I began my QSEP Stage 2 in March 2019 and aim to finish in early 2021 and while I have gained a lot experience (particularly evident reading back over early first year reflections) I still find it extremely difficult not to compare my own success to the levels others have achieved. When I reviewed my first portfolio and the completed work piled up in one Zip file, I saw how much time and effort had gone into it. I won’t list out my achievements for two reasons, firstly, because I think deep down I still find it difficult to accept them as successes, even writing the word ‘achievement’ makes me feel uncomfortable, and secondly, because I do not want others to see them as something to compare themselves to either.
It was during my Key Role 3 research, which involves an investigation into COVID-19 and the impact it has had on psychological support provided and received by Sport and Exercise Psychologists and elite athletes, I was privileged enough to have frank and honest discussions with many practitioners who had much more experience than myself. It was during these conversations I noticed that self-doubt was still, at times, an element that needed to be addressed and managed. I gained two things from these conversations; comfort and hope. Comfort knowing that regardless of experience, questioning one’s ability was a natural challenge that arose, and it was not a direct reflection of my abilities when I was doubtful. The second more important emotion I felt was hope; a hope that even though practitioners may feel insecure of their value and what purpose they serve it is still possible to have a successful career.
Upon reflection I realise of course a certain amount of doubt is normal however when I began to notice it impeding my progression, I knew then was the time to make a conscious effort to focus on my own accomplishments and upcoming goals. This over-whelming self-doubt occurred in month 8 of Year 1 when I began to feel paralysed as I assessed what task or Key Role to tackle next. I found I was faced with so many options I could not choose anything without highlighting the expertise I lacked to effectively execute the work required. I looked around at fellow Trainees and all the contacts they were making and work they were acquiring and felt inferior in just about every area of QSEP.
9 months on from that time there have definitely been some changes in how I review my work. Firstly, setting a timer on social media on my phone of a half hour each day has helped tremendously. This was the source of promotion I was affected most by. I took control of how much exposure I had to others. It may seem small and counterproductive when trying to self-promote but now I have an allotted time, while being so short prevents me from dwelling so much on others. Secondly, I broke down my Key Roles into sections each month. For example, writing one good quality reflection for each meant I gradually created my next submission. I also set writing targets for the case study meaning I could review them at a later stage through more experienced eyes. Thirdly, I re-assessed whether this was something I truly wanted to do, putting aside the financial commitment, did I actually want to do this knowing the challenges associated? I did; however, this was not a light decision and was now made without the naivety I began QSEP with.
This is not an article of strategic advice but rather a very honest account that sometimes needs to be read by others to highlight the variety and range of insecurities felt by the majority at some point in their career regardless of wealth or scope of experience. We will each experience training routes differently, and it is paramount we only compare to where we started, rather than another’s perceived successes.
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Stroke is a serious life-threatening medical condition which occurs when a part of the brain cannot get enough oxygen due to insufficient blood supply caused by a blockage or is damaged by a bleed. In the UK, there are over 100,000 strokes every year and it is a leading cause of disability (Stroke Association, 2018). The effects of a stroke depend on where it takes place in the brain and how big the damaged area is. Stroke survivors are often left to deal with serious, life-changing disabilities which has a huge impact on their daily life. Post-stroke impairments and limitations may affect physical, communicational, cognitive and psychological functioning (RCP, 2016). The stroke care pathway can include several steps from acute care, early rehabilitation, secondary prevention, early supported discharge, community rehabilitation, systematic follow-up, long-term support and in some cases palliative care (RCP, 2016).
Physical activity after stroke
Physical activity is viewed as an important element of this pathway with different roles and functions in each step: It can function as a prevention, rehabilitation and secondary prevention tool, and it has multiple benefits affecting cognitive, psychosocial, emotional and physical states (Saunders, 2020). Physical activity is relevant across the whole care pathway, however, observation studies highlighted that stroke survivors engage with limited amount of physical activity and high level of sedentary behaviour (Fini et al., 2017). Physical activity behaviour is a modifiable factor in stroke care and current research highlights the need to develop interventions aiming to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour after stroke (Moore et al., 2018). Understanding factors that may positively or negatively influence the uptake, progression and maintenance of physical activity after stroke could allow the development of appropriately targeted interventions for this population. These factors include individual, social and environmental elements (see Table 1). Most of these factors are also modifiable, therefore future interventions could target some or all of these factors.
How can healthcare professionals/exercise psychologists help to increase physical activity after stroke?
In healthcare, there are many opportunities to assess and advise patients on physical activity (Patrick et al., 2009) and several national and international guidelines encourage health care professionals to do so. In stroke care, The National Clinical Guidelines for Stroke (2016) recommend that people with stroke should be offered self-management support based on self-efficacy, aimed at the knowledge and skills needed to manage life after stroke. People with significant changes in self-esteem after stroke should be offered information, support and advice, and considered for psychological interventions to increase their physical activity (Jones & Raizi, 2010). Health care professionals are well placed to encourage positive behaviour patterns early and help translate mobility and functional gains made in therapy to an increase in physical activity in the longer term. Helping relationships can be predictive of stages of change when it comes to physical activity (Cardinal et al., 2004).
Research evidence and best practice guidelines recommend that an initiative to increase physical activity is most effective when combined with behaviour change strategies (Donkers et al., 2018). Behaviour change strategies can be defined as techniques designed to specifically address one or more psychological determinants of behaviour (Michie et al., 2018) and they make up the active components used in behaviour change interventions (Michie et al., 2013). A review by Stretton et al. (2017) found that those interventions targeting stroke survivors which were based on exercise alone had no significant effect, or they were less effective than those incorporating behaviour change techniques as well. Moore et al. (2018) compared nine studies and found that interventions were viewed more effective if they went beyond simple demonstration and guidance of physical activity after stroke and used psychosocial support methods (e.g. action planning, social support and problem solving). Controversially, another systematic review by Kringle et al. (2019) found inconsistent results and the authors were unable to identify intervention approaches that are superior for modifying full-day activity patterns in stroke rehabilitation. When studies were looking at long-term physical activity and maintenance of physical activity behaviour instead of looking at the uptake of physical activity stage of behaviour change, Morris, MacGillivray and Mcfarlane (2014) found that interventions involving tailored counselling are likely to be effective.
Similar to the factors influencing physical activity uptake and maintenance, physical activity promotion is also influenced by several factors (Table 2) coming from the providers, the environment and the receivers. Currently, there is limited research regarding physical activity promotion behaviour after stroke, therefore, looking at the more extensive evidence from the general healthcare setting may better inform our understanding. Crisford et al. (2018) highlighted that further investigation of the strengths, opportunities and effectiveness of physical activity promotion within the various health professions and settings is warranted in order to create successful, targeted interventions.
Practical recommendations for health care professionals/exercise psychologists
There are areas of uncertainty and further work is required to improve our knowledge and understanding on the best ways to increase physical activity after stroke. However, based on the available literature and the discussion above, the following recommendations could help you to support individuals to increase their physical activity level:
Stroke affects everyone differently, therefore an individually tailored approach is essential when it comes to assessing the physical activity needs of stroke survivors
There are several modifiable factors that influence physical activity behaviour after stroke. Being aware and targeting the most relevant ones for each individual can improve the uptake and maintenance of physical activity after stroke
There is a strong body of evidence supporting the implementation of behaviour change strategies into physical activity promotion. Familiarising yourself with these strategies can increase your own confidence and skills when it comes to supporting physical activity behaviour after stroke
Reflecting on your own resources and organisational environment can help you to identify barriers and increase your own physical activity promotion behaviour
Reference
Cardinal, B. J., Kosma, M. & McCubbin, J. A. (2004). Factors influencing the exercise behavior of adults with physical disabilities. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(5), 868-875.
Crisford, P., Winzenberg, T., Venn, A., Schultz, M., Aitken, D., & Cleland, V. (2018). Factors associated with physical activity promotion by allied and other non-medical health professionals: A systematic review. Patient education and counseling, 101(10), 1775-1785.
Donkers, S. J., Chan, K., Milosavljevic, S., Pakosh, M., & Musselman, K. E. (2018). Informing the training of health care professionals to implement behavior change strategies for physical activity promotion in neurorehabilitation: a systematic review. Translational behavioral medicine.
Drigny, J., Joussain, C., Gremeaux, V., Morello, R., Van Truc, P. H., Stapley, P., … & Ruet, A. (2019). Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess barriers to physical activity after stroke: the barriers to physical activity after stroke scale. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 100(9), 1672-1679.
Fini, N.A., Holland, A.E., Keating, J., Simek, J. & Bernhardt, J., (2017). How physically active are people following stroke? Systematic review and quantitative synthesis. Physical therapy, 97(7), 707-717.
Hébert, E. T., Caughy, M. O., & Shuval, K. (2012). Primary care providers’ perceptions of physical activity counselling in a clinical setting: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med, 46(9), 625-631.
Huijg, J. M., Gebhardt, W. A., Verheijden, M. W., van der Zouwe, N., de Vries, J. D., Middelkoop, B. J., & Crone, M. R. (2015). Factors influencing primary health care professionals’ physical activity promotion behaviors: a systematic review. International journal of behavioral medicine, 22(1), 32-50.
Jackson, S., Mercer, C., & Singer, B. J. (2018). An exploration of factors influencing physical activity levels amongst a cohort of people living in the community after stroke in the south of England. Disability and rehabilitation, 40(4), 414-424.
Jones, F., & Riazi, A. (2010). Systematic review of self-efficacy and stroke. Disabil Rehabil, 33, 797-810.
Kringle, E. A., Barone Gibbs, B., Campbell, G., McCue, M., Terhorst, L., Kersey, J., & Skidmore, E. R. (2019). Influence of Interventions on Daily Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior after Stroke: A Systematic Review. PM&R.
Lawrence, M., Kerr, S., Watson, H., Paton, G., & Ellis, G. (2010). An exploration of lifestyle beliefs and lifestyle behaviour following stroke: findings from a focus group study of patients and family members. BMC Family Practice, 11(1), 97.
Michie, S., Carey, R. N., Johnston, M., Rothman, A. J., De Bruin, M., Kelly, M. P., & Connell, L. E. (2018). From theory-inspired to theory-based interventions: A protocol for developing and testing a methodology for linking behaviour change techniques to theoretical mechanisms of action. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 52(6), 501-512.
Michie, S., Richardson, M., Johnston, M., Abraham, C., Francis, J., Hardeman, W., … & Wood, C. E. (2013). The behavior change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Annals of behavioral medicine, 46(1), 81-95.
Moore, S. A., Hrisos, N., Flynn, D., Errington, L., Price, C., & Avery, L. (2018). How should long-term free-living physical activity be targeted after stroke? A systematic review and narrative synthesis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 15(1), 100
Morris, J. H., MacGillivray, S., & Mcfarlane, S. (2014). Interventions to promote long-term participation in physical activity after stroke: a systematic review of the literature. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 95(5), 956-967.
Morris, J., Oliver, T., Kroll, T., & MacGillivray, S. (2012). The importance of psychological and social factors in influencing the uptake and maintenance of physical activity after stroke: a structured review of the empirical literature. Stroke research and treatment, 2012.
Nicholson, S. L., Donaghy, M., Johnston, M., Sniehotta, F. F., Van Wijck, F., Johnston, D., … & Mead, G. (2014). A qualitative theory guided analysis of stroke survivors’ perceived barriers and facilitators to physical activity. Disability and rehabilitation, 36(22), 1857-1868.
Nicholson, S., Sniehotta, F. F., van Wijck, F., Greig, C. A., Johnston, M., McMurdo, M. E., … & Mead, G. E. (2013). A systematic review of perceived barriers and motivators to physical activity after stroke. International Journal of Stroke, 8(5), 357-364.
Patrick, K., Pratt, M., & Sallis, R. E. (2009). The healthcare sector’s role in the US national physical activity plan. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 6(s2), S211-S219.
Royal College of Physicians (RCP), (2016). National Clinical Guideline for Stroke 5th Edition [online]. Royal College of Physicians. (viewed 01.03.2020)
Saunders, D. H., Sanderson, M., Hayes, S., Johnson, L., Kramer, S., Carter, D. D., … & Mead, G. E. (2020). Physical fitness training for stroke patients. Cochrane Database of systematic reviews, (3).
Stretton, C. M., Mudge, S., Kayes, N. M., & McPherson, K. M. (2017). Interventions to improve real-world walking after stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical rehabilitation, 31(3), 310-318.
Vuori, I. M., Lavie, C. J., & Blair, S. N. (2013). Physical activity promotion in the health care system. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 88(12), 1446-1461
Be sure to keep an eye out for more insightful studies coming from Dóra’s PhD in the future.
After completing a master’s degree in marketing nearly eighteen years ago, I started my career as an intern in marketing communications and subsequently progressed to various roles with leadership responsibilities.
I have had the opportunity to work on advertising campaigns for some fantastic global brands and worked with some great people. However, in recent years and also through experiencing a major life changing event, I realised that I wanted to take my career in a different direction and opted to return back to academia.
The big question of course was what would I return back to academia to study? This required a significant amount of reflection and with some support from a career coach, I was able to identify psychology as a subject area that I would like to study and hopefully pursue as a career.
With hindsight, I have always had an interest in psychology, which was sparked by studying consumer behaviour during my master’s degree in marketing. It was a fascinating module and I was fortunate enough to continue applying various aspects of psychology during my marketing communications career.
After further reflection, I decided to continue working full-time and study on a part-time basis. The process of researching and applying for BPS accredited psychology courses was a relatively straightforward experience and resulted in accepting an offer to study at Birkbeck, where I completed a three-year postgraduate diploma (conversion) degree.
The memory of my first lecture at Birkbeck remains vivid. I walked into the lecture theatre for the first time in fourteen years with excitement and trepidation. I was relieved to discover that there were other mature students on the course and quickly formed new friendships.
The first year of my degree was a particularly challenging year. Every research paper I read seemed to take ages and would require several re-reads to work out the key themes and messages that the researchers were trying to portray. I felt completely out of my depth as I had become so accustomed to working within a corporate environment, where the method and delivery of communication to an audience is very different. However, I really enjoyed the feeling of studying again and felt that I had made the right decision.
Finding an effective balance between full-time work, part-time study and other life commitments can be challenging but I was acutely aware that having a high level of structure, self-discipline and being reliant on my support network would be helpful in achieving this. I was also fortunate that upon joining Birkbeck, I already had significant experience of working in fast-paced, pressurised environments where managing multiple deadlines (both internally and for clients) was the order of the day. Having project plans and being structured with managing deadlines was an already acquired skill that would be heavily utilised in the subsequent years of study.
An aspect of the course that I found slightly less challenging was the preparation and delivery of presentations. In the marketing communications world, you are taught fundamental presentation skills at an early stage with the expectation that these skills will be frequently adopted when recommending campaign strategies and ideas to marketing clients. I have often thought that presentation skills should be taught at undergraduate and Stage 1 level in some capacity to complement the practical experience that is gained through delivering presentations for various subject modules.
Although there were various subject areas that I enjoyed studying during my generalist psychology degree, combining my passion for sport with psychology was an appealing option for me to pursue as an area of specialism. I was keen to progress with further study immediately after graduating and proceeded to start an MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St Mary’s University, where I opted again to complete on a part-time basis.
My first year of the master’s degree has been a fantastic learning experience and I have really enjoyed the broad methods of assessment ranging from essays, intake-interview, educational workshop and poster presentation. Throughout the last four years of study, I have continued working within marketing communications on a freelance/fixed term contract basis and this has also presented some valuable learnings for the future.
Whilst being self-employed has provided me with flexibility, it has also created the need to proactively network and identify opportunities to secure a steady stream of projects to undertake on fixed term contracts.
As a consequence of studying sport psychology, it has given me an alternative perspective when approaching various tasks in my existing career. Completing a professional and counselling skills module prompted me to think differently about the questions I was asking my work colleagues on an everyday basis and also adopt a more systematic approach to practicing self-reflection within the workplace. It has also been great to become acquainted with organisational psychology theories and research within a sporting context, and consider how I can apply some of the key learnings into a working environment.
Returning to academia as a mature student has so far proven to be a rewarding and ultimately different type of experience in comparison to twenty years ago as an undergraduate student. This could partly be attributed to now having different underlying motivations for study and future aspirations.
I feel that there are many advantages that can be elicited from transitioning to sport psychology as a second career. This includes the application of relevant knowledge and skills derived from an existing career, and the potential to utilise life experiences that have been obtained within a broader context.
I was curious to research the area of playfulness in coaching as I had noticed both in myself and others that in times of perceived stress, my brain switched to pure logical goal-focused thinking. Particularly before I started the path of development as a coach, a fog of ‘seriousness’ also descended on me in those periods. On reflection, I wondered whether this automatic response narrowed down my thinking. Did what I took for effectiveness and focus in fact rob me of the ability to broaden my thinking, potentially leading to different actions and outcomes?
For the dissertation research for my MSc in Coaching & Behavioural Change (Henley Business School), I took the opportunity to explore this idea of playfulness in the context of coaching. Research into adult playfulness is still at a relatively young stage and there is no universal consensus as to its conceptualisation, definition, measurement, distinctiveness or specificity. Nevertheless, I find the definition proposed by Professor Proyer (2017) helpful as he divides the concept into a number of different categories, one of which is Intellectual playfulness. In essence, this represents an enjoyment of playing with thoughts and ideas, embracing complexity and taking different perspective and is possibly associated with creative thinking as well as specific task/goal focus and problem solving.
It is this idea of Intellectual playfulness which was primarily explored in my research and subsequent article in the International Coaching Psychology Review (March 2020). Based on interviews with 14 experienced coaches, working predominantly with corporate clients, the research is a qualitative study exploring and seeking to understand playfulness in coaching. I identify strong themes in the research results of key factors required for playfulness and what it may bring to coaching. Risks and potential barriers as well as future areas to investigate are also considered. Based on a literature review of adult playfulness and the findings of my research, a new working definition is proposed.
There is support in the research literature that there are benefits to adult playfulness, many of which appear relevant to coaching. Yet with the experienced and reflective coaches who took part in this research study, many had not specifically reflected on playfulness in their coaching prior to participating. My hope is that the article and underlying research will direct attention in the field of coaching to the concept of adult playfulness so that we can continue the exploration of its impact on coaching and its potential contribution to coaching effectiveness.
Stephanie Wheeler is a leadership and personal development coach working with individuals and teams. Also a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator, speaker and writer, she is currently writing a book with Routledge with fellow coach Teresa Leyman in a further quest to explore the concept of playfulness and coaching. http://www.stephaniewheeler.co.uk
Keerthana Swaminathan, Founder of Think.Train.Perform. @thinktrainperform
Stuck at home? Well, it’s time to quit cribbing and get productive! How long are you going to be wasting your precious time at home during the lockdown? We live at an age where we are lucky enough to get the basic necessities at home and it is no longer as bad as what it could have been earlier. While most individuals would probably get bored or may while away the time until it gets better, here’s another perspective to the entire scenario.
24 hours a day is a lot of time, and we cannot afford to let go of it. Imagine a lockdown of days, so that’s 7×24 hours, which is 168 hours of just being bored, or cribbing or as in most cases worrying about the situation. There is a high chance of dipping low in productivity and struggling to get back to the routine once it’s all over. In such cases, it is always important to look at what you can control and just do your part, in this case, avoid social contact and be at home.
Step 1 is to write a list of time wasters, things that make you feel drained and unproductive. You would be surprised to find out that a lot of the things you do during a break would fall under the ‘time wasters’ category. This could include watching the news excessively, obsessively scrolling through your phone, etc. Once you do this, you will realize that you have plenty of time to do better things.
There are always things that you would have wanted to do, but you might have pushed it away to another day since you probably did not get enough time. Well, now is the time to do such things. Write down a list of things that you would like to do (indoors, of course!), and prioritize it. Once you’ve done that, you will feel motivated and look at the positive side of such a situation.
Have a small goal of completing a few of the tasks written down on your list by the end of the lockdown situation. This is very important because this having a goal is going to create an urge to go ahead and complete it instead of falling for the time-wasters.
Account for what you’ve done every single day! It’s all right to watch a movie or rewinding (those things aren’t time-wasters if it doesn’t drain you), but make sure you are aware of how long you spent on those tasks and how you felt! And, do not forget to update your progress in terms of your goal!
By the end of the week or so, you would have definitely achieved at least 70% of the goal. Do not stop there, keep it going until you finish them all! This will make you feel refreshed, energized from your usual routine. You would have gotten a few tasks done, hence feeling better, instead of feeling drained!
Alex Oliver, PhD Researcher, Glasgow Caledonian University, @aoliverpsych
Attention is a special type of spotlight that we can shine internally and externally to illuminate information we perceive to be important at that time, however, until recently we didn’t really have many insights into its operation. We use the term spotlight because attention is something that is always on; it’s always shining somewhere! Meta-attention, a component of the wider metacognitive framework, relates to our knowledge and awareness of the operation of our attentional system (Miller & Bigi, 1979). That is, what do we know about our own attentional spotlight, and how do we shine it?
Pioneering cognitive sport psychologist Aidan Moran pinpointed meta-attention as a pathway of understanding concentration in sport performers (Moran, 1996), however, little was done empirically to build on Moran’s suggestion for research to understand concentration. This meant that we did not have much understanding of what athletes know about their attention.
Our research aimed to fill this gap, by developing an understanding of what concentration looks like in golfers. Curiously other than the odd game of pitch and putt and crazy golf, I’ve never played a round of golf in my life! But, because of its unique nature, golf provides the perfect insight into concentration and attention control. A golfer can be out on the course for the best part of 5 hours yet they only need to concentrate – or focus – for a fraction for that. Therefore, we were interested in how a golfer shines their attentional spotlight – and what they think is the shiner.
We used a grounded theory approach and interviewed 8 golfers (7 competitive-elite, 1 successful-elite). The results showed that golfers perceived attention to be resource-based, with reflections (i.e., I have this resource or this resource is missing) on attentional resources, followed by an initiation of attentional control made up of target selection, pre-shot routine and following execution an initiation of a post-shot routine. The post shot-routine would be rounded off by something I’ve been informed is the golden rule in golf, think and talk about anything other than golf between shots!
If we link this back to the attentional spotlight, what this means is, first-of-all the spotlight shines internally – we look for a resource that might be useful for this moment in time. This might be an experience on playing a bunker shot. Because this is a metacognitive process, higher skilled athletes are more likely to be able to monitor for, locate and apply the most appropriate resource they need at that time. If an athlete fails to locate the resource required the negative appraisal can lead to internal distraction occurring.
The spotlight then shifts to target selection (e.g., that tree back right); on to a consistent pre-shot routine; the shot happens; the spotlight then shines towards a post-shot routine described as an evaluation box that would be exited by a player diverting their attention to anything other than their current game – something that may be facilitated by a playing partner or a caddie.
Practically what might this mean? First-of-all, if we consider metacognitive evaluation of attentional resource that takes place – the attentional spotlight identifies the resource and a reflection takes place – they either have a positive evaluation of this (e.g., my recent bunker shots are on point) or a negative evaluation (e.g., my bunker shots have been a disaster). So, we can begin to understand where internal distractions occur. At a theoretical level, mindfulness-based interventions may hold promise because this would reduce internal distractibility and we know these can increase flow which is associated with increased feelings of concentration (Kaufman et al., 2009).
Second, our understanding of meta-attention reiterated the selection of an external target, the use of a consistent pre-shot routine and post-shot routine. Practitioners should ensure that their athletes establish pre- and post-shot routines, especially in intermittent sports like golf where frequent shifts in the attentional spotlight take place. The use of a pre-shot routine can bring the attentional spotlight into task-relevant focus, and a post-shot routine can direct the attentional spotlight to evaluate the shot taken and then provide direction towards a task irrelevant thought.
Our research presented a new theoretical understanding of meta-attention, in that we know a bit more about what it takes to control the attentional spotlight. This research has begun to shine a light on what mechanisms lie beneath the spotlight; showing us what the shiner is, but we still need to do more to deepen our understanding of the meta- mechanisms across cognitions, including further attention research.
This blog is adapted from an original article published in The Sport Psychologist (2020) and formed part of the authors’ PhD research.
We would be keen to connect with psychologists who are interested in metacognition in applied performance settings. For those interested, please contact Alex.
References:
Kaufman, K. A., Glass, C. R., & Arnkoff, D. B. (2009). Evaluation of Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE): A new approach to promote flow in athletes. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 3(4), 334-356.
Miller, P. H., & Bigi, L. (1979). The development of children’s understanding of attention. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 25, 235-250.
Moran, A.P. (1996). The psychology of concentration in sport performers. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Oliver, A., McCarthy, P. J., & Burns, L. (2020). A Grounded-Theory Study of Meta-Attention in Golfers. The Sport Psychologist, 34(1), 11-22.
As we step into a new decade, this post explains the formation of habits and how marginal changes accumulate to create a compound effect, thereby increasing an individual’s productivity, performance, creativity, and resilience. This small change also helps in reducing procrastination, improving relationships with oneself and others and finally achieving one’s fullest potential.
Here’s a quote by Darren Hardy [6] from his famous book ‘The Compound Effect: Jumpstart your income, your life, your success’-
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
Every new year we make resolutions to become a better person, get good sleep, maintain a healthy diet and exercise more, give our 100% always, to do things on time, but do we really stick to it? Most of us don’t even make it till the end of January. This initial blast of motivation remains only for some while and later we go back to the same old ways of living.
At an age where productivity and performance are key to sustain that job, that title as an athlete, student or even to be a good parent, I wanted to understand as to how I can stick to good habits and not bounce back to the old, relatively damaging habits.
This made me explore this topic in depth and after reading several research papers, articles and books by psychologists and most successful businessmen and athletes, I am convinced that this evidence based self-improvement would make us atleast 23% [9] more efficient in whichever area we intend to improve. But to do so it is important to understand what habits are and how are they formed.
Science of Habits
Habits, simply put, are small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. According to researchers at Duke University, 40 percent of our behaviour in a day are habitual in nature. In a study conducted in 2002, they found that people reported between one third and half of their behaviours were things that they did almost every day and usually in the same location. And most of the time their thoughts wandered while doing those activities.
William James, Father of American psychology, was one of the proponents and a big believer in habit mentions:
“99%, or, possibly, 99.9% of our activity is purely automatic and habitual, from our rising in the morning to our lying down each night. Our dressing and undressing, our eating and drinking, our greetings and partings…even most of the forms of our common speech, are things of a type so fixed by repetition as almost to be classed as reflex actions” (p. 48).
In the initial ages of understanding habits, researchers highlighted the way humans learn stimulus-response associations. Such concepts are rooted in behaviourist principles and studies on animal learnings.
Ivan Pavlov’s [11] experiment on a dog led to the theory of classical conditioning which states that on presentation of an unconditioned stimulus (e.g. food) there is an unconditioned response (e.g. dogs salivate) to it. When this unconditioned stimulus is coupled with a new stimulus (ringing a bell before presenting food) and repeated several times, there is a response which is conditioned to the new stimulus (i.e. dog salivated when the bell rang before the food was shown).
Such associations only explained how the environment shaped an individual’s behaviour but could not completely explain all behaviours which were governed by nature of a person like altruism and lying. This led to developments in different theories of learning, one of which is operant learning, proposed by B.F. Skinner [13]. He used a special box called the Skinner’s Box to conduct experiments on animals where he provided rewards to rats after successfully completing the task.
According to this experiment, it was a simple understanding that behaviours which led to pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated and behaviours which led to unpleasant consequence was less likely to be repeated. For example, as a child you might have probably tried several behaviours and the consequence of it determined if you would repeat that behaviours.
This led to the concept of behaviour as an automatic response to the cues in the environment. This is governed by the consequence of the response received in terms of reinforcements (i.e. rewards or punishments). For e.g., Rafael Nadal, a tennis player,[8] uses drinking water and visualising about his surrounding in a format that matches with how he wants it, adjusting his socks before serving (response routine) to the cue of match point (stressful event) to gain focus and control leading to performing at his best (reinforcement).
Credits: The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg [19]
But this also means that Nadal did not one day suddenly decide to do this routine in a match, it requires repetition for it to become automatic. In a high pressure environment [14] where there is no time to even breath, such an automatic learning would help gain control and focus back easily in a fraction of a second to perform better, provided it is a habit.
Formation of Habits
In the experiments mentioned above, rats were persistent to pursue the behaviour even when the reward was removed. Neurological studies [5,10] have confirmed similar neural processes are occupied in acquisition and practise of habitual responses in rats and humans.
The backbone for forming any habit and making them automatic are these four important processes or stages: cue-craving-response-reward. Each time we perform a behaviour, our brain runs these processes and when repeated, it becomes a habit [2].
Cue is the trigger to the brain to initiate a behaviour. For example, when a tennis player is annoyed because he lost a point due to a silly mistake, looking at the racquet nets would act as a cue to create a response to remind oneself to calm down and not let emotions come in between during the game. Our brain analyses the internal and external environment for cues leading to rewards. Thus, this is one of the most manipulative aspect of the habit loop.
Cravings act as the motivational aspect of the habit loop. Craving is usually linked to a desire to change your internal state. A football player would feel the craving to hit the goal when he is near the goal post instead of passing it to another team member who is in the same situation because the reward would be much more satisfying if he himself scores the goal. You are not motivated to brush teeth [17], rather it is the feeling of a clean mouth that pushes you to do it. Thus, the craving is not for the habit but the change it can bring in the internal state which is desired.
Response to these cues and cravings is the actual thought or action, the behaviour we are trying to develop. This depends on many variables like skill level, motivation, and ability [15]. For instance, if you are in a meeting and you receive a text message (cue) and you want to see the content of the message (craving), the response would be to grab your phone and read the message.
Rewards are the end goal of habit loop. Rewards satisfy the craving and forms the basis of repeating that behaviour in response to the cue and craving. In the above example, Knowing the content of the message (reward) is satisfying your craving to read the message and grabbing the phone becomes associated with phone ringing. A part of this feedback loop or mechanism that our brain uses is the feelings of pleasure and disappointment which distinguishes between useful and useless actions, thus is a key element to repeat the behaviour.
Lally and colleagues [1] conducted a 12 week period habit development study, where the participants were instructed to perform a self-chosen physical activity or diet-related behaviour (e.g., running) in response to a naturally occurring cue which was once each day (e.g., after breakfast). They had to record the number of times they performed the activity and how automatic did it feel to perform that activity.
Results showed that habit development takes place over a period of time, which ranges differently for different individuals. It also shows that habit development is not linear. Initial repetitions have the greatest impact on habit development. Thus, the most important time to sustain motivation is during the initial phase of habit development.
Neuroscience [1] reveals that greater repetition of task increases performance, reduces the necessity to think about the activity, attend to it and then respond to it, increasing the activation of neural system known as associative loop (forms associations between cue and response).
The brain area which is activated (prefrontal cortex) [3] during this process is also linked to self-control, planning and abstract thought. Self-control [4] does not seem to be a reliable source for change and thus wouldn’t be the most effective technique.
5 effective techniques to achieve your resolutions this year
Using the four laws of behaviour change- the very first step is to identify the habit that is to be changed or formed. Once you have a target or goal, you need to ask yourself four very important questions:
Four laws
To form good habits
To break bad habits
Ask yourself
Cue
Make it obvious
Make it invisible
How can I make it obvious?
Craving
Make it attractive
Make it unattractive and disgust or disappointment provoking.
How can I make it attractive?
Response
Make it accessible, and easy, simple
Make it difficult
How can I make it easy?
Reward
Make it satisfying
Make it unsatisfying.
How can I make it fulfilling or satisfying?
Credits: James Clear, Atomic Habits [2]
Often, our motivation depends on the rewards we receive, these can be internal or external rewards. Many investigations on motivation [7] reveals that the best form of motivation to sustain any behaviour for longer period is when it becomes internalised or introjected (automatic or part of a person’s identity). If the behaviour becomes a part of who you are, you are more likely to do it every day without thinking much [18].
For instance, an athlete practises his physical skills daily inorder for him to perform it automatically on a match day [16]. But often there is very less heed placed on mental training which is the defining factor when it comes to being No.1 and No.2. What sets them apart is this- mental skills training to deal with pressure or stress which helps in an automatic response or coping on the match day.
Pressure training [16] is not just restricted to athletes, such trainings can be used by companies, military officials, schools, universities, hospitals and others, for people to be better prepared and perform at their best even when adversity strikes. Such a training helps individuals to make the response automated due to repeated practise.
5 effective techniques [2] for habit change are:
1.HABIT SCORECARD:
A habit scorecard would be a tracking device on which you need to place different habits that you perform each day. Each Habit would be scored as effective (+), ineffective (-), and neutral (=) depending what is your goal and desire. Rate the habits as effective or ineffective based on long term goals. At first, there is nothing to be changed in the scorecard.
Any change in behaviour starts with awareness. The main reason to maintain a scorecard or techniques like pointing & calling (pointing out your habits and saying to yourself that they are bad) is to bring it to your conscious awareness. Hearing your bad habits spoken aloud makes the consequences seem more real. These would also help you to acknowledge the cues that trigger a habit and makes it possible to respond in way that is beneficial for you.
“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”- Carl Jung
2. HABIT STACKING:
Often human behaviours follow a cycle of event, e.g., you wake up, brush your teeth, take bath, drink coffee, eat breakfast and so on, meaning one event leads to another. Each action in this case becomes a cue to trigger for another. Habit stacking occurs when you tie your desired behaviour into something you already do each day.
For e.g., An athlete who lacks self-confidence could use positive self-talk or positive affirmations within their practise routines every day during practise sessions. Positive statements: After I reach for training and am about to start, I will say 3 positive statements about myself or my game.
Stack habits on each other depending on the intensity of desired habit. Make the context or the environment in which you live, work, train, study your cue and stack new desired habit with the old one accordingly. According to Wood & Rünger [18], neural reactions to rewards received after performing a behaviour often ties context and response in the memory. This marks an association which does not require goals or intentions as mediators to achieve a desired habit i.e. context is a powerful predictor of engaging in a behaviour, thus use it to your advantage.
3. TEMPTATION BUNDLING:
Whenever we experience a reward our brain activates the dopamine reward loop which makes us feel satisfied and thus repetition of that behaviour which elicits such a response. Temptation bundling uses this mechanism and it works by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do. This works on Premack’s Principle which states “more probable behaviour reinforces less probable behaviour.” A habit becomes attractive if you get to do one of your favourite things along with it at the same time. For e.g., you could only watch television, movies at the gym.
4. THE TWO MINUTE RULE:
The excitement to start something overpowers our ability to contain it for a long time and we start too big. We try too much at once and expect the results too soon. But as we progress our motivation fades and we gradually lose interest. So, it is important to follow the two minute rule, which states, “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two-minutes to do.”
All habits can be scaled down to a ‘Doing pre-performance routine every training’ can be cut down to ‘checking for pre-performance routines online.’
“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”
Samuel Smiles, Happy Homes and the Heart That Makes Them
As you master the art of the first two minutes it becomes a ritual at the beginning of a larger routine. The more you make a beginning of the habit a ritual, easier it’s slip into the state of deep focus that is required to great things. By doing the same warm up before every workout, athletes can benefit from this because it helps to get into a state of peak performance.
5. THE GOLDILOCKS RULE:
In psychological research this rule is known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law that describes the optimal level of arousal, which is necessary to get into flow and exhibit peak performance. This is the midpoint between boredom and anxiety. Maximum amount of motivation occurs when faced with challenges that are of “just manageable difficulty.”
Humans search for novelty, making boredom the biggest enemy to maintain any habit. The delicate balance between regular search for challenges that push you to your edge and continuing to make enough progress is the key to sustain motivation.
In his book atomic habits, James Clear [2] mentions about asking an elite coach who trains Olympic weightlifters that what do the really successful people do that most don’t. He said: “At some point it comes to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over and over.”
These 5 techniques are based on the four laws of behaviour change i.e. the habit loop: cue-craving-response-reward.
Conclusion
Our believes and thoughts become our destiny which propels us to shift our attention towards detoxing our mind and building enhancing habits. One percent change every day would lead to a total of 37.78 percent better in a year. Such a slight change helps broaden coping and build long term resources [2] that promote resilience, adaptability and readiness to tackle change, stress or pressure.
Use the four processes to your advantage by making the cue obvious and something attractive for craving to increase. The response to the cue is the desired behaviour which should be easy and finally make the reward satisfying inorder to create a habit loop. If you find difficulty to maintain that habit use the 5 techniques of a) maintaining a habit scorecard, habit stacking, temptation bundling, two minute rule and goldilocks rule.
[1] Balleine, B. W., & O’Doherty, J. (2010). Human and rodent homologies in action control: Corticostriatal determinants of goal-directed and habitual action. Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, 35, 48–69.
[2] Clear, J. (2019). Atomic Habits. Random House Business.
[3] Fournier, M., d’Arripe-Longueville, F., Rovere, C., Easthope, C. S., Schwabe, L., El Methni, J., & Radel, R. (2017). Effects of circadian cortisol on the development of a health habit. Health Psychology, 36(11), 1059–1064.
[4] Galla, B. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). More than resisting temptation: Beneficial habits mediate the relationship between self-control and positive life outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(3), 508–525.
[5] Gardner, Benjamin & Rebar, Amanda. (2019). Habit Formation and Behavior Change. 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0232.
[6] Hardy, D. (2010). The compound effect: Multiplying your success-one simple step at a time. New York, N.Y.: Vanguard.
[9] James, W. (1916/1983). Talks to teachers on psychology and to students on some of life’s ideals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[10] Knowlton, B. J., & Patterson, T. K. (2016). Habit formation and the striatum. In Behavioral neuroscience of learning and memory (pp. 275–295). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2016_451
[12] Pedersen, M. (2018). The resilience of habit. Ephemera, 18(2), 331-339.
[13] Robbins, T., & Costa, R. (2017). Habits. Current Biology, 27(22), R1200-R1206. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.060
[14] Verplanken, Bas. (2018). The Psychology of Habit Theory, Mechanisms, Change, and Contexts: Theory, Mechanisms, Change, and Contexts. 10.1007/978-3-319-97529-0.
[15] Verplanken, Bas (2008). Beyond frequency: Habit as mental construct. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45(Pt 3):639-56.
[16] Verplanken, Bas & Orbell, Sheina. (2019). Habit and Behavior Change. 10.1007/978-3-030-13788-5_5.
[17] Wood, W., Quinn, J. M., & Kashy, D. A. (2002). Habits in everyday life: Thought, emotion, and action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1281–1297. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.83.6.1281
I don’t know about you, but my reading list is very long. Or very high, depending upon how you imagine these books to be stacked. I imagine my reading list stacked upwards and upwards, up through the clouds and into space.
This is exacerbated whenever you meet a fellow reader, often at a conference. I find I come away from conferences with the names of enough books to fill a lifetime of reading.
Four years ago, this inspired me to set a big hairy audacious goal; to read 100 books in five years. With 11 months to go I’m doing okay – I’ve read 87 books. But has this solved my problem?
Well in some ways, yes – I am pleased to have absorbed all those new ideas, perspectives and knowledge. I am also proud that I have been slowly striving towards completing my long-term goal.
But in other ways, no – it may have made the problem worse. Books spawn more books. The more you read, the more titles you discover, and the list grows ever bigger. It’s like the hardcore levels of Tetris, where the blocks (or books) are shooting down into view faster than you can deal with them.
Nowhere has this been felt more than in my QSEP journey towards Chartered Sport Psychologist status. Between the CPD days, the relevant journal articles, the paperwork, the admin… oh, and actually consulting with athletes – where does one find the time to dip into, let alone immerse oneself, in the multitude of great books within our industry and neighbouring disciplines? The answer, for me at least, is ‘with great difficulty’!
Which begs the question, what literature do you prioritise?
Now, the following texts are those that I have found particularly beneficial as a neophyte practitioner. There may be other incredible books that I don’t mention and please feel free to let me know about them (adding to my imaginary magical beanstalk of books shooting up through the clouds). I have decided to list three key books that have influenced my developing practice so far. Those who are interested can visit this webpage where I have put together a longer reading list following a poll of experienced sport psychologists on social media.
Okay so let’s get into it. Book number one…
1. Being a Sport Psychologist, Richard Keegan (2016)
This book has been ‘ever present’ through my training thus far. When you enter the Stage II phase after your masters it is a very daunting place. ‘OkayI’ve studied this for four years; how do I actually DO this?’. Richard Keegan has taken on the enormous task of decoding the sport psychology process and building an elegant structure and model for sport psychology practice – from the intake and rapport building, through to case formulation, interventions and measurement.
One of the smallest but most critical pieces of advice I’ve gained from this book is to take detailed notes throughout one’s practice and to be meticulous with record keeping. Not only is this great for reflecting on your work later and working out how to improve, it is an important cornerstone of ethical practice, and is of huge importance if you are ever audited by your regulating body.
2. How to Support a Champion, Steve Ingham (2016)
If Keegan (2016) has provided a comforting structural blanket to my practice, Ingham’s fantastic book has given me a multitude of hacks, tips, tricks and applied advice – formed in the furnace of performance support at the sharp end of British Olympic sport.
One thing I have taken from this book is the skepticism athletes (or indeed experts in any field) may have when faced by a cocky consultant with ‘all the knowledge’, spouting their impressive evidence base without having taken the time to learn about the environment, to ask about the athletes or coaches about their experiences, or to take the time to understand the context of the situation. One of Ingham’s many helpful soundbites is “contextually sensitive” recommendations. I have found this cue to be incredibly useful.
3. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… and it’s all Small Stuff, Richard Carlson (1997)
Finally, alongside Keegan’s (2016) comforting blanket of best practice, and Ingham’s (2016) contextual knowledge of the applied environment, Carlson (1997) has given me the tools to look after myself. If you are a Stage II trainee reading this, the onus on self-care may very well be an issue that resonates strongly with you. This book is a delightful hitchhike through a wealth of helpful exercises and perspectives, delivered in pleasant little bite size chunks. The reading experience of the book is clearly designed to mirror the clear and clutter free world of thinking that Carlson envisages.
The book has 100 nuggets of advice. Here are three that resonated with me:
#56: Be grateful when you’re feeling good and graceful when you’re feeling bad
#88: Listen to your feelings (they are trying to tell you something)
#89: If someone throws you the ball, you don’t have to catch it
This last nugget has been particularly transformative. Re-training in any discipline is about embracing new challenges and opportunities, but there comes a point when saying ‘no’ means you can give more focus, quality and heart to the opportunities already on your plate (as well as unlocking more time for friends and family as well).
Summary
Well, there you have it. Three books that have shaped my practice in notable ways, through the first half of my QSEP training. If you are hugely passionate about one of the many titles I haven’t mentioned, I would love to hear from you. Until then, happy training and happy reading.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have thirteen more books to read…and many more to add to my beanstalk.
Jenny Coady, High Performance Coach Developer at UK Coaching, @jennycoady10
Dr Amy Whitehead, Reader in Sport Psychology and Coaching, Liverpool John Moores University, @a_whitehead1
Jenny Coady is currently working as a high performance Coach Developer at UK Coaching, which involves supporting high performance coaches from around the UK in a variety of different ways. Jenny has a background in applied sport and exercise psychology, performance analysis and was an international athlete and uses this knowledge and expertise to develop the coaches she works with.
Jenny was introduced to Think Aloud at a UK Coaching Coach Develop workshop that Amy delivered in 2018 and discusses how she has taken the tool on board within her practice as a coach developer.
How did you hear about Think Aloud?
I first had a chance to explore the Think Aloud concept at a UK Coaching Coach Developer workshop. It was a thought provoking presentation with a complimentary mix of theory and practical application. It is something that I immediately thought would be useful in my role as a coach developer and of course the performance coaches that I work with. We converse regularly about ‘normalising’ reflective practice so I was excited about the assistance this Think Aloud vehicle could provide
What were your initial thoughts?
It is an easy, adaptable, affordable and self-directed reflective tool. It’s multiple transferable components welcome coaches at all ages and stages of their coaching journey to engage. Knowing the coaches’ previous exposure to reflective tools and understanding their thought process, I was excited to share how this could support and possibly contribute to a deeper understanding. The simplistic and versatile nature of Think Aloud enabled me to introduce it quickly to coaches. The research supporting TA provided a solid foundation for coaches to digest and have clarity on the process. Reflective practice isn’t something that coaches find easy or in some cases a priority, the tool was both accessible and scalable for many coaches enabling them to implement it easily. This, for me, was a chance to change the way we approach reflection and to encourage in-depth reflection in a non-invasive way.
How did you first implement this in your role as a coach and a coach developer?
As a coach developer, I understand that coaching is multifaceted, taking many forms and happening in different environments. Think Aloud presents an opportunity for coaches to initiate the process in their own time, pace and space therefore it becomes bespoke to those coaches who take the time to embrace it. As a group of coaches, additionally we use a virtual platform to share experiences and reflections following the process. Once coaches begun sharing their ideas and experiences they were able to take the next step, exploring the tool further via workshops, lectures and research and implementing where necessary.
If any – how has Think Aloud developed or improved your practice?
Self-awareness and communication were the key areas that immediately presented themselves once the coaches had completed the process. Continued use of the tool highlighted further key areas including; coach-athlete relationships, language and diversion during coaching practice. TA has refreshed the idea of reflection, a challenging process for many coaches. It has also given me a new insight into a coaches’ thought process and journey that I may not otherwise have seen. One of the interesting questions that Think Aloud has assisted some coaches in discovering ‘How I am being received by others?’. It has given many of the coaches’ confidence, they often feel that the quality, frequency and consistency of reflection has improved. TA has sparked my curiosity to explore reflection in action further, to contemplate and understand where and when it fits in the coaching process best.
If you would like to know more about the use of Think Aloud in coaching and coach development please get in touch with Dr Amy Whitehead via email A.E.Whitehead@ljmu.ac.uk or contact Jenny Coady via twitter @jennycoady10
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