Off-Water Techniques to Increase Your Self-Control

We all have limits to our on-the-water practice time, which combined with the number of things we need to practice puts pressure on us to build as many of our fundamental skills as possible off the water.

Physical strength and stamina are two obvious candidates to develop off the water. Studying the racing rules of sailing and basic tactical and strategic considerations are two more. The one that often doesn’t get attention is improving the subtler facets of the mental side of our racing. Self-control or self-regulation (a psychological term) is the base of the mental game and will also make it easier to study and do the repetitive practice routines needed to develop all the other aspects of your sailing.

Self-regulation allows us to resist “coming apart” when we make a mistake, the wind shifts unpredictably, a competitor messes with our plan for the leg or any other thing happens that stimulates a strong emotional reaction in us. Self-regulation is the basis of our ability to continually focus on important clues about speed, wind shifts, heel angle, etc., without getting distracted by thoughts of our greatness or inadequacies, our successful start or the last terrible mark rounding.

Self- regulation is the ability to pay attention and stay as calm as necessary or to spike your emotions in order to carry on when you’re tired, cold or discouraged. A person with self-regulation stamina can continue to make good decisions long after others have started unconsciously opting for “keep doing what I’m doing” plans. In extraordinary circumstances, when others are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their emotions moderated, the sailor with self-regulation power will still have moderate reactions and less need to expend energy regulating them.

It’s simple, but not easy, to increase your self-regulation.

· The first step is to decide if regulating yourself is important to your sailing results. How will it specifically help you get what you want? Be sure you personally want it or you’re less likely to put in the necessary effort.

· Give your efforts your own personal brand name – “build my will power” “increase my self-control” “learn to regulate myself better” “develop self-regulation”. Having a simple way to express it helps make it easy to remind yourself to practice it.

· Pick a simple thing you currently do automatically and set a goal of doing it differently. Keep the thing you will change very simple.

o Stand and sit with better posture

o Stop swearing

o Floss your teeth

o Eat less junk food

o Something else really simple

· Go at it! Every time you can, remember to practice the new behavior.

It’s not the specific thing you decide to change that is the key, but the effort to make an unconscious thing more conscious and change a habit. The effort develops increased ability to regulate your emotions, behavior and focus. If you are successful with one thing try a second. Start with simple things and go for the harder things later, just like lifting heavier weights as you get stronger. At the beginning, avoid major things like drastic diets, giving up alcohol or smoking, a challenging new exercise program, etc. The chances of success are diminished if you get too ambitious. Meditation is a pretty good way to get started if you are at all interested in it.

Whatever it is you try, when you forget or mess up, return your negative self-judgment back to a non-judgmental attitudes toward yourself as smoothly as possible. This alone will help build your self-control abilities. Start now and you’ll have a bit more will power to call on when you want it. Next time someone tacks too close you’ll quickly be back to sailing up the course focused on the next shift while your competitor is cursing themselves and slipping out the back of the pack.