Psychological flexibility is the single most researched predictor of adaptive functioning under pressure. It’s the ability to stay present, remain open to experience, and take values-driven action even when the situation is uncomfortable (Hayes et al., 2006).
In sport and performance, that means one thing: can you execute your skills when your mind is loud, your body is tense, and the outcome is uncertain?
The Mental Fitness pillar of the Mental Performance Model (MPM) is built entirely on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence-based psychological framework with over two decades of research behind it. ACT doesn’t teach athletes and performers to think positively, eliminate anxiety, or build unshakeable confidence. It teaches them to function effectively with whatever shows up internally.
That’s not a subtle distinction. It changes the entire approach.
Pull Quote 1: “ACT doesn’t teach you to eliminate anxiety. It teaches you to function effectively while it’s present. That’s a different target.”
The Six Processes
ACT identifies six interconnected processes that together produce psychological flexibility (Hayes et al., 2006). Each addresses a specific way that athletes and performers get psychologically stuck. None works in isolation. They’re designed to reinforce each other.
1. Cognitive Defusion
Defusion is the skill of unhooking from thoughts. Athletes and performers generate constant internal commentary: “I’m going to miss this,” “They’re better than me,” “I always choke under pressure.” Defusion doesn’t challenge or replace these thoughts. It changes your relationship to them. Instead of treating a thought as a fact that must be obeyed, you learn to notice it as a mental event: present, but not in control.
2. Acceptance
Acceptance is the practice of making room for uncomfortable internal experiences without trying to eliminate them. Pre-competition anxiety, frustration after an error, fear of failure: these are normal responses to high-pressure environments. The conventional approach says control them. ACT says make room for them and redirect attention to action. Fighting internal experiences consumes cognitive resources you need for performance.
3. Present Moment Awareness
This is the ability to direct and sustain attention on what’s happening right now. Not what happened in the last play, not what might happen in the next. Athletes and performers who can anchor attention in the present moment respond to what’s actually in front of them rather than reacting to mental projections of the past or future.
4. Self-as-Context
Self-as-context is perhaps the least intuitive of the six processes, and often the most powerful. It’s the capacity to observe your own thoughts, emotions, and sensations from a stable perspective. You recognise that you’re the one having the experience, not the experience itself. “I had a bad game” is different from “I’m a bad player.” Self-as-context creates psychological space between what happens and who you are.
5. Values
Values are freely chosen directions that define what matters to you. In sport and performance, values answer the question: why are you actually doing this, underneath the obvious answers? Not the surface answer (“to win” or “to get selected”), but the deeper one that would still hold true even if you weren’t winning. To compete with courage. To develop discipline. To contribute to something larger than yourself. Values provide motivation that doesn’t depend on outcomes, which matters enormously when the outcomes aren’t going your way.
6. Committed Action
Committed action is behaviour aligned with your values, taken even when it’s difficult. It’s the bridge between insight and performance. You can understand all five processes above intellectually, but without committed action nothing changes. This is where mental fitness work actually lands: in the choices you make at training, in competition, and in recovery.
Pull Quote 2: “You can understand all six ACT processes intellectually. Without committed action, nothing changes. That’s where mental fitness work lands.”
How They Connect
These six processes aren’t a checklist you work through sequentially. They operate as a network. Defusion supports acceptance (when you unhook from a thought, it’s easier to make room for the feeling underneath it). Present moment awareness supports defusion (you can’t notice a thought if your attention is elsewhere). Values give committed action its direction. Self-as-context gives you the stable ground from which to do all of it.
Research supports this integrated approach. A feasibility study of internet-delivered ACT for ice hockey players found that participants reported improved performance and life satisfaction through engaging with these processes as a connected system rather than isolated techniques (Reinebo et al., 2024). The processes worked not because athletes mastered each one individually and in sequence, but because they developed the ability to move fluidly between them as the demands of competition changed — noticing which process was most relevant in a given moment and applying it without having to think too hard about the theory behind it.
Free resource: The RAW Edge Self-Check gives athletes and performers a baseline read on their current mental fitness and where the gaps are. [Download it free at rawedge.au/self-check]
Try This: Start With Your Weakest Process
Read through the six processes above. Identify the one you find most challenging or least familiar. For most athletes and performers, it’s either self-as-context or acceptance. These two run most directly against conventional sport psychology advice.
Spend one week deliberately practising that single process. If it’s acceptance, notice three moments per day where you’re pushing away an uncomfortable feeling, and instead make room for it. If it’s defusion, catch three thoughts per day and preface them with “I notice I’m having the thought that…” If it’s present moment awareness, set three alarms per day and use each one to anchor your attention in the current moment for 30 seconds.
One process. One week. See what shifts.
The Difference Between Mental Fitness and Therapy
The Mental Fitness pillar is a psychoeducation program, not therapy. It teaches psychological skills through structured, self-paced content. It doesn’t diagnose, treat, or claim to resolve clinical conditions. The underlying ACT framework is evidence-based and extensively validated (Hayes et al., 2006). The MPM applies that framework to skill acquisition in a performance context.
If you’re experiencing clinical levels of distress, the right step is to consult a registered psychologist or your GP for a Mental Health Care Plan. The Mental Fitness pillar is designed to complement clinical support, not replace it.
Pull Quote 3: “Mental fitness isn’t therapy. It’s skill acquisition: the same way physical fitness builds physical capacity, mental fitness builds psychological capacity.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to work through all six processes, or can I focus on one?
In practice, you’ll work on different processes at different times depending on what’s most relevant for you. But the six processes reinforce each other, so building them together over time produces better outcomes than isolated focus on one. The MPM curriculum is structured to develop all six progressively.
Is this the same as mindfulness?
There’s overlap, but ACT is broader. Mindfulness practices (particularly present moment awareness) are one component of ACT. What ACT adds is the values and committed action framework: you’re not just practising awareness for its own sake, you’re using that awareness to take values-aligned action.
Can young athletes and performers use this?
Yes. The MPM has two age-differentiated tiers: Rising (12-14) and Edge (15+). The content, language, and examples are adapted for each developmental stage. No clinical diagnosis or referral is required.
Learn More
Explore the Mental Fitness curriculum at rawedge.au/courses
References
Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1-25. Full citation and DOI available at rawedge.au/research
Reinebo, G., Bjorverud, L. G., Parling, T., Andersson, G., Jansson-Frojmark, M., & Lundgren, T. (2024). Development and experiences of an internet-based acceptance and commitment training (I-ACT) intervention in ice hockey players: A qualitative feasibility study. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 6, 1297631. Full citation and DOI available at rawedge.au/research
Aaron Williams is an AHPRA-registered psychologist (PSY0002297677) and the founder of RAW Edge Performance. He works with athletes and performers across sport, performing arts, and high-performance environments. This content is educational and does not constitute clinical advice.