Observations: Improving Your Mental Preparation

In this episode, a bite of Mental Toughness, David shares 3 tips to help you mentally prepare better and overcome mental game challenges that you encounter. Frequently he refers back to discussions in previous episodes and other case studies to get his point across. The strategies are very simple, yet practical and can help athletes of all ability levels.

Essential Learning Points From This Episode

• In supporting athletes with mental preparation developing self-awareness is key.

• Ask yourself the question: How do I enhance my self-awareness?

• We all get comfortable and fall into bad habits, reminding yourself of the controllables is a skill that you can develop.

• Having a good support team around you can help you challenge faulty expectations and unhelpful stories that you tell yourself causing havoc with your self-confidence.

• Most athletes visualise in one way or another, though often it isn’t much help.

• Systematic visualisation or imagery in a controlled manner seeking to improve the vividness of images can help you in many ways.  Examples include:

• For commitment – intensifying your focus on tasks (passing, shooting, driving, putting, batting) or daily routines in practice or when training in the gym.

• For confidence, improving your self-talk, body language, rhythm and timing.

• For control, seeing yourself bounce back from mistakes in a calm and composed manner.

• For challenges, when your B or C game shows up helping you deal with those situations in advance freeing you up when they occur.