Simple Wins!
- Julie Jones
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Mindset Made Simple Tip #272: Simple Wins
Read it at ssbperformance.com Watch or listen HERE!
It’s a busy week in the world of mental performance training.
I just arrived home from an amazing trip to Devon Park (home of the WCWS) with elite athletes at the GameChanger Bat Lab sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods. I had the opportunity to work with some of the best hitters in our game…Tiaria Jennings, Amanda Lorenz, Riley Boone…and a host of other future Boomer Sooners and Power 4 commits from our championship 18U National Team. It was a BLAST…literally and figuratively!
Tomorrow, I will have the opportunity to speak with 800 of the top student-athlete leaders in the State of Ohio at the 2025 OHSAA Student Leadership Conference.
SO FUN…but here’s my issue….
Every time I get ready to speak, I want to share everything I know.
Every story. Every strategy. Every tool. And every time I must remind myself: too much is the enemy of impact.
Sound familiar?
On the field, it’s the same thing. When we try to do too much — cover too many positions, make too many adjustments, and juggle too many cues — we end up doing less.
High performers aren’t doing more. They’re doing the most important few things better and faster.
I need to say this out loud 100 times a day! Decide. Simplify. Execute. Just like the hundreds of swings I got to watch between sessions this weekend. Moving more…thinking more…trying more…unfortunately, didn’t make the ball fly over the fence more!
Simple beats scattered every time…and science tells us why!
Study after study shows that too many choices slow us down. The Hick-Hyman Law proves that decision time grows with options. The more we have to pick from, the slower we move. Even jam sellers know this! In one study, when shoppers could sample 36 flavors, they tasted more but bought less. When only six were offered, sales jumped. Fewer options lead to faster choices and more bandwidth to perform.
And when it comes to performance, our mental “RAM” is small. Working memory can only hold about four chunks of information at a time. So, when we load it with mechanics, cues, and reminders, we actually crowd out what matters most…what we need to do next!
Add stress to the mix, and it gets worse. Under pressure, the part of the brain responsible for planning and focus — the prefrontal cortex — gets noisy and less efficient. In other words, simplicity protects performance.
That’s why the best performers and coaches don’t think about more. They think about what matters most. They plan clearly, act decisively, and adjust quickly.
Less to manage = better decisions. Narrowing choices, cues and next steps frees your brain to
perform.
Simple works everywhere. Every good sermon has THREE POINTS… not seven, not ten… THREE!
That’s why I’m sticking with three simple tools today that can help us focus, simplify, and perform our best.
You’ve heard me say before that our brains are not designed for multitasking, no matter how much we think we’re good at it. The more we pile on, the less clearly we think and the less efficiently we act. The key is not to do more, it’s to do what matters most with clarity and intention.
These three tools help us do just that.
First, the 3×1 Rule can help keep me honest when I speak, and it can keep us focused when we compete. It’s simple: Three big ideas. One action for each.
When I prepare a talk, I need to ask: If they only remember three things, what do I want them to be?
Then I can match each idea with one specific action they can take.
On the field, this could look like choosing three important controllables and one cue for each. Maybe our three are energy, focus and attitude! Our cues might be:
Energy: “Sprint to every ball.”
Focus: “See the seams.”
Attitude: “Next play.”
That’s it. The rest is noise.
Research on goal clarity and attentional control tells us that when we limit our focus to a few clear, actionable goals, performance consistency increases dramatically. Too many goals create cognitive overload, which splits attention and slows reaction time. The 3×1 Rule forces clarity and gives the brain one clean task at a time.
When things get loud, stressful, or unpredictable, three things you can control bring you back to calm and confidence.
Next up is Decide–Do–Debrief. This one helps us break down performance into bite-sized chunks.
Decide: What’s my job right now? What matters most for the next play, the next pitch, the next rep?
Do: Lock in, execute, and commit fully to that one thing.
Debrief: What worked? What didn’t? What’s next?
Then we repeat. Decide. Do. Debrief. This simple loop trains your brain to act with clarity, confidence and recovery.
Cognitive science calls this “chunking.” Instead of seeing a game as one giant, overwhelming event, you break it into hundreds of small, winnable moments. Research on motor learning and focus shows that these micro-feedback loops accelerate learning and confidence.
The more times you complete the loop, the faster your brain connects decisions to results. You build trust in your ability to respond, not react.
When I coach athletes through this, I remind them that performance is not about perfection. It’s about shortening the time between thinking and doing, and maybe more importantly, between SEEING and doing. And finally, between doing and learning. That’s what Decide–Do–Debrief helps us master.
The third tool might be my favorite: One Word + One Target.
This is your in-the-moment anchor. When everything speeds up….the pressure, the noise, the nerves…one word and one external focus bring you back to the present.
Research shows that an external focus of attention (like aiming for the back of the rim, the corner of the plate, or a specific visual target) leads to better coordination, accuracy, and fluidity than focusing on your body or mechanics (Wulf, 2013).
Add a single word cue, something that matches your best mindset, and you’ve got a performance anchor.
Your word might be “attack,” “smooth,” “trust,” or “finish.” Your target might be the far post, the zone, the glove, or even a visual spot on your presentation notes.
That’s it. One word. One target.
When you pair those two, you quiet the noise and train your attention where it needs to be — outside your head and into the task. I’ve seen athletes lower their heart rates, tighten their focus, and execute more cleanly simply by using this cue. It’s that powerful.
When you put these tools together — 3×1 Rule, Decide–Do–Debrief, and One Word + One Target — you simplify your focus, free up mental space, and sharpen your execution.
They create a cycle of clarity. Plan simply. Act decisively. Recover and adjust quickly.
The more you practice simplicity, the more natural it becomes. It’s not about doing less. It’s about doing what matters most, with total commitment.
Here’s our challenge. Keep it simple…as I get ready to finish up my PPT for tomorrow and my 800 student leaders…no more than three priorities per context (talk, practice, game, class). Put them on a card. One word. One target. One loop at a time.
Simple isn’t easy. Simple is disciplined. And disciplined wins.
Manage the moments!
Julie
P.S. Add a 3-session mental lab into your fall season. Reach out and let’s build the perfect one for you! Shoot me an email or text – juliej@ssbperformance.com or 234-206-0946
Julie Jones
Mental Performance Coach
SSB Performance
juliej@ssbperformance.com • 234-206-0946