Three foundations of Mental Strength for Athletes

There is a secret weapon that professionals and elites have and it’s called mental strength. Unlike a perfect body, natural talent or an incredible skill-set, mental strength is something we can all learn.

But before you can dive into training your brain with mental skills like visualisation, self-talk and resilience, you must have strong foundations. These are the three foundations I recommend everyone works on as they begin their mental strength training.

1 - Find your why:

To build any mental structure we need to know why we are doing what we are doing. When the shit hits the fan we need to be aware as to why we are putting ourselves through something that may be extremely uncomfortable and even painful. Find your big, powerful why using this handy worksheet!

2 - Have clear goals:

Set yourself a big audacious goal (it might be a year away or more). Now set short and medium-term goals that will get you there. Goals are a great way to help you keep your eye on the prize. However, it’s important that they are yours and you are not doing this to impress someone else. Make them real for you and attainable. Make them challenging, exciting and emotional. There’s no such thing as unrealistic goals, just unrealistic time frames.

3 - Focus:

Focus is never lost, just misdirected. When you’re reading a book and suddenly realise you can’t remember the last three pages, it’s not that you’ve lost focus on your book, you’ve just moved your focus to something else. Focus is made up of commitment, positive images, distraction control and confidence. Take note of every bit of progress by tracking it. Progress builds confidence.

Next Steps:

If you’ve done the training but feel like your mind lets you down, join me this June for four live online masterclass sessions and see your mental strength soar.