“There will always be someone as talented as you, but there’s no excuse not to be the hardest worker.”
Everyone has heard an elite athlete say some form of the above statement before.
Like many cliches, it feels meaningless. Every athlete wants to believe they’re working as hard as they can to achieve their goals, but often times they’re unintentionally holding themselves back.
What is often overlooked is that once you get to a certain level, working hard is as much about skill as it is will. A championship mindset is something that doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Luckily, it can be developed and cultivated through hard work and practice.
A 2016 study published in the Frontier of Psychology set out to determine why some athletes with elite physical abilities lived up to their potential, while others floundered in lower-level leagues.
One of the main discoveries was that athletes who lived up to their potential generally had a “near-fanatical” reaction to adversity, viewing it as a good thing and a chance to improve. Conversely, athletes who didn’t live up to their potential most often blamed setbacks on external causes and lost motivation.
Another key finding from the study was that successful athletes judged themselves against prior versions of themselves, making their main goal self-improvement. Unsuccessful athletes judged themselves against others and paid more attention to stuff like world rankings.
Finally, athletes who lived up to their potential had coaches who prioritized long-term results over short-term results. Not only did this help the athletes improve, it also improved the relationship between them and their coaches.
One takeaway from this study is that athletes who lived up to their potential had an internal locus of control. What that means is that champions believe that they have control over outcomes in their life, as opposed to external factors controlling their outcomes.
Furthermore, athletes with “championship mindsets” believe in themselves enough to block out the opinions of others.
Not only do they not compare themselves against others, but they also trust that if they continue to train hard and stay optimistic for a long period of time, they will ultimately achieve their goals. This means that they were less discouraged by losses and failures because they viewed them as part of the process of becoming their best.
One way to become a big picture thinker is to practice “second-order thinking,” a concept popularized by Howard Marks in his book The Most Important Thing.
In the book, Marks describes the difference between first-order thinking and second-order thinking.
First-order thinking is when we look for something that solves an immediate problem without considering long-term consequences. A simple example of this would be to eat a chocolate bar because you’re hungry.
Second-order thinking is when we consider the consequences of our actions over a longer period of time. Before eating a chocolate bar, a second-order thinker would consider the effects of sugar on their body in the short and long-term and make a more informed decision.
Sure, there might be times when you decide to eat the chocolate bar so to speak, and that’s ok. But a second-order thinker would make the right decision more often than not because they consider how every decision fits into the bigger picture.
This is key for athletes because if you “trust the process,” you will continue to work hard in the face of adversity. When you’re exhausted and discouraged, you might find it hard to dig deep and get the most out of your training. But once you’ve developed a mindset of consistently considering the long-term effects of your actions, you’ll be able to value long-term accomplishment over short-term comfort.
One trick to become a second-order thinker is to ask yourself the question “and then what?” Think about how each decision will affect you over time–in 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years, etc.
Developing a championship mindset doesn’t mean winning every time.
It means understanding that if you put in the work to get a little better consistently, you’ll be significantly better over time. It means believing that you are the master of your own fate, and that external adversity is just a test of your internal toughness and resilience.
Ultimately, it means being willing to make the choices today to become your best self in the future because you believe that the best version of yourself can one day be the best.
Seven Actionable Steps To Developing A Championship Mindset with Founder and National Champion Volleyball Player Tomas Salava
Be Relentless
You don’t have to like or love the process (as they say fall in love with the process, and it will be easy), but you need to desire the outcome/result/goal so much that even in times when you hate it or don’t want to do it, you’ll still go and do the job.
Think Outside the Box
Practice seeing things that no one else can see or practice interpreting things in a way no one else did.
Ask Yourself the Right Questions
When facing hard times, you must be willing to ask yourself tough but important questions such as:
- What am I hiding behind excuses? (I’m too old, too short, I started too late, I need a better coach)
- What is holding me back? Am I not prioritizing recovery? Am I not training hard enough? Am I not eating right?
- What is the smallest thing that I can do/focus on that will help me grow/get better? (I’m tired from yesterday’s double day practices, but I will work on my ankle flexibility)
- Can I do it right now? (if not now, when?)
Everything Is a Skill
Power, speed, endurance, recovery, mental game, winning, dealing with adversity. Everything can be trained and improved.
Build Your Toolbelt
Even if it sometimes doesn’t look like it, every practice and competition can be an opportunity to create another tool.
- Everybody knows how to win when things are going smooth, but learning how to play well when things are going south is a skill/tool
- Being a plumber with just a hammer (then every problem looks like a nail, when often they are not nails) but you can do a fine-tune work, cutting, and welding with only hammer-the more tools you have, the better job you can do
Stop Comparing Your Story to Someone Else’s Story
You are you. Unique. Find your unique way. Stop pitying yourself! There’s a job that has to be done, so go and do it.
Perfection is an enemy of progress
Work on being great, but keep adjusting on the way. You’ll never be ready to hunt in the jungle until you get into the jungle and start hunting.