6-2-17
I have been spending a lot of time discussing mental toughness, what it means and how to build it and recently a friend of mine’s daughter who played at Stanford wrote a great article (https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/health/performing-pressure-lesson-vulnerability/), about her experience with mental toughness while she was at Stanford.
Ninety percent of our thoughts are Fear Based, so when athletes melt under the pressure of the sport they say they love we know it comes from being afraid. I ask athletes all the time what is there to fear? So how do we overcome those fears?
Because our fears are worth billions of dollars most of what we see on television, our smart devices and our music and all that is ingrained in us is negative.
Because the subconscious mind drives most of our thoughts, beliefs, decisions and actions, we must calibrate our minds and be doing something positive, creating hopeful thoughts, surrounding ourselves with positive people. Other things we can do to build mental toughness: Meditation, Visualization, Positive Affirmation.
Meditation – Focus is a choice. I help athletes focus on what they can control in this moment. Locking into the present moment and focusing on what they can control unlocks their full potential when you need it the most.
Visualization – Confidence is an action and Belief is a skill. Visualizing yourself taking confident action has powerful effects on your ability to take confident action in real life. Visualizing gives you the mental reps you need to break through barriers and overcome obstacles in real life.
Positive affirmation – Greatness is a decision. We all have a coach in our heads. Is that coach seeking greatness or afraid to fail? Positive affirmations rewire your inner coach so you can unleash the greatness that is already inside of you.
Mental toughness is great for sports, but it is even more important in life. We get in life, what we create or what we tolerate. Expectations manifest into creation, it directs our intention. What we think about is what we create. The input we feed our mind controls our thoughts.
“Happiness has to do with your mindset, not with outside circumstance.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free