The Nine Mental Skills of Successful Athletes

Well, when it comes to trying to be successful in life and action sports, I always look at the different ways to gain a mental edge over my competition  Clearly, successful athletes have mental clarity but more importantly have developed ways to constantly improve that mental edge needed to step outside of their comfort zone. Take a look at these suggestions by Jack Lesyk and see what you think. 

1. Attitude

Successful athletes:

• Realize that attitude is a choice.
• Choose an attitude that is predominately positive.
• View their sport as an opportunity to compete against themselves and learn from their successes and failures.
• Pursue excellence, not perfection, and realize that they, as well as their coaches, teammates, officials, and others are not perfect.
• Maintain balance and perspective between their sport and the rest of their lives.
• Respect their sport, other participants, coaches, officials, and themselves.

2. Motivation

Successful athletes:

• Are aware of the rewards and benefits that they expect to experience through their sports participation.
• Are able to persist through difficult tasks and difficult times, even when these rewards and benefits are not immediately forthcoming.
• Realize that many of the benefits come from their participation, not the outcome.

3. Goals and Commitment

Successful athletes:

• Set long-term and short-term goals that are realistic, measurable, and time-oriented.
• Are aware of their current performance levels and are able to develop specific, detailed plans for attaining their goals.
• Are highly committed to their goals and to carrying out the daily demands of their training programs.

4. People Skills

Successful athletes:

• Realize that they are part of a larger system that includes their families, friends, teammates, coaches, and others.
• When appropriate, communicate their thoughts, feelings, and needs to these people and listen to them as well.
• Have learned effective skills for dealing with conflict, difficult opponents, and other people when they are negative or oppositional.

5. Self-Talk

Successful athletes:

• Maintain their self-confidence during difficult times with realistic, positive self-talk.
• Talk to themselves the way they would talk to their own best friend
• Use self-talk to regulate thoughts, feelings and behaviors during competition.

6. Mental Imagery

Successful athletes:

• Prepare themselves for competition by imagining themselves performing well in competition.
• Create and use mental images that are detailed, specific, and realistic.
• Use imagery during competition to prepare for action and recover from errors and poor performances.

7. Dealing Effectively with Anxiety

Successful athletes:

• Accept anxiety as part of sport.
• Realize that some degree of anxiety can help them perform well.
• Know how to reduce anxiety when it becomes too strong, without losing their intensity.

8. Dealing Effectively with Emotions

Successful athletes:

• Accept strong emotions such as excitement, anger, and disappointment as part of the sport experience.
• Are able to use these emotions to improve, rather than interfere with high level performance

9. Concentration

Successful athletes:

• Know what they must pay attention to during each game or sport situation.
• Have learned how to maintain focus and resist distractions, whether they come from the environment or from within themselves.
• Are able to regain their focus when concentration is lost during competition.
• Have learned how to play in the “here-and-now”, without regard to either past or anticipated future events.

For the full article visit: http://www.sportpsych.org/nine-mental-skills-overview

Strengthening Your "Want To" as an Extreme Sports Athlete

Make Simple Tricks Look Cool

I really like this recommended ingredient for success which is referred to as strengthening your "want to." Everyone has a want-to list. If you are an extreme sports athlete your "want to's" probably include "I want to land that new trick" or "Win my first competition." Most times people's "want to's" are just lip service. They just say they want something but they don't work as hard as they can to get it. Plus, when they encounter a obstacle, they don't have the right attitude to view this setback or failure as feedback! I'm sure that we can all relate to this feeling or attitude at some point in time.

So do you think your "want to" is strong? Let's say your goal is to land a Tantrum to Blind on your wakeboard over the summer. One way to gauge the strength of your "want to" is by seeing how many times you give in to the little voice in your head. The voice that says, "I am too tired to hit the lake today. I don't want to get up early. My legs and arms are too sore to land such an advanced trick." If you let that little voice win, your "want to" is not strong enough. I know that this concept of mental toughness almost sounds too easy, but trust me it's not at first. But once your "want to" becomes part of your every day routine, you're just turned a huge mental road block that most never overcome and thus never truly reach their goals as amateur or professional action sports athletes.

So let me leave you with this.... "How strong is your "want to?" Do you really want something or just say you do?"

Quick mental tricks to keep you from burning out.

Let's face it, he all get burnt of from time to time, even in the awesome world of action sports. Check out these tips to help you to stay motivated an ulitmately help you to avoid burning out out which would significantly diminish my day to day progression whether it be skateboarding, wakeboarding, snowboarding or whatever action sport you participate in on a regular basis. Upping your skills to the next level drop dramatically the minute that you let burn out set in for too long.

Don't Let Burnout Take You Off Your Game!

Sometimes, you’re tired after work. Or you want to hang out with your buddies instead of team practice. All athletes—from the weekend soccer player to the pro action sports athelete—need motivation to remain engaged when it comes to training, practice and a full season of competition. Try these tips to keep yourself in the right frame of mind:

1) Set up a schedule: It’s simple physics—objects in motion tend to stay in motion. If you have a routine, the momentum of that routine is bound to keep you going. “In advance, set up a schedule for what you’re going to do that week. And check in with yourself, honestly, to see what you've accomplished,” says clinical health psychologist Dr. Jayme Albin. Commitment and motivation will come from holding yourself accountable. It’s that whole you-have-to-look-at-yourself-in-the mirror thing. 

2) Keep your eye on the prize: If you want to run a five-minute mile, it’s not going to magically happen after a few sessions. “You’ll need to remind yourself of the overall goal so you don’t get discouraged,” says sports psychologist Dr. William Wiener. Some professional athletes post motivating statements in their shower wall. Try writing down your ultimate goal and keep it in your wallet so you’re reminded of it every time you pay for something (like donuts). “You also want to make smaller goals so you can reach them and measure them in a timely manner.” So, make a smaller goal to run every day after work this week. Then, when you've done that, make another smaller goal that will help you reach that five-minute mile. 

3) Recognize you’re not perfect: “It’s hard to maintain perfect motivation,” says Dr. John F. Murray, a clinical and sports psychologist and author the Mental Performance Index. You may miss practice or skate sesh due to something out of your control but don’t let that stop you from getting back into it. “Most people do things to avoid failure or achieve success,” Murray points out. Recognizing that falling out of your sport could be a failure and getting back into it could bring you success. 

4) Make sure you’re happy: “You have to enjoy the sport, if you don’t then why are you in it?” challenges Dr. Michael Fraser, a clinical psychologist and chief of staff at Behavioral Associates in New York City. “If you’re doing it to meet someone, that’s fine, but make sure you’re being social. If you’re doing it for athletic reasons, measure the league and make sure the team’s ability matches yours.” You’ll be more likely to blow off practice if you’re in the wrong sport or league. 

(Portions of article courtesy of Lisa Freedman)

Face Your Fears... It's Good for You!

What almost kills you makes you stronger.Extreme sports and dangerous physical challenges boost your mental makeup, finds a new study in the Journal of Health Psychology.

Australian researchers defined extreme sports as those activities that involve “the potential destruction of the physical self”—basically, your ass is on the line. (Think BASE jumping, waterfall kayaking, and big-wave surfing.)

Travis Rice during the Art of Flight

Here’s the good news: You don’t have to jump off a building or surf Mavericks in order to experience the fulfillment outlined in the research. Whether you’re quitting your job to start a new business or simply signing up for a Tough Mudder, if the activity scares the hell out of you, fighting through that fear will provide psychological benefits similar to those observed in the study, Brymer says. Just don’t be reckless. “Do your homework, and make sure you’re physically and mentally prepared.” 

After a series of interviews with 15 experienced extreme athletes—that is, not dead—the study authors found that overcoming intense fear leads to “transformational” changes in confidence and sense of self. Put simply, overcoming physical terror increases life-fulfillment and psychological well-being, the study shows.

When you get down to it, fear stems from a lack of faith in yourself and your ability, explains study coauthor Eric Brymer, Ph.D., a psychologist at Queensland University of Technology. And so when you defeat your fears, you’re proving to yourself that you’re capable—an experience that has major psychological advantages that will ripple throughout your life, he adds.

(Courtesy of Markham Heid http://news.menshealth.com/why-extreme-sports-make-you-a-better-man/2013/04/14/) 

The 3 D's to Sports Motivation

Prime motivation means putting 100% of your time, effort, energy, and focus into all aspects of your sport. It involves doing everything possible to become the best athlete you can be.

Prime motivation begins with what I call the three D’s. The first D stands for direction. Before you can attain prime motivation, you must first consider the different directions you can go in your sport. You have three choices: stop participating completely, continue at your current level, or strive to be the best athlete you can be.

The second D represents decision. With these three choices of direction, you must select one direction in which to go. None of these directions are necessarily right or wrong, better or worse, they’re simply your options. Your choice will dictate the amount of time and effort you will put into your sport and how good an athlete you will ultimately become.

The third D stands for dedication. Once you've made your decision, you must dedicate yourself to it. If your decision is to become the best athlete you can be, then this last step, dedication, will determine whether you have prime motivation. Your decision to be your best and your dedication to your sport must be a top priority. Only by being completely dedicated to your direction and decision will you ensure that you have prime motivation.

To read the full article check out: http://drjimtaylor.com/2.0/sports/sports-motivation-to-succeed/