Are You Mentally Tough Enough? |
Being Mentally Disciplined
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| by Jeff Troesch |
 Recently I heard a coach speak to his team
about their mental game. In his speech, he
accused the players of not being “mentally
tough enough”. What, exactly, does that
mean?
As a young athlete myself, if I had a coach
tell me that I wasn’t “mentally tough” I
would assume that there was some quality or
qualities that I didn’t possess. Were some
people fortunate enough to have been born
with the “toughness” characteristic? Was
this something that I didn’t develop because
of the environment in which I was raised?
Most importantly, was this something that I
had permanently missed out on and now could
no longer acquire?
In my opinion, the “mentally tough” label is
often thrown around very casually, without
much in the way of understanding what it
means and how to “acquire it”. My preference
is that rather than using the term “mentally
tough” we say mentally disciplined. It is my
belief that those who are mentally tough are
typically those who are very disciplined with
their mentality. They have trained
themselves to prepare for the tournament or
round or shot in a pre-determined way.
Moreover, they have disciplined themselves to
keep their mistakes and “failures” in
perspective and continue to persevere when
they encounter adversity. This may
be “toughness” to some, but to me, it is more
of a matter of making the choice to be
disciplined in one’s approach and disciplined
in one’s reactions.
How much of a priority do you make out of the
consistency of your approach or response?
How highly do you value and emphasize the
quality of your preparation and the choice
to “let go” of the mistakes that you make?
For those that regard this highly, they will
be disciplined and appear “tougher”. For
those who are primarily focused on measuring
themselves in other ways and/or will not
discipline themselves to be steady with their
thoughts and emotions, they will appear to be
mentally “weak”.
What is my point in all of this? Do not get
caught up in the labels of “mentally tough”
or “mentally weak”. Instead, have as a main
concern the notion of being as disciplined
and regimented as you’re capable, so that you
can and will withstand the challenges of
intense competition. Mental toughness is not
something that you’re either born with or not-
it is something that comes from the day to
day commitment to doing things consistently
and regularly. Over the course of time,
making minor adjustments in these things will
create a sense of determination and
resiliency, and help you possess that
intangible quality of “toughness”!
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