Social Bookmarking “Soulmate”

PsyProf
 

            I have spent countless hours perusing through mindless corporate attempts to sell me, “The Latest in Sports Psychology Techniques, Success Guaranteed!” products. As result of this frustration, I’ve taken to the social world to find useful, informative websites that can help us analyze the psychological factors and phenomena that affect athletes. In doing so, I’ve stumbled upon (not a pun, I used delicious) what I would call, a “social bookmarking soulmate.” No, I have not met this person, nor do I know their age, gender, or profession, but what I do know is this; we share similar online interests. This “soulmate” of mine goes by the name of PsyProf and I believe that his/her discoveries could enhance your ability to learn about sports psychology.

            On delicious, you can search an area of interest, find an article, and then find out how many people have tagged that item. You can then discover how they’ve tagged it, and what else those people are interested in. Now, there were innumerable people using the tags “psychology,” “sports,” and “lifehacks,” on articles that I found to be interesting, but none of these people shared a focus on sports psychology. As such, I was ecstatic to find out that someone had tagged a favorite article of mine with “sports_psychology.” Upon further research of this tag, I discovered a community of users who shared my interest, none more intriguing than my online soulmate. PsyProf had more than three times as many “sports_psychology” tags than any other user, so naturally, I checked out his bookmarks and found some gems.

           

Mr. Kroc and his burger (source)

            The first is an article entitled, “Self Confidence, Motivation, Focus &Pressure – Athletes vs Entrepreneurs,” written by Stephen Walker, PhD. This article compares the lifestyles and psychological traits of both athletes and entrepreneurs, referred here as “corporate athletes.” Although the article doesn’t compare any of the specific psychological differences of the two, it discusses the similar traits that they share, and the way that each applies them to their career. It quotes and compares top athletes of both professions, such as Michael Jordan and Ray Kroc (of McDonalds fame.)

            Another gem is an article entitled, “Injury Prevention in Sports,” written by Geoff Michaelson, PhD. By examining how psychological factors create increased risk for injury in sports, Michaelson creates a window to connect psychology and physicality, something that I intend to profile. One example is the analysis of how anxiety causes overly tense muscles, leading to increased risk of injury.

            PsyProf’s bookmarking topics are primarily animal cognition, photography, and web 2.0. He has 364 bookmarks, 40 of which are related to sports psychology – as his 5^th most tagged topic, clearly PsyProf isn’t primarily focused on my area of interest. On another rather unfortunate note, PsyProf’s bookmarks are poorly organized and rarely have a description. Although he is not an ideal candidate, I can’t afford to be overly picky due to the niche nature of my interest. I suppose I’m looking for too much in an online soulmate; for now, PsyProf will have to do.