How to Think like a Top Athlete: Training your Mind for Success (Sports Psychology Book 1)

We have all heard the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”. However, what many of us fail to even realize that this is a mantra that speaks less of actual physical capabilities and more of how mentally strong one is.

Many leading sports psychologist will tell you, mental toughness is really about having the ability to perform towards or above the upper range of your skill/talent, and do so consistently regardless of how competitive or difficult the circumstances are. Therefore, no matter how tough, daunting or brutal the circumstances are under which you have to compete, you will do so and outperform even yourself. Mental toughness means being able to withstand the pain and suffering even when your brain says you cannot push through; it is about being able to push fear and self-doubt aside to run a good time, have a win or even place extremely high in the competitive ranks.

Mental toughness is more important than physical capabilities, because if you believe you can do something then it will be accomplished, even if you have to spend years learning the sport. If your mind is not in the “I can” mood, then no matter how capable you are you will never be any good. Think of that subject you hated in school and thought you were no good at because you kept failing, then think back to when you realized you wouldn’t graduate until you passed it - did you graduate? This is an age old battle between mental strength and capabilities.

Mental toughness is when your entire state of being is physically drained but you mentally ignore your physical limitations, visualize the price and focus all your mental energies on attaining it. All this despite the odds stacked against you. It feels absolutely exhilarating when you are physically in tuned with the task. However, after all that physical stamina fades away, it is your mindset that carries you through to the end. That is when an athlete with truly find out what they are made of.

For this reason many athletes not only train their bodies, but also put effort into learning how to control how they think in the moment - the two are not mutually exclusive. Some athletes admit taking up meditation, yoga, walking, going for early morning or late evening runs just to play the big moment over and over in their mind. While doing this they learn to eliminate the thoughts that might have held them back and work on never having them resurface. They focus on what the aim is and even have long conversations with themselves. Reason being, if their mind wavers even the slightest, then this uncertainty can manifest in decreased performance.

The mind is a powerful thing and can easily be compared to any muscle in the body. The more you train it to disregard imposed limitations the more you will outperform said limitations. The more it is fed or trained to believe in those limitations, the less efficiently and successfully one will perform.

Essentially, being mentally tough is simply an ability and belief to outperform the limitations you place on your capabilities. Sports psychologists have long since been debating the role genetics, coaching and environment play in the consistence high performance of successful athletes. The one thing that they agree on is that these factors do play imperative roles, but without mental toughness successful would be limited.