Mental Toughness Thoughts

This afternoon I was going through a notebook I have on mental toughness and came across the following.  I'm not sure where the notes stem from, just a collection of thoughts:

1. Mistake Management--you will never outperform your own self-belief system.
2. The great ones are great because of how they react to mistakes
3. Players need a mental toughness routine
4. Self-Talk is either your best friend or your worst enemy
5. What would show up if your self-talk was projected onto a big screen for all to see?
6. Law of Dominant Thought--brain/ body doesn't distinguish between do/ don't

The Battlefield of the Mind

It's been said, "The mental is to physical as 4 is to 1." The longer we coach, the more we know that to be true.  I recently listened to Dr. Jason Selk, Director of Mental Training for the St. Louis Cardinals talk about their mental training.

One statement made me really stop and think about our team's mental training.  Selk said that players will not, "outperform or underperform their self-image very long."

Self-image is largely determined by how we talk to ourselves.  Therefore, to increase performance we must help our players improve their self-image.

7 Qualities Elite Performers Share

Listed below from Juan Pablo Favero are seven qualities that elite, mentally tough players share. We are sharing this with our team today. The thoughts in the parentheses are specific thoughts for our players:
1. A strong desire to succeed (must first define success)
2. Positivity in the face of challenges and pressure (what does this look like?)
3. Controlling the "controllables" mentally (what are some examples)
4. A high commitment/ balanced attitude approach (what is your commitment)
5. A high level of belief in self and team (describe this)
6. Process oriented thinking (give an example for practice)
7. Positive communication and body language (give a situation and example)

What Tough Players Thrive On:

Tough players thrive on the following:
They make no excuses.
They take responsibility for their actions.
 They believe in preparation with a purpose.
 They fight off all temptations that interfere with their goals, and with their application they apply their values and principles to their purpose.

John Havlicek--beating people mentally, not physically

John Havlicek of the Boston Celtics, was a true genius when it came to using conditioning as a weapon. His goal was to get his opponent to give up, to stop overcoming fatigue, to stop pushing himself. Havlicek saw it as a matter of who gives up first. "You'll pass out before you're overworked, but most people don't know that," he once told Orlando Magic senior executive vice president Pat Williams. "They think they're overworked, so they stop. They could have kept going, but they didn't. They weren't beat physically; they were beat mentally."

--Taken from Values of the Game by Bill Bradley

Importance of Practice and Game Carryover

De La Salle Football—on practice preparation

“It’s a game of technique, repetition and getting it right in practice before you run it in a game. Discipline. The game is played aggressively, it’s hard and it’s tough.”

“You’re going to play just how you practice. You’re not some comic book hero who’s going to put on a cape on game day and go out there and star. It doesn’t work that way. You watch way too much TV if you believe that."

Lance Armstrong Innermost Strength

There's a point in every game (practice) where a player encounters his real opponent and understands it's himself.

In my most painful moments, I am my most curious and wonder each time how I will respond.

Will I discover my innermost weakness, or will I seek out my innermost strength?

Teaching Mental Toughness

Teaching Mental Toughness

Concentration is the ability to focus on what’s important and let go of everything else.
Identify the most important thing to think about at any given time they’re on the court.
The key to effective concentration is always being in the present moment. A lot of athletes “time travel”—they think about something that happened earlier in the game or what will happen next if they miss their shot.
Everybody loses focus at one time or another, but it doesn’t’ necessarily have to hurt their performance. What hurts performance is when yo lose your focus and don’t bring it back right away. You hang on to the mistake you just made, and that gets you into trouble. Your ability to stay calm under pressure and rebound from setback is a direct result of your ability to concentrate.
One of the biggest mistakes players make is to focus on stuff they have no direct control over, like how good their opponent is, playing time, officiating, things people in the stands are saying, and so on. When you focus on those uncontrollable, three things happen: Your stress level goes up, you get tight and nervous and your confidence level drops.
The best way for coaches to combat a team’s misplaced focus is to define those uncontrollable, collect them into a list and post them in the locker room.
These thoughts apply to all of us as coaches and players.
--From “Teaching Toughness” by R.J. Anderson

Thoughts From The Navy Seals

Navy Seals

1 It pays to be a winner.
2. Individuals can not survive in war.
3. How am I going to trust you to cover me if you can't do the simplest of things.
4. Pay now or pay later.
5. Every man is a volunteer.
6. Attention to detail can never be taken for granted.
7. Simply showing up and paying attention isn't enough.
8. Come here to be challenged.
9. No way to prepare for a kick in the balls.
10. The reward is pain for failure. Put out or get out.
11. Up to each to prove they want to they want to be there.
12. Focus all energy and power to complete the tasks.
13. Stress and exhaustion causes a loss of self confidence.
14. Teamwork is the only solution for success.
15. Do it right the first time.
16. Cannot accept a defeatist attitude.
17. Everybody works together and everybody works equal things aren't that bad.
18. Can't hold back. Overcome the mental barriers.
19. Body language tells stories.
20. Contest of commitment and dedication.
21. Winning is a conscious decision.

Happiness Is A State of Mind

“Often we are inclined to blame our environment or our particular situation for our failures and unhappiness when actually we should be pointing the finger at ourselves. Chances are that we would be just as unhappy in any environment, for as has often been said, happiness is a state of mind.”

--Tex Winter

Process of Mental Toughness

MENTAL TOUGHNESS A WAY OF LIFE

• Achievement rarely comes without enormous hardships
• Keeping your head, when others are losing theirs
• Goal for mental toughness is a conscious decision a person makes in order to increase their opportunity for success.
• Bob Costas—the anticipation of what “might” happen is almost as important as what actually happens.
• Mental toughness is a skill, not a talent. It is learned and developed.
• It is a process of using your mind to gain the most from your abilities.