Coaching practices for What Can I Control Performance
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For What Can I Control Performance, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I keep staring at the big result hoping it moves, but it’s out of my hands day to day
- When it matters most my mind scatters everywhere at once
- In the middle of performing my mind is so crowded
- I’ve pinned everything on a result that partly depends on the judges, the competition, plain luck
- Some weeks everything just clicks and I’m killing it, and I have no idea why
Practices that may help
- Identify and act on lead measures
Focus daily behavior on lead measures — the predictive actions you control — not lag measures you can only observe.
The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) - Direct focus to controllables only, especially under pressure
When pressure is highest, narrow attention to what you can directly influence — and let everything else go.
The Clutch State: Performing Under Pressure - Use a process goal as an in-performance attention anchor
Convert your most important process goal into a single attention cue that runs during the performance.
Process vs. Outcome Goals in Sport and Performance - Filter goals through the controllability test
Only set goals for actions you can directly control — not for outcomes that depend on others or luck.
Process Goals, Made Practical - Analyze your best days — not just your failures — to identify what drives success
When performance is above target, investigate what made it so: replicating peaks is as important as preventing troughs.
Feedback Loops and Behavior Change - Process Goals, Made Practical
Process goals focus on the specific behaviors and techniques under the performer’s direct control (how you execute) rather than on outcomes (whether you win). Sport psychology research consistently finds that process goals maintain attention on controllable actions, reduce anxiety, and improve performance consistency — especially under pressure — while pure outcome goals can undermine both. - Match your routine’s arousal level to the task demand
Fine-tune whether your routine should up-regulate or down-regulate your energy before the performance.
Pre-Performance Routines, Made Practical - Debrief against process goals, not just the outcome
After performance, evaluate whether you executed your process goals before evaluating the result.
Process vs. Outcome Goals in Sport and Performance - Install a focus cue as the final routine step
End every pre-performance routine with one specific cue that triggers full attentional commitment to the task.
Pre-Performance Routines, Made Practical - Trust Self 2 — give the body an image, not instructions
Set the target in vivid sensory terms and then let the body execute without conscious direction.
The Inner Game: Quieting Self 1
Related concerns
- Process Focus Performance
Convert your most important process goal into a single attention cue that runs during the performance.
Use a process goal as an in-performance attention anchor
- Process Focus Sports Psychology
Process goals focus on the specific behaviors and techniques under the performer’s direct control (how you execute) rather than on outcomes (whether you win). Sport psychology research consistently finds that process goals maintain attention on controllable actions, reduce anxiety, and improve performance consistency — especially under pressure — while pure outcome goals can undermine both.
- Focus On Controllables Sport
Focus further from the body (on the target, not the implement) for the largest attention benefit.
Use more distal external focus for greater performance benefits
- From Guided To Solo Performance
Set the target in vivid sensory terms and then let the body execute without conscious direction.
Trust Self 2 — give the body an image, not instructions
- How To Focus Before Performance
End every pre-performance routine with one specific cue that triggers full attentional commitment to the task.
Install a focus cue as the final routine step
- How To Use Process Goals Under Pressure
Convert your most important process goal into a single attention cue that runs during the performance.
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