Mental Athletes are Successful
According to Jack Lesyk, Phd. there are 9 key mental attributes that top performing athletes have.
Choose and maintain a positive attitude.
Staying positive helps keep energy and enthusiasm for the sport you choose. If you don't enjoy your sport, you won't enjoy the workouts required to be a top performer. Stay positive and keep a level of fresh focus.
Maintain a high level of self-motivation.
Real constructive, long-term motivation is really from within. Motivation through competition has an element of external factors, but at the core comes from your desire to win.
Set high, realistic goals.
The goals you set should push you beyond where you are now. The goals should be achievable, but not easily achieved. There are some schools of thought that suggest outrageous goals are helpful too. However, the outrageous goal should have many other obtainable goals that are on the path toward outrageous success.
Deal effectively with people.
Don't let people impact your focus. If a person leads you to lose focus deal with that person -- remove them as a distraction or address the disruptive behavior. Also, treat people fairly because you need people at different times. It might just be a person to workout with, talk with, or learn from. At some point any other person in life may become an asset to you -- so be careful about burning bridges or making enemies.
Use positive self-talk.
Self-talk it important, but avoiding negative self-talk is critical. Don't let your negativity overtake you. Tell yourself you will achieve your goals. Remind yourself that they are obtainable.
Use positive mental imagery.
Mental imagery builds focus and trains your mind a body for success. Seeing success in vivid imagination and working through the possible scenarios helps prepare you for the real success.
Manage anxiety effectively.
Anxiety is a time waster. In Phillipians 4:6 Jesus says, "Don't worry about anything." Stay focused on the positive, practice positive self-talk and don't let anxiety reduce your energy.
Manage their emotions effectively.
Emotions will happen during competition and in the day-to-day live. Expect the emotions and learn to work with them. Don't let the lows last long and embrace the positive emotions as fuel to push forward through difficult times.
Maintain concentration.
Distractions break focus. In many sports, athletes must maintain high concentration. In cycling, picking hte right line can make a huge difference. In baseball, hitters must watch the ball and see the spin to predict the movement. Any break in concentration at critical times can be disastrous. But small breaks in concentration are troublesome too. Learning to control focus and maintain concentration is as important in sports as physical fitness.
Choose and maintain a positive attitude.
Staying positive helps keep energy and enthusiasm for the sport you choose. If you don't enjoy your sport, you won't enjoy the workouts required to be a top performer. Stay positive and keep a level of fresh focus.
Maintain a high level of self-motivation.
Real constructive, long-term motivation is really from within. Motivation through competition has an element of external factors, but at the core comes from your desire to win.
Set high, realistic goals.
The goals you set should push you beyond where you are now. The goals should be achievable, but not easily achieved. There are some schools of thought that suggest outrageous goals are helpful too. However, the outrageous goal should have many other obtainable goals that are on the path toward outrageous success.
Deal effectively with people.
Don't let people impact your focus. If a person leads you to lose focus deal with that person -- remove them as a distraction or address the disruptive behavior. Also, treat people fairly because you need people at different times. It might just be a person to workout with, talk with, or learn from. At some point any other person in life may become an asset to you -- so be careful about burning bridges or making enemies.
Use positive self-talk.
Self-talk it important, but avoiding negative self-talk is critical. Don't let your negativity overtake you. Tell yourself you will achieve your goals. Remind yourself that they are obtainable.
Use positive mental imagery.
Mental imagery builds focus and trains your mind a body for success. Seeing success in vivid imagination and working through the possible scenarios helps prepare you for the real success.
Manage anxiety effectively.
Anxiety is a time waster. In Phillipians 4:6 Jesus says, "Don't worry about anything." Stay focused on the positive, practice positive self-talk and don't let anxiety reduce your energy.
Manage their emotions effectively.
Emotions will happen during competition and in the day-to-day live. Expect the emotions and learn to work with them. Don't let the lows last long and embrace the positive emotions as fuel to push forward through difficult times.
Maintain concentration.
Distractions break focus. In many sports, athletes must maintain high concentration. In cycling, picking hte right line can make a huge difference. In baseball, hitters must watch the ball and see the spin to predict the movement. Any break in concentration at critical times can be disastrous. But small breaks in concentration are troublesome too. Learning to control focus and maintain concentration is as important in sports as physical fitness.