Failure to adapt
I have been struggling a lot to use my brain to recognize significant failures in my fencing where the main symptom is often me repeating the same mistake over and over again - even as often as multiple touches in a row.
The most recent example is someone who I fence regularly in foil has started winning against me despite me knowing that I can beat them consistently with absence of blade attacks. But I stopped doing it because I lose focus and don't really think about what I'm doing (before and during a bout) - my style naturally shifted over time and I wasn't cognizant enough to stay consistent with a winning strategy. In this case I started overextending and getting parried a lot, leading to my demise. If only I had consciously recognized that I kept getting parried with every single attack could I then begin to adjust by adding disengages or switching back to absence of blade.
Basically, I'm having trouble focusing and consciously recognizing my mistakes during fencing. And it's frustrating because I find that it's such a difficult mental muscle to improve. I consistently forget to think. Always reverting back to muscle memory which often fails me.
I know full well that even tiny adjustments to style can lead to points going the other way, but it's so hard to will change like that into existence. The brain just wants to do what it's comfortable with, even if it's incorrect.
How do I get better at not mentally falling asleep at the wheel? Are there tried a true methods for athletes to work this mental muscle?