Wise Mind: A Performance Skill
Do you feel you make decisions primarily with your heart or your head? How often have your emotions pulled you in a different direction than what your logical brain tells you to do?
Wise Mind refers to the integration of the rational and emotional states of mind. This overlap is where wisdom and intuition are born.
By learning how to tap into the Wise Mind, athletes can make insightful, balanced decisions when it matters.
Rational Brain
Our rational brain is the achievement and success-oriented part of our brain. It relies on facts and evidence to guide our actions. Strengths of the rational brain include logical reasoning, analytical power, and thorough evaluation. By using the rational brain, athletes can break down complex issues and weigh the pros and cons of different options.
While the rational brain can be helpful to evaluate information, it can cause athletes to become fixated on the task at hand and disconnect from the world around them. For instance, how “enjoyable” are you to be around when studying for an exam or learning a new skill? Weaknesses of the rational brain include not taking emotions into account, overlooking critical details, rigidity, overthinking, and stress. While the rational brain can be useful, it often causes an athlete to live in a black-and-white world, neglecting feelings and the complexity of certain situations.
Rational Decision-Making in Sport:
Maximizing Expected Value: Imagine a soccer player who needs to decide between three different players to pass the ball. Using the rational brain, this player will consider relevant outcomes such as turning the ball over or scoring. They may make their decision based on their thoughts and knowledge about their teammates and the expected outcome of their decision.
Strategy: Many strategies in sport are created by understanding the opponent and the probability that they may make a certain move, play, or shot. Using the rational brain, athletes and coaches may decide on an optimal strategy based on probability.
Fallacies: Athletes can succumb to various fallacies while trying to utilize the rational brain. For instance, the “hot hand” phenomenon in basketball suggests that there is an increase in the perceived likelihood of making a shot if one has already made multiple shots. Similarly, gambler’s fallacy has been observed in goalkeepers who believe that after a series of kicks to the left, one is due to the right. However, both outlooks, either a streak will continue or end in sport, are fallacies.
Emotional Brain
The emotional brain is the opposite of the rational brain in that it paints the world full of color. The strengths of the emotional brain include improved mood and focus, strong social connections, and enhanced communication. The emotional brain can be thought of as “human glue” as it focuses on our relationships with others since emotional sharing often helps us to strengthen relationships. While the rational brain may seek perfection, the emotional brain wants us to act as an emotionally attuned friend. Feelings such as passion and gratitude can be crucial sources of tenacity, courage, and strength in pressure-filled situations.
While the emotional brain is a powerful tool, the weaknesses of the emotional brain include not considering key information and facts and becoming dysregulated. Relying too much on the emotional brain can lead to impaired emotional control and impulsive behavior where one fails to consider the consequences of their actions.
Emotional Decision-Making in Sport:
Fear: Many athletes struggle with fear of failure or making mistakes. This fear can result in conservative strategies, often causing the athlete to “play it safe.” On the other hand, fear can be a motivating factor for athletes.
Aggression: Anger may lead to more aggressive decisions in sport. When athletes solely rely on their emotional brain, they may make decisions without thinking of their consequences such as fouls, penalties, and injuries.
Goal Setting: Athletes often set goals with a lot of emotion and value behind them. Emotions can help inspire and motivate athletes to reach lofty goals that defy logic.
Teamwork: Since the emotional brain focuses on connection, emotions can help a team come together and maintain culture-related identities. The emotional brain can help athletes navigate social situations and regulate the emotions of their teammates.
Wise Mind
Wise Mind is the sum of the emotional and rational brain. It is greater than either brain on its own. For athletes to optimize their success, they need to learn to shift between the emotional and rational brain and take both into account. Learning to create a balance between the emotional and rational brain leads to flow state, or a mental state of intense focus in the present moment. While emotional experiences are often minimized, it is important to note that all emotions are real experiences and need to be accounted for in sport.
To fully utilize the Wise Mind, athletes need to slow down to observe and respond to emotions with intent in addition to understanding their justified and unjustified emotions. For instance, fear indicates danger. While it’s justified to feel fear in dangerous situations, sometimes there is not a rational reason for feeling fear over making mistakes in sport. In these situations, athletes can ask themselves, “Am I truly in danger if I make a mistake in my sport?”
Wise Mind Decision-Making in Sport:
To fully tap into their Wise Mind when making decisions, athletes should begin by finding a comfortable space and thinking about a problem in their sport. Once they’ve identified a problem that they want to focus on, they should follow the steps below.
Gather Information: Gather relevant information for the problem including reliable opinions, data, and facts.
Identify Emotions: Identify and validate emotions that come up for you regarding your decision.
Reflect On Values and Goals: Think about your values and long-term goals. How do different decisions reflect these important aspects of your life?
Mindful Awareness: Engage in mindfulness to fully become aware and accept your body’s internal state regarding your decision.
Integrate Rational and Emotional Factors: Work to find the commonalities and differences between your rational and emotional brain. Think about how you can integrate both.
Reflect: If possible, take time to reflect on the decision. By stepping away from the situation and reflecting on your decision, you can return with a fresh perspective.
Embrace Flexibility: Remember that decision-making is a flexible process. Don’t be afraid to reevaluate your decision if its outcome does not align with the desired result or new information comes to light.
At Athlete Insight, we offer individual counseling to help athletes develop their Wise Mind. We help them make sense of their emotions and take appropriate action.
With the right support, athletes can utilize their Wise Mind in and out of sport. Reach out today to schedule a complimentary consultation to learn more about your Wise Mind.