Sport Psychology/Corporate Coaching/Performance Psychology
When it comes to performance psychology, coaches, atheletes, parents, and business people all have one thing in common: they vastly underestimate how much a healthier mind can improve performance. And all of our minds have far more room to grow than any of us realize. It is only as the mind improves that we realize how much it has been getting in the way of peak performance. In other words, we don’t realize our deficiencies until we reach a higher level of performance. The valley looks different from the mountain top than it does from its floor.
As a clinical sport psychologist, Dr. Bowman is committed to helping athletes and business people improve their performances. He does this by teaching his program in an interactive, action/application oriented way. Not only has he taught numerous classes at Samford University, where he continues to teach, but he works both individually and with groups of athletes, ranging from professional to young children, and he works with corporations and their leadership. His "NO PANICS" program has helped many people and groups reach heights they never thought possible.
NO PANICS:
NEVER GIVE UP. Persistence, perseverance are the keys to success. Often you have to tolerate discomfort. Pain is the way weakness leaves the mind (though it shouldn’t always be ignored). If you’re patient and hang in there, what you’re hoping for is just around the corner.
OPTIMISM always beats pessimism, but optimism can be dangerous when it comes to issues of safety. Optimists are consistently more healthy, happy, and successful than pessimists. Pessimists shut down after setbacks, but optimists try harder. Optimists see setbacks as temporary and as challenges. So after a setback, ask yourself, "Do you want to be a sad, sick loser or a happy, healthy winner?" Then try harder.
PROCESS ORIENTATION is always superior to an outcome orientation. Success is simply doing your best.
AROUSAL should be optimal. Emotion is usually the enemy. Fear is your friend but panic equals paralysis.
NAIL IT DOWN There is no substitute for practice and preparation. Progress is the greatest motivator.
IMAGERY can add more than ten percent improvement to your performance. Use all your senses to imagine a perfect performance.
CONCENTRATE on what you are doing, not on failing. Learn to meditate and keep your eye on the ball.
SURRENDER. Surrendering is not giving up – it is to gain. Surrendering has lead to the greatest performances in history, such as Christ on the cross “not what I will, but what you will” and soldiers risking their lives in battle for their countries. The ultimate fear to conquer is the fear of death. We must surrender to something larger than ourselves, like God or our team. Whenever we surrender, a force much greater than ourselves is able to carry us to where we always wanted to be. We must become free of the “disease of me.”
Be sure to read Birmingham Sports and Family, where Dr. Bowman is a monthly columnist, the Twelfth Man.
Click here for his articles in Birmingham Sports and Family.
Click here for an interview of Dr. Bowman by Birmingham Parent on Sports Psychology.