Psychology of peak performance

(continued)
Chapter 9

Characteristics of peak performance

experiences and successful performances
In-class activity: interview your partner
Think back to a time when you had a best
ever performance (p. 160)
Ask open ended questions
Make a list
Go through Module #2

Compare lists to identify commonalities

Compiling the data

Compare our list with past classes, and past
research
Note the commonalities
There are features of the psychological
experience that regularly surface
This collection has been labeled Flow

Flow
What is it?
State of consciousness in which people
are so involved in an activity that nothing
else seems to matter
Deeply involved-completely absorbed
In activity they like to do-enjoyable activity
To the exclusion of everything else

Flow
Despite the enormous differences between
the activities individuals were doing, when
whatever they were doing was enjoyable,
they described their state of mind, or
consciousness, in similar terms (Jackson &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2007, p. 15)

Dimensions of flow = the consistent set of

feelings described

Optimal Psychological Experience:

Characteristics of Flow
1. Challenge-skill
balance
2. Sense of control
3. Unambiguous
feedback/composure
4. Merging of action &
awareness
5. Total concentration

6. Loss of selfconsciousness
7. Clarity of intention
(clear goals)
8. Altered sense of time
9. Autotelic experience

Roadmap to Optimal Performance:

A Model of inputs, throughputs & outputs

Up Next
Identify psychological characteristics of
peak performance experiences
Identify characteristics of high performance
mindset
What mindset during competition will produce
the flow experience?

High Performance Mindset

Features of a high performance mindset?
My list of characteristics that define a high
performance mindset for success/optimal
performance looks like
See Performance Mindset Drivers model (in
competition)