There are three key pillars to being consistent as a player. What I’m going to cover in this article is what those three pillars are, and how you can go about applying them to be a more consistent athlete.
Pillar #1: Being Consistent With Your Mindset
Most athletes want to be consistent. You want to play well every single game. This helps you with your ability to get more playing time, but it also helps you with achieving a better stat line or helping your team win.
But when we want to be more consistent, it’s natural to think about being consistent with the results. We want to be consistent with scoring a certain amount of points every single game or getting a certain number of hits, whatever it might be.
But in order to achieve those things, the mentality is what we want to focus on first.
Because if you were to think back to the greatest games that you’ve played…there’s likely a certain mindset or a mentality that you had during those games.
If you can become more consistent with your mindset when you play—where you show up every single game in a similar mentality—the chances of you playing well significantly increase and the chances of you being consistent equally increase.
What Does It Mean to Be Consistent With Your Mindset?
It involves understanding what type of mindset you want to have or need to have in order to play your best, and then working to get into that mindset consistently. It also involves viewing being consistent with your mindset as an important part of you playing consistently well.
I’m sure you have an idea of the mindset you have when you play your best. It will likely involve being confident, being present, not worrying a lot about other people, not stressing about the result, and not getting so upset over mistakes.
So you have this confident, aggressive, present-focused mindset. If you can work to get into that mindset every single game, you will be on track to be more consistent.
Pillar #2: Being Consistent With Your Preparation
Being consistent with your preparation is crucial. Part of this will involve physical preparation. If you’re wanting to play consistently well, you need to make sure that what you’re doing throughout the week remains pretty consistent.
But this will also involve being consistent with mental preparation. If you want to get into a good mindset every single time you play, you need to be consistent with the way you are approaching competition with the intent to generate that mindset.
Physical Preparation
Identify everything you need to do during the week in preparation for competition. This includes:
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Your normal team practices
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Extra work on your own
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Extra mobility work
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Work on specific mechanics or weaknesses
Examples:
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Golfers working on wedge shots, putting, or their driver
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Baseball players hitting off a tee or practicing backhand ground balls
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Basketball players putting in extra work on their handles
As an athlete, there is a lot you can do. We want to make sure there is no stone left unturned when it comes to physically preparing for competition.
The more prepared you are physically, the more you can fall back on that preparation and trust your muscle memory. That allows you to go into the game, let go of worry about what will happen, and just play freely.
Mental Preparation
If you are consistent with mentally preparing, you will naturally be in the mindset you want more consistently.
This could involve:
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Visualizing yourself performing under pressure
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Visualizing success against tough teams
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Visualization for confidence
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A self-talk routine to develop positive thinking
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A pre-game routine designed to generate the confident mindset you want
The more consistent you are with preparation—both physical and mental—the greater your chances of being a consistent player.
Pillar #3: Being Consistent With Your Responses
This involves the way you respond to mistakes during games and the way you respond to bad games.
A lot of athletes struggle with moving on from mistakes. Am I able to respond positively to a mistake, or do I get so upset that my confidence drops and then I’m overthinking the mistake and carry that with me?
I was just talking with a baseball player this past week and he explained how when he makes an error, he’s still thinking about it, and then he’s scared to have the ball hit to him again. That fear makes him less focused and less ready, which leads to more mistakes.
Mistakes Will Happen
Being consistent does not mean being perfect. What’s more important than the mistake is how you respond to it.
You want a resetting strategy, such as:
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Taking a deep breath
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Reminding yourself to let the mistake go
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Focusing on the next play
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Changing your self-talk when doubt creeps in
Your response will either:
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Help you get back into the mindset you want
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Increase your focus
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Keep your confidence steady
Or it can be the very reason a bad game snowballs.
Responding to Bad Games
How you respond to a bad game influences your consistency the rest of the season.
If you respond by:
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Overthinking your mechanics
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Changing things unnecessarily
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Losing confidence
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Carrying fear or doubt into the next game
You will hurt your ability to bounce back.
A mechanical issue might be caused by fear and anxiety—not faulty mechanics. Fixing the mechanics won’t solve the underlying issue.
We want to make sure we identify the real reason we underperformed.
If you can respond positively, learn what you need, avoid overthinking, and move into the next game with confidence and trust…you put yourself on the path to consistent play.
Final Thoughts
If you focus on these three pillars—being consistent with your mindset, your preparation, and your responses—you’ll put yourself in a position to play well more consistently.
I encourage you to apply these to your game if you’re currently struggling with performances that go up and down.
If you’re interested in learning more about my one-on-one mental coaching program, click here to schedule a free introductory coaching call, or fill out the form below.
I’ve also created two online mental training courses for athletes:
And if you’re more of a reader, check out my books:
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of success in all that you do.
