The mind of a champion starts long before the runner crosses the finish line in first place
I decided to write a blog this week because I wanted to be a bit more detailed about the topic this week. Hope you enjoy and thank you for reading!
Being a champion on any level is no easy task but to be a champion on the highest level takes tremendous effort and focus. A champion possesses many skills that allow them to compete at the highest level. I want to share with you what I think are some of top skills required to be a champion and how they may help you achieve your desired goals.
What separates the best from the rest? Is it Genetics? How out the environment? Or could it be Nature? I believe these things all play a role in reaching your full potential but they are not the most important. Research shows that it is the emotional skills that set these athletes apart from the rest. Champions tend to have a better control over their emotions than their competitors.
Self-confidence is the single most important skill to reach your potential as an athlete. Without this skill all the other skills I will discuss are useless. Self-confidence is the belief in your ability to overcome the pressure and threats of the external environment. Make the decision to like and believe in yourself. I know that this is a difficult task for many of you but this is the first and most important step.
Self-confidence has to be fueled internally. I believe that a coach or teammate can give you a spark at times but you are the core reactor of your self-confidence. It has to be about more than winning and losing. Looking for too much external recognition can take away from your internal voice. I like to call it the personal quest. Many people think that athletes such as Usain Bolt and Kobe Bryant are arrogant but they have it wrong. Their self confidence in their ability is unwavering. They are willing to take on all comers because they want to prove to themselves that they are the best at what they do. And they love what they do. If you are not on that personal quest, then why are you competing? If you imagine a picture in your mind of exactly how you would like to be, and you keep that image long enough you will eventually become that image.
Passion is another important skill for any athlete but especially a champion. Their sport is not a job to them. It is something they love. I believe that you can only produce great work when you are doing something you love. Passion is what allows athletes to push themselves outside of the ‘comfort zone’. I like to call it the ‘outer limits’ because once you get there you don’t know if there is any coming back.
Passion is just not about loving to race; you have to love the experience that gets you to the race. Enjoy the easy and tough practice- loving your teammates. Believing that what you do is making a difference. It’s also the ability to set meaningful goals. I believe that setting meaningful goals give you clarity and purpose. Meaningful goals are about more than winning and losing.
Optimism is more than just seeing the glass half full or half empty. I’m talking about having a positive disposition when things are not always going as well as planned. Optimism can be used to deal with stress. We will always have stress in our lives but we can control the way we view stress and the way we respond to stress.
Champions maintain that positive mindset even when things are going rough. Every thought or action can strengthen or weaken your resolve. There is always a lesson or benefit in having a bad or subpar performance. Champions know how to focus on what they need to do the next race rather than wasting all of their time and energy focusing on the negative and mistakes. When we have disappointment, we feel hurt but having a positive attitude allows us to choose whether we will have a positive or negative attitude.
Mental toughness could arguably be what I view as the second most important skill. It goes with optimism a bit because it deals with being able to be resilient after letdowns and disappointments. This skill is so critical because I have seen so many athletes crippled from one bad race because they don’t know how to deal with defeat. It is a survival skill.
Champions can have a bad race or start off a race poorly and still win because they don’t panic. They have learned to control their emotions and produce the right emotional response. Failure is just a chance to start anew. Failure is something to be respected and it is part of the journey. We have all seen people race poorly at a sectional race then the next week they come back and are a top competitor at state. They possess the mental toughness to bounce back from a bad performance. Champions learn to let go of failures and use them as stepping stones for the future.
The last thing I will talk about is focus. The goal of focusing is the ability to knowing how to direct your energy to the task at hand. This can be difficult for a high school student because of all the distractions and stresses they deal with on a daily basis. Focus for an athlete is becoming mindful. You are in the ‘zone’ and are one track minded at that time. This is the point where all champions can see is gold. They can’t fathom second place because the moment they do then they’ve lost their focus and the edge they possess over their competition.
Becoming a champion is much more than just showing up and running. It requires a great deal of emotional and mental energy on daily basis. As I was writing this blog I realized that all of these qualities apply just as much to a coach as they do to an athlete. Good luck to all of the soon to be Champions this weekend at sectionals!