Best Versus Worst Performances

By: Dr. Colleen M. Hacker

Originally Published in: Achieving Excellence

By examining your best performances and comparing and contrasting them with your worst performances, you can identify the key elements of your ideal performance state. On a sheet of paper, write "best performance" at the top and write down brief responses to the following questions:

How emotionally charged or activated were you before the performance?
Did you feel mentally ready or prepared to perform?
Where were you focused? On what elements?
How worried were you about losing?
What were you thinking about before, during, and after the performance?
What were you saying to yourself during performance?
How excited or calm were you before the event?
How tense did you feel?
How confident were you before the start of the competition?

List and describe any other elements that stood out to you about your best previous performance. For example, what did you do in the locker room or during warm-ups, and what did you think or say to yourself before competition?

Once you have determined the essential precursors to your own best performance, do the same for your worst performance. Rather than simply rewriting the opposite of what you wrote for your best performance, in this instance, skip to the bottom half of the same page and respond to the same list of questions as you think about a specific, previous poor performance or competition.

After you have compared and contrasted both ends of the performance spectrum, identify the most important thoughts, behaviors, and feelings that facilitated or deterred your performance. Use this information to develop a specific performance routine that you can consistently implement before training sessions and competitive events in order to facilitate your performance. Evaluate its effectiveness after each performance and make necessary adjustments. Rate yourself on how consistently you followed your stated and preferred pre-performance routine.