By Dr. Chad Peters | Precision Performance Concepts
Over the next few months my articles will shift from coaching athletic potential to focusing on what athletes themselves can do.
My latest book, Unlocking Athletic Potential, was written for coaches. It is a guidebook for building systems, sharpening practice design, and leading athletes.
But this new series and book, coming early 2026, is different. The Athlete’s Tactical Kit is built for the locker room and the backpack.
It is a guidebook for athletes.
It is the collection of tools and systems that top performers use every day, the ones that are not always obvious at first glance.
Driving to a camp, my son Braylon told me,
“Dad, I am just not there yet. I do not want to worry about what my pinky finger is doing when I cannot even get a consistent shot off every time. I need to work on the whole first, not the details.”
And he is right in one sense. You do not fixate on tiny details before you nail the broader aspects of the game..
But what Braylon said revealed something bigger.
Athletes often think these performance tools are advanced. Extra credit. Nice to-haves.
The truth is the things I will cover here are not the tiny details. They are not in the same class as pinky finger placement on a jump shot and they should not wait.
This is not the last 5 percent. In fact, quite the opposite. This is the foundational structure that everything in athletics is built upon.
Athletic potential is severely limited if it is built on a weak base. It does not matter how fast, strong, quick thinking, or skillful you are if you do not sleep well, if you are injured, if your nervous system is not firing properly, or if your brain is too overloaded to connect the dots. You are simply… Limited.
Sure, you may get away with it for a while. But over the repetition of sport those cracks always show.
Every professional and collegiate athlete I have ever worked with has told me some version of the same thing:
“I wish I had heard about these ideas earlier in my career. Or even when I had heard of them, I wish I had experimented and tried them first. These simple ideas are a huge part of what allowed me to make the jump from high school to college, from college to pro, and from pro to the elite.”
Visualization changes percentages. Mental reps become physical reps.
Sleep changes times. Adding an hour drops sprint times and sharpens focus.
Breath changes stress. A single box breath can mean the difference between panic and poise.
Self talk changes confidence. The voice in your head is captaining the ship and will take you any direction, good or bad..
And there are many more. We will talk about nutrition, modern lifting systems, mobility, and recovery. Everything will be framed in a tactical way, like a soldier preparing for battle.
These tools overlap because they all answer the same question: how do I get the job done better, more efficiently, more safely, and with the ability to continually improve?
They are not extras. They are performance accelerators.
Up to this point I have been setting the stage. But I do not want this article to feel like just a trailer for what is coming. You came here for tools you can actually use. So before we wrap up, here is one tactical strategy you can run with tonight.
Most elite athletes have a bedtime routine. Think of it as a ritual. There is a cutoff point when the brain shifts from information coming in — phones, scrolling, constant input — to generation — thoughts, imagery, and mental processing. It’s a mental yet also, PHYSICAL switch.
This is not the ideal time for physical performance, but it is the perfect time for the brain. This is when your mind connects the dots from the day. Over time this becomes a quiet but powerful boost in performance that you will notice within just a few days.
Bedtime is the time to program and prep. For some athletes, that looks like prayer and devotion. For others it may be a Zen story, a short reflection, or a guided meditation app like Headspace. The content does not matter as much as the consistency of the routine.
It will become as automatic as painting eye black on your face before a football game.
If you aren’t sure of what you’d use and want an easy system to try tonight, start with this:
Three People. Think of three people who pop into your head, known or unknown, and send them a positive thought. It could be someone from your team or class, a mini crush from fourth period, a celebrity or movie character, or your grandparents. The only rule is they need to make you smile. What is cool is after a few days this will start becoming automatic and sometimes surprising. “I have not thought of that person in years.”
Three Wins. Name three things you did well today. Some days this is obvious, but on tough days this step is even more important. Find wins anywhere. Backing your car into a parking spot. Holding the door open for someone. Completing a piece of homework. Small or big, they all count.
Three for Tomorrow. Imagine three things that, if they happened tomorrow, would practically guarantee “today was a good day.” Go wild here. Winning the lottery. Owning a 120 foot yacht. Flying. Hitting every green light on the way to school. Draining a buzzer beater three. Absurd is fair game.
This short practice builds gratitude, resets your nervous system, and primes your brain to process the day. Try it tonight.
The Tactical Kit is not about small details. It is not about the last 5 percent of technique. These are big umbrella tools that cover your whole game and give you a stronger, more consistent base.
One of my favorite lectures is to high school seniors and young athletes in their early twenties. I tell them there are so many things you are not even thinking about at 18 to 25 years old that will matter later in life. My goal is not to make them care right away, but to make them aware so they have a head start when it does matter.
The Tactical Kit tools are like that, except you can act on them right now. They are accessible today, and if you use them, they give you a major step ahead of your competition.
In a sports culture where many athletes say “I just need to gain a few pounds,” I am telling you these performance add-ons are far more valuable. Very few outside the elite are using them.
My call to you is simple. Try them. Experiment. Look for results. Use them to build yourself as an athlete in a modern, cutting edge way.
These ideas are everywhere. You see them pop up in your feed. The difference now is that you stop scrolling and actually try them. Knowledge is not power anymore. Knowledge is everywhere. The power is in applying the tools. Very few athletes do that.
If you are serious about performance, this is your moment. The Athlete’s Tactical Kit is not theory. It is real, cutting edge tools that you can use right now.
Follow along with me for new ideas every week. Each one is designed to give you an edge and help you triple jump past your peers.
Pay attention. Try the tools. Build your kit. The athletes who start now will be the ones ready when it matters most.
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