Mental conditioning is a top priority for athletes like physical conditioning, as it can make or break your sporting performance. Mental conditioning is where you should focus on what to do and do it without distraction, even under pressure. Here are a few tips from Dr Bruce Grossinger for developing mental toughness in yourself as an athlete.
Set Goals That Are Specific And Measurable
Goals for athletes should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART). For example, “I will run a marathon” is not a goal, because it’s too broad and vague. Such a mantra doesn’t really tell what you want to accomplish in sports or when to do so. A better sports goal would be something like “I will run the Chicago Marathon in October 2019.”
Keep your sports goals realistic, so that they don’t set up unrealistic expectations for yourself or others around you. Don’t set out on a sporting adventure with no money saved up, just because someone told them they could do it if they wanted badly enough. It’s important for athletes’ mental health – and not just in the physical aspect!
Always Control Your Emotions
If you allow emotions to control your athletic performance, then it will be tougher to achieve great success in your chosen sport. So when faced with any emotional issue, athletes must learn how to control their feelings. You can use them as sports motivation, rather than letting them get the best of you.
By recognizing that emotions are just temporary while sporting goals are forever, athletes can train themselves not only how not to let their feelings get in the way, but also how to use those feelings as positive motivation when needed!
Be Accountable To Yourself At All Times
To start being accountable to yourself as an athlete, you must set your goals and write them down. Doing so can make you track your athletic progress towards achieving them. Then, once you’ve reached a sports goal, reward yourself with something small – like going out for coffee, or giving yourself an extra half hour of video games before bedtime!
Believe In Yourself, Even When Others Don’t
If you believe in yourself, you can achieve anything in sports. The essence of believing in yourself as an athlete is a great key, because if you don’t have faith in yourself and your exceptional athletic abilities, then why would anyone else? And who wants to be a mediocre athlete, anyway?
Respond Positively To Failure
Finally, as an athlete, remember that you will not always achieve victory all the time. And sometimes, certain things in your sporting journey that go wrong will be beyond your control.
However, if you want to succeed in any sport, Dr Bruce Grossinger believes that you should learn how to respond positively when situations don’t go your way. To respond positively after any failure, you should learn to take full responsibility for all aspects of yourself.
This is needed so that when something goes wrong, there isn’t room left for blame from others. after all, nobody else has control over yourself as an athlete except well, just yourself – so why not use this factoid wisely?
