OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE

TAIS & ACT

Understand the performance demands. Anticipate problems. Develop the skills to respond.

TAIS — Understanding the Performer

TAIS is a 144-item questionnaire measuring 20 attentional, personal, and interpersonal building blocks of performance. For nearly five decades, TAIS has been used with elite performers in sport, business, the military, and the performing arts to help individuals perform closer to their full potential when it matters most.

TAIS is particularly useful for getting at the underlying causes of performance problems and for developing strategies to address them. Because TAIS is a psychological assessment, its administration and interpretation conform to professional standards for psychological testing. Access is therefore provided through qualified professionals who can help validate the results and relate them to the individual's reason for taking the assessment.

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ICCS — Performance-Specific Assessment

The Inventory of Concentration and Communication Skills (ICCS) is a 96-item, performance-specific inventory that measures 12 of the 20 TAIS building blocks of performance. Like TAIS, it measures concentration skills, personal attributes such as drive and motivation, and interpersonal communication skills.

The developmental goal was different from TAIS: ICCS was designed as a more self-directed inventory for people developing a personal plan to improve performance in a particular environment, such as golf or business management.

ACT — Turning Awareness Into Performance

Attention Control Training (ACT) is a training program used by performance-oriented psychologists to help performers manage the negative effects increasing arousal can have on performance. ACT helps individuals let go of task-irrelevant cues, manage arousal, and keep attention focused on what really matters.

TAIS or ICCS results help identify the performance situations most likely to lead to a downward performance cycle and the kinds of mistakes a performer is most likely to make. ACT provides the information and techniques needed to prepare for those situations and interrupt the cycle when it begins.

Performers learn when and where to use breathing, centering, and attentional refocusing to interrupt negative thoughts and feelings, restore attentional control, and make needed adjustments in muscle tension. The goal is not simply to relax. It is to restore the physical and attentional readiness required to meet the demands of the performance environment.

ANTICIPATE → RECOGNIZE → INTERRUPT → REFOCUS

One principle, many performance environments — Center first. Perform best.

TAIS & ACT Resources

For people who want professional help applying TAIS, ACT, and performance-under-pressure principles, the Professional Resources page provides several different pathways.

Explore Professional Resources →