The Mental Edge: Performance Trainer & Former DI Softball Coach Julie Jones… Do Not Be Afraid! Yea, Right!

BY Julie Jones

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In one scientific (but gross!) study, volunteers could literally smell the fear from the clothing of those who skydived for the first time! Photo: SkyDiveGeronimo.com.

Extra Inning Softball has partnered with former DI softball coach Julie Jones (Akron, Cleveland State) and current Mental Performance and Mindset Coach to help give athletes, coaches and others in the softball world the “Mental Edge.”

Julie spent 26 years leading Division I softball programs with her mission being simple: to build smarter students, stronger athletes and better people.

Today, she also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Ursuline College teaching well-being and performance, mindset training, athletic coaching and career development courses in both the undergraduate and graduate studies programs.

Continuing her work of helping student-athletes reach their goals on and off the field, Julie regularly sends Mindset Made Simple Tips to players and coaches across the country as well as posting them on her site, SSB Performance.

Today’s “Mindset Made Simple” explains how fear, like other emotions, are contagious, but there are ways to prepare to “manage and plan for the things we fear – real or imagined.”

Keep reading below for more (or watch her cover it in the video version on YouTube!):

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Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.

This was the first Bible verse (Deuteronomy 31:6) my son learned and the one we used on my mom’s funeral announcement. (I am pretty certain at its printing she was not afraid, but I certainly was!)

This reminder is on every email I send, on my refrigerator and in other places that are in my line of vision throughout the day.

Do not be afraid is repeated, one way or another, 365 times in the Good Book…one for every day of the year!

Whether or not you have ever read this verse, we are afraid.

From the world champion to the novice, everyone who has ever cared about anything has been afraid…it is the one thing we all have in common.

We worry about what others think and what they will say.
We worry about letting others (and ourselves) down.
We fear the unknown.
We fear responsibility.
We fear ruin, regret and rejection.
And if you played for me, you feared running the timed mile!

We can all agree that we are all afraid of something on this list!

But what does this fear do to us and those around us? To our culture? To our performance?

Does our fear rub off on others?

According to a study conducted by Dr. Lilianne Mujica-Parodi at Stony Brook University, our emotions are contagious!

Dr. Lilianne Mujica-Parodi of Stony Brook University showed our emotions are contagious!

In a relatively disgusting study, Dr. Mujica-Parodi collected sweat pads from men and women after their first-ever skydiving experience and compared those to sweat pads collected from people running on a treadmill.

I hope they paid the volunteers in the study well because they asked them to smell the sweaty pads while in an fMRI machine (which uses imaging to measure the changes in blood flow in an active part of the brain).

The researchers found that smelling the sweat pads from the skydiving group activated the fear response in the volunteers.

What this says is…the volunteers “caught” the fear that was felt by the crazy people who jumped out of the planes!

Not convinced your emotions affect others?

Try this! Ask whomever you are with to show absolutely no emotional reaction no matter whatever you do…have them go completely stoic. Have them look at you in the eyes. Then smile.

Guess what will happen to everyone from the happy-go-lucky type to the grumpy old man.

They will SMILE! Emotions are infectious!

Now the question is, how are you infecting others?

And, since we all are fearful at times, how can we manage that fear to ensure we aren’t contagious?

As we have discussed many times, we are blessed with a negativity bias. There is a part of our brain that sees the worst and conjures up the craziest scenarios possible. And as if that isn’t enough, it also questions our ability to handle the said scenario.

There is a part of our brain that conjures up the craziest scenarios possible… and then questions how we’ll handle that traumatic experience.

This is so me…and it is not a gift! And I think (I know) I was contagious as a coach…sometimes in a good way and others, not so much!

Author Tim Ferriss advocates “fear setting.”

Author Tim Ferris thinks we can overcome our “gift” of negativity by practicing “fear setting” instead of or to go along with our goal setting.

Through “fear setting”, we acknowledge the doubt, the scary stuff…the anxieties…the “MORE ONs” that hold us back.

When we identify what could happen and thoughtfully consider what may get in our way (those things we fear, real or imagined), we make it less daunting, we can sort through the facts and once we determine what is real, we can begin to formulate ways to manage and plan for the things we fear – real or imagined.

When we take the time to go through things in our mind…by visualizing what we want to happen and how we will deal with the things that could happen, whatever it is we are facing becomes familiar. We are practicing our approach!

It’s the preparation that helps squelch the fear…the rehearsal…the planning.

You will feel fear and a slew of other emotions when you face something that matters to you. This is the price of admission to competition and a successful life!

The question is, will you choose to acknowledge and then work to manage your fear by controlling your preparation… by prepping your mind and body and practicing when there is no pressure… to perform at your best despite how you feel when it matters?

If someone smells your sweat on game day…or looks at your face… will they catch your tenacity or your trepidation?

We can’t beat our fears and problems by mentally debating them or a plan alone (I am great at debating my approach to fears, aren’t you?). Deciding what we will do and then doing it is where the rubber meets the road.

Fear is real. It is part of the deal.

Ignoring it is like trying to hold a beachball underwater. It flies up higher the deeper you push it down.

It is also contagious.

With a mental and physical plan, we can act on what is in front of us and share momentum with our colleagues instead of fear.

We can thank our nervous system for alerting us to an opportunity (a sort of scary opportunity, but an opportunity nevertheless) and make it our friend and not our foe.

We can take whatever comes our way one step at a time…because we are ready…because we debunked the crazy stories our mind created when we laid out all of the things we fear the most and came to realize that a lot of it was our own MORE ON thinking.

We practiced, we rehearsed and we increased our competence and confidence by seeing what was and wasn’t real and by seeing what we want instead of what we are trying to avoid!

So, the next time you sweat, take a good look at what you can do with it.

Make a strong and courageous plan. Then infect everyone around you with it!

Manage the moments…do not be afraid… and have a great week!

Julie

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To learn more from Julie check out her social media sites below; to contact her personally, she can be reached via email at: juliej@ssbperformance.com