Unlocking Peak Performance
Living the Mental Training Principles
Learning about mental training is the first step to mental strength. Awareness activates your ability. We covered the four pillars and shared how each of them can help you perform at a high level. Then we challenged you to apply them to your life. To get stronger and be your best when the pressure is on you need to rep out the training. Just like any other skill, mental skills require practice in order to make them automatic in your daily life. You can practice in two ways. The first one is being more aware of when the skills apply in your day to day life. Just noticing when your mind is not in the present moment or when you are focused on something that is out of your control can help you refocus or reframe — that is a mental training rep. The second way to practice is to intentionally set up mental training challenges. Below are a few ways to keep practicing because we know that repetition leads to retention.
Winning Wisdom: As a human being choosing to perform, you are free to fail. You are free to make mistakes. You can work on this skill daily. Think through your day and reflect on areas where you have made mistakes, failed, or had a setback. Review those situations from the lens that you are a human and any mistake, failure, or setback is an opportunity to learn and move forward. Also, you can look at the past and future and search for opportunities to put yourself out there; opportunities to get vulnerable or take action even when you don’t know the outcome. Take action no matter how you feel. You can always analyze and adjust in the future.
Laser Focus: You are always living laser focus whether you are aware of it or not…the question is what are you focused on. To live with laser focus, check in throughout your day to see what you are focusing on. Are you focused on what is in your control? If not, use your check in as an opportunity to refocus. You can also take some time out of your day to work on your focus with a 5–10 minute meditation where you focus on your breath. When you meditate, focus on your breath and be aware of your thoughts. If you notice your mind has wandered away from your breath, simply refocus. Doing exercises like meditation on a regular basis will improve your awareness and focus.
Supreme Confidence: Confidence is an action. The way to build confidence is to take action. No matter what is going on — no matter how you feel, take action. As you take action throughout your day, you will get much further than you think you can. Even if you feel fear or anxiety, you can take action knowing you will be ok. Unless there is a real physical danger involved, you will be ok after taking the action. Taking action takes mental strength. Taking action builds mental strength. Seek out ways to take action today that you wouldn’t take action on.
Competitive Drive: You are the competition. Push your limits each day. Growth happens at the edge of your comfort zone. Every circumstance and situation provides an opportunity to grow. Use your mental strength to go into each situation looking to grow and expand your potential. As you go through your day, simply notice how you are framing challenges, obstacles, and opponents. If you notice you are framing situations as win or lose, then it is time to reframe the situation as win through growth.
If learning leads to awareness, repetition leads to retention. Once you know these skills, it is on you to start practicing them daily. It will be challenging at first. You won’t always be aware. With each rep, slowly but surely you will begin to see a change in how you see the world. You will develop persistence and resilience. With each rep you will build true confidence, focus, and mental strength. Then, with patience and repetitions, you will begin to see the results you were looking for. When the results start coming in, don’t forget about the process that got you there. The process never changes no matter what level you are on, there is another level. Keep training. Keep showing up.
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