Your Softball Mental Toolbox: Implementation Intentions

"I wish I'd swung at that pitch!" "I wish I had practiced that location more." "I wish I'd run full speed."

Let's talk about wishes. Have you ever looked back in time and wished you'd done something different? What about wishing you hadn't procrastinated on a task and had just gotten it done to begin with? Yeah, me too.

Sometimes that wish for a different action comes from being too afraid to act. Sometimes we're left wishing for a different outcome in softball because, in the moment, we were surprised or unprepared and didn't know how to respond or perform.

Implementation intentions are traditionally used to help you attain goals and get you "unstuck" by linking a specific future situation to a planned response using an "If... then..." approach (Gollwitzer, 1999). The keyword here is "specific." You want to identify the specific action you will take and the specific situation in which these actions will be triggered.

When used to help you overcome procrastination or take action toward a desired outcome, implementation intentions help you delegate control by deciding beforehand what you'll do, overcome obstacles by pushing past fatigue, distractions, and motivation lapses, and close the gap between wanting to do something and actually doing it.

Remember the chat about wishing you'd done or practiced something? Implementation intentions help you take action, so you're less likely to look back after the fact and wish you'd done something. This intention tool can also help you prepare for the unexpected. Now, let's explore how to apply an implementation intention.

A brief outline of the implementation intention process is:

To help you practice, pick a scenario below.

Scenario A: Choose an action you want to take during an upcoming game or practice. (e.g., pitching to the best hitter on the team or hitting off the best pitcher)

Scenario B: Choose the actions you will take if a certain scenario arises that you're not sure about. (e.g., rundown scenarios, to slide or not to slide)

Scenario C: Choose the actions you will take if an unexpected yet possible event were to occur. (e.g., your bat breaks mid-at-bat, it starts raining during an inning)

Next, complete the "If...then..." template and fill in the blanks. The "If" part should specify a critical cue, time, or situation (e.g., "If it starts raining during an inning this game..."). Follow with the "then" part that specifies the exact outcome-focused behavior you will perform (e.g., "...then I will cover my throwing hand with my glove. I will squeeze the ball harder on the throw").

The "If-then" approach helps you focus on what is happening in your environment rather than on what's going on inside your head or how you're feeling. By shifting your attention to environmental cues, you help your brain reduce resistance in situations you're mentally prepping for by giving it a planned response to use automatically and taking your focus off internal processes.

At the core, you're giving your brain information about your chosen situation, so it has something to draw on to help you. Also, by deciding on the action before the event, you're removing choices and second-guessing.

Let's put this together with Scenario B: To slide or not to slide. Assuming you know how to slide, perhaps you're a little scared to slide into a base during live action. Let's be honest, many athletes are! This fear causes you to misread the speed of play and defensive positions, and before you know it, you've hesitated or slowed down. By the time you realize you should have slid into the base, the play is over, and you're out because you didn't slide. Using an implementation intention, the framework might sound something like this:

Goal: I want to slide aggressively and safely into second base without hesitating or backing out at the last minute.

Trigger: I'm in the basepath, and I see the defensive player fielding the ball, or I see my third base coach giving me the down (slide) signal within the final 10 feet before the base.

Behavior: Drop my hips, tuck my leg, and go down on my outer thigh to slide.

There are many ways you can use implementation intentions to help you push through uncomfortable situations, surprising situations, or just plain procrastination. As I mentioned at the start, you can use this technique to help you plan for unexpected events, too. Give it a try and see if it makes a difference for you.

Dr. Megan Buning is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (C.M.P.C.) with over a decade of experience training the mental game.

Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493.