Winning Mindsets

We are in the second week of the Wimbledon tennis championships here in the UK and I was lucky enough to see two fabulous matches were the result required an absolute focus on winning. The game was as much a mental one as it was a physical one.

For those of you who are wondering which matches I’m thinking of, they were Serena Williams vs. Heather Watson match which went to 3 sets and Novak Djokovic vs. Kevin Anderson that went to 5 sets.

As a tennis fan, and observer, both of these matches were hard to call and for all 4 players I’m imagining the mental game was what saw them through.

I then read the following article by Patrick Cohn: http://www.sportspsychologytennis.com/?p=4349

Which looks at the mindset of champion players and talks about the choices you have, an excerpt is as follows:

Threat vs. Challenge

There are two mindsets a tennis player can choose heading into each match:

• You see matches as a threat: “If I lose, what will that loss say about me?”
• You view matches as challenges to overcome: “What can I do now to win this point?”

By viewing matches as challenges:

•   You will be motivated to go for it in tennis matches.

•   You feel psyched to compete, yet relaxed while playing.

•   You will be willing to put it all on the line and go for shots.

•   You will not become distraught by mistakes.

•   You will feel confident in your abilities to overcome obstacles.

•   You will be better equipped to focus on what you need to do in the moment.

•   You will have fun playing the game of tennis.

What mindset do you have?

Leadership is a 24/7 business and you are ‘on court’ all of the time. There are always people watching you. Some willing you on, some ambivalent and maybe some watching to see you ‘trip up’. 

How do you approach each day? As a professional tennis player focussed on this day and what needs to be achieved and how you need to play, or worried about what others may think, not wanting to make a mistake, playing it safe by keeping your head down?

We attract what we think about so if you are not getting the results you want maybe the first place to look is your own thoughts.

• What assumptions are you making?
• Are these assumptions enabling or limiting?
• Do you believe you can achieve what you have set out to do?
• If not what needs to shift, is it the outcome or your thinking?

We are programmed at an early age with some of our inherent beliefs and they are often outside of our consciousness. One way to uncover them is to take time to review your actions and your thoughts, particularly if you are not getting the results you want.

• What do you believe about the situation?
• What would you have to believe to get the result you want? 

I believe you can have everything you want out of life as long as you are prepared to do the work and have a positive mindset.

What can you do to have more of what you want? 

Where might you be limiting yourself with your thinking?

If you are struggling with this and know that you need to make some changes email me to set up a coaching clarity call and we can explore what action you can take.

“If you have the same damn thoughts, you’re gonna have the same damn day.”

Meadow Devor