A phrase which you may (or may not) have heard used within sport and performance is ‘control the controllables’. But what is really meant by this phrase and how do you actually do it in practice? This article aims to begin to demystify this for you!
What does it mean?
When people say you should ‘control the controllables’ what they are really meaning is that you should place your focus, energy and effort on things that are within your control. We’ll take someone preparing for a running event as an example. A few of the things that would be within your control are: the training sessions you undertake; how much time you put into planning your training (or discussing with your coach if you have one); how practically prepared you are for race day (kit preparation, scouting the venue ahead of time); how much time you have devoted to your mental training – the list could go on and on. These are all examples of things that are (as far as is possible) within your power to undertake and act on. On the flip side to this, there are things which are not in your control. Some examples of these may be: the weather on race day, how much training other competitors are doing, your ‘main job’ calling a compulsory meeting at a time you had originally planned training for. A million and one things may occur that you cannot control, but a flexibility to be prepared for this, and an ability to flip the situation and focus on what you can will be the difference between someone who succeeds and someone who is derailed.
How can I use this to my advantage?
There are two main ways which I believe we can best use ‘control the controllables’ to our advantage. One is in ‘proactive preparation’, and the other in ‘productive reaction’.
By ‘proactive preparation’ I mean ensuring that we have taken the time to consider all the factors that could help us achieve our goal (whatever that may be) and identifying the elements that are within our control. From here, we can ensure that our focus is placed on those elements and that we are putting in as much effort as we can towards the outcome that we want. If you have not yet done this, grab a piece of paper, write your goal at the top and then everything that would contribute to you achieving that goal underneath. These could for instance be skills that you need to display or training you need to undertake. Then look down your list and circle everything that is ultimately within your control. Whilst a simplified exercise, this will act as a good starting point and way to identify where to put your energy. You may find that there is more within your control that you thought!
‘Productive reaction’ differs from proactive preparation in that this is more to do with your response to unexpected (and potentially unhelpful!) events in the moment. Let’s say you wake up the morning of a running event and the weather is terrible. Lashing rain and howling gale. Realistically the conditions make the PB you had trained so hard for highly unlikely. Will you place your focus on the rain and potential disappointment? Or will you instead flip it and focus on the controllable: positive self-talk – you have experience of running in the rain you can draw on; doing what you need to do to run and letting the outcome take care of itself; ensuring you are wearing the most appropriate kit for the event conditions; recognising the experience will be a good ‘marker’ of where you are at (you might even surprise yourself!). There will always be unexpected hurdles thrown at us, however our ability to recognise and move past these positively will greatly benefit our level of success.
A practical exercise we can undertake to help us is ‘contingency planning’. This is a way of proactively thinking about how to be productively reactive! Again, grab a piece of paper and this time think about scenarios that may arise in your sport that could ‘throw you off’, or perhaps even have thrown you off in the past! If this was to happen now, how could you react to it more productively? What could you focus on about the situation that was within your control? How would that help you to feel? Thinking in advance about how we would deal with things that may possibly ‘go wrong’ can help both our decisions and importantly our confidence should the worst happen.
In conclusion…
Like any skill, ‘Controlling the controllables’ does take practice and a conscious effort to focus on. However, if prioritised and used effectively, it can help to inform our goal-setting, planning, confidence and performance. I hope that this brief overview has offered some food for thought and that you will spend some time considering what controllable actions you will take to move towards your next goal.
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