4 more key ways for best sports play

I did not realize that reaching a high level in a sport is all about one’s mentality until I became a golf teacher. No one can pull off an extraordinary feat in sports without a strong mentality. Here are the several ingredients of a good mindset that are necessary for playing sports to the maximum of your abilities.

Revel in the game: you cannot become a top-class athlete unless you revel in the game. Having a lot of fun is absolutely necessary for learning skills and improving your playing abilities. Only a sport that entertains you, spurs you to improve your technique, keeping your motivation levels high. As a golf addict and teacher, I am in love with and preoccupied with golf so intensely that I often experience playing golf in my mind while I am asleep.

Stay confident: whatever sports you play, you cannot perform well if you have no confidence. When doubts, fears or any negative thoughts creep into your mind, you cannot apply them to yourself or to your performance. When you are brimming with self-confidence and self-esteem, you can keep your mind unburdened, leaving you free to focus on your actions rather than worry about the results. After all, self-confidence allows you to stay self-possessed with an agile mind.

Self-assurance encourages you to perform fluidly with perfect timing and mechanics. Indeed, self-confidence allows you to achieve the best outcome. I learned from my experience that confidence comes only with hard practice, patience and persistence.

Apply your mind to action: to perform well, you must focus on your performance process, not its outcome. The tendency to concentrate on results is obvious, but it is a critical mistake. Applying your mind to the results of your performance raises worries about the score, or victory and defeat, in a competition. This faulty mindset distracts you from your performance, eventually triggering poor actions and failure. After all, you can have full control of your actions, but almost no control over the result of the actions.

For a satisfying result, you need to stay focused on what you can control: your action and pre-action preparation. As a golfer, I stick to my pre-shot routine. This routine allows me to focus on the shot at hand, preventing negative thoughts and feelings from creeping into my mind.

Accept mistakes and losses: stay positive, and don’t worry about a possible mistake or getting an unwanted result. A positive attitude leaves you staying relaxed, allowing you to play to the best of your abilities. Angst about possible blunders or losing the game makes you tense and tentative. Be willing to accept your errors and losses. They are all good because they give you opportunities to learn and improve your skills.

Your errors will naturally prompt you to ask yourself a few valuable questions: What went wrong? What could I do to perform better next time? Is there a lot of fine-tuning to be done yet?