What I Wish I Knew As An Athlete
When I was an athlete I had no idea that there was an entire aspect of my game I was leaving out.
I was practicing regularly. I was lifting weights. I was running and staying fit. I was eating and hydrating. I stretched regularly. All of the physical aspects were dialed in as best I could.
But there was one area of my game I completely left out.
I dedicated 0% of my time to mental training.
I never even had a coach that mentioned how important the mental side of the game was.
So I did all the physical things and yet I still wasn’t confident in myself. I wasn’t able to block out distractions, or manage my emotions, or even mentally prepare effectively.
And it showed in the way I performed. I was inconsistent, anxious, and unfocused.
As a sport psychology professional I can now reflect back and see what I didn’t know when I was an athlete.
What I wish I knew as an athlete:
I wish I knew how to recognize my doubts and replace them with positive thoughts. I didn’t realize that what I was thinking had a direct impact on my performance. So changing my doubts to something positive and intentional would have made a huge difference in the way I showed up and performed.
I wish I knew visualizing how I wanted to play would help my performance immensely. As an athlete I would visualize (even though I didn’t realize I was doing it), but I didn’t do it consistently. It wasn’t a part of my routine. And I wasn’t optimizing my visualization for best results.
I wish I knew that there were a lot of things out of my control and it wasn’t helpful to focus on those things. I didn’t know how to refocus my mind and keep my focus on what was in my control. And this caused me to come up with excuses, blame, get frustrated, and play distracted.
I wish I knew how to mentally prepare in a way that allowed me to perform at my best. I used to do what everyone else was doing. Listen to hype music and think about the game. But looking back now, being more calm and steady is what works best for me. Everyone is different in how they mentally prepare and I didn’t realize that.
I wish I knew how to be resilient through challenges. There were times where I would focus on the obstacle and honestly dwell on it. I’d feel frustrated and want to feel bad for myself because I was facing that challenge. But, it would have served me a lot better to focus on the solution. Acknowledging the obstacle and finding a way to overcome it.
Luckily, the mental side of sport has become something that more athletes are familiar with. But there is still a lack of integration into athletes' regimen.
This is why I’ve created The 5 Skills Mentally Strong Athletes Have Workshop.
This is a free team workshop where I will cover 5 key mental skills needed to elevate their mindset.
We will cover ALL of the things I wish I knew as an athlete. We go into each skill and how your athletes can implement these skills into their game.
So years down the road, your athletes won’t be wishing they knew these skills when they were playing like I am now.
And on the field they’ll have the mental skills needed to have mentally strong minds. They will:
Feel confident when the pressure is on.
Keep their mind in it when they are down in the game. So a comeback is inevitable.
Shake it off and get the next play when a ref makes a bad call.
Show up ready to bring their best, consistently.
Come together as a team to overcome the challenges they are faced with.
Ready to build a team of mentally strong athletes?
Schedule a workshop for your team!
In this workshop I teach them how to put in the mental reps to build mentally strong minds!