Mental toughness

Mental toughness is the most important part of becoming a champion athlete, being able to push yourself through high limits and performing well under strenuous conditions. Most performance problems that athletes and other performers struggle with are not a result of poor conditioning, inadequate coaching or a lack of physical skills or technical ability. Sure, these physical or mechanical factors can sometimes cause sub-par play. However, when the heat of competition is turned up high, the individual performer or team that falls apart most often does so because of mental factors like runaway nervousness, intimidation, poor concentration, negativity, lack of confidence or an inability to let go of mistakes or bad breaks.

Yet how much time do you as an athlete, performer or coach spend on these sports psychology issues and developing the mind of a champion? If you’re a committed, dedicated performer or coach, then you work too hard and sacrifice too much to let your own or your team’s competitive performance be disrupted by mental errors. The mental toughness techniques in sports psychology are just what you need to get your performance or team back on the fast track!

To realize your full potential as an athlete or performer, you have to start training your mind as well as your body! Just as you develop physical skills and techniques, you must learn to develop these sports psychology mental skills. What are these so-called mental skills?

• Developing self-confidence and a positive, go-for-it attitude.
• Staying relaxed under pressure, in what I call “good nervous.”
• Focusing on what’s important and letting go of everything else.
• Rebounding from mistakes, bad breaks and failures.
• Handling last minute self-doubts and negative thinking.
• Using mental rehearsal for upcoming performances.
• Motivating yourself by setting personally meaningful and compelling goals.
• Recognizing mental traps and avoiding them.