The Power of Positivity: PRIME Yourself

Many people think success creates happiness. If you hit a great drive, sink a birdie putt, or make that extremely elusive hole in one...all that stuff makes you happy in the moment, but in reality, it is the other way around: happiness (or positivity) creates success.
It may be more understandable with this statement: a life full of positive will lead you to success; a life full of negative emotions will lead you to frustration and failure. It has been proven in study after study that cultivating a positive brain makes you more motivated, efficient, resilient, creative, and productive. It drives performance upward.
So how does this relate to athletics? Small repeated positive actions can have a huge effect on how we play and compete. If you PRIME your brain with positivity...if you jump start your brain heading down a positive path each day...you will get your brain and emotions in a place to maximize your potential.
Here are three ways to PRIME a positive brain on a daily basis (I’ll share some more in a future post):

Meditation
Take 5-10 minutes a day with no distractions. You can even just keep it simple...no apps or guided meditation… Just focus on your breathing for 5 minutes; count your breaths. If you get distracted, that is okay, and then just start your counting over and shift back to your breath

Excitement
Each morning, think about something your are looking forward to that day, that week, that month, or that year.  Build excitement for the future.

Gratitude
Each night, write down three people/things you are grateful for in your life. Even better, if it is a person, tell them. Shoot them a message, give them a call, or tell them in person.    
 
Stress, pressure, and negative energy occur in life and on the course. Focusing on PRIMING your positive emotions will undoubtedly enhance you as a person in and out of sport.

Duane Jourdeans
Director of Performance Psychology
Western WI Golf