Mediocre athletes begin to care when the post-season begins. Good athletes care once the season starts. Great athletes care before the season. But, the BEST athletes DON’T CARE. If you are going to be successful you need to learn not to care!
Now how could this be? Could the best athletes really not care? The best athletes know what they should and should not care about. The best know to care about things they can control and not care about things they have no control over.
The best athletes care about factors within their control: (1) their effort, (2) their attitude, (3) their discipline following their action plan for success, (4) their mental and physical training, (5) their nutrition and rest etc. etc.
Many athletes, if not most, care about things that are outside of their control. Focusing on factors outside of one’s control takes one out of the moment and add pressure which makes poor performance far more likely.
It is crucial to YOUR SUCCESS to know what you should and should not care about. I would recommend making a list that you can review often and refer back to in times of need. Make the list and then get emotionally involved while reading the list. Become mad, stubborn, and intense when you read the list of things you do not want to care about. Involving your emotions will help drive this point home inside your mind and body. Here is a good example of what I am talking about:
List of things I don’t give a crap about:
• Wins and Losses
• Records
• Past results of myself or my opponents
• Newspapers, Forums, Predictions, Rankings
• Past accomplishments of mine or my opponents
• Common opponents or past times competing against each other
• What other people think about me
• What other people will say to me if I win or lose
• What will happen if I win or lose
• Coaches, parents, friends, etc opinion about me
• Other people’s expectations
I am not saying that other people don’t matter and not to listen to coaches or parents. I am saying that being preoccupied with these thoughts has been long recognized to blow performances. So it is crucial that you train yourself to think this way, and only care about things you can control. You control outcomes indirectly, by preparing yourself with mental and physical training and not getting in your own way mentally by worrying about things outside of your control.
Remember about 9 out of 10 people will spend no time on their mentality and will continue to care about uncontrollable factors. You need to be the 1 out of 10 athletes that DOES NOT CARE about these things.
Gene Zannetti
Peak Performance Specialist
One-on-One Consultation and Motivational Speaking
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
Visit My Blog- http://genezannetti.blogspot.com/
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