站在成就的巔峰，奧運選手們一生都在為站上獎台的目標而訓練。奧運選手不僅將身體鍛鍊到近乎完美，還磨練他們的心智。
「冠軍大腦沒辦法速成。你需要耐心培養和照顧你的大腦，」哈佛醫學院助理臨床教授、心理學家傑夫·布朗說。他是《冠軍大腦：8個偉大心靈用來實現成功的策略》的合著者，同時也是波士頓馬拉松的運動心理學家。
「你需要餵它好的脂肪，比如omega-3。你的大腦是你絕不想減掉的3磅，」布朗說。「你需要讓他運動 — 運動時大腦功能會提升。這是你能為大腦做的最好的事情之一。你還需要讓它睡覺 — 睡眠對記憶鞏固和學習至關重要。」
即使對世界頂級運動員來說，心理力量、專注力和韌性也不是不費吹灰之力就能獲得的。研究人員數十年來一直在研究奧運選手，發現他們有一些共同的特質、習慣和品質，學習這六大法則，你也可以培養出冠軍心態。
將壓力視為積極推進力
密西根州立大學青少年運動研究所前主任、運動心理學教授丹·古爾德說，許多奧運選手，尤其是非常成功的選手，都將壓力視為挑戰，而不是令人害怕的東西。
「我們稱之為壓力心態，或者說你對壓力的觀念，」古爾德說「對英國高水平游泳運動員的研究發現，表現最好的游泳運動員往往將壓力視為推進力而非阻力，」
任何精英運動員都知道會有壓力，所以他們已經學會通過反覆的心理訓練，像是專注當下等等，將壓力視為挑戰。而這樣的心態對每個人都很受用。
一項著名的實驗發現，對壓力持負面看法的人過早死亡的風險增加了43%。那些將壓力視為積極因素的人死亡風險最低，甚至低於報告壓力很小的人。
「研究人員得出結論，致人於死地的並不是壓力本身，而是壓力和『認為壓力有害』的信念的結合，」心理學家凱利·麥高尼格在之前的一次CNN採訪中表示。
「在他們進行研究的八年間，可能有182，000名美國人因為相信壓力正在損害他們的健康而過早死亡，」麥高尼格在她的著作《輕鬆駕馭壓力》中討論了這項研究。
學會低谷反彈 生成你的壓力抗體
古爾德說，許多心理素質最強、最具韌性的運動員都有克服逆境的經歷。這可能是難以突破的難關、疾病，甚至是親人去世。
西蒙・拜爾斯是一個很好的例子，她曾向大眾公開的自己的逆境並浴火重生。她在2020年東京奧運會團體決賽中因「空中失感」而退出，當時她的大腦和身體停止像過去無數次練習那樣無縫溝通。
「任何人都可能被壓倒，」布朗說。「韌性是允許我們每次被擊倒時都能站起來的那部分。我認為西蒙已經表現出她真的能很好地處理壓力，並且比從未遇到那堵牆的人更有韌性。」
事實上，逆境與巔峰心理表現之間的聯繫如此強烈，以至於許多教練都會採取「壓力訓練」來幫助運動員為比賽做準備。
「在獲得運動員的許可後，教練會逐步增加壓力，就像是注入恐懼的病毒，然後讓心理抗體逐漸生成，」古爾德解釋道。「之後，教練會將運動員置於越來越具挑戰性的情況中，在這些情況下他們需要激發那些抗體。」
這樣做的目標是練習所有可能導致心理或身體表現出錯的方式，然後想出解決辦法。
有目的地犯錯能夠培養一種內在聲音，這種聲音能立即說：「好的，我之前犯過這個錯誤，而這是修正它的方法。」對於高水平運動員來說，接受挫折的能力必須和表現的能力一樣出色。
消除自我懷疑
根據古爾德的說法，奧運選手的心中沒有懷疑的餘地，他們必須帶著完全的自信進入比賽，否則就等於已經給了競爭對手優勢。
奧運選手經常感到極度自信，因為他們已經花了數百甚至數千小時練習他們的表現，並從一路上的失敗中學習。這些過程反覆編程大腦肌肉記憶，打通那些允許選手精準操作的神經網路。
有多種工具可以養成心理韌性，摒除不必要的壞念頭：如自我對話、意象和正念練習。
「奧運選手進行正念訓練，他們試圖不去評斷或擔憂，只是專注於當下，」古爾德說。「他們可能會有一些特定的自我對話短語，比如『相信我的訓練』，或者『我以前也經歷過這樣的艱難情況，按計劃行事就好』。」
另一個工具是想像訓練（Visualization）：奧運滑雪選手會走過賽道，計劃他們的動作，然後比賽前在腦內重現一次那完美的表現。
「你教會自己相信，通過重複練習和不斷自我提升 — 不是與競爭對手比較，而是與自己比較 — 你可以達到最佳狀態，」古爾德說。
調節你的情緒成獲勝的黃金比例
情緒調節與身體或心理準備同樣重要。
「每個人都有一套認為能引出我們最佳表現的情緒狀態：我很自信，但不是過度自信。我很焦慮，但這是一種好的焦慮。也許我有點害怕，但這不會壓垮我，」古爾德說。
「這些情緒有一個最佳混合比例，允許你達到最佳表現，但你需要一個調節器 — 一種在必要時平衡這些情緒的方法。」
他回憶起研究一支女子夏季奧運足球隊時，球員們想出了一組暗號來幫助彼此調節情緒。如果球員們認為團隊需要更多情緒激勵，他們會對其他隊員喊『火（Fire）！』。當某個球員有可能被判罰時，他們會喊『冰（Ice）！』來讓她冷靜下來。」
反覆練習直到成為慣例
專家們說，頂尖運動員不僅練習到身體技能幾乎成為本能反應，而且他們在每次比賽前常有一些特定的儀式。
「慣例（Routine）真的很重要，」古爾德說。「他們可能以同樣的方式熱身，他們可能總是想像自己完美地完成比賽，有些人甚至在比賽前60秒還在講笑話。」
「表現好的運動員，尤其是在壓力下，會堅持他們的慣例儀式。而表現不好的運動員，因為某些原因，偏離了那個常規程序，」他說。
而教練也會請運動員準備一套「簡短版」的例行動作，以應對時間不充裕的緊急情況。舉例來說，當遲到會場時，他們便會清楚有七套暖身動作中有哪三套是一定要做的，同時利用深呼吸和自我對話來保持冷靜。
保持專注於過程
大賽來臨時絕對不能分心，因此更要識別可能面臨的任何觸發因素，並在練習中預先排演，直到這些意外不再佔據腦海。
「運動員必須為分心做好準備，比如人群噪音、有人笑，甚至附近講的笑話，」古爾德說。「我們會在訓練中引入干擾，比如擴音器上瘋狂的大聲噪音，讓他們練習保持專注和情緒調節。」
有些人會稱這種極度專注的狀態為「心流」——背景所有的雜訊消失，而你只會專注在那唯一的目標上。
當面對生命中最重要的事件之一時，頂尖運動員不專注於結果，他們專注於達成目標所需的過程。例如，一個奧運游泳選手會專注於達到世界紀錄時間所需的技巧，比如划水次數和手臂在水中的位置。
這不代表他們沒有競爭心，而是當壓力來襲時，他們專注於自己可以控制的，也就是達成目標所需的過程。
Success Psychology: 6 Mindsets Olympians Use to Develop a Champion's Brain
Standing at the pinnacle of achievement, Olympic athletes spend their entire lives training to reach their goal of standing on the winner's podium. Not only do Olympic athletes hone their bodies to near perfection, but they also sharpen their minds.
"A champion's brain can't be developed overnight. You need patience to nurture and care for your brain," says Jeff Brown, an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. He is the co-author of "The Winner's Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success" and also serves as the sports psychologist for the Boston Marathon.
"You need to feed it good fats, like omega-3s. Your brain is the 3 pounds you definitely don't want to lose," Brown says. "You need to exercise it — brain function improves with movement. It's one of the best things you can do for your brain. You also need to let it sleep — sleep is crucial for memory consolidation and learning."
Even for the world's top athletes, mental strength, focus, and resilience don't come effortlessly. Researchers have been studying Olympic athletes for decades and have found that they share some common traits, habits, and qualities. By learning these six principles, you too can develop a champion's mindset.
View Stress as a Positive Driving Force
Dan Gould, former director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and professor of sports psychology at Michigan State University, says that many Olympic athletes, especially the highly successful ones, view stress as a challenge rather than something to be feared.
"We call it a stress mindset, or your perception of stress," Gould says. "Research on high-level swimmers in England found that the best-performing swimmers often viewed stress as a driving force rather than an obstacle."
Any elite athlete knows there will be pressure, so they've learned to view it as a challenge through repeated mental training, such as focusing on the present moment. This mindset is beneficial for everyone.
A famous study found that people who viewed stress negatively had a 43% increased risk of premature death. Those who viewed stress as a positive factor had the lowest risk of death, even lower than those who reported very little stress.
"The researchers concluded that it wasn't stress itself that was killing people, but the combination of stress and the belief that stress is harmful," psychologist Kelly McGonigal stated in a previous CNN interview.
"Over the eight years of their study, the researchers estimated that 182,000 Americans may have died prematurely because they believed stress was damaging their health," McGonigal discussed this study in her book "The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It."
Learn to Bounce Back from Lows and Generate Your Stress Antibodies
Gould says that many athletes with the strongest mental qualities and resilience have experiences of overcoming adversity. This could be insurmountable challenges, illness, or even the loss of a loved one.
Simone Biles is a great example of someone who publicly faced adversity and rose from the ashes. She withdrew from the team finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to "the twisties," when her brain and body stopped communicating seamlessly as they had countless times in practice.
"Anyone can be overwhelmed," Brown says. "Resilience is the part that allows us to get up every time we're knocked down. I think Simone has shown that she can really handle stress well and has more resilience than those who have never hit that wall."
In fact, the connection between adversity and peak mental performance is so strong that many coaches use "pressure training" to help athletes prepare for competition.
"With the athlete's permission, the coach gradually increases the pressure, almost like injecting a fear virus and then allowing psychological antibodies to develop," Gould explains. "Then, the coach places the athlete in increasingly challenging situations where they need to activate those antibodies."
The goal is to practice all the ways mental or physical performance can go wrong and then figure out solutions.
Purposefully making mistakes can cultivate an inner voice that can immediately say, "Okay, I've made this mistake before, and this is how to fix it." For high-level athletes, the ability to accept setbacks must be as excellent as the ability to perform.
Eliminate Self-Doubt
According to Gould, Olympic athletes have no room for doubt in their minds. They must enter the competition with complete confidence; otherwise, it's like giving their competitors an advantage.
Olympic athletes often feel extremely confident because they have spent hundreds or even thousands of hours practicing their performance and learning from failures along the way. These processes repeatedly program the brain's muscle memory, opening up the neural networks that allow athletes to operate with precision.
There are multiple tools to develop mental resilience and eliminate unnecessary negative thoughts, such as self-talk, imagery, and mindfulness practice.
"Olympic athletes do mindfulness training where they try not to judge or worry, but just focus on the present moment," Gould says. "They might have specific self-talk phrases like 'Trust my training' or 'I've been through tough situations like this before, just stick to the plan.'"
Another tool is visualization training: Olympic skiers will walk the course, plan their moves, and then mentally replay that perfect performance before the competition.
"You teach yourself to believe that through repeated practice and constant self-improvement — not comparing yourself to competitors, but to yourself — you can reach your optimal state," Gould says.
Regulate Your Emotions to Achieve the Winning Golden Ratio
Emotional regulation is as important as physical or mental preparation.
"Everyone has a set of emotional states they believe brings out their best performance: I'm confident, but not overconfident. I'm anxious, but it's a good anxiety. Maybe I'm a little scared, but it won't overwhelm me," Gould says.
"These emotions have an optimal mix that allows you to perform at your best, but you need a regulator — a way to balance these emotions when necessary."
He recalls studying a women's Olympic soccer team where players came up with a set of code words to help each other regulate emotions. If players thought the team needed more emotional motivation, they would shout "Fire!" to their teammates. When a player was at risk of getting a penalty, they would shout "Ice!" to calm her down.
Practice Repeatedly Until It Becomes Routine
Experts say that top athletes not only practice until physical skills become almost instinctive responses, but they also often have specific rituals before each competition.
"Routine is really important," Gould says. "They might warm up the same way, they might always imagine themselves completing the competition perfectly, and some even tell jokes up to 60 seconds before the event."
"Athletes who perform well, especially under pressure, stick to their routine rituals. Athletes who don't perform well, for some reason, deviate from that regular procedure," he says.
Coaches also ask athletes to prepare a "shortened version" of their routine actions to deal with time-constrained emergencies. For example, when arriving late to the venue, they would know which three out of seven warm-up exercises are absolutely necessary, while using deep breathing and self-talk to stay calm.
Stay Focused on the Process
There's absolutely no room for distraction when the big competition arrives, so it's crucial to identify any potential triggers and rehearse them in practice until these unexpected events no longer occupy the mind.
"Athletes must be prepared for distractions like crowd noise, someone laughing, or even jokes being told nearby," Gould says. "We introduce distractions during training, like crazy loud noises over the loudspeakers, to let them practice maintaining focus and emotional regulation."
Some people call this state of extreme focus "flow" — where all background noise disappears, and you focus solely on that one goal.
When facing one of the most important events in their lives, top athletes don't focus on the outcome; they focus on the process needed to achieve the goal. For example, an Olympic swimmer would focus on the techniques needed to achieve a world record time, such as the number of strokes and the position of their arms in the water.
This doesn't mean they lack competitiveness, but when pressure hits, they focus on what they can control, which is the process needed to achieve the goal.
Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/30/health/olympian-winner-mindset-resilience-wellness/index.html
