03/07/2024
Some wise words that resonate
One of the most important qualities for success is mental toughness.
It fosters inner motivation, achieving goals, fortitude in facing challenges, remaining calm under pressure, the ability to perform consistently,
move on from disappointment, view adversity as an opportunity and perhaps most important,
— irrespective of your definition of ‘success’, whether you’re a novice just starting or a 40 year expert, it empowers the mindset to take you from where you are, to where you want to be.
Here are 3 tips to help improve mental toughness:
1. Make your Best Effort.
It’s less about the outcome than it is about whether you put in the best effort, relative to you and your dogs potential. That includes every aspect of preparation, both in your dogs training and in your personal development and goal setting. There will be days when things go your way and inevitably, there will be days when they don’t. What you can control is how much you did to get you and your dog ready for the moment.
The great coach John Wooden said: “Success is peace of mind; a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”
2. When it doesn't go your way, choose to stay positive.
It’s essential to know the difference between the things you can control and the things you can’t.
If something that is out of your control doesn’t go your way, try to avoid sliding into disappointment, anger or frustration, which are emotions that are firmly within your control. Choose to remain positive.
Especially with trialing, there are often times you walk onto the field armed with various strategies, ideas, and hypotheses about how it will play out. But with 3 thinking entities (you, sheep and dog) you don’t always know what’s going to happen.You may not have control over what happens. But, you can choose how you react.
One way to keep perspective and motivated is understanding that if things go your way, great; and if they don’t, that’s okay, too, since you have a chance to learn and overcome them in the future.
3. Learn from Losses
When things don’t work out, rather than get defeated or take it personally, arrive at a place where you grow from the negative experience.Try to reframe it as an opportunity to learn and challenge to improve —If things don’t go well but you and your dog learned something, it turns into a positive outcome.
Over time and with experience, you can develop a way to use losses to foster improvement and inner drive. What you learn, through review and self-reflection, is often a greater positive than whatever benefits might have come from ‘winning’.
Building these habits can help you improve on the field, and moreover, as a partner to your dog.
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