Being a mentally tough athlete will help you unlock your full potential.
Being mentall tough will help you…
- Work past mistakes
- Have confidence when you play
- Manage anxiety
and so much more.
So, it’s important that, as an athlete, you are working to develop mental toughness.
What I want to do in this article is walk you through a few different tips that you can use to improve your mental toughness as an athlete.
Tip #1: See Mental Toughness as the Culmination of Mental Skills
It’s really easy to get caught up in thinking, “I need to be mentally tough,” without really defining what it means to be a mentally tough athlete.
If we see mental toughness as this vague idea of just being stronger mentally, but we don’t define it clearly—what it really means or how to go about getting there—it’s much tougher to improve.
Instead, begin to see mental toughness as the end result of developing different mental skills such as:
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Confidence
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Focus
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The ability to calm your nerves
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Resilience (bouncing back from mistakes)
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Motivation and enjoyment
When you see mental toughness as the byproduct of improving these skills, you have a much clearer framework for how to build it.
Take a Personal Inventory
To put this into practice, take a personal inventory and ask yourself:
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Do I struggle with confidence?
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Do I struggle with negative self-talk?
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Do I struggle with focus?
Once you identify your weakest areas, you can create a game plan.
For example:
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If negative thinking is your struggle, then improving your thinking through reframing and using a self-talk routine should be part of your plan.
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If confidence is your weak spot, work on building positive thoughts, visualization, and preparation to trust yourself and your skills.
When we realize that mental toughness is simply the description of an athlete who possesses many different mental skills, we know where to focus: building those skills.
Tip #2: View Everything as a Challenge
This is one of my favorite tips.
When I work with athletes who fear mistakes or lose composure, the common pattern is that they see mistakes as negatives. Mistakes are viewed as things to avoid. Bad games are seen as setbacks.
But what if you reframed them as challenges?
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Mistakes become challenges to grow and bounce back from.
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A bad game becomes a challenge to push yourself and do better next time.
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Feedback from a coach becomes a challenge to improve.
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A tough workout becomes a challenge to push yourself harder.
This shift in mindset helps reduce fear and loss of composure. You’re no longer stuck in perfectionism, where every mistake feels like proof you’re not good enough.
Instead, you think: “I know I’m not going to be perfect, but I’m going to challenge myself to grow, to bounce back, and to improve.”
Viewing everything as a challenge helps you build mental toughness by embracing adversity instead of fearing it.
Tip #3: Pay Attention to Self-Criticism
None of us will be mentally tough if we are constantly criticizing ourselves.
If you’re thinking things like:
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“I suck.”
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“I’m terrible.”
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“I’ll never be good enough.”
…then you’re destroying your confidence.
Mental toughness requires strong thinking. That means positive thinking—not a distorted view where you think you’re the greatest athlete alive, but a healthy mindset like:
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“I am improving.”
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“I’m getting better.”
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“Today wasn’t my best, but I can learn from it and bounce back.”
Criticism after every practice and game, even if it comes from a desire to improve, slowly kills confidence. Over time, it makes you feel like you’re never good enough.
Instead of criticizing, go back to Tip #2—see mistakes and setbacks as challenges. View them as learning opportunities. Challenge yourself to improve, but don’t tear yourself down in the process.
Building Mental Toughness
Those are three tips you can apply today to build mental toughness as an athlete:
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See mental toughness as the culmination of mental skills.
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View everything as a challenge.
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Pay attention to self-criticism.
Now, if you’re interested in a more in-depth approach, I do offer one-on-one coaching. Together, we’ll identify your current mental game challenges and weaknesses, and then build the skills you need to develop true mental toughness.
You can click here to learn more about my one-on-one mental coaching program.
Thank you for reading, and I wish you the best of success in all that you do.
