“Stay focused. Your start does not determine how you’re going to finish.” — Herm Edwards

The word “focus” is constantly thrown around in mainstream chatter, but most players have only a vague idea of what it means. “Just focus!” Coaches and parents tell the young athletes.

Focus influences many areas of your lives: being able to focus – and mitigate distraction – is linked to your ability to control impulses and emotions in a football mental game and achieve long-term goals.

Research on football psychology shows that tapping into focus leads to altered states of mind – such as flow state, described by the world’s greatest sports psychologist as the most productive and creative state of mind in which to practice.

According to sports psychologist for football, the key components of flow state being completely engrossed in a particular moment is a challenging task. In flow state, distractions evaporate and attention is consumed by the task until concentration is broken and the flow state ends.

But not all focus requires a laser-sharp attention to detail or shutting out the world. In fact, sports psychologist consider focus a question of where you put your attention and have broken down focus into four subtypes: external broad, external narrow, internal broad and internal narrow. They describe the subtypes as follows:
• External broad focus is helpful when you are assessing the outside environment before or during a performance. For example, a quarterback may scan the defense prior to the beginning of a play.
• Internal broad focus is helpful when you are assessing your own football mental game and emotional state before or during a performance.
• External narrow focus is helpful when you need to focus on the execution of one specific skill. For example, a football player may focus on the speed of the ball as she/he throws.
• Internal narrow focus is helpful when you need to focus self-talk right before the execution of a specific skill. For example, a football player could use trigger words like “smooth and easy” right before a throw.

Cultivating a nonjudgmental awareness of the present bestows a host of benefits. It reduces stress, boosts immune functioning, reduces chronic pain, lowers blood pressure, and makes you more confident.

You will have higher self-esteem and will more likely accept your own weaknesses. You can hear negative feedback without feeling threatened. You will be more accommodating and less defensive. As a result, you will have greater football confidence and football mental toughness.

Sometimes, you believe that the best way to accomplish many tasks given to you is to multitask and get them all done at once. But, research shows that the more you multitask the less you become productive and more frustrated.

Sort out what’s going on in your mind. Talk to yourself. Find out what’s really bothering you. Quiet the mind, focus on enjoying and giving the best to the moment rather than thinking about outcomes and what others are doing.

Put your priorities in focus and take time for things that matter most to you.

Give yourself permission to get into the “distraction zone” when you are not in the “play zone.”

Now, you have control of your time and your life. The world wants your attention. Instead of letting others distract and control you, take the lead, put your priorities check and take time for things that matter most to you.

*Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in Football