I have a big, dark secret to confess. I LOVE CURLING! I’ve been a die-hard curler and curling fan for almost 25 years now. I might as well tell you that I also have a massive passion for golf – I play it as much as I can and watch almost every PGA tournament on television. In fact, the only reason I have the hundreds of channels that I do is because I originally wanted access to the Golf Channel. The reason I mention my love of these sports is because the sporting world shall be the illustration I use to describe the immense powers of lightheartedness and playfulness in anything we do.

As I mentioned, I have enjoyed the sport of curling for many years and have worked hard to execute the standard curling delivery with very few flaws. At this point, I’m going to hope that you’ve caught at least a few minutes of curling on TV and can picture how someone throws a curling rock down a sheet of ice. With my strong desire to be great at the sport, I have a past history of taking my curling performance VERY seriously and have been VERY hard on myself when I miss my shots. I also have a past history of this when I play golf, but I’ll stick with the theme of curling for this part of my post.

Have you ever wanted something so much and that desire for success ends up bringing about a bunch of tension, stress, frustration, etc.? Do you ever end up experiencing all kinds of stuff that doesn’t help you perform well at all? How does it usually turn out?

In my experience, I never play well when I take the game too seriously and want success more than air  – it usually ends out to be a messy display of irony.

In the past couple of years, my athletic endeavours (and lack of stretching) have caught up to my thirties-something body and mild/early arthritis has set into both of my knees. My left knee has been quite the trouble maker over the last few months and has made executing the curling delivery a much bigger challenge than it needs to be. In fact, my knee got so bad that I couldn’t bend and slide at all. Because I didn’t want to miss out on playing my weekly game with my very fun team mates and because all four players on the team MUST throw two rocks in the game, I decided to execute an ugly replica of the curling delivery that involved me pushing the rock while WALKING down the ice. This display was the most ridiculous thing I and everyone else on the ice had ever seen. I spent the entire game cracking jokes, laughing, and in a twisted way, enjoying the challenge of the weird-ass delivery.

And I made almost every damn shot.

As my success with this newly coined “walk the rock” delivery was unfolding, I realized that my relaxed mindset and playful nature was allowing my mind and body to do what they can do. I didn’t have any of the mental or physical tension that can (and typically does) interfere with my ability. With my make-shift curling delivery, I was placing myself in what sports psychologist, James E. Loehr, calls the IDEAL PERFORMANCE STATE. James studied the performances and outcomes of athletes for many years and determined that when their mindset fills their bodies and minds with stress and tension, the performance is much lower than when they are relaxed, lighthearted, and HAVING FUN.

The legendary golfer, Fred Couples, described the IDEAL PERFORMANCE STATE a few months ago during a television interview. He told the reporter that he plays better and is seeing more success on the Champions Tour (formerly the Senior Tour) than the regular PGA Tour because he finds himself laughing and having fun more while he plays along with his old pals versus taking things quite seriously at the PGA Tour events.

Think back to a time when you watched a team or an individual athlete win a major championship or olympic medal. When the reporter asked them how they felt during the game, they most likely described aspects of the IDEAL PERFORMANCE STATE. They most likely talked about how they felt relaxed and had fun.

Think back to times in your life when your light has shone the brightest. I would bet big dollars that you weren’t trying too hard and taking it too seriously – you were probably some version of Freddy out there playing with his peeps from the glory years.

Are there opportunities in your professional and/or personal life to try a lighter approach and a more relaxed mindset? If you sense that taking something(s) too seriously is interfering with your ability, remember my success with “walk the rock”…release your expectations and have fun with every step!

Big love,

susan