Find Your Point A Before You Chase Point B
Everyone talks about goals.
Very few people truly understand their starting position.
Before we build confidence.
Before we sharpen focus.
Before we talk about pressure, composure or performance psychology…
We identify Point A.
Point A is your current reality. Your mental baseline. Your performance truth.
And if you don’t understand Point A, your goals are guesses.
Why Point A Is the Most Important Part of Mental Performance
When new clients onboard with Therapycise, we don’t jump into tactics.
We start with clarity.
We ask:
- What do you stand for?
- What are your primary goals?
- What are your secondary goals?
- What has worked for you before?
- What hasn’t?
- What obstacles are likely to block your progress?
- What do you look for in a performance psychologist or mental performance coach?
- Where is the biggest gap in your mental game knowledge?
- What is the number one outcome you want from your first session?
This isn’t admin.
This is architecture.
Because performance psychology is not about generic motivation. It’s about alignment. Identity. Strategy.
And alignment starts with knowing exactly where you are.
Your Mental Game Has a Baseline
Every athlete — sporting, corporate, or scholar — operates from a mental baseline.
You have:
- Default emotional reactions
- Default preparation habits
- Default recovery patterns
- Default thought processes under pressure
That baseline is your Point A.
Some athletes are disciplined but lack confidence.
Some are confident but inconsistent.
Some prepare well but crumble under expectation.
Some are driven but unclear on identity.
Without defining Point A, improvement becomes random.
With clarity, progress becomes measurable.
The Psychology Behind It
There’s a reason we anchor everything to a starting position.
In behavioural science, awareness precedes change. You cannot upgrade what you cannot see.
In neuroscience, the brain thrives on clarity. When objectives are specific and grounded in reality, cognitive load reduces and decision-making improves.
In performance coaching, misdiagnosis wastes time.
Understanding Point A allows us to:
- Identify performance gaps
- Strengthen existing strengths
- Anticipate psychological obstacles
- Personalise mental conditioning strategies
- Create structured development plans
This is why high performers move faster. They stop pretending and start assessing.
What You Stand For Matters More Than What You Want
Goals without identity are fragile.
When we ask clients what they stand for, we are uncovering performance values.
Do you stand for discipline?
Composure?
Accountability?
Courage?
Consistency?
Because when pressure hits — and it always does — values anchor behaviour.
If your Point A includes unclear values, your preparation will wobble.
If your Point A includes strong values but weak routines, we build structure.
Point A tells us what to reinforce and what to rebuild.
Obstacles Aren’t Problems. They’re Predictors.
One of the most powerful onboarding questions we ask is:
“What obstacles might stop you progressing?”
This isn’t negativity. It’s strategic foresight.
Common obstacles include:
- Time management issues
- Emotional volatility
- Overthinking
- Perfectionism
- Fear of judgement
- Lack of accountability
When we identify obstacles early, we design around them.
Elite mental performance is proactive, not reactive.
The Biggest Gap in Your Mental Game Knowledge
This question often unlocks the breakthrough.
Many athletes don’t lack effort. They lack understanding.
They don’t know:
- How to regulate emotions effectively
- How to reset during competition
- How to review performance properly
- How to build repeatable confidence
- How to structure mental preparation
When you identify the biggest gap in your knowledge, you accelerate growth.
Because vague improvement is slow. Targeted development is powerful.
The First Session Outcome: Precision Matters
“What is the number one outcome you want from the first session?”
This forces clarity.
Not “I want to be better.”
Not “I want more confidence.”
Specific outcomes drive specific conversations.
When athletes define the outcome they want immediately, engagement rises. Ownership increases. Momentum builds.
Understanding Point A ensures that the first step is not random — it is deliberate.
Why Most People Skip This Step
Because self-assessment is uncomfortable.
It exposes inconsistencies. Blind spots. Gaps.
But the athletes who embrace Point A gain something powerful:
Control.
They move from vague ambition to structured development.
From hope to strategy.
From wishing to training.
Point A Creates the Foundation for Everything
At Therapycise, we don’t guess.
We diagnose.
We align.
We build from reality.
Understanding your Point A gives you a foundation to work from. It anchors your goals. It sharpens your mental performance training. It turns aspiration into architecture.
If you want to explore the full framework behind how we build elite mental games, start here:
👉 The First Post You Should Read If You Want to Be the Best Athlete You Can Possibly Be MENTALLY
https://therapycise.co.uk/posts-must-read-for-athletes/
Know your Point A.
Then we build.