Acceptance Over Control

Trying to eliminate negative thoughts strengthens them. Acceptance allows attention to return to performance tasks.

Playbook

1. Objective: Free mental bandwidth.
2. What to do: Allow thoughts to exist without engaging.
3. How to do it: Observe thoughts as background noise.
4. When: During warm-up and competition.
5. Progress indicator: Faster recovery from distractions.
6. Common mistake: Debating or analyzing thoughts mid-performance.
7. Mini case (generic): An athlete notices self-doubt during competition but refocuses on execution cues.