How to keep the mind sharp during lockdown: Top tips from a performance coach

How do we keep the mind sharp during the current lockdown? Sarah Stirk sought advice from renowned performance coach Dave Alred on how you can work on your mindset at home...

For golfers up and down the country and indeed across the globe, the Masters typically signifies the start of the golfing season. There are so many sights and sounds synonymous with the year's first major at Augusta National. Yes, we missed it dreadfully, but November will be one heck of a Georgia gathering.

Just like the world's best golfers plotting their way around Augusta, it's up to all of us right now to use our creativity during these difficult times. It's not an easy time for anyone, but we do have a choice as to how we respond to adversity, how we deal with uncertainty, disappointment, grief, solitude, and all the challenges presented by the current pandemic.

Numerous professional golfers have talked about lacking focus because they have no idea when they'll be teeing it up again, but they are admittedly lucky to have things at their disposal many of us don't, like a putting green in their back garden, a simulator in their basement or a gym in their spare bedroom!

But every single one of us does have a very precious commodity at our disposal, and we should be using it to our advantage. That special piece of equipment is our mind.

Before lockdown, I was fortunate enough to have spent a week in Portugal and five consecutive days on the golf course. I well and truly had the golfing bug back after a barren couple of years talking about golf but not much time spent playing it! I was so excited to try and work on my game over the summer and eradicate some very bad habits.

Like all of us, the coronavirus has put paid to that for the time being, but I'm being pretty diligent about working on myself, even though I can't work on my game. The mind is a muscle and just like if you want Rafa Cabrera Bello biceps you have to put the effort in at the gym, the mind needs its own workout regime.

I've always had an interest in meditation, so I've been focusing on that. I've also been practising online yoga, learning different breathing techniques and one of the best things we can all do for our minds and personal development - reading.

This is something Rory McIlroy has really got into these past couple of years and he's been vocal in his appraisal of The Obstacle Is The Way, by Ryan Holiday. I've just finished it and it was a brilliant and timely read, clear in its guidance and extremely motivational. It provides some great life lessons but it does take strength to apply, as I'm currently finding out!

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I was keen to get the thoughts of renowned performance coach Dave Alred to get his take on what we can all be doing, as golfers, during this downtime. Dave famously worked with Luke Donald when he reached No 1 in the world, and he has been a key part of Francesco Molinari's team over the past few years.

He's all about performance and mindset and getting the best out of his athletes. Here are his top tips for things to be working on over the next few weeks:

• Structure - it's so important to have a routine and maintain structure in your day. It helps you stay focused when many of us are lacking a set daily timetable.
• Set intentions for the day - what do you want to achieve or get out of today. At the end of each day write down three good things you've achieved.
• Accountability - at the end of each week ask yourself what you would have done differently. If you didn't match your intentions, why not? Make sure you're in the right frame of mind to be more productive for your next attempt.
• Practice - where you can and on what you can. Putting, short game, posture, flexibility, outside or in your living room! Find out your standard, set yourself targets and be 'better than your previous self'.
• Don't beat yourself up - We bookmark failure instead of bookmarking success. Recognise when you do something well.
• Attitude - work on your attitude, create behavioural change. Don't tell yourself what went wrong tell yourself what went right and how can I get better than I was before.

And on that note I wanted to share my all-time favourite quote by Charles R. Swindoll:

"Life is 10 per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you react to it. We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day."

Remember we all possess that one precious commodity, the mind, but having the right attitude is up to us all individually. Stay safe.

For more information on Dave Alred's No Limits Performance Journal see www.dairmagazine.com