Coaching Mental Toughness

Articles in this category will help coaches coach themselves and others to give their best effort one step at a time.

2020 World Series Game 4 Insane Ending - What happened?

Wow - that was awesome.

But it was not a play full of fabulous athletes doing their job. In baseball, mental toughness is doing your job on one pitch to the best of your ability (accept whatever happens, and repeat). There was a lot of trying hard, but failing to give a best effort performance on this play! Hey athletes, do your job! (Easy for me to say.)

Details: Category: Coaching Mental Toughness Coaching Mental Toughness; Published: 25 October 2020 25 October 2020; Hits: 1632 1632

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Faith's Importance

FAITH

"I will prepare and some day my day will come." -Abraham Lincoln

When discussing mental skills for performance, please do not underestimate faith. Faith comes from the Latin word ‘fides,’ meaning trust and confidence. It can be defined as a belief or confidence in God or self or others. It is often a belief that is not based on proof from a scientific model. Faith is a critical mental skill for creating a best possible internal state, which is the first step for giving a best effort performance.

Details: Category: Coaching Mental Toughness Coaching Mental Toughness; Published: 16 August 2019 16 August 2019; Hits: 2940 2940

High Confidence is Stifling Our Athletes

a.k.a. Confidence is Good, Unless it is Bad!

There are three core questions to ask and answer to successfully travel along the path of mastery: “Where am I?” “Where do I want to be?” And, “How do I get there?” There is an epidemic in our sports community that Dr. Fran Pirozzolo calls an “illusion of competence.” (Among many other achievements, Dr. Pirozzolo earned four World Series rings in his seven years with the Yankees.) It is a result of confidence being delivered to the athlete without it being earned by the athlete. This illusion of competence means that the first question (Where am I?) is not being answered correctly. It is no wonder, then, that this athlete’s strategies for getting to where s/he wants to be are flawed. It is pretty tough to get good directions from a map if you don’t know your starting point.

Details: Category: Coaching Mental Toughness Coaching Mental Toughness; Published: 18 July 2017 18 July 2017; Hits: 3231 3231

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Which is More Important? Rate of Learning or Outcomes

Make Learning Most Important Every Day

Do you perform better and learn faster with a positive attitude or a negative one?
Is adversity inevitable?
If positive and yes are your answers, as they likely are, then is staying positive through adversity going to be a critical skill for you to develop to be the best you can be?

Details: Category: Coaching Mental Toughness Coaching Mental Toughness; Published: 14 April 2016 14 April 2016; Hits: 4895 4895

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Mental Toughness Training Core Concepts

MENTAL TOUGHNESS TRAINING

CORE CONCEPTS

Best Effort Now – Success is defined as "the peace of mind that comes from knowing you gave your best" (John Wooden). Therefore, it is achieved by accepting responsibility for controlling the controllables. This is done by trying to figure out how to create an ideal state, commit to a plan, and focus, the executing that plan the best you can at this point in your life. Here is Coach Traub's Diagram of what it takes to give a Best Effort Performance.

Best_Effort_Diagram_Handout_2013.pdf

Focus – Do you clutter your mind with too much thinking while you’re trying to perform? Focusing on the task-at-hand is a vital performance skill that can be learned with quality practice. You’ll learn to block out regrets about the past and worries about the future, recognize the correct present-tense object for your focus, and find that “trust mode” where you can truly give your best effort.

Details: Category: Coaching Mental Toughness Coaching Mental Toughness; Published: 14 December 2015 14 December 2015; Hits: 6075 6075

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Wanted: Poise on the Inside

"Acting as if..." is Better than "Fake it 'Til You Make It"

Poise is the outward demonstration of self-control. Poise is great, but self-control is the bigger issue. If an athlete has self-control, he will always have poise, but he can fake an appearance of poise without having self-control. Many athletes look poised, but are actually in turmoil on the inside, and their performance suffers accordingly. This typically happens because they have learned to follow team rules such as no throwing helmets or verbal expletives. The athlete is faking poise because he is not sufficiently motivated to actually stay cool on the inside. Acting differently than how you feel in the heat of competition is not easy. Failure to do so is likely, at least in part, because the competitor does not understand how his self-control and his self-talk impacts his performance. (They are critical components of a best-effort performance.) If he would “act as if…he is confident and in control,” his performance would greatly improve.

Details: Category: Coaching Mental Toughness Coaching Mental Toughness; Published: 10 November 2015 10 November 2015; Hits: 4575 4575

2020 World Series Game 4 Insane Ending - What happened?

Faith's Importance

High Confidence is Stifling Our Athletes

Which is More Important? Rate of Learning or Outcomes

Mental Toughness Training Core Concepts

Wanted: Poise on the Inside

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