Mentally Tough Athletes Create an Environment Within an Environment
A couple days ago I wrote about the six attributes that define how a mentally tough athlete trains. One of these attributes is the mental skill of being able to create an environment within an environment. Unquestionably, this concept sounds complex to understand at first. However, once you break down the idea of what it means to create an environment within an environment you see that it’s a rather simple concept to grasp.
Firstly, let’s start with the concept of environment. In the context of sports, the environment is the physical space in which an athlete is performing or training. More often than not, athletes do not get to choose their environment. As a result, the environment is a performance factor that is not under an athlete’s control.
Furthermore, when it comes to mental toughness, one of the critical aspects is to focus only on those things you can control. Once an athlete gives power to something they don’t control then they open themselves up to the three negative achievement behaviors. This is why home-field advantage is such a make-or-break performance factor in sports.
The Mental Skill of Creating an Environment within an Environment
Now think about the athletes who have the mental skills to create an environment within an environment. This is a “mental environment” the athlete creates with their mind, which in turn makes it a performance factor under the athlete’s control. Therefore, since it’s under the athlete’s control it can also be a source of confidence. Correspondingly, this skill provides a tremendous advantage and benefit for mental toughness.
As stated by the authors Hanton, Jones, and Connaughton in their research “A Framework of Mental Toughness in the World’s Best Performers“:
Mentally tough performers are not swayed by extraneous factors in training that they cannot control. They view these factors as challenges to overcome and use these challenges to enhance their performance. At training camps you don’t always get things your way. . . . You’ve got to be able to train with other people in the training environment there. It may not be ideal for you but you’ve got to deal with that and use it to your advantage. The mentally tough performer can handle any environment he is put in and use it to his advantage.
The process of learning and executing this mental skill starts with an athlete’s drive to compete in everything they do. The athlete learns to visualize every environmental disadvantage as a competition they must win against. If an athlete is not a maniacal competitor, they won’t be able to execute this skill until they increase their competitive instincts. Moreover, increasing an athlete’s competitive instincts starts with confidence.
If you or an athlete you care about needs help developing their competitive instincts and confidence, let’s talk about how my confidence coaching program can help. Contact me here.