Don't Focus!

Coaches spend a lot of time telling athletes to "Focus".  The problem is that most athletes don't know what that instruction actually means.  Instead, more time should be spent on encouragement to eliminate distractions.  I repeatedly tell students to not study in their dorm rooms.  There are too many distractions.  Besides the normal college fun that can get in the way, even tasks like laundry are more attractive and tempting when confronted with the chore of studying.  I encourage students to go to the library and find a quiet floor/room/corner where no one else will see them and then only bring with them the one or two books that they need to read or the notes they need to study.  Eliminating distractions is the first step to focusing.  The same advice can be used for many areas in life, including training.  Only bring to practice those things that will allow you to be successful at practice and leave all of the other things (school, worries, social life, financial issues, etc) behind in your dorm/apartment/house.  They will be there later if you still want them.