In the context of human performance, the personal meaning and importance the ind

ividual places on
his or her own performance help form an organizing system by which he or she eva
luates, interprets, and responds to the competitive world; and,
clearly, how one perceives the environment and the behavioral choices made in re
sponse to such perceptions and interpretations signifi cantly
contribute to one s success.
Of additional importance, if this personal
organizing system is combined with a genetic/biological predisposition to
experience emotion in a more or less intense manner (often termed negative affect syndrome or neuroticism by theorists (Barlow, Allen, & Choate,
2004), the result may be an even greater tendency to interpret threat and
danger, and may subsequently lead to increased behavioral restriction and
distance from perceived (or misperceived) threat.
However, the performer exhibiting functional performance experiences a nonjudgin
g,
metacognitive mindful absorption in the task, whereas an individual
experiencing dysfunctional performance typically focuses on inflexible
rule systems (i.e., thoughts about what he or she can or cannot do,
should or should not do, etc.), perceived defi cits, self-doubts, efforts to
control thoughts and emotions, and ramifi cations of possible failure.
Performers who believe that their
skills and abilities match performance demands are likely to perform better,
and performers who question their skills and experience and are overly
concerned with outcome are likely to perform more poorly.
But everyone experiences discomfort it is natural and, while
worry may successfully remove immediate discomfort in the short term,
it does not help develop the skills necessary for optimal performance
In other words, performance
outcomes depend on the degree to which the performer accepts his or her
own internal experiences as normal and naturally occurring; is willing to
persist on task despite these experiences; and maintains attentional focus
on the environmental task at hand rather than on his or her internal
thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations
On a theoretical level, this approach draws heavily upon the work of
Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson (1999), which suggests that, when an individual has an emotional response to an external stimulus such as when
one experiences anxiety during an important presentation or game and
then thinks about those situations at a later time, he or she is likely to
experience anxiety directly to those thoughts.
The actual (external) tasks,
as well as the internal experiencing of the tasks (thoughts about the task),
become cues for the emotion.
In this example, the behavioral response directly guided
by the individual s internal experience is an example of rule-governed behaviour.
n this case, the avoidant behavior is directly governed by the

personal rule, I can t handle meetings when I feel this bad

direct response to the emotions and thoughts experienced

and is in

To elucidate further, comments such as I can t work for this guy; he s

a jerk, or I didn t take the shot because my confi dence is down, refl ect
individuals who use their internal processes to explain and guide their
behavioral choices.
he distinction between rule-governed
and values-directed behavior is critically important when one considers
the fact that performers of all types and at all skill levels must regularly
and consistently manage their behavior in the service of distal goals and
at the expense of more immediate gratifi cation.
Thus, rather than engaging in behaviors determined by the needs and realities of external cues
and contingencies, behavioral choices are often guided by the belief that
one s thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations require some immediate action.
For
example, the sales person who is having a diffi cult year is told that she
needs to spend more time with potential new accounts. She becomes
anxious when thinking about making cold calls and begins to think that
she can t do it. She then contemplates what she would do if she lost
her job, which results in sadness (at the thought of unemployment) and
even more anxiety. She fuses with her self- and future-focused thought
process, believes that thoughts of inability actually equal inability, and
chooses to leave work early and call a friend to meet for drinks. This
choice serves the immediate purpose of reducing the troubling internal
processes and associated anxiety, and, as such, this avoidant behavior is
negatively reinforced. However, this behavioral choice does nothing to
improve sales performance, which requires consistent committed action
regardless of uncomfortable internal experience
These fi ndings are particularly important for those interested in performance enhancement given the recent fi ndings in performance psychology,
which suggest that elite performance is associated with decreased levels of
left-hemisphere cortical activity, indicative of low levels of verbal- linguisti
c
activity
Third, based on the professional literature, mindfulness also operates through teaching individuals to see their own thoughts simply as
thoughts and not absolute realities to which they must respond
This has been referred to as
metacognitive awareness (Teasdale et al., 1995), which is learning to
observe a thought or emotion as just a thought or emotion and not an
absolute reality that requires a response. In this regard, thoughts and
emotions are seen simply as passing events that require no change or
alteration
In contrast, when thoughts and feelings are seen as absolute
realities that require immediate action, rule-governed behaviors are likely
to occur.
thoughts (or things your
mind tells you, as we refer to them) are learned internal events that

do not always refl ect absolute reality and do not necessarily require
action. Rather, our thoughts, learned throughout our lives as language
associated with particular events, come and go if we just allow them to.