On Mental Management

The mental game is something that has fascinated me since the days of Chess Master Bobby Fischer. There’s a lot of Mental Management experts focusing on Dog Agility now, and those more versed than I will certainly address the topic more expertly.  Instead, from the student’s perspective I thought I’d mention a few tricky bits about the mental game- 

Mental Management won’t improve your timing or your front cross.  Its not magic. You will still need to develop your hard skills or all the brain games in the world won’t do you much good on course.

Mental Management is about what you do, not who you are. It isn’t really about becoming a better person, although that might occur. It likewise doesn't imply that you are in any way defective if you elect to work your mental game. It's simply about creating a more powerful performance by getting you out of the way of you; there is no you!

No one ever died of Negativity. Don’t overreact to it; you’re likely to do more damage than good. 

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.  It's easy to overthink Mental Management. For example, feeling a quick pang of anxiety before a run doesn’t mean you should stop competing until you can be perfectly calm!  Every one of us is a work in progress. 

Mental Management  isn’t psychotherapy.  In other words, don’t go pushing Humpty Dumpty off the wall if you aren’t reasonably sure you can put him back together again in time for the show. Take it easy on yourself. Love yourself extra during transitional work, and if your self-image is turning to Swiss cheese from all the introspection, give yourself permission to be mentally imperfect for a while longer. There are plenty of successful competitors out there who have not given a moment’s thought to what’s going on in their heads. 

Find a supportive mentor. Really. Mental Management is hard work. Find someone who inspires you to keep going and feel good about your journey. 

It will be interesting to come back in a year and see how much of this I still agree with, but my summary perception is this- Mental Management is just another tool in the toolbox, in the end. As with Agility itself, don't take it all too seriously.

more at http://dogagilityblogevents.wordpress.com/the-mental-game/

The Season of Setting Goals

Its a windy enough day to stay indoors; leaf raking is futile. The 2013 Cynosport competition is over, marking the end of another dog agility season. That's the time when I tally up my year, perhaps along with others who have more cause to count.

I achieved the performance goals I wanted this year. We got the speed, distance, and confidence I wanted from Talos so he probably would have done ok at nationals after all. Not great but ok, as in not stressed or slow. That's huge and I'm proud of him as well as the changes I made to me so he could trust getting there. However, I didn't reach any of my competitive goals. I cancelled going to Cynosport although I had planned on it from the moment the 2012 event had ended.  I had felt unsettled since our last big competition. Not unhappy, because Talos ran his little heart out and I had a great time while there,.. It was something else that took hold shortly after the one regionals I attended. Clever me, I had cancelled the other regionals before I could feel either unsettled or happy.  Earlier in the year I also stopped trying to get him qualified for AKC nationals- so I could focus on USDAA, said I. So if I did not reach those goals it WAS for lack of trying, and I need to figure out why I'm habitually standing in my own way. My goals always seem great but tend to lose luster as the events grow closer. They have no staying power.  I know there are Mental Management skills for that, but I'm not convinced it was the wrong choice to let these goals go. On the other hand, trying to function without goals is no choice for me at all.

I also didn't get the last 2 Q's for Talos' ADCH this season, which was to be my lesser 'replacement goal'. There have been so many near misses that I can see he has developed those skills; we just need a little more luck. Still, luck is such a tease that I think for now I will accept that its not going to happen this year.  I know he can do it but the two Q's have also lost their luster. I hear myself saying how I should really spend those entry fees on things like firewood and snow tires. Cold weather apparently brings out my more pragmatic self. Hopefully I will still be employed, healthy, and able to play agility next time the weather warms. If not, I'll have bigger worries than earning another ribbon. After all, my walls are full of ribbons and only the spiders seem to care. Loss of  luster strikes again- its a basic defect of setting goals.

It drives me nuts when people say they don't have goals, that they 'do agility for fun'. Can it be they might actually know people who do agility to feel miserable?  Of course not! We each define fun by our own measures, based on what we personally find reinforcing. We cannot define this for others and should not judge it, but it seems a good idea to at least define it for yourself.  Perhaps that's what the long winter is for. And here it is, the north wind sliding down the mountain and blustering through the fields. Excuse me while I throw another log on the fire, and try to define what it is that might maintain the luster just one more season.