The main reason why a swimmer experiences a dry spell of PB's (assuming their strokes are technically correct) is simply due to the huge influence of subconscious belief.

Negative beliefs cause the same negative result to recur, over and over again (eg. being stuck on the same time for ages / regularly losing to the same competitor / training great but slow times in the big meets etc), and this has caused many people to give up their sport altogether in frustration (but don't worry, there is no reason to do this!).

A negative belief starts out as a simple negative thought, which is dwelled upon for some time. This repeated thought creates a new belief or 'program' within the subconscious for the body to follow. The subconscious then gathers more and more 'evidence' that this belief is true, which strengthens the belief even further.

For instance, a swimmer might lose to a particular competitor twice during a meet, but instead of shrugging it off and getting on with it (which they would normally do), they may dwell upon it for a period of time. This causes the beginning of a negative belief, which may then cause further losses to this particular competitor - which unfortunately then reinforces this belief, and so on......a vicious circle which can become difficult to get out of.

When a swimmer is in this situation, trying harder simply does not help at all, and sometimes things seem to even appear to get worse. The reason why trying harder does not help in this situation is because the cause of the problem is not in the conscious mind (where we have some level of control), it is sub-conscious.
 

This means that the best way to overcome a negative belief in swimming is to stop it occurring in the first place! This means to never, ever dwell upon negative results. Sure, scan the bad swims for whatever information you may need to learn from them, but then, let them go, and move on - and this means, do not think about those swims again. As soon as you extract what you need to learn from that result, it becomes ancient swimming history. Finished, erased, gone forever - that result is now worthless and should never be given a thought again. Extract the positive - then move on!

It's not a bad swim that decides your success or failure, it's your reaction to that swim. So how do YOU react? Do you examine it, learn from it, change your strategy and move forward (to ultimately succeed) - or do you wallow in misery and dwell on all the things you did wrong? This is the question you will face after every bad race, and your answer to it is very important to your future swims, meets and performances.

Another great way is to think how your favorite international swimmer would react in this situation - and the question is not difficult. They learn and move on, only to ultimately succeed later on.

For those who are in the grip of a negative belief right now (ie. a recurring problem), the best thing I can recommend to you is a daily visualization exercise - for at least a couple of months in order to overcome it. The good news is that once you have positively 'reprogrammed' your subconscious computer - the problem will disappear forever (unless you allow yourself to create the situation again - and I am certain you would not allow this to happen!).

So keep feeding your mental computer with positive data, and you cannot go wrong. Learn from mistakes, and then move on. Your reaction to the swim, not the swim itself, determines your future results. Though this line also applies the other way around - "a positive mind creates a positive body, and a positive body attains positive results". Positively, every time!

The Mind controls the body, and the mind is unlimited.
The best of success, Craig Townsend

More Mind Training Tips for Swimmers

Motivation & Sport Psychology for Swimmers

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