Start Fast. Stay Steady. Finish Strong with the Three Power Moves™
- Julie Jones
- Aug 14
- 5 min read
Catch part two with Josie Owen-Kren tomorrow on the Game Changers: Athlete Edition Podcast iHeartRadio ApplePodcasts Youtube Podbean Spotify
I had a great time this morning at Elyria High School talking about the mental game with the best of the best in their athletics department. As I was driving home, reviewing the session, I thought about how all of us can utilize the Three Power Moves to help us start fast, stay steady, and finish strong — and why we need to keep them front and center as we move through another year.
You remember them:
You can always choose one thought over another.
You have a response-ability.
You can always manage your state.
Last week we talked about the excitement of the start…the start of the new year, the start of the new season, the start of a new job. EXCITING! New teammates, new roles, new systems, new eyes on you.
I heard former Team USA and Arizona coach Mike Candrea once say, “The first day of practice will be the best of your career.”
He didn’t mean you’d never have a better performance.
He meant that Day One is all promise. The room is hopeful and generous. Then Day Two arrives, and reality walks in with it: who you’re competing with, where you actually stack up, what you must adjust, and how much pressure lives in the everyday.
On our Game Changers: Athlete Edition podcast, Josie Owen-Kren described this shift perfectly. Captains’ practices were cordial. Everyone communicated, collaborated and worked together!
Then the coaches walked in, and the temperature rose tenfold! Competition sharpened. Space got smaller. Attention got brighter. That moment is a rite of passage for every athlete who moves from the world of being recruited, where a coach sees your potential, to the world of being on the roster, where there are expectations.
The jersey fits differently when it comes with standards, accountability and a depth chart that doesn’t blink.
So how do we manage the uncertainty, the newness, the pressure, the opportunity, or, maybe…our new position in the program? We don’t just work harder. We run your operating system: the Three Power Moves.
They seem so simple…but they can be hard, especially when we are under pressure.
If we’ve learned one thing through experience and research…the moment the thought changes, the body follows!
Here is where Power Move #1 comes in.
A new season will offer you a thousand unhelpful sentences. “Don’t mess this up.” “What if I don’t start?” “What if I can’t learn this system?”
Those thoughts aren’t proof we’re weak; they’re evidence we’re human. The nervous system is constantly on alert… especially when things matter.
But our brain is coachable. When a hitter I work with kept looping “don’t strike out,” we didn’t recite empty affirmations. We swapped the sentence for something executable: “Barrel through middle-away.” Same pitcher, same pitch, new instruction. Her body finally had room to move.
As the new year starts, our job is to install do-language we can act on under pressure. For a freshman setter learning a faster tempo, “Don’t rush” becomes “Hold, then snap.”
A senior stepping into leadership, “Don’t be overbearing,” becomes “Ask two questions before one directive.”
A coach taking over a new program, “Don’t lose the room” becomes “Name the standard, teach the why, catch one athlete meeting it every day.”
When your sentence becomes executable, your body follows. Good things come to coaches and leaders who choose precise thoughts that point toward action.
If it isn’t executable, it isn’t useful! And if it isn’t useful…WE CAN CHOOSE ANOTHER THOUGHT!!!
The first month is full of firsts: first team meeting with staff in the room, first evaluation, first day you realize your role might be different than you pictured.
Something will hit you sideways. Someone won’t come in fit. A drill will expose a gap you didn’t know you had. Someone will come in out of shape. Your budget might take a hit…who knows these days!!
This is where Power Move #2 comes in…and it’s where we accidentally give our power away, by reacting hot and letting one moment write the next three.
Our RESPONSE -ABILITY is the tiny, trainable gap between what happens and what you do next. You don’t need a perfect practice, game or season; you need a trained next response.
We usually know what trips us up and sends us into that space…so the beginning is as good a time as ever to pre-decide our if-then plans because the volume of firsts is so high.
IF….THEN! If something goes in the tank, then I breathe once and ask the next best question. If athletes get stuck in the instructions, then they can write one sentence to help them execute the first rep. If the meeting gets tense, then I widen my eyes to the room, soften my jaw, and respond to the topic, not the tone.
We can help if we model it where they can see it…after a technical glitch, in a tough conversation, when an agenda goes sideways. Our teams will borrow the response we practice in public, so managing our response-ability not only helps us be our best selves as leaders, but it helps them see what is expected when the IFs come to life!
Finally, confidence isn’t a feeling you wait for; it’s a state you build…and in the beginning, we’re full of it. Then, as Coach Candrea said, reality hits!
Here is where Power Move #3 comes in!
But how we feel doesn’t need to dictate our performance. If confidence never comes, we can change gears and COMPETE!!!
Breath, vision, posture and pace are a few of the dials we can turn to change our state! We know the research here is strong. Each of us performs best in our own Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF).
We just need to know how to get there! Sometimes we can’t think ourselves out of a feeling or into a state. To get to our peak, we must use BOTTOM-UP control! That starts with recognizing how we feel…and how we need to feel to get the job done. Can we use our breath? Shifts in our vision? Changes in our posture or pace?
Tools to change our arousal aren’t “nice to haves.” They’re levers we can use to shift our physiology…and ultimately, our performance!
The cool thing is, these tools work for all of us. If you lead athletes, parents, staff or a sales team, the translation is simple…but we must practice these tools ALL DAY so when the pressure comes and we fall back on our habits, a.k.a., our POWER MOVES!
Choose the sentence that serves the next action. Own the response when things go sideways.
Then notice and manage your state before the big moments. Whether the arena has chalk lines or a conference table, these three moves work!
The beginning is awesome…but it’s not supposed to be smooth…and we know it won’t be. We’ll face weeks when the ball won’t find grass, where meetings stack up, where nothing feels easy.
That’s the lab. That’s where the Three Power Moves earn their keep. Choose the thought you can execute. Run the response you rehearsed. Drive the state you need to win what’s in front of you!
Start fast. Stay steady. Finish strong. And when the noise rises, come back to the operating system:
Choose your thought. Own your response. Manage your state. Repeat as needed.
Working with you on being our best…one thought, response and state at a time!
Julie
P.S. A new academic year is about to begin. Let’s get your team tuned up for the year. Choose a 3-session plan or one that lasts all year! 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
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