Master the Mental Game – How to Build Unstoppable Consistency

Delivering high-end performance in sports requires more than just technical skills and physical strength. While many athletes possess these attributes at the elite level, what truly differentiates the winners from the rest is their ability to consistently apply their skills and strengths when it matters most. This ability stems from mental resilience and control.

The mind, however, can be a double-edged sword. Even the most skilled and physically gifted athletes can see their performance hindered by mental barriers. Left unchecked, the mind can develop unhelpful habits that impede performance. Think of your mind as a five-year-old child: it needs regular guidance, nurturing, and conversations to understand how to function at its best. Without this care, it can become unruly, picking up habits that undermine consistency.

So, how do athletes build the mental framework needed for consistency? The process involves three key steps:

1. Assess
2. Adapt
3. Refine

1. Assess

The first step is to assess your current mental state and tools. True assessment occurs when you’re faced with challenges because that’s when your mental skills are put to the test.

Imagine your mental tools as spokes in a wheel. Green spokes represent positive traits that support consistency, such as focus, resilience, confidence, and adaptability. On the other hand, red spokes represent traits that can undermine performance, such as doubt, frustration, selfishness, and being snappy. When faced with a challenge, consider which spokes you rely on—green or red? The choice you make directly impacts your performance and consistency.

These mental tools are non-linear and context-dependent. Different situations may require different tools, but the key is to recognise which ones strengthen your performance and which ones weaken it.

2. Adapt

Adaptation is about learning from your assessments and adjusting your responses to challenges. Without adaptation, you’ll continue to produce the same outcomes.

Consider your mind like the centre of a hurricane. The centre, or the eye, is calm and controlled, allowing you to think clearly and respond effectively. Outside the centre, chaos reigns, making it difficult to stay composed. By training your mind to remain close to the centre, you can maintain clarity and control, even under pressure.

This concept aligns with Viktor Frankl’s idea that “between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” Choosing to respond thoughtfully rather than reacting impulsively allows you to grow in a way that enhances performance. Consistently reacting impulsively, however, will lead to inconsistent results.

3. Refine

Refinement is an ongoing process that requires daily practice. Use the following questions to guide your mental training and reinforce the behaviours that lead to consistent performance:

• Before the session: What was your focus?
• During the session: What did you and your team do well? How did you implement those actions? How did it feel when things were going well?
• After the session: What was challenging, and how did you feel during those moments? How will you adapt to those challenges constructively? 

Tools for Building Consistency

Here are examples of mental tools that athletes commonly use to maintain consistency:

• Green tools (Green spokes): Focused, proactive, supportive, driven, responsible, resilient, adaptable, confident, enjoying the moment, and disciplined.
• Red tools (Red spokes): Doubtful, selfish, aggressive, frustrated, unforgiving, and snappy.

The key is cultivating the green spokes and minimising reliance on the red spokes. Over time, this daily process of assessing, adapting, and refining will help you build the mental strength needed to deliver consistent high-level performance.

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Stephen Feeney

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