Sadly, few swimmers spend sufficient time building a strong and adaptable mindset, a key to long-term swimming success. Over time, their minds become polluted due to negative thoughts, missed goals, unfavorable comparisons, unrealistic expectations, and criticism from coaches, parents, and teammates. A lack of success, setbacks, super hard practices, and limited time for other activities can also play a role.
A polluted mind weakens swimmers’ ability to benefit from the physical and technical challenges of practice fully. Mind pollution doesn’t happen overnight; it can take months or years before the damage takes its toll. 25 Signs That Your Swimming Mind Is Polluted:
1. You don’t love swimming as much as you used to.
2. You think of quitting swimming more and more.
3. You don’t improve as much as you think you should at swim meets.
4. You’re less motivated than before.
5. Swimmers you used to beat are now beating you.
6. You don’t want to go to practice as much as before.
7. You’re not making the times to qualify for bigger meets, but your friends are.
8. Your coach doesn’t seem as interested in you as before.
9. You don’t feel the same level of respect from your teammates as you once did.
10. You find yourself falling behind in practice.
11. You set easier goals for yourself or set no goals at all.
12. You’re no longer on the A relay team.
13. You’re not as focused in practice as before.
14. You start to feel that everyone else is better than you.
15. You start missing practices, or your parents have to force you to go.
16. You don’t like a stroke or an event you used to love.
17. You start feeling sorry for yourself or think swimming is not fair.
18. You start to hang out more with “non-swimming people.”
19. You’re not working hard enough in dry-land.
20. At times, you fake an injury or claim you’re not feeling well in practice so you don’t have to work as hard.
21. You doubt yourself more and more.
22. You start to make up a lot of excuses as to why you’re not swimming as fast as before.
23. You once had more muscle than fat; now it’s the other way around.
24. You don’t believe in yourself like you once did.
25. You don’t train at your talent level in practice.
To turn things around, you need to “un-pollute” or detox your mind using a daily mental exercise called visualization. This exercise must be performed seven days a week, lasting between 15 and 20 minutes. Visualization will clear the pollution out of your mind and get you back to thinking the right way, the winning way!
Step 1. Lie face up in a quiet room. Close your eyes and do not cross your arms or legs.
Step 2. Slowly inhale for the count of four, filling up your lungs with air.
Step 3: Slowly exhale for the count of four, releasing all of the polluted thoughts that fill your head.
Step 4. Repeat steps two and three until your head is empty and your mind is still.
Step 5. Visualize yourself training hard and swimming faster than ever before. Fill your head with happiness and success.
Step 6. Hold these images in your mind for 15-20 minutes. Do not allow any polluting thoughts to sneak back into your head during this time.
Step 7. Spend your day with a pollution-free mind. Repeat, repeat, repeat, and in time, you’ll swim faster than ever before