When Struggling with Mental Toughness Athletes Can’t Be Unrealistic
When an athlete is struggling with mental toughness, I suggest you start with the six attributes that define how a mentally tough athlete trains. One of these six attributes is the ability to avoid “wishful thinking “. The research shows that mentally tough athletes avoid wasting time on being unrealistic like the plague. Instead, these mentally tough athletes focus their minds on reaching extremely specific performance milestones by a concrete deadline.
When an athlete is being unrealistic with their goals, it generally has nothing to do with the goal itself. Unquestionably, being unrealistic is a product of how one prioritizes time. A goal is about the future, a priority is about the present. If an athlete doesn’t link their future with their present, then this is what not only makes their goals unrealistic, but it also weakens their mental toughness.
Moreover, you can build mental toughness by showing discipline in aligning daily priorities with specific goals that have concrete deadlines. The fact is a goal is not something you work on once a week, or once a month, or whenever you feel like it. A realistic goal is something you make time for every single day.
If an athlete is struggling with mental toughness, then a great place to start is by analyzing their daily priorities. Then eliminate any wishful thinking they have around unrealistic goals. An athlete can do this by working with a coach to either change their behavior to align with their goals or to change their goals to align with their behavior.