The Champion's Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive

Excellence can be achieved only today—not yesterday or tomorrow, because they do not exist in the present moment. Today is the only day you have to flex your talents and maximize your enjoyment. Your challenge is to win in all aspects of life. To reach that goal, you need to set yourself up for success by winning one day at a time. Procrastination is no match for a champion.

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.

The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.

Attitude is a decision, and it is also a learned behavior, requiring discipline and energy to sustain.

Think gold and never settle for silver.

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.

It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much. —YOGI BERRA

Doubt yourself? Start doubting your doubt!

Champions play to win. Failure is just feedback. There’s everything to gain by trying your best.

Win the day.” This means you should take advantage of the opportunity that each day brings to be the best athlete you can be. “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse” is a winning philosophy that must be embraced to reach personal excellence and competitive greatness. Peak performance is the daily strike zone we are aiming for.

To paraphrase sprinter Maurice Greene, a onetime world record holder in the 100 meters, train like you are No. 2 (train your talent), but compete like you are No. 1 (trust your talent).

Mental toughness can be demonstrated at a particular moment in time or over the long term, as in your overall career success. Doing the thing that is hard over and over again is like depositing money in your inner-strength bank account.

Mentally practice two or three times each week for about 10 to 15 minutes per rehearsal. Select a specific sports skill to further develop, or work your way though different scenarios, incorporating various game-ending situations. Examples include meeting your marathon goal time, striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth, or making the game-winning shot as the final buzzer is sounding. Mental practice sessions that are shorter in length are also beneficial. Good times include during any downtime in your schedule, the night before a competition, as an element of your pregame routine, and especially as part of a preshot routine.

Every athlete fails, but champions do not dwell on their failures. Instead, they focus on the positive experiences and keep confidently moving forward.

If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse” is a winningphilosophy that must be embraced to reach personal excellence andcompetitive greatness. Peak performance is the daily strike zone we areaiming for.

The best and quickest solution for overcoming your inner resistance,challenging old patterns, and changing bad habits is to fake it until youeither find your A-game and recover your form or finish it and the gamehas ended. Slow it down and break it down. Panic is not an option for achampion.

A nonmedalist says, “One day I will,” whereas a gold medalist does itand says, “Today I did.” Sergey Bubka of Ukraine, a record-setting polevaulter and gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, always advocatedothers to “Do it. Then say it.” Actions really do speak louder than words, sotake a moment right now to ask yourself, “Am I walking (or running) thetalk with how I’m preparing myself for competition?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explains “Your mind iswhat makes everything else work.” Tennis great Novak Djokovic furtherexplains: “[Among the] top 100 players, physically there is not muchdifference. . . . It’s a mental ability to handle the pressure, to play well at theright moments.

If you look good, you feel good. And if you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good.

Mental toughness is the ability to remain positive and proactive in the most adverse of circumstances.

The present is always the present, and it’s all that ever is; the past and future exist only in your imagination.

ask yourself, “Am I chasing my dreams or just coasting along all day; am I striving for personal gold or settling for silver?

Win the day.” This means you should take advantage of the opportunity that each day brings to be the best athlete you can be. “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse

Now fully see, feel, and enjoy executing this skill throughout each moment of the movement. Maintain full attention throughout the entire activity and complete the routine by sinking the basket with a swish or serving an ace down the line. Challenge yourself to do this exercise successfully three times in a row with full focus and a positive result. If you visualize missing the basket or hitting the ball into the net or if you lose focus, keep repeating the process until you can visualize yourself doing it right straight through. This will further anchor your physical self to a gold medal performance.

three-level goal system to determine your achievement levels at a training session, during the next competition, or in your upcoming season: 1) bronze, 2) silver, and 3) gold. In this system, bronze symbolizes a desired result that would be a good outcome based on a reasonable assessment of past performances and current capabilities. Silver refers to a significant improvement. Finally, gold is equivalent to achieving a best time or delivering a major performance breakthrough.

To cope, I needed to remove judgment of my reaction and trust that my body has a wisdom that is greater than the intelligence of my analytical brain.

If you search for your authentic, best self during competition, you will find it. Victory often comes along for the ride as a pleasurable side effect.

Competition exposes the core of our emotional, spiritual, and psychological being.

Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation,

A frog meets a centipede and, after watching it for a while, says, “It’s unbelievable! How can you walk so fast and coordinate all these legs of yours? I only have four and I still find it difficult.” At this, the centipede stops, thinks about it, and finds himself unable to leave again.