Master The Mental Skills

Goal Setting:

• The key is to identify which goals are the most important to you and then write them down and display them in a location where you can look to them for motivation. Then set your sights on strategically taking your goals one at a time. Step by step. Day by day.

Mental Imagery: Visualize to Actualize

• Imagining optimal performance is accomplished by creating or re-creating the whole or part of a sporting event or meeting.
• Imagery is one of the most powerful performance weapons we have in our mental arsenal. Mastering this mental skill will increase the probability of success in sports and business.

Self Talk: Feed the Good Wolf

• One wolf is positive and beneficial, while the other wolf is negative and destructive. These two wolves fight for control over us. Which wolf is going to win? The one that you feed.
• The first step in feeding the good wolf is learning to identify your own negative and self-defeating thoughts. 
• The mind guides action. If we succeed in regulating our thoughts, then this will help our behavior.
• Confidence: Flex Your Confidence Muscle

• Confidence is crucial for athletic and business success. Specifically, self-confidence is a strong belief in one's skills, preparation, and abilities.
• Demonstrated performance (reflecting on previous successes and high points) and proper preparation (in terms of quality and quantity) are the two primary ways to gain confidence. 
• Train like you are No.2 (train your talent), but compete like you are No.1 (trust your talent).

Focus: A Champion is a Now-ist

• Focus, or selective attention, is your dedication to a task at hand to the exclusion of all else. Full presence produces seamless fusion- you become your performance.
• Through increased self-awareness and mental discipline, you can train hour mind to remain squarely in the present.
• Panic is a harmless experience that exists only in your mind, and by extension in your body. 
• The more prepared you are for competition, the less you will fear it.

Breath Control: Breathe Life Into Your Performance

• Your breathing can become shallow when you feel angry or anxious. When this occurs, oxygen intake diminishes and muscle tension increases. Proper breathing helps expel the stress and tension from your system and brings you back into the present.
• Extraneous thoughts fog up your focus. Your mind becomes more powerful as it becomes quieter and clearer.

Mental Toughness: Building Your Inner-Strength Bank Account

• Mental toughness is the ability to remain positive and proactive in the most adverse of circumstances. Mental toughness is built on doing the thing that is hard over and over again, especially when you don't feel like doing it.

Enjoyment: Humor is the Best Sports Medicine

• Sports are meant to be played and enjoyed, enhanced by fun and humor whenever possible. This mindset can also be applied to businesses. It is critical to not let the pressure of competition become greater than the pleasure of competition. 

Body Language: Make a Golden Impression

• Warriors don't slouch into battle. Your own body language reveals your thoughts and feelings to others, and other people's body language reveals their thoughts and feelings of you. 

Thoughts To Think About:

• It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief comes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. Attitude is the key source for peak performance. 
• "A single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk over and over again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."