How to Achieve Flow State in Sports to Play the ‘Perfect’ Game

Spoiler alert: Perfect is in parentheses because there really is no such thing as perfect. However, athletes can activate a state of mind called flow state. This helps them play at their very best, as close to perfect as they can get. So how to achieve flow state in sports for peak performance?

What is a Flow State?

Flow state is the “promised land” for athletes because this is the state of mind where everything just comes to you. Everything feels natural, easy even. When we’re in flow state, we access 90% of our mental resources. This includes our 10,000 hours of practice and past experiences. It allows us to make snap neural connections between past events and the present moment. In Flow, we feel emotions like confidence, empowerment, and joy. This is the state of mind where we truly feel the most connected to the sport we’re playing and are able to tap into our highest potential.

How It Feels to Perform at Your Peak as an Athlete

• Complete Focus: You’re fully absorbed in the activity. Distractions vanish, and every movement feels purposeful. For example, a basketball player might instinctively predict and react to plays.
• Effortless Movements: Actions feel natural and automatic, requiring little conscious thought. Runners often describe it as “gliding” effortlessly across the track.
• Time Distortion: Time either slows down, allowing for precise decision-making, or speeds up due to intense concentration. A soccer player might feel like they have endless time to take a critical shot.
• Confidence Without Overthinking: Decisions flow instinctively, driven by trust in your training. A tennis player, for instance, might strike the ball decisively without analyzing every move.
• Heightened Awareness: Your senses sharpen, and you become highly attuned to your surroundings. A gymnast might feel every muscle working in harmony during a routine.
• Sense of Control: You feel in command, even under pressure. For example, a skier effortlessly adapts to challenging terrain like it’s second nature.
• Joy and Fulfillment: Despite the intensity, the experience is deeply rewarding. Many athletes, such as marathon runners, describe the “runner’s high” as pure euphoria.

Here’s 3 Tips for How to Achieve Flow State in Sports:

1.Get your Mental Preparation Game in Check

Athletes generally know all about warming up their bodies. At the highest levels of sports, there’s typically a specific breakdown to warm-ups or activations that are both sport-specific and tailored to the individual. Very few athletes engage in ‘mental warm-ups’ even though we know the brain runs the show! If we fail to warm up our brains and make sure our mindset is in the right state to perform, we end up having to fight through what we call mental roadblocks that slow down our decision making, thereby physically slowing us down. 

2. Get Laser-Focused on your Controllable Factors

There’s so much in sport we cannot control: the refs, the other team, our team, our coaches, the weather, etc. and these things tend to be what takes up the majority of our attention. Just take a moment to think about a game you’ve watched or been in and the ref makes a “TERRIBLE!!!!” call that results in a negative outcome. Even though these external, uncontrollable stimuli are abundant everywhere we look it doesn’t mean they’re productive to look at. When we focus on external things, our brain feels that sense of panic—it knows it can’t control them. And when we feel panic, we go into fight or flight mode…essentially the opposite of flow. In order to achieve flow state, athletes have to hone their focus on the controllable factors in their sport: their attitude, their warmup, their “game-plan”, the skills they want to use, etc.,

3. Be Ready to Mentally Check In

Flow state requires the athlete to stay in touch with how they’re feeling. Just because you activate it doesn’t mean it hangs around without support. Mistakes, bad calls, negative feedback, getting “too high” or “too excited”, all of these things can potentially pull you out of your flow state. Scheduling times throughout the game/competition to check in on their mental state is crucial. Negative thoughts, energy, and emotions are a slippery slope to a negative, unresourceful mindset.