An Athlete’s Ability to Endure Stress Changes as Their Mindset Changes
Perception is one of the 5 critical elements of an athlete’s mindset. When it comes to enduring stress, there is one perception in particular that has a major impact.
An essay in Harvard’s medical journal shares why this is true. It states:
Research suggests that because pain involves both the mind and the body, mind-body therapies may have the capacity to alleviate pain by changing the way you perceive it.
This ability to influence how an athlete perceives pain is exactly why some athletes can endure stress better than others.
When an athlete perceives stress as a threat, this causes the athlete to put a significant focus on the source of the stress, and how that source could cause negative consequences. This then triggers emotions related to anger, fear, and scarcity. Negative emotional triggers like these are demotivating, and as a result increase anxiety and reduce energy. Consequently, this causes premature fatigue which ultimately leads to the stress decreasing performance.
On the other hand, when an athlete perceives stress as a challenge, the source of the stress is seen as an opportunity to get better. This triggers positive emotions related to optimism, enjoyment, and satisfaction. In addition, an increase in energy and motivation tends to follow positive emotions like these. This combination is ultimately what drives the stress to lead to an increase in performance.
Therefore, stress can either help or hurt an athlete’s performance depending on how they orient their mindset to perceive it.