Being an athlete requires strength, not just physical but also mental and emotional. Most athletes are physically strong, but are mentally and emotionally weak. Boosting someone’s mental and emotional strength can not be achieved overnight, it needs a slow, and step by step process. Training your mind and emotions is just like training your body, it requires a lot of effort, and a lot of time.
Here are some useful tips that you can use to improve your mental and emotional strength.
1. WORK WITH YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE
Self-confidence is one of the characteristics that an athlete should have. Because it will allow the person to trust himself and his abilities. Low self-confidence will make athletes doubt their abilities, thus affecting their performance. No matter how good an athlete is, if he lacks self-confidence, then he can never perform to his best.
To improve your self-confidence, you should consider these following tips:
- TRUST YOURSELF
You know what you are capable of, so trust your self. Don’t listen to others, they know nothing about you. - DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS
We are made to be different, that is why we are called individuals. Comparing yourself to others will just make you jealous, thus reducing your emotional stability. Just keep in mind that you are unique.
2. KEEP YOUR COOL EVEN UNDER PRESSURE
It is a good habit to keep yourself calm even under pressure, because anger and frustration will just disable you from thinking clearly. If someone is frustrating you, and you feel that your emotion is reaching it’s boiling point, then do what you want to do to prevent that.
Here are some tips to keep your emotions from erupting.
- Taking few deep breaths is really effective in these kind of situations
- If you can feel the emotions boiling, pause for a few seconds and think it through, what good will it do if you let that emotions out?
3. GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK
Mental strength doesn’t mean that you can deal with multiple problems at the same time, it means that you can deal with problems easily, without breaking down, and without being affected .If you ever felt like you can’t handle all of them anymore, then allow yourself and your mind to take a break.
Meditating is a good way to relax your mind and take away all the stress that you are facing.
4. LEARN TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH
Yes, the truth might sometimes hurt. But it is better to accept the truth than to lie to yourself, because lying to yourself will just hurt you in the end. Being able to accept the truth will also help you to improve your mental and emotional strength, because it will not only clear your mind from lies, it will also allow you to accept things that might hurt. By accepting the truth, it can also be an inspiration for an athlete to make himself better.
For example, you were beaten by a better opponent. If you will accept the truth that he was better than you, then you will be more determined to train harder to be better and beat him.
There are many great ways to improve your mind and emotions, and those are just few of the most effective ways to do it. Try to apply it on yourself and see how well you will improve.
I’m Craig Sigl,
Your Mental Toughness Trainer