Mental Toughness:  Our ability to stay focused, motivated and committed in the pursuit of our team and individual intentions, especially in the face of adversity and failure. It includes thinking and practicing through our Plan A where everything goes perfectly, B something has gone wrong, and C all heck breaks loose.

Confidence:  Comes from focusing on what you can control. Play to your strengths. Practice your weaknesses. Be patient with skill development, but unleash your effort. Confidence is not all or nothing, so build from what is working. Stop working on a skill when you are successful every time, not the first time you are successful. Repetition of the things you can control builds confidence.

All Eyes on Your Intentions:  Forget the past. Be here now! Negative thoughts are from the past. Actively engage with now. Being present. Shake off negative plays or moves by utilizing your focusing character/phrase and focus on the present moment. Intentions are for the future and to empower your current moment. Upsets are often about unfulfilled expectations, which are disconnected from the intention.

I Am Ready to Be the Unlikely Hero:  I can and will raise my level of effort and focus under pressure by trusting the skills that I’ve practiced every day and let go of the outcome.

Intimidation:  I will not give in to other’s intimidation. You cannot get into my head. I will not get agitated, angry and anxious. Your intimidation is a weak mind trying to get me off focus. Too bad your stuff passed me by. I will use your efforts to my favor.

Decisive, Fast Decisions:  I may make mistakes, but the positive results of an added milliseconds from decisive decisions, far out-weighs over-thinking and second-guessing.

Visualization:  Will improve my performance by 45% or more, just as studies have shown. Daily visualize each component of my game, going perfectly, correcting when it’s going wrong or all heck breaks loose. Visualizing the celebration at the end of winning a game, a winning season, a championship.

Play to Win:  By focusing on the process and steps I need to take to succeed, not the score or outcome. My sport is like a mental chess match where my mind (muscle memory and subconscious) drives my body.

Pre-game:  As part of my pregame ritual, I fuel my confidence by reviewing my belief in my abilities and strengths, positive self-talk, and positive mental rehearsal. Connecting to memories of my love for the game. Doing the same pre-game routine everytime.

Response:  I have full control over my response and will avoid BCD (blame, complain and defending) behavior.  Meditation helps me with my decision-making and pausing before I respond automatically, breaking up the stimulus/response trap.

Pressing:  I will quiet my mind and be aware of my movement, but not try to command my body and try to force it. In competition, the best thing for my mind is to be more aware and instinctive. I will stick to my goal, trust my body to perform and become a performer.