Filming a documentary for The Economist was a great experience. Seven hours filming for a 2-minute segment in Cambridge, combined with a day of filming in Loughborough produced a superb documentary on ‘thriving or diving under pressure’. It has been great to see sport psychology receiving such a high profile and since its release 3 weeks ago, it has had over 100K views on You Tube.
The response to the film has been overwhelming, with people contacting me from all over the world telling me how much they have enjoyed watching it and asking questions about sport psychology and how it can benefit performance. I mentioned ‘trigger words’ in the documentary as a technique to help motivate. Triggers are words or images which evoke a desired reaction. Have a go at writing your own. Make sure they are phrased positively, are short and succinct, personal to you and expressed with conviction. Practice using them in training. My personal favourite is for the last 15 metres of a 100m freestyle race: ‘if not now, when?’
