The Effective Blog

Golf Hypnosis, NLP & Coaching

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Don't Fall for Imposter Syndrome

Reading time 3 minutes

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to assist so many people with their challenges and fears. I used to think it would be highly improbable that professionals who work with clients would ever suffer, at some point during their lives, the same challenges that their clients do. Let me speak from my own experience.

The concept of ‘The Effective’, the sister site, is to give sports people that little ‘boost’ they need when they are low on form or lacking confidence. Let me tell you this, for most of my sporting career (17 to 30 years of age), I questioned everything about my game. I really had ‘imposter syndrome’. Imposter syndrome is where you begin to question yourself and your ability to perform within a certain level of competition. As a young footballer, I was picked to try out for the representative side. I was amongst all these wonderful footballers and I felt I didn’t belong. AS a young cricketer, the same thing happened. I was picked to represent my district and again, I believed that I was not good enough to be within this group and I felt that they mixed my name up with someone else.

As a young golfer, I played in amateur tournaments and I looked on enviously at guys with better swings, clubs and attire and I thought,” I shouldn’t be playing with these guys”.Wow. Have you ever heard so many negative cognitions and limiting self-beliefs in one paragraph? What gives me the right to help others? Shouldn’t people who work on improving sporting mind-sets have flawless histories and stunning sporting achievements?

I was part of a time when the techniques and skills were coached exclusively however the mind-set and preparation was sadly lacking. I’m delighted to say that the rise of sport psychologists and other professionals has highlighted the need for a skilled approach to developing a mind-set for success. The Effective is there for sports people who may be starting to develop the ‘imposter syndrome’ and question whether they deserve to play and compete at the highest level they can. I have designed the audios using a mixture of hypnosis and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) to assist sportsmen and women of all abilities re-capture their confidence, self-belief and competitive spirit.

I’ve been there when there is little support when your mind starts playing tricks on you and the hypnosis audios will allow you to regain your focus, passion and enjoyment. Take a look at the free resources available on the site and start to focus on a more resourceful and resilient mind-set.

Time to let go of the imposter in you.

[theeffective-blog]

Get Through a Golfing Slump

Reading Time 5 minutes

When you are playing well, golf seems so easy and carefree. You swing effortlessly, your head is free from doubts when you are standing over a shot and there is little, if any, thought placed on technique. You are simply watching the ball and trusting your swing.

It is a different matter all together when you are out of form or out of touch. You start thinking about where you do not want the ball to go. Shots don’t seem to head where you intended them to go. Good shots go straight into bunkers or take bad bounces. You begin to think that your club-face is coming down at the wrong angle. Can I change my grip? Do I change my ‘Pre-Shot routine’? ‘Shut up, brain!!!’

I’m sure every golfer at some point has felt like that. Maybe a bit of time away from the game would help you to find your scoring form. Maybe reducing the expectations on your game could help.

Let me share some mind-set tools that can help golfers at all levels get out of a slump. Whether you are a seasoned professional or a keen amateur, these tips can really help you.

1) Assess your goals

2) Visualise Success

3) Check your attitude

4) Know your ‘trust’ shot

5) Model Success

Assess your goals

This is a really important step to getting back into form. It might be time to take a step back from your game and look at how you view your performances. Review your goals for the season and if you do not have any goals set, look at want you want to achieve. Make your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Related. The way you perceive your goals, controls how much you progress. If your goals are too unrealistic and too high, you may feel that your progress is not good enough. Check your goals.

Visualise Success

Visualisation has been used by many top golfers for decades. There has been a large movement in that visualising positive episodes will help attract success into your game. It is also believed that your mind becomes more adept at registering situations that may lead to a favorable offering, relationships or unique opportunities.

Our thoughts can become things and to visualise positive outcomes over negative outcomes, is bound to be a more powerful way to help you as a golfer to achieve the goals and ambitions you have set yourself.

To practice visualisation, you must make sure that you're in a relaxed comfortable position and that there will be little in the way of distractions. To achieve any degree of competency in using visualisation techniques it requires practice and this practice has a far greater chance of working when the individual is relaxed.

Check your Attitude

What is the right attitude?

The right attitude takes place well before you enter the gates of the golf course. It starts by the preparation you do prior to the round. The night before. Travelling to the course. A good attitude will require that you work hard on the practice fairway and take advice from qualified coaches.

Top golfers display high levels of concentration when they are going into the ‘shot’ and many high performing golfers use visualisation to create an image of how they going to play each hole and in turn, each shot.

Just like the earlier point on visualisation, you can use your imagination to play the game out in your mind but also imagine yourself assessing and playing the game with the right attitude.

Right attitude means you approach the game in a method that is going to give you the best chance of success. You take each shot as it comes and do not moan about bad luck or bad breaks. You appreciate the game of golf for what it is, a challenge.

Know your ‘trust’ shot

Here is a simple exercise which incorporates visualisation and will help you hit more fairways and greens.

Eyes Closed Technique

Read through the exercise first to become familiar with it.

Get really relaxed and comfortable and allow your eyes to close. Take some time to relax every muscle in your body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. After relaxing your muscles, count backwards from ten down to one.

When you are fully relaxed and comfortable begin to visualise the following:

• You are sat in your own personal cinema and you can see a movie played out of you playing a hole in your mind

• Float into the movie now and see what you are seeing, hear what you hearing and feel how confident you feel

• Imagine arriving at the tee

• Feel your body place the tee into the ground and the ball on top

• Grab a club from your bag

• Take a look down the fairway and notice the different colours associated with it 

• Visualise the ball setting off down towards the intended target

• Hear the ‘good shots’ from your playing partners

• Notice how easy this shot was for you

• Turn the head of the club to face you and notice what club it is. This is your trust club

• Take some time to enjoy playing in your own personal movie and wiggle your toes and fingers and open your eyes when you are ready. 

This is a round of golf where you believe that you can make a great score. If you could go into this game knowing you could not fail, how would this influence the following thoughts, feelings and self talk? 

This exercise takes practice and before you know it, you will find the club or clubs to help you hit more fairways and greens.

Model Success

Ask any young golfer around the world in whatever setting they are playing in; you are bound to find that each and every one approaches their turn to play golf like their hero.

You too can take on the persona of one of the ‘greats’, a player you admire and respect. The style of this hero is your preferred style and you should hopefully get the opportunity to watch your hero in action either by watching the live television coverage or if you are really lucky, watching them live.

We are very fortunate nowadays to have fantastic golf coverage available. Depending on what  your swing type is you can model almost anyone if you are able to record and study them.  It is likely that your ‘model’ experienced times in their career where they were struggling.

The five steps may not help you in a technical way but we know that much of the game is played within our mind. Work hard and discipline yourself to work on the tips you’ve just read.

Happy Golfing

Glenn

[theeffective-blog]

How Hypnosis can help your Sports Performance

Reading time 4 minutes

As providers of sports performance enhancement programmes, we at ‘The Effective’ use hypnosis as the central theme behind many of our audio programmes.

It is our intention to keep this as simple as possible. You want to improve the levels of your performance in your chosen field. You complete the physical practice which is essential for consistent performance however your mind is also a big determining factor in your levels of performance. Hypnosis and the physical practice will allow you to find that hidden ‘extra’ to take your game and performance further.

The beauty of hypnosis and self-hypnosis for sports people is that it will allow you to tap into and open up your imagination which will encourage a host of beneficial changes to take place. All of The Effective's hypnosis audio’s take a ‘Solution Focused ‘approach. This means that the interventions used within each of our sports hypnosis audio’s will help you achieve solutions and not dig up or rehash old problems/issues. Hypnosis is safe and much of the scientific research has proved the efficiency of this technique to illicit positive results.

Hypnosis can assist sports people with:

• Improving confidence & self belief • Remove negative thoughts & influences • Increase motivation & commitment to training/practice • Enhance relaxation • Improve focus & concentration

The Resource section contains a host of valuable audios and e-books that are free to download and use as an adjunct to your physical practice sessions. You can use the MP3’s prior to performing and they will serve up a sample of what the audio programmes contain and give you a feel on how hypnosis can work for you.

[theeffective-blog]

Golf: How much do you want to Break 100?

Reading time 5 minutes

“Fifty on one nine and forty-nine on the other” Is it really that simple? Many golfers look at ways that they can break down their scoring into manageable chunks. Perhaps you may look at the golf course as three holes to deal with first and then move onto the next three. Maybe it is breaking the course down into 6 holes at a time. Both methods have their place however ask many low handicappers how they play the course and you will often hear them say, “one shot at a time”. Most golfers who shot high scores have the game to score lower but when they score big, I bet they score big. Golfers who regularly shoot in the 100’s will often see large numbers. Snowmen (8) big nines and the worst of all, double figures. Big scores come when your ego takes centre stage and you listen to that little voice that says “stuff it” or to that effect. Here is an exercise to get your emotions under control and to turn that eight into a six or that ten into a seven. This will eventually see you shot lower scores if you can turn those big numbers around.

a) Know your strengths b) Play to them c) See the shot d) Feel it in your practice swing e) Commit to it

a) Know your strengths There is a strong part of your game. If you understand that the game is simply numbers on a card and that the game does not need a picture drawn, you will begin to realise that you can put yourself in good position on each hole by simply playing to your strengths.

b) Play to them When you are in a tough position or you have started the hole well, remember what your strengths are. Are you comfortable moving the ball up the fairway with your 7-iron if your tee shot didn’t go as planned.

c) See the shot Take a moment to get your breathing settled and visualise the shot you want to play. Whether it is simply getting the ball out of trouble and onto the fairway or laying up short of the green, you must see the shot in your mind.

d) Feel it in your practice swing Stand and face the ball from behind and feel the swing you need to take to get the ball into the desired position. Feel the muscles that work and notice the length and tempo of your swing.

e) Commit to it Most importantly, you must commit to the shot at hand. There is no gain from cussing yourself or your luck. There is nothing you can do about where your ball currently is. You must learn to accept it, move on and give the next shot your full attention. Commit to it 100%. Breaking 100 requires that you reduce the amount of blow out or big scores on your card. Course management is key to shooting in the 90’s and lower. Remember that you must also look to improve your ball striking and there are ways that you can improve your mindset for lower score.

Happy Golfing

[theeffective-blog]

Golfers: Mind your Language

Reading time 4 minutes

It is very common in sports where the ball is still, that performers and coaches agree that the mental side of the sport is just as important as the physical side. Sports such as golf and snooker and events that require aiming for a target such as darts and archery allow for the brain to be infiltrated by negative language.  There is time. Time to think. Time to ponder. Time to worry. Time to think “What if”.  I know having spoken to many golfers that there is too much time in the game to go over the negative aspects of your game and the conscious mind begins to replay every bad shot you have ever played. “I always hook it left on this hole” or “I always put it in the lake here”. In the field of Cognitive behavioural therapy there is a term called” shouldism” that is a term for people who should all over themselves. This is closely linked to (read this carefully) “mustibations” where people are swallowed up in a sea of ‘musts’. Neither term is particularly encouraging nor do they help with our performance. These ‘alwayses’ contain a very strong message behind them. So those of you who use ‘alwayses’ consider this:

“I always hook the ball on this hole?”

If you answered yes to any of these questions, the following exercise will help you banish those negative thoughts and allow you to introduce more resourceful, positive cognitions. What if you changed the word always to rarely? How would that change how you feel?

“I rarely hook the ball”

What about if you were to change the focus from negative to positive altogether? By using present tense language affirming your strengths and abilities, you will soon find a contrast in attitude and belief. “I hit the ball straight”

By simply changing your cognitions, you are immediately transported to a more resourceful and confident state. I would point out that if you have technical deficiencies that do cause you to hook the golf ball or miss easy blacks that you seek out the assistance of a teacher or coach who can help with your technique. If on the other hand there is no obvious technical reason to explain your weakness, then it could be the words you use that are the cause of your problems and it would be worthwhile paying attention to the language you use.

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The Challenges all Sports people may face

Reading time 4 minutes

I often get asked about how hypnosis can help sports men and women who play at amateur or recreational levels. I have spent a few years now researching and studying hypnosis and hypnotherapy to help not only the people I come into contact with but also for myself.

We all see the highly paid sports starts on the television on a consistent basis performing week in and week out and it is easy to feel that success may not have come at a price. It looks all so simple for these highly trained, highly looked after athletes. For many, many years as a footballer (soccer), cricketer and keen golfer, I would work myself up into such a frenzy of nerves and anxiety that it would make you wonder why I even played the sports I did. So much of the pressure I was feeling was self-induced. I brought on myself.

I didn’t have the luxury of coaches who were sympathetic to the needs of the mental game of my game and nor did I have the luxury of using the abundance of mind-set tools that are so easily available on the internet nowadays.

If I had the selection of Hypnosis MP3 available online to listen to during my playing days, would I have been a lot calmer and relaxed when playing. Would I have played in golf tournaments not worrying what people think? Would I have used more resourceful language and not making up things people were saying about me?

If I had a hypnosis programme to improve my confidence and self belief before going out to bat in a cricket match, would I have experienced all those years of crippling nerves and tension in my stomach before each innings?

Overcoming my own limiting beliefs during my own sporting career was a challenge. Maturity certainly helps as well. We live in a wonderful time where help is easily available and good help, contrary to belief, isn’t so hard to find.

Whatever sport you play, whatever field of the arts you perform in, there is someone out there who has experienced similar self doubt, anxiety and nervousness as you. There is someone who lacked confidence or the emotional intelligence to deal with set backs and challenges. There is someone who has been injured and recovered to help others.

I am drawn to people who have had challenges and are open and honest to share them. Much of life wants us to enjoy perfection and we are often sold on that. I find joy in seeing and reading about people who have overcome enormous odds to live a full and rich life.

In my own life, I get great joy from helping and serving others. If you suffer or are experiencing issues similar to my sporting challenges. I’m here to serve.

If you are perfect, well I wish you all the luck in the world and congratulations. You are in a small minority of people who participate in competitive sport.

[theeffective-blog]

The Key to Consistent Driving

Reading time 3 minutes

We recently had a client come to us who was stuck in a rut. Playing the usual set of competitions at his local club, a monthly medal and stableford, pairs and singles across the summer. They'd all usually go the same way - a collection of good holes scoring well added with a collection of bad holes taking away the chance to post a good score and get that handicap down. The problem: tee shots!

Stepping on the tee the player knew 1 of 3 things would happen. A 15 handicapper is usually capable of putting the club on the back of the ball without too much trouble, but all golfers know the value of keeping the ball in play. This player would either hit a dream shot 260 yards down the middle or carve the ball miles off line left and right, essentially giving up all chance of making those treasured pars. The more it went on the more he talked himself in to the 'who knows what's going to happen' mindset and sure enough tee shots were arcing off around the course like the red arrows.

Step in The Effective. Every player knows they have the ability to hit the desired shot but creating a positive mindset is key when it comes to banishing negative thoughts.

This particular player listened to LONG DRIVE SUCCESS a number of times and the reinforcement of what you can do well, rather than focusing of the negatives led him to keep the ball in play an awful lot more. Using hypnosis, the programme was able to keep him focussed on making his 'good' swing a lot more often, resulting in a much steadier player.

And what happens when you keep the ball in play? You score well and turn holes you'd usually score zero in to 1, 2 and 3 pointers. And who knows maybe that slightly less errant tee shot could occasionally be turned in to the sacred birdies all golfer are chasing.