We all strive to be the best athletes we can be. We do this by being coachable, trying hard at practice, and competing tough. But there are a lot of things we can do off the court that make us a mentally tough athlete as well. We’re gong to suggest some habits to adopt that mentally tough athletes do.
1. Wake up early. When you’re up early, you’re setting yourself up to have a good day right way. You’re allowing yourself time to complete your tasks for that day. Plus you won’t feel groggy or like you’ve lost the majority of your day. Aristotle even says, “It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.” You might not need to be up before the sun, but it is a good idea to be up early!
2. Always be on time. This is just a good habit to have in general that will benefit your education, your professional path, and your personal life. Especially when involved with other people, it’s always a good idea to be on time. In your sporting environment, your coaches will highly appreciate you consistently being on time to practices and competitions. If you’re on time you don’t have to worry about rushing through warm-ups, letting your teammates down, or being stressed out unnecessarily.
3. Be open to feedback and criticism. Nobody is perfect. We all know that! So remembering that there is always room for improvement is really important. A good way to improve is to consider the feedback and criticism you receive from your coaches, teammates, and family. The point of the feedback and criticism is to help you be a better athlete, so be open to it! However, if the criticism is excessively harsh, negative, or unnecessary, it is ok to avoid that person and focus on more positive things instead. Just be conscious of who you’re receiving the criticism from!
4. Stubbornly positive. This is another good habit to implement in all facets of your life as well. If you approach every situation with a positive attitude, you will be successful in those situations most of the time. Are you about to play a team you’ve lost to before? Remain stubbornly positive and think to yourself “Redemption time!” Are you having difficulty learning how to jump serve? Again, remain stubbornly positive and think, “Man, once I finally get this it’s going to be awesome!” YOU get to choose your attitude – so choose to be stubbornly positive!
5. Stand up for and help others. At school, in your sport, or in life, there are going to be people that need your help but they won’t always know how to ask for it. It’s up to you to recognize when someone needs help and step in. I promise that they’ll appreciate it! This helps you be a mentally tough athlete because you’re prioritizing helping others and avoiding becoming arrogant or unfocused. Michael P. Watson says, “Strong people don’t put others down… They lift them up.” Helping others is going to add more positivity and worth to your life!
6. Fight through fatigue. Once your body has decided it is tired physically, it is up to your strong mind to help you push through the fatigue. Your body does experience a lot of tiring situations like a match that lasts 5 games, an all-day tournament, or a whole weekend tournament. But it’s so important for you and your team to push through your fatigue to still be successful. Once we get tired, we start being lazy and making poor decisions. Being mentally tough is actually deciding you are going to play exactly how you always play, despite being exhausted!
7. Read and learn constantly. Mentally tough athletes are always looking for new ways to improve themselves and don’t limit their opportunities by thinking they have already reached their potential. An ideal way to learn is to read pieces that are going to help you become a better athlete. Professional athlete blogs, mental performance articles, news stories about recent volleyball events – these are all excellent resources that can inspire and educate you to be a better athlete. Another way to learn is to just ask questions! Ask your coaches if you need some guidance with a skill, reach out to a professional athlete on social media (chances are they might respond!), or take it upon yourself to answer your own questions by watching youtube videos. Never stop learning!
8. Bounce back. A really difficult aspect of any sport is the need to bounce back after you’ve experienced a loss or a setback. It’s easy to ruminate on all the mistakes and get angry at yourself, your teammates, or your coaches. But mentally tough athletes don’t do that. They don’t make excuses, they don’t blame others, they don’t get hung up on one mistake. Instead, they bounce back! They recognize all setbacks are a learning experience, they encourage their teammates to bounce back as well, and they don’t let setbacks stop them!
Become a mentally tough athlete today by using these tips! You’re already training your body physically, so take the time to train your mind to be more mentally tough!