The Mindset of a Mentally Tough Athlete on Competition Day
One of my go to sources for research on mental toughness comes from sport psychologists Sheldon Hanton, Graham Jones, and Declan Connaughton. The title of their research is “A Framework of Mental Toughness in the World’s Best Performers.“
These researchers do an excellent job putting rigor around the mindset of a mentally tough athlete. You could ask 10 coaches to define the mindset of a mentally tough athlete and it’s likely you’ll get 10 different answers. That is why having rigor around the definition is so important.
With this in mind, these researchers provide a critical insight on the mindset of mentally tough athletes on competition day. In contrast with other athletes who dread pressure, mentally tough athletes love the pressure of competition. In fact, mentally tough athletes love every minute the pressure that competition day provides.
The researchers sum up the mindset of a mentally tough athletes on competition day as follows:
The mentally tough performer is eager to be there and enjoys everything about the competition… The build up… The prelims, the waiting, the final… This is the only place he wants to be… “This is what I’m here for.”
In addition, having this mindset was found by the researchers to be the #1 factor for being a mentally tough competitor. Simply stated, mentally tough athletes love the things other athletes loathe. When everyone else is complaining, mentally tough athletes are having the time of their life.