Welcome to the first entry for RW Consulting. First, I want to make clear – I am going to make every effort to make sure this isn’t Just Another Wordpress Blog. I want to be engaging, or at the very least, thought provoking with these entries, and with the website as a whole.
So what am I trying to do here? Well, my intent is two fold. First, I’m looking to provide commentary about the athletic and business worlds from a decidedly psychological perspective. Rather than simply commenting on the state of affairs, my intent is provide psychological commentary about the key players of various events. What was an athlete or leader thinking? Where did a certain reaction come from? How are current events likely to affect athletes and/or groups? – I intend to try and answer those questions and more.
Second, I am going to educate the general public about what sport psychology, mental strength and conditioning, and the psychology of performance entail. What they are, and especially what they aren’t, will often be key talking points for me. Perhaps this is the best place for me to start.
Too often I’ve found that Sport Psychology (the main area of my own training) and the Psychology of Performance is stigmatized as the last bastion of a desperate mind, just this side of Tony Robbins and the self-help gurus of the 90’s. In some cases, that has been true in the past. However, from my own perspective, the psychology of performance has so much more to offer beyond the over-simplified view often held by the public that all we do in the field is get people to “imagine” doing things better. The field is full of concrete activities and exercises that can have real effects on a person’s performance.
Ultimately the field really boils down to insight – both about one’s self (in the form of self-knowledge) and about those one may interact with (be they competitors or co-workers). Sun-Tzu, the ancient Chinese military philosopher, is often quoted as saying the following
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Sport psychology, in its purest form, is about gaining such types of insight. My hope is that the following posts help in your own development…