You can spend hours and hours in the gym and out on the field, putting 300% into every practice but could you be sabotaging yourself without even knowing? Many times, we can be our biggest critic and our largest obstacle to success. Despite what you do physically, your mental attitude can make or break you. I see this happen all the time with athletes and am completely guilty of it myself.
While everyone around you is high fiving you are you kicking yourself because not everything went to plan? Are you unable to enjoy your accomplishments or do do you always think “I should have done better” or “I’ll be happy when I hit (whatever goal you have in mind)? Chances are, when you hit that goal, you’ll still feel the same way about your next goal. Yes, it’s fine to be realistic about what you need to work on. But what do you gain by beating yourself up? If you did everything you could to prepare yourself for your meet or game then why are you criticizing yourself over things that are out of your control? Do you even enjoy the journey of getting better? There is a big difference between being realistic about working harder and always being down on yourself. What do you have to gain from this type of mindset? Constantly beating yourself up doesn’t make you better at what you’re doing, it just reinforces negative patterns.
Part of being successful is the ability to envision yourself, well, being successful. Envisioning failure does nothing for you except making that failure a reality, despite your physical preparedness. It’s easy to work hard in the gym and on the field but completely ignore, or sabotage yourself, with the mental aspect of the game. After all, as Yogi Berra says, “Ninety percent of the game is half mental”.
Coach Lily
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