As an athlete, focus is a crucial piece in one’s arsenal. It allows the athlete to tune out outside problems, comments and pain. Focus clearly paves the journey an athlete must take to meet his objective on the ice.
For most players keeping focused is an issue. Life’s issues and pressures can misguide them into taking shortcuts or not giving each practice 100% of their time and effort. That lack of focus hurts her performance on the court. However, focus can be developed. Like any other habit, according to Daniel Coyle in The Little Book of Talent, focus an become anew within 8 weeks.
Focus is not inspiration nor is it motivation. Focus is the ability to keep one’s eyes on the horizon despite the obstacles and speed bumps set in front of the athlete as a distraction. Focus is a talent, and it can be either poorly developed or made to be laser sharp.
For focus to be laser sharp, bad habits of distraction and laziness are not to be broken. Breaking bad habits is a waste of time. Instead, it is more effective to create new habits that with practice will simply hone focus and replace the bad habits. Habits that enhance focus include vision boards, setting large goals and keeping them to yourself, meditation, staring, and stealing ideas (legally of course).
An example of stealing would be to take notes on how your athletic hero performs on the field. Notate how he makes his stance, the position of his hand, and how he gains power to take on the opposition. Then, you can take that a step further by creating a vision board demonstrating those skills which you need to incorporate into your game.
Remember, the goal is to cause the unconscious mind to imagine and recreate the performance during practice and games. Keep your goals, or focus, positive (i.e., “center the ball” instead of “don’t pull to the right” when bowling). If the mind can see it, then the body can achieve it.