The Growth Mindset
How Coaches Can Utilize Positive Psychology To Connect With Their Players
In 1996 Martin Seligman was elected as the head of the American Psychology Association and he chose to take the association in a completely different direction. He promoted the concept of Positive Psychology which is the scientific study of strengths that enable
individuals and communities to flourish. Seligman wanted to focus on the characteristics and circumstances that help the well being of people instead of focusing on addressing the areas of their lives that are not going well. It was a 180-degree shift that has continued to create ripples through the world of psychology 20 years later. There have been hundreds of scientific studies conducted that prove the efficacy of positive psychology and its impact on people leading a meaningful life. From the impact of optimism as a long-term predictor of cardiovascular health (optimists are 40% less likely to experience Cardiovascular disease) to the role of grit as a predictor of student success, studies continue to show how positive psychology can help create a road map for well-being for all of us.
When I completed my first degree in the early nineties positive psychology did not exist and as a result, I didn’t learn about it at all in my Psychology classes. I was introduced to it during my master’s courses, and it spoke to me right away. Not because I am inherently a sunny, positive, and optimistic person. Actually, it is the opposite I tend to be more of a pessimist but the more I read the more I can see that it embodies the characteristics that I want in my life. So, I have spent the last few years working on focusing on the good in my life and leaning into my strengths. The pandemic has been a great challenge to improving my mindset and some days it works better than others. If nothing else 2020 and 2021 have been a great chance for all of us to work on resilience. I remain a work in progress.
As an educator and coach, I see a great opportunity to use positive psychology with youth. They are growing up in a world that bombards them with negativity and I firmly believe that athletics provides an opportunity to create habits that they can use to fight back. Coaches play an important role in the development of their athletes, and many naturally embody and teach the characteristics of Seligman’s well-being theory without even knowing it. There are 5 parts to Seligman’s theory of well-being and I think sport is great because it provides an opportunity to experience all of them
The Five Components of Well-Being Theory
Positive Emotion: Experiencing more positive emotion is step one in increasing well-being. Sport provides an opportunity to experience joy, love, laughter, kindness and other positive emotions that are going to create a sense of well-being.
Engagement: Engagement occurs when someone fully deploys their skills, strengths and attention on a challenging task. I believe this is what sport is all about for many athletes. Practicing the skills required for mastery is what drives many athletes to excel at their sport.
Relationships: Connections with others provides meaning in life. Sport, especially team sports, provide the opportunity to build lifelong relationships and the opportunity to interact daily with a group who share a common goal.
Meaning: A sense of meaning and purpose can be derived from being part of something bigger than yourself. Sport checks this box as well. Being part of a high functioning team is an opportunity to experience meaning.
Achievement: People create well-being by pursing achievement because of the challenge it presents. For some athletes this is why they participate in sport, the chance to measure themselves against themselves and others.
Data has shown that people who live with a high level of well-being live longer, sleep better, get sick less, perform better, have more meaningful relationships, suffer less anxiety or depression, and perform better at work, school and in sports. This feels like something really important that we can help our players with that could last them a lifetime.
Participating in Sport provides athletes the opportunity to experience all of the main markers of Seligman’s well-being theory. Unfortunately, many athletes do not always experience these characteristics in their sport. Parental pressure, the business of sport and coaches who do not embrace these characteristics can all deprive athletes of experiencing the characteristics of well-being. I believe that coaches have a huge responsibility to create an environment that provides athletes an opportunity to experience these aspects of well-being every time they are together. This does not mean that coaches need to create a feel-good environment where everyone gets a medal and an ice cream after every game. That won’t meet the needs of athletes in terms of engagement, meaning or achievement. I know that coaches can improving their ability to help their athletes experience the characteristics of well-being. It will improve their experience in sport, help them acquire important life skills and will also make coaching more rewarding. The question becomes how can coaches use the tenets of positive psychology with their teams? What follows are four techniques coaches can use with their teams and athletes to increase their athletes’ sense of well-being. That great thing is that they will improve the sense well-being for the coach as well.
1. Learn what your Athletes Strengths Are.
The Values in Action survey is a free survey that breaks personal character strengths down and ranks each individuals’ strengths from 1-24. As a coach learning what their players top five character strengths are is a great way to get to understand who they are and what they bring to the table with your team. Applied as a team it can also help the coach understand what their strengths are and what the areas of growth to help the team maximize its potential. Included below is a free lesson plan to use the VIA survey with your team. Feel free to download, share it, or use it however you see fit. Learning your athlete’s strengths (and your athletes learning yours) is a great way to improve meaning and relationships on your team. Included in the lesson is an opportunity to rank the characteristics of well-being which will help you understand what motivates your athlete.
2. Set Process Goals
Goals that are based on outcomes, such as winning a game or title are not always controllable. Athletes and coaches do not control the variables that will dictate whether they reach them or not. Obviously, all athletes and coaches want to win whenever possible but setting process-oriented goals allows athletes to feel a sense of satisfaction even in defeat. I loved UCLA coach Mick Cronin’s interview after his team lost the NCAA semifinal on a buzzer beater, they were focused on being the best version of their team. Some of my favorite memories of coaching are from games that we did not win on the scoreboard, but the players left feeling like winners.
3. Focus on Resilience
If the last two years has taught us anything it that resilience is a skill that all humans need. Sport is a great place to practice it. The nature of sport is that there are ups and downs and athletes do not always control the things that will challenge them. Injury, referees, playing time, the peaks and valleys of performance and many other events that happen in competition are not controllable. However, the way that athletes respond will largely impact the outcome of the event. Tim and Brian Kight have turned this into an equation which athletes can incorporate into their lives, E(event) + R(response)= O(outcome). It is a powerful tool that coaches can use to help teach athletes how to reframe challenges in a positive light.
4. Relentlessly Hunt Positivity
The last technique can be hard, especially if you are like me and you tend to be inherently more negative than positive. Coaches are trained to find mistakes and things that need fixing instead of focusing on the positives. Work at catching your athletes doing the things you want to see and provide them with very specific praise. Celebrate milestones, and process goals that are successfully met. I am not talking about celebrating Skippy’s pet cat having kittens or the fact that Jaden made practice three days in a row. I mean leaning into the positive things happening that you value and want to see on your team and then acknowledging them.
The process of becoming a transformational coach who is able to instill feelings of well-being in their athletes is not an easy one. Nor is it possible to become a more optimistic person overnight. Both of these take work and the rewiring of neural pathways which becomes more and more insulated over time (47 years of pessimism is taking a while to rewire) but I believe that it is a process worth pursuing for your own sake as well as your athletes’.
