One year on!

Following my last post which was in the midst of a busy period of completing my MSc, I am delighted to report that I passed with a Distinction. Now the hard work really begins. Not only that, but I have moved to Canada, set up a new home, taken a new job, and working in a busy consulting practice. Nevertheless, the work on mental skills will continue. Stay tuned for further details to come.

MSc in Progress!!!

Be Jezus!!! How time consuming is writing the world's longest MSc thesis, which needs to be the world's shortest!! Just been editing the Results section over the last 2 days. Got it down from a whopping 8500 words to 3500 after 4 edits!! Need to lose another 2000 at least!! Help!! Must get back to it!

The results are great, it is a shame I have to cut out so much of the juicy responses! Less is more, after all.

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I have just found out how to create avatars using Yahoo.

MSc ongoing Project

The bane of my life at the moment. Trawling through the data and figuring out the analysis tools and stats packages. Fun, fun fun. I surely cant have far to go now! Or rather how close is the finish!! Come on, motivation where are you when I need you the most!! Remember it is back on the bike when this is all over!! :-)

Self-Regulation

It has been a while since I blogged on the Psych4Success Blog. I have been working on a piece of literature which will be ready for publishing in Jan. It is based on the topic of self-regulation in trainee military pilots. I conducted a study some months ago looking at the effects of Mental Skills on these participants over a 2 month period. The early findings are very exciting and positive.

I will keep you updated as the publishing date approaches.

Dissociative Running Techniques

As my wife completed her first half marathon this afternoon, and the whole family cheered her over the line, I asked her about how the race went. Well she said, the race went fine until about mile 5 or 6 when it got a little tough and the hills appeared. Then all of a sudden a lady came past her and they got talking as they ran along. This was the perfect opportunity for the pair of them to put their minds elsewhere, off the pain they may have been suffering, and onto the words and convesation that they chose. How did this work? Well they were completely dissociated thinking, and their minds were diverted away from any thing their minds had previously been screaming at them, due to the constant pounding of the streets. At about mile 12, the pair separated and ran the last mile and a bit on their own. Was this dissociative method effective? Well yes, and the proof is in the post-match debrief. Both of them commented on how their minds switched back to any aches and niggles they may not have been consciously been aware off, whilst they were chatting. Their minds drifted back to the thoughts of maybe stopping and walking, or the ever-present threat of an injury re-occuring!! However they both persisted and reached the finish line in fine form.
The question is, what techniques do you use to dissociate when the going gets tough? Paula Radcliffe counts up to 200 and back again, and that is approximately 1 mile. Some people imagine a picture of themselves running just ahead of their actual self, and the pretend to chase that person down. People can focus on the person in front, and their stride pattern, look at the scenery, or picture the finish line and them crossing it. This is a very simple overview of dissociative thinking, combining imagery and effective self-talk to ensure that you are successful in whatever you are engaged. For more information on these techniques, and how to apply them in more complex settings then please contact me.

New Course on Mental Skills

Well I have had a lay off in posts on this blog recently for lots of reasons. I have been in the midst of collecting data for my MSc Dissertation. It is proving a time consuming project, however I am noticing evermore frequent trends in behaviours with the guys that I am coaching. Frequently I am finding similar trends with people which I will publish in the forthcoming report.

We are focused on performance and how different strategies can be used to regulate oneself in high pressure environments. Arguably the flight deck is the one of the most stressful places to work, which calls for the individuals working within that environment to be in touch with their 'game', to be able to aviate, navigate and communicate in a manner which is performance enhancing to the rest of the individuals on the flightdeck.

I have conducted several goal-setting sessions recently which have allowed individuals to open-up and discuss their concerns, and also discuss what it is that is preventing them from achieving the results they so dearly strive for. For example one individual recently had some issues especially when it came to performing in flying tests. So how does one deal with that from a coach's perspective. We can help you outline how to perform under stress. One can easily and effectively learn the strategies to embrace success and take yourself to the next level. More to follow on how this individual coped with his predicament and went on to much bigger and greater things.