It would be fair to assume elite athletes focus intensely on their chosen sport. However, some are now turning to exploration, which can deliver surprising benefits.
- Associate Professor in Psychology, Southern Cross University
You might feel you’ve failed after ‘only’ recording 9,000 steps when your goal was 10,000. In reality, 9,000 steps might be an achievement. Is it time to ditch specific goals in favour of open goals?
Our research with athletes suggests there may be two zones: an effortless ‘flow state’ and a more purposeful ‘clutch state’. Here’s how to decide which zone you need to be in — and how to get there.
Exercise practitioners are taught to help us set goals to get active. But the way we set goals may be unhelpful, or worse, make it even harder for us to exercise.
The psychological states athletes experience – temporary, brief, subjective experiences that happen during exceptional performance – are often collectively described as “the zone”.
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