Interested in working directly with Dr. Lindsey? Want to get tailored strategies to improve your mental game? Connect with us today!