mental toughness tips

In sports as in life, people admire success. Often times success even becomes a measurement tool for one's overall self-worth in the world.

Unfortunately, this misinformed infatuation by society has lead to many athletes and individuals feeling unhappy and even as a failure when they fall short of reaching society's standard of success. More specifically, what I've encountered at SPMI is that the struggle of chasing success begins at a young age when the athlete starts gaining attention and recognition from his or her coaches, parents, team, and anyone around the sport.

One of the greatest mental battles athletes face is the ability to stay motivated and not give up when times get tough. Too often, athletes find themselves training less. One reason for this is due to a major shift in the athlete's perception of training and their goals.

This unproductive pattern looks something like this: 

It's 2019 and you may think that you have your New Years Resolution plans all figured out. But why is it that so many athletes and individuals fall short of achieving their resolutions? This can be explained by looking at one simple, yet often misinterpreted concept called habits and rewards. First off, many athletes, coaches, and parents underestimate just how many days in a row are required in order to turn a positive action into a habit. In fact, when we surveyed over 100 athletes as to how many days are required to make a habit, most said 21 days and some even said as low as 3 days!

Getting stuck is a common trend among many athletes striving to be the best. Athletes work hard and see significant improvement throughout their early stages of competing only to find themselves in performance limbo. So why do many athletes fall short of their full potential? The best answer can be explained through 2 simple formulas.

Formula 1: Talent X Effort = Skill

Formula 1 applies to every athlete who is striving to get better. Although this formula is essential for enhanced performance, it is limited in achieving one's full potential. 

One major challenge many athletes face when going after their goals is confronting expectations from others. Athletes may hear things such as, "You're way better than that player" or "I know you can do this." Although, it may come off as positive on the outside. On the inside, athletes often become nervous. This is because many top athletes are perfectionists by nature, excelling academically, and expecting the same consistent improvements in their respective sports. The setback from this is that in sports, athletes deal with many more variables that are outside of their control.

One of the biggest mistakes athletes make is the mistake of giving away their power. Think of power as an actual ball of energy that you carry with you wherever you go. This ball of energy is filled with confidence, positivity, maximum focus, and an ability to keep fighting no matter what happens. When athletes lose focus, what they are doing is passing their ball of energy or "power" to someone or something else.

Below are some examples of when athletes and teams give away their power. 

http://www2.getcharly.com/en/embed/59dbe2a7b6231916169973f0

Checkout the latest Mental Toughness Chat with Former Top 5 tennis player in world Jimmy Arias. Jimmy arias is also a commentator for The Tennis Channel. Here we discuss topics from a players point a view and a broadcaster point of view such as struggling with confidence, choking, mental toughness skills, and some of Jimmy's toughest losses such as his semifinal match at the 1983 US Open against Stefan Edberg. 

Champion athletes understand that in order to perform to their full potential they must stay focused on the right objective. However, when the pressure becomes greater, the mind naturally wants to go elsewhere. Thoughts of potential mistakes, disappointments, and other forms of worry start compiling in the athlete's mind depleting the athlete's focus from the present task.

Below is one tip I strongly recommend athletes practice. This tip will help restructure your thought patterns into successful performances under pressure.

At SPMI, I have worked with athletes in over 35 sports. One key component every sport focuses on is the emphasis on performance data. For example, in baseball, players are focused on areas such as batting average or ERA. In Tennis, players are tracking first serve percentage, number of unforced errors, Golfers are big on shooting low scores, and greens in regulation. No matter the sport, data measures performance and success. But is performance data a good thing to focus on during an athlete’s performance?