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Over the next few weeks, the Olympics will no doubt create lots of headings focusing on inspirational stories, unforeseen successes, good/bad tv rankings, as well as scandals.

But here's a fact you most likely won't hear much about: With each Olympics, countries throughout the world rely more heavily on sports psychology to assist their athletes accomplish success and win gold.

Canada, for example, is wishing to rebound from their frustrating 2002 effort by sending 12 psychologists with their group to the Olympics in Turin, rather of the 7 they sent out to Salt Lake. The United States took just 2 psychology experts to Lillehammer in 1994, and after that tried to achieve greater success by taking 11 to Salt Lake.

Why this increased reliance on sports psychology?

Simple. <a href=http://thepeebleslawyer.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=user&id=554982>http://thepeebleslawyer.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=user&id=554982</a> Sports psychology works.

Various research studies have actually shown that the techniques of sports psychology considerably improve success and efficiency. That's particularly true in the Olympics, when the various between gold and silver is typically hundredths of a 2nd or fractions of a point. When physical performances are nearly equivalent, the psychological edge determines winning and losing. Psychology ends up being vital to success.

Sports psychology features a variety of proven methods to boost success and efficiency, however this article concentrates on one in specific: Visualization.

Visualization goes by lots of names, including psychological practice and covert rehearsal. It's been a preferred tool of sports psychology experts for many years, however it has an even longer history as a method for motivation, self-help, and self-improvement.

In the late 1800s, lots of popular self-help and self-improvement movements swept the country, including Christian Science and the "New Idea" motion. Some of these "schools" of self-improvement were overtly spiritual, while others took a more philosophical technique to the psychology of success. However they all shared a typical belief in the significance of psychology as vital to success. Specifically, they all taught that our beliefs actually shape our truth, which visualizing the future * creates * the future. In a sense, they preached that psychology is fate, and the course to self-help and self-improvement starts with visualizing what you truly desire. Many of today's inspirational masters obtain greatly from these century-old self-improvement movements.

In the 1920s, fans of Freudian psychology likewise preached the benefits of visualization, but for various reasons. They thought that imagining the future affects the unconscious mind, and in turn, the mental characteristics of the unconscious would push you toward exactly what you pictured, without you even realizing it. Again, the fundamental philosophy of self-improvement at work is that psychology is fate, and visualizing the future is important for motivation and success.