Be sure to sweat the small stuff: part 1

Yes, we've all heard it, "don't sweat the small stuff", "don't bother me with minor details". A few of recent readings and experiences have shown that in sport this is not the way to go. How many games are won and lost by the tiniest of margins? Surely that means details count?

Last week I observed a session conducted by Tim Goodenough, mental coach and author of In the Zone, for the students at the international rugby academy. The topic was visualisation. Now we have all heard about visualisation being important, but how many sportsman actually do it, or more specifically how many do it properly.

The main essence is, that not only should you use your visual sense, but also your other senses - hearing, feel, taste and smell. In doing this you should play out the picture of what you envisage taking place in an extremely detailed way. You should go into every little detail of how you plan to kick that conversion, or bowl that ball, or swing that club. Starting with how it feels, to what the situation sounds like, to what you need to do or see etc. Tim encouraged the students to describe every little detail, for the simple reason that the more you have rehearsed a situation beforehand and taken care of every little detail, the more you can instinctly play the situation when it takes place in real time. So in fact, by "over-complicating' things initially, you simplify them later, when it counts!!

I'll put some more thoughts regarding the importance of detail soon.

Tom