Most players think mental toughness is a static phenomenon; that once you are mentally tough, you have it forever and you don’t have to do anything to keep it. This is an illusion and, unfortunately, a very common belief among tennis players. Mental toughness is a dynamic concept. I have mentioned in another article that mental toughness is like physical conditioning, anybody can become mentally tough but the key is to realize that, like with physical conditioning, you need to maintain it, otherwise you lose it. In my two books I describe the tools necessary to obtain mental toughness and to maintain it. Below please find a short explanation of the key factors. Your mind is constantly bombarded by information and unfortunately most of it is negative, full of doubt, fear and uncertainty. This makes players operate in a reactive state of mind, i.e. when facing a challenge they need to figure out what to do at that moment as a reaction to the circumstance. And since their mind is loaded with negativity, their response is usually negative or ineffective. Mental toughness implies preparedness, a pro-active approach. First, you need to diminish to the minimum the negativity within you. This is not an easy task and quick fixes are just band-aids that don’t stick and don’t help but increase the pressure you feel when facing a challenge. One of the most common quick fixes comes usually from those who want to help you but do not have the expertise on mental toughness. They use common sense ideas and pass them on to you in the form of instructions or motivational phrases such as: “Just forget about the last point, it is just one, and focus on the next one.” “Calm yourself down before playing the next point, otherwise you are going to lose several points in a row because you are so upset.” “Think positive out there and play your game.” “Enjoy your match, it is just a game.” “You don’t have anything to lose; the other player is a high seed and has all the pressure to win.” “Take more time between points, when you get nervous you rush a lot.” “Visualize yourself playing a great match, it will help you.” “Act like a winner and enjoy the match, that is all that matters to me.” “Fight to the end, if you quit before the match is over, you don’t give yourself a chance to win.” “Behave out there, don’t make a fool of yourself and embarrass us.” This kind of mental toughness “training” not only backfires but also is like a Walmart product that everybody uses…so it doesn’t give you the edge that you need against your competition. It lacks the know-how information, the “what to do exactly” to accomplish what you are requested to do. For instance, the instruction “Be positive out there and play your game” doesn’t give you a step-by-step process for you to become positive. Consequently, you end up fighting a big battle in your mind: your desire to be positive against all the negativity that has been programmed in your mind for years. Obviously, you will lose that battle and every time you do you have to find a way to explain to those who gave you the instructions the reasons why you couldn’t follow through with such a “straight forward and simple task”. After having to face this situation many times, not only you feel “stupid” but come to believe that there is definitely something wrong with you. Obviously, this jeopardizes your confidence. Sometimes, the instructions given come with some very logical ideas. For instance: “No matter what, use positive body language by keeping your shoulders back and holding a good posture”. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Then, the player goes and focuses on that instruction and looks very good for a while, particularly if he/she is winning. However, an interesting phenomenon is taking place inside that player’s heart and mind, and at one point, all that nice positive body language disappears and turns into an explosion of anger after making a simple mistake. Why? Because the most difficult part of us to control is inside us, not outside; and once we control the inside, the outside part of us is easy and much more consistent.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 01:15:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015