Take Time to Train Your Mind

Are you conscientious about training your body in technical and physical techniques? Chances are that most of us can answer “yes” and list the time set aside during the week, month, or year for each workout. Are you equally avid about making time to train your mind?

Athletes learn the importance of tactical and technical measures required to excel in the sports they enjoy. At some point, however, they recognize the value of reviewing and understanding mental features that affect their performance.

There’s a tendency amount athletes you’ve probably noticed in your own clients. They get all gung-ho about training for a specific event and spend their time concentrating on physical success. The result is lots of stress instead of a significant improvement in their athletic prowess.

Frantic last-minute calls from clients for help are common. They haven’t yet learned why several areas must be improved to realize overall success. A reminder that change takes time and can’t be rushed is as valuable as the advice to train your mind. Exemplary, long-lasting results require mental as well as physical training to reach peak performance and athletic achievement.

Why is it difficult to embrace the idea to train your mind? It requires dedication and persistence. The mind is tricky and is something you cannot see. Without a visual picture of improvement or success, there’s no way to confirm changes. You must trust the work being done will eventually reap rewards that are noticeable.

Athletes tend to focus on changing or improving their physical skill set if something seems off-kilter. Unlike the intangible mind that gives no visual feedback, the body delivers a tangible result and the incentive to keep up the training. Feeling a change in the mind seldom inspires the discipline and patience training your mind requires. The result is straying from the total training regimen and concentrating on noticeable improvement.

American CrossFit athlete Julie Foucher feels it separates the good athletes from the great athletes because “mental strengths are the difference between being an above-average athlete and being games-level.” She adds that physical strengths are important to a point. Once in the Games, she believes “it’s completely mental strength that determines your final performance.”

Consider the time and frequency spent on physical performance aspects. Compare it to the time and effort spent learning about your mind and how to train it to maximize your performance. Is the discrepancy larger than you believed?

Gregg Swanson is a peak performance consultant and human potential coach and has authored several books and numerous articles on peak performance. Gregg specializes in developing mental strength in individuals that desire to reach their full potential. He has developed a unique online training program “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior.” You can also pick up your free eBook,” Why Change is So Hard” by going HERE.