The Engine of Performance: Instincts

You're in the middle of a game, the puck comes your way, and without a second thought, you're making moves, dodging opponents, and firing shots.

You’re not consciously deciding each step. Your body just knows what to do. It's like being on autopilot. It’s instinct. It’s Automatic.

You’re not up in your head, weighing all these options. You’re just playing — reacting. Yes, you might feel things, your mind might comment with thoughts, and you might adjust along the way. But in the moments — the shot, the pass, the cutback —you’re not willingly controlling those decisions, even though they may come from you. They just.... “Happen”

All the training, all the experiences — they translate into split-second reactions. That’s instinct.

In those moments, “you” aren’t even there. You disappear into the play. And that instinct? It’s shaped by everything — your reps, your confidence, your fears, your beliefs. That’s what takes the ice when the puck drops.

Your Body is Genius

Your performance is an extension of your brain and body. Nature has been refining this system for millions of years. Your body — your brain, your nervous system, your instincts — is a masterpiece of design. It knows how to operate at a high level with precision, efficiency, and intelligence that goes far beyond your conscious awareness. Instinct is intelligence.

But when your mind is clouded — by fear, doubt, or limiting beliefs — it’s like running a high-performance engine without oil. That friction holds you back. It restricts your natural ability and prevents your instinct from doing what it was built to do: perform.

Nature has equipped you with an internal coach that knows more about optimal performance than any playbook could teach. Let it work. Get out of its way. Because when it’s free of interference, it takes the most effective path — every time.

Instinct is Built

When you repeat specific skills in training, your body and mind start to encode those actions. Over time, your nervous system builds patterns — so in games, those movements don’t need to be thought about. They just happen. That’s why technical and physical reps work: they create imprints in your system that guide your decisions and reactions on instinct. As you play more, your instinct refines itself. You see plays faster. You make better decisions. You start to execute new skills without needing to force them — because your system is adapting, absorbing, and evolving through experience.

But don’t separate the mental from the physical — they are one system. What you hold in your mind affects how your body performs. If your mind is clear, confident, and focused — your instinct plays freely. If your mind is cluttered with fear, doubt, or pressure — your instinct hesitates. And when instinct hesitates, your game suffers.

Small Shifts - Big Results

Your instinct is highly adaptable. But it doesn’t operate in a vacuum — it’s shaped and influenced by your mental state. That’s why even small shifts in mindset can produce huge changes on the ice.

Hockey is a game of inches. The difference between scoring or missing, completing a pass or turning it over, beating a defender or getting stopped — often comes down to razor-thin margins. And that’s where qualities like confidence, belief, and conviction come in — as real, measurable edges. They affect your precision. Your timing. Your instinctive execution.

In every game, you make hundreds of micro-decisions. A stick lift here. A pass there. A quick cutback. A shot.

Think about it: If you're just slightly sharper — even by one inch — on half your plays throughout a 50-game season, you could even end up with 15 more goals. That’s the difference between being a bottom-line player and leading your team. The difference between staying stuck and turning heads. Between getting passed over and getting a D1 offer.

Small margins compound fast.

The bottom line is this: the margins in hockey are razor-thin — but the impact is massive. Every inch, every split-second, every subtle read matters. Over time, those tiny differences stack up. And they can be the difference between an average season and a breakout one — between staying stuck and getting that D1 offer.

When your mindset supports your instincts — not interferes with them — your game can take off. Because those extra inches? They come from how your mind is wired in the moment.

Your beliefs, your clarity, your limitations— they shape your reactions, your timing, your execution. It’s not just about what you can do. It’s about how freely and confidently you can do it when it matters.

How Do We Get Out of Nature’s Way?

By removing what blocks it. When you strip away the mental barriers—fear, doubt, overthinking, attachment to outcomes—you clear space for instinct to take over. It’s like taking weight off the system. You see clearer. Your stick loosens. There’s calm inside your intensity. You play faster, freer, sharper—without trying harder.

Your skills don’t need fixing. They need freedom.

Resolve a fear? You remove tension.

Detach from outcomes? You play with clarity.

Let go of self-worth being tied to performance? You gain composure.

These subtle shifts remove the ceilings holding you down.

The hard part? Most people don’t even know what’s limiting them. The beliefs and mental patterns are buried. Invisible. Running in the background.

So where do you start? One question: What is preventing me from getting where I want to be?

That question is a doorway. A way to start uncovering what’s holding you back. Because once you see it — you have a choice; you’re no longer trapped by it.