Train your mind - Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Most people work on their technique, strength and conditioning to make progress.  But they don’t think to work on training their mind.  If you struggle with the way you think before or even during a match, you need to work on that as much if not more than your technique and strength.  Some of the hardest working, most skilled athletes are only a fraction of themselves when they step on the mat because of the way they think.  Nothing will steal someone’s hard earned conditioning faster than the stress that comes with thinking incorrectly and letting negative thoughts get the best of you.  Stress can make even the best conditioned athletes look like their training consisted of Twinkie eating.

We all have negative thoughts.  It doesn’t matter how great of a wrestler you are or how inexperienced you are, you can count on negative thoughts.  It is part of our human nature.  The trick is knowing how to combat negative thoughts and how to replace them. 

First of all, give the negative thoughts that pop in your head absolutely no respect and no credibility.  Recognize negative thoughts immediately and then don’t entertain them in your mind.  See the thought as a visitor, because that is all it is, the thought is not you.  After recognizing the negative thought, replace it.  Replace it with a preset positive thought like “I’m ready now.”  Repeat it until the negative thought goes away and you get back to thinking positively again.  If you need to sing a song (in your head or out loud) that pumps you up, do that. 

Don’t roll over and surrender to the negative thought and let it roam freely in your brain.  Recognize it and replace it with your preset positive response.   This battle will most likely happen for months.  That’s why you have to start now.  You should always train your mind and never let rogue negative thoughts play in your head.  Even if you don’t believe 100% in your programmed response yet, you will after telling yourself it for months.  If you don’t believe it, act like you believe it and eventually you will.

We all know that negative thoughts don’t just magically appear during our most important competitions.  We have the same negative thoughts for months before the actual competition.  Those negative thoughts could be doubts that you can’t beat someone, fears that you might fail, or any other creative negative thought your mind can come up with.  One thing I do know for sure is that regardless of your situation, your mind will be creative enough to put pressure on yourself.

So train your mind, and start today. 

You train your mind like you train your body, with consistent hard work.   Don’t let a single negative thoughts go unresolved and without a fight.

Latest Blog Entries:

- Selfish vs. Disciplined - Thursday, June 16th, 2011
- The Fishing is Best Where The Fewest Go” -Tim Ferriss - Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
- Mysterious Secrets - Thursday, February 17th, 2011
- Don’t step in the “should!” - Friday, February 11th, 2011
- Optimistic - Monday, February 7th, 2011
- The Three Attitudes - Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
- stroll through the park? - Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
- Bigger Truck? - Thursday, December 16th, 2010
- Busy? - Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
- Be Positive with Yourself - Tuesday, November 30th, 2010