History shows that the type of mindset an athlete has is more important than the type of athlete. Yes, sometimes elite athletes have more discipline, are stronger, and are more explosive. But sometimes they aren’t. The truth is traits like strength, speed, and self-control are just as common among the good athletes as they are among the elite athletes.

Simply stated, athletes need strength, speed, and self-control, but it’s the mindset that makes an athlete elite. There are far too many examples of athletes who have elite skills and/or physical gifts who never reach elite status for this not to be true.

With that said, while there are many mindset types that help an elite athlete be elite, there are three in particular that separate elite athletes from everyone else.

The Three Mindset Types of Elite Athletes

1) Task vs. Ego Mindset

The task vs. ego mindset dictates your locus of control. Locus of control is a term to describe whether you focus on things you have control over or focus on things you don’t have control over. Those with a task-oriented mindset have an internal locus of control because they focus on their effort and compete only with themselves. On the other hand, those with an ego mindset have an external locus of control because they focus on comparing themselves to others. Since they can’t control how others perform, they allow external factors to dictate their effort and performance.

If you have an ego mindset, you will struggle trying to change any other mindsets unless you have external validation because of your external locus of control. But if you can orient your mindset with the task mindset your internal locus of control will help you utilize the growth mindset to change through your own volition.

Thus, the next mindset type that makes elite athletes elite is the growth vs. fixed mindset.

2) Growth vs. Fixed Mindset

The growth mindset is one in which you believe that self-improvement is a product of hard work. Moreover, the innate talents you are born with are just the starting point and you can improve upon them with your hard work. The fixed mindset is a belief that your talent is carved in stone at birth. Furthermore, with a fixed mindset you believe you’re either good at something or you’re not. If you’re good at something it will be easy, if you’re not it will be hard.

As long as you have a fixed mindset, you won’t be willing to work hard on anything that doesn’t come easy i.e., changing your mindset. By definition, changing your mindset is a form of growth. Therefore, the growth mindset must be adopted early on in an elite athlete’s mindset evolution.

3) Impulsive vs. Strategic‌ Mindset

Last but not least is the impulsive vs. strategic mindset. This mindset type is the final piece to the mindset foundation for elite athletes. Those with an impulsive mindset can’t resist the temptation to choose the first behavior that comes to mind. What’s more, an impulsive mindset will cause one to choose past behaviors even when better new behaviors are available. Unquestionably, this mindset makes change difficult.

On the other hand, with the strategic mindset you learn to use metacognition techniques to think about how you think and make better choices because of this process. Therefore, the strategic mindset is a catalyst for change. Moreover, that catalyst stems from the type of self-awareness that helps elite athletes identify that they need to change their mindset to reach a goal. This mindset type is a gift that keeps giving throughout an athlete’s career.