Being an athlete isn't just
about the physicality and conditioning of your body to be better and stronger than
the opposing team/opponent. It also involves
training your mind to be mentally tough. It takes a lot to be a part of
competitive events and sports. With yelling fans, coaches harping down your back
and teammates depending on you, how do you maintain a steady and focused
attitude that allows for peak performance? What is being mentally tough exactly
and how do you develop it? Dr. David Yukelson of Penn State University examines
these questions and has developed the answer that all athletes should consider
before any competition or workout.
What is mental toughness? Mental toughness is having the natural or
developed psychological edge that enables you to: cope better than your
opponents with many demands that are placed on you as a performer (competition,
training, lifestyle). A key component of mental toughness is learning how to
condition your mind to think confidently and be able to overcome
frustration/self critical negativity. Personally for me as soon as a coach or
teammate points out my mistakes I have made, I immediately shut down and begin
to dwell on those mistakes in my mind and begin to psyche myself out as a
player. In order to prevent this from happening and develop mental toughness
Yukelson lists six steps athletes should consider preparing themselves mentally
before competitions or workouts.
1. Mental toughness starts
with the right attitude and state of
mind (know what your core confidence is all about) -Confidence comes in
knowing you are prepared and having an unshakable belief in your abilities to
reach intended goals.
2. Program your mind for success ahead of time with positive
affirmation and expectations -Expect the best from yourself; affirm what you
are going to do to be successful -Confident goal oriented statements starting
with “I will, I can, I am going to…” -Focus on the things you want to occur,
other than things that might go wrong -Visualize yourself performing
(confident, energized, full focus)
3. Routinize your behaviors: develop a systematic pre-performance
routine that clicks on desired mental emotional state of mind (practice,
pre-game, competition).
4. Poise and composure: Learn how to let go of mistakes quickly if
things do not go the way you want. -Don’t allow frustration to undermine your
confidence/focus
5. Take control of negative self talk: Reframe “stinking thinking”
into positive task oriented suggestions.
6. Look at failure as a stepping stone for future achievement.
-Champions approach to overcome adversity: Play to win as opposed to fear of
making mistakes -He missed 9000 shots, missed 26 game winning shots, lost 300
games –Michael Jordan, NBA 6 time world champion “I failed over and over, that
is why I succeed.” Be a difference maker, step up and have a peak performance
when it matters most.
Being mentally tough isn’t a
cake walk; in fact it takes a lot of internal strength and focus to maintain
the right state of mind. By examining these steps and applying them to your
life it can help individual’s confidence and allow for peak mental performance.
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