The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior...

The winter months are flying by and it will be spring before you know it! This weekend Mike is off picking up the engine from our engine man, "Big Block Shawn!" For some people they think of the start of spring when they see birds or flowers, but for most racers we think of the start of spring when we get our new or freshened engines in the cars! So it is time to really "get it in gear" (pun intended) and start to get the race car, tow rig, and trailer ready for the race season. As you are getting the car ready, it is time to get your brain in gear too. One thing that can really help is to spend some time thinking about past successes. Too often our brain will spend time replaying negative experiences (bad driving examples), but often our brain won't spend time thinking about past success and good driving experiences. Psychologists love the phrase, "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior." In other words, if we don't change anything we will probably continue to act as we did in the past. For most of us, we had good and bad experiences in the past racing seasons. Learn from your mistakes and then move on. But take time to think about your successes and what you did correctly. A good sport psychology tip is to actually make a "success poster" with pictures of wins, your favorite sayings (e.g., Get 'R Done) and other memorabilia of your wins (e.g., time slips, entry forms, pit passes,etc.). This way by looking at your success poster you will remind your brain of past successes that will hopefully bring future success!