As an athlete, naturally you want to be the best you can be. You want to unlock your full athletic potential.
But how?
How do you get yourself to the point where you can confidently say you have revealed your best. You have gotten yourself to the top of your game.
That’s what we’re working to uncover within this article.
What is Your Full Athletic Potential?
What does it mean to unlock your full athletic potential? Does it mean you’ve peaked? You’ve reached the top of the mountain and there’s no more for you to climb?
Maybe.
But that is a challenge in and of itself, because how do we know if you’ve peaked? Isn’t there always a little more you can achieve? A little stronger you can become or a little faster you can get?
It’s hard to say you’ve reached your full potential without simultaneously feeling like you are accepting you are as good as you’ll ever be. And that is not a type of acceptance I think is helpful.
I want you to always strive to be a better athlete. And if that’s the case, how can I say we’re going to try and unlock your full potential?
Because, when we think about unlocking your full potential as an athlete, it’s about unlocking your full potential, today.
Being the Best You Can Be TODAY
As a mental performance coach, I work with athletes on improving their mental game and using their mind to increase performance. One of the ideas we focus on is generating a peak mindset.
A peak mindset is the mindset you need to perform your best.
When you have a peak mindset, you tend to compete up to your full potential for that day.
That’s the idea behind you unlocking your full athletic potential: you want to unlock your best for that day.
Now, your best may change from day to day depending on many factors. But the foundational idea remains the same: we want to ensure you are approaching every day with the intent to be the best you can be that day.
This will involve performing certain actions, using mental tools, as well as adopting an overall mindset focused on getting the best out of yourself.
6 Tips to Unlock Your Full Potential
Remember, unlocking your potential as an athlete involves you unlocking your best, today. Not thinking about some ideal version of yourself in the future at the top of the mountain.
We are focused on you being the best version of yourself today. That is what the six tips below will help you do.
Tip #1: Adopt the Right Mindset
Getting the best out of yourself requires you to want to do so. You must have the mindset that you are there to do your best, whatever that looks like for you.
Many athletes have the wish to be the best they can be each day. But very few have the correct mindset where they are determined to be their best.
In order to fully adopt this mindset, it cannot be reserved for games. You must aim to be the best player you can be in practice, in training, in everything…even rest and recovery.
Reaching your potential simply means getting the best out of yourself. That means you first must believe it’s possible to be your best that day, and then you must have a strong desire to do so.
It’s easy to have this mindset in a big game. All external factors are forcing you to do your best that day. There is no room for a subpar performance.
That’s great and all, but if you really want to reach your potential, you must strive to be your best every day. No matter if it’s a big game or the first game of the season. Have the mindset that you will get the best out of yourself that day.
Now, I am not referring only to getting the best out of yourself in terms of the outcome. What I mean more than that is getting the best out of yourself in terms of the process of your game.
How you focus, the effort you give, how you think, and so on.
But all of this begins with the right mindset. The mindset where you say, I will get the best out of myself today. I will give my best.
Tip #2: Know Your Peak Mindset
This second tip applies mainly to games.
To get the best out of yourself during games, you need to know what your peak mindset is.
A peak mindset is the mental and emotional state you’re in when you play your best.
Not every athlete will have the same peak mindset. It’s up to you to determine what that mindset looks like for you.
Some players need to be focused on proving other people wrong. Some play their best when they focus on having fun. Others do well when they are angry at their opponent.
There is no one size fits all approach. The right mindset for you is the one that puts you in the best position to succeed.
Something you can do to identify this mindset is think back to a few good games you’ve played. Then, try to outline what your mindset was like during those games.
If you notice some similarities, you can piece them together to create what’s known as a peak mindset statement.
Knowing what your peak mindset is will then allow you to work to get into that mindset for games. If you compete with that mindset, it’s likely you will perform closer and closer to your potential for that day.
Tip #3: Set Clear Goals
Whether it’s practice or a game, if you want to get the best out of yourself that day, you need your mind to be focused.
Let’s say you’re practicing and your mind is all over the place. You can’t stop thinking about school, work, your upcoming game, or anything else. Do you think you’ll be getting the best out of yourself that practice?
What about during a game? If your mind is distracted and you struggle to stay focused, do you think you’ll play up to your full potential that day?
When the mind is distracted, you won’t play up to your potential. So one thing we need to work on is getting focused during practices and games.
Focus that comes from setting clear goals.
Goals for practice will involve what you want to work on that day. They will be process goals focused on improving.
For games, your goals will also be process goals. But they will be the process goals that put you in a position to play your best.
Either way, you want to be sure you are setting clear goals for practices and games to keep your mind focused. Because a focused mind unlocks your full athletic potential.
Tip #4: Focus on Productive Thinking
Thinking is directly linked to performance.
The way we think impacts our emotions and actions. All of which either increase performance or hinder performance, depending on what type of thinking you have.
Therefore, you want to be sure your thinking is productive. This is true for both practices and games. The more productive your thinking is, the better you will perform.
Now, I say productive thinking because it can be difficult to always have positive thinking. And sometimes you do need to be hard on yourself, if you’re slacking off, for example.
Productive thinking means you are thinking in a way that increases your focus, builds confidence, helps you move on from mistakes, calms nerves, and so on.
Productive thinking increases performance.
If you want to play up to your potential, it’s key to focus on having productive thinking throughout the day.
Tip #5: Keep a Steady Head
When you think of you playing your best and getting the most out of yourself on any given day, do you picture yourself getting upset and losing control?
Probably not.
When you lose your composure, whether it’s after a mistake, a bad call, or anything else, this will hurt your play.
Losing composure leads to the snowball effect where one mistake turns into many more. This is something we must keep from happening if unlocking your full athletic potential is our goal.
So what exactly does it mean to keep a steady head?
Keeping a steady head means you are more non-reactive to what happens.
If you make a mistake, you learn from it, brush it off, and move on.
If there’s a bad call, you don’t allow it to upset you.
If the other team is trash talking, you let it go. You don’t allow frustration to take over and cause you to underperform.
Keeping emotions under your control is key to getting the best out of yourself either in practice or a game. You cannot allow your emotions to get the best of you.
To keep your emotions under your control, focus on keeping a steady head and not being so reactive to everything that happens.
Tip #6: Be Present
Peak performance happens in the present moment.
Stress and fear live in the past and future.
Two of the most common mental game challenges I help athletes with are the fear of failure and sports performance anxiety. Both of these mental game challenges are formed due to a mind drifting into the past or future.
A present mind works against fear, anxiety, and many other challenges.
If you want to unlock your full potential, you must focus on being present.
When you are present, your mind is centered in the here and now. You are fully focused on what you are doing instead of having your thoughts travel into the past or future.
This is by no means an easy thing to do. It’s natural to think about past mistakes and worry about how the game will go.
But if you truly want to play your best and perform up to your potential, being present has to be your goal.
Focus on what you’re doing, keep your mind centered in the here and now, and your play will be all the better as a result.
Final Thoughts
Unlocking your full athletic potential needs to be seen as a daily challenge.
Don’t think about some future where you will be able to say, Now I am my best.
Focus on being your best today.
That is what it truly means to unlock your full potential. You are striving to unlock your full potential each and every day. No matter if it’s a practice or a game.
To unlock your full potential, there are six tips you can apply:
- Adopt the right mindset
- Know your peak mindset
- Set clear goals
- Focus on productive thinking
- Keep a steady head
- Be present
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of success in all that you do.
