Why do you think some athletes can suffer defeat after defeat and never let it slow them down, while other players lose all confidence over one mistake? Here is the article of The Secret To Coming Back From Defeat.

The true answer is that there are many variables BUT, the most common reason for this difference can be summed up in one word: FEAR.

Particularly, fear of failure in all its forms. I often teach that the difference between elite athletes and lesser athletes is that elite athletes want to win and they might even hate losing…but they aren’t afraid of losing. Fear and Hate. That might seem like a subtle distinction but in reality, it is huge.

Think about this… there’s only 2 types of fear that us humans experience. 1. Fear of physical harm to our body. And 2. Fear of emotions. That’s right, you read it right…emotions. There’s nothing else to fear in life or sport.

I teach my athletes how to embrace all emotions (including the emotion of fear) because they are nothing more than chemical releases in the body causing a feeling. And that feeling will always go away.

When you aren’t afraid of emotions and you learn to master them instead of running or hiding from them, then you truly become fearless. Nobody can touch you.

So, in essence, athletes that easily bounce back from defeats are not afraid of their difficult emotions. They have somehow either learned naturally, or through the Mental Toughness Academy that they CAN allow themselves to experience emotions such as disappointment and sadness from losses but those emotions don’t define who they are.

Athletes who are afraid to fail are ultimately afraid to feel such emotions as embarrassment or inadequacy. But what are those emotions anyway? They are also nothing more than chemical releases in the body communicating to the person simply that THERE IS CORRECTIVE ACTION TO TAKE.

You see, the difference between the athlete who bounces back from defeat and the one who gets crushed by it is nothing more than a story in the athlete’s head. We are all story-tellers and the story we make up about any event is what determines the emotion we are going to feel.

So, bottom line. We’ve got to tell ourselves better stories about events in our sports career and WHAT IT MEANS to us. This is where parents and coaches with more years of experience can really lend a hand.

BUT…

Often, it’s not enough to give a young athlete a better story (perception) about their events. It’s got to get down into the cellular intelligence of the body…the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is the automatic mind that releases the chemicals of emotion.

This is why we are big believers in using guided visualizations to achieve that purpose and that’s why a guided visualization audio recording goes with and supports all lessons in our products.

Some athletes are gifted in that this all happens naturally and some are not. Without guidance and training, many athletes just wash right out of sports or quit in frustration. All athletes can learn how to be fearless!