Toughness is the hallmark of champions past and present. Championship toughness, though, refers more to the mental aspects of the sport than the physical. The following are five tips that will enable you to become more mentally tough. Use them to immediately become a better and stronger competitor.
- Learn to let things go
Learning to let things go means that you do not let bad performances affect you. It also means that you learn to not allow any problems or concerns in your personal life to affect your current performance. If you allow yourself to become bogged down by past bad performances, you will never be able to move forward towards better current and future performances. It's similar to driving a car. If you drive while only looking in the rearview mirror, you're certain to crash. Where will you crash? Into the future (that which is in front of you). Rearview mirrors are there to use when backing up (temporarily) and to notice what's behind you while driving forward. In bull riding, this means that you acknowledge your past failures or falls, and then learn from them so that you do not repeat them. After all, everybody fails. Toughness means that you know this but don't allow yourself to dwell on those past failures.
- Focus on the present
Believe it or not, this tip may be the most difficult tip to follow. Very seldom do we as humans focus on the present moment, or the current situation. We get lost in thoughts about what just happened, or what happened yesterday, or what can happen tomorrow. Meanwhile, the current situation passes without us giving it our full attention. Focus on the present and you will become much more confident and ready to perform. How can you do that? A simple way is to ask yourself good questions, such as "What is exciting about this situation?". A question like that immediately brings you into the present, and starts your mind towards getting excited and ready to perform, no matter how tough the competition. Another simple way is to use cue words and affirmations that immediately bring you into a state of current awareness. One of my favorite cue words is "breathe". By focusing on this one cue word when your mind starts to wander, you will immediately begin to focus on your diaphragm instead of your anxiety. And that's a good thing!
- Stay positive
I believe that we humans have two basic choices in every situation: we can focus on that which is good about the situation or that which is bad. If you want to feel bad about yourself, start focusing on everything that's not going your way: you last performance, the weather, your standings, your aches and pains. However, if you want to feel good, all you have to do is to focus on the excitement of bullriding, the amount of people that support you and want you to succeed, or the opportunities that failing presents you to learn something about yourself. You don't need a reason to feel good about yourself. You don't have to earn it like you do money. You can simply choose to fill your mind with energizing, optimistic thoughts. The alternative (negative thinking and pessimism) stinks!
- Use rituals
Rituals serve to soothe and calm us. They bring us back to the familiar. Think about how you wake up in the morning: I'm sure you have a ritual that you perform (brush teeth, shower, turn on TV, etc) more mornings that not. That's because human beings are creatures of habit. The better the habits, the better the results. Therefore, better rituals equal better bullriding results and standings. Champions in every sport have winning rituals that they perform every time they compete. The more they do it, the more comfortable they feel, the more they win. Begin, then, to come up with a championship ritual-one that both energizes and relaxes you. For some athletes this means listening to music, or sitting silently by themselves to visualize their upcoming competition. What could you do prior to every competition that would allow you to be ready?
- Love the fight more than the finish
Champions in every sport love to compete. However, it is vitally important to cultivate your love of the fight more than your love of winning. Stay focused on how much you enjoy the opportunity to see how tough you are when the moment comes. Champions in any sport care more about doing their best and fighting the good fight than they do winning. If you can sit back at the end of the day (bruised, battered, and tired) and know that you fought the good fight, you can be proud. Whether you won or not is really irrelevant. Focus on the fight and you can't go wrong, because that's all you can really control anyway.
