The Ultimate Performance Hack: Your Mind

If two athletes have the same physical capabilities and skill set, which one wins? The one who believes in themselves more. 80% of winning is mindset.

Some of the greatest athletes of all time knew this. They unlocked and harnessed their greatest strength: the power of their mind. From Michael Jordan to Mohammed Ali, from Billie Jean King to Kobe Bryant, from Andre Agassi to Serena Williams, from Novak Djokovic to Tiger Woods: They decided they were the winner before they ever stepped out to perform.

Mindset training isn’t just for the GOATs. You can train your mind to decide to be the winner before you ever step out onto your court or stage. Even if you don’t have the greatest skill set, building your mindset will help you work towards your greatest potential and be the best that you can be. When you learn how to get yourself out of tough moments without having to rely on anyone else, that makes you unstoppable. Your self belief will take you further than your physical ability.

Our brains are hardwired to go to the negative. It takes practice, dedication, and repetition to steer it towards the positive. But that’s what the GOATs do. They don’t linger in the negative. They let it go and redirect their mind to the positive. That is mindset mastery. 

Let me ask you: 

1. Are you training your mind as much as you train your body and work on your skill set? 

2. Do you have a pre-performance mantra or phrase to ground into your self belief? 

3. What do you do when you start to lose focus? 

4. What do you do when you hit a bad shot? 

5. What do you do when you get nervous/afraid/freak out? 

6. What do you do when you have performance anxiety? 

7. What do you do when something goes wrong? 

8. When your body won’t stop shaking, have tightness in your chest and those butterflies in your stomach are roaming free? 👀

Let me guess: you panic, you get frustrated and start to criticize yourself. Self-criticism makes your brain worse. Negative thinking drops activity in the part of the brain called the cerebellum, which is involved in thought coordination and processing speed. By being harsh with yourself, you are making yourself more confused and are more likely to make MORE mistakes. 

Working on your self talk is essential for your success. Positive self talk isn’t “woo woo” – it’s neuroscience.

Something I tell my clients to do, whether they win or lose, is to ask themselves these two questions: 

1. “What did I do well?” 

2. “What can I do better?” 

Be curious about your performance, never furious. You always want to be growing, regardless of external results, but from a curious place, not a shaming or judgmental place. That kind of self talk is mindset mastery. 

Here’s a brain tip for you to start changing your self talk and build belief: your brain believes what you repeat. Repetition is the language of belief. And a belief is nothing more than a thought you’ve thought over and over again, so by changing your thoughts, you start changing your beliefs.

I invite you to start becoming aware of your thoughts. Not to judge them, but to be aware of them. We can’t change what we’re not aware of. Because every thought you think causes a physical reaction in your body and an emotional response. Your subconscious mind’s job is to get you to act in a way that matches your thinking.

For example, if you have a thought of: “my backhand sucks” your subconscious mind hears that and guides your body to act accordingly. If you have a thought: “My serve is on fire today,” your mind hears that and gets your body to act accordingly.

Your thoughts form a blueprint that your subconscious mind and body work to make a reality. Your subconscious mind only responds to the pictures you form in your head and the words you say to yourself. Your mind creates what it sees and hears.

So to perform better, to live better, it’s your job to give your subconscious mind better instructions. We have 60,000 -70,000 thoughts a day, most of those thoughts are negative in comparison to positive. By mastering how to turn negative thoughts into positive ones, you will not only short-circuit destructive or negative talk, but you will change who you are and the way you think. You will change your belief system, which will change your identity, which will inevitably lead to your success.

Simple? Yes. Easy? Not always 😅 At first, it can take some time to change these negative thoughts. But it is possible. I witness it in my clients everyday. I lovingly challenge you to dedicate to your mental training as much as you dedicate to your physical training and building your skill set. 

Quick example: A Tennis Academy in Florida completed a study on the difference between top 5 tennis players vs top 25. Was it their diet? Exercise? Coaching? No. The difference was their thinking. In the 10-15 seconds after a point had been scored, the athletes who thought positive thoughts like: “I love this game,” “There’s no where else I’d rather be,” “I may not have gotten that shot, but I’ll get the next one,” “Watch me now” etc...Caused their heart rate and breathing rate to slow down, which conserved their energy across the entire tournament. These athletes were feeling better about themselves across an entire match and therefore, they were the winners. 

Try this: the Thought-Stopping Technique. When you notice you are making negative statements about yourself or your performance (or at any time during the day):

● Notice your negative thought

● Imagine in your mind a Stop Sign 🛑

● Pause, take a deep breath 

● Choose Again: Choose a better feeling thought 

● Repeat that new thought 3 times (repetition build belief)

Just like physical training, mental training takes dedication, intention and practice. But when you train your mind as you train your body, you will discover a level of resilience that carries you through every match—and far beyond the Court.

Master your mind. Master your performance. Master your life.