So you’re coming off of a poor season and feeling a bit defeated; you know you can be a Difference Maker, and have all the talent in the world, but you simply didn’t perform up to your potential.
Your athletic performances start to suffer and you just can't get into a state of peak performance.
We get it - the uncertainty that sets in after a season like this is frustrating, and it leads to you feeling unsure and anxious over what’s next, and decreases your mental resilience.
You should never have to feel this way; poor seasons happen and are part of an athlete's lifecycle, and it's why it's crucial to be a resilient athlete.
The past doesn’t matter from this point on; what matters is how you decide to move forward so that you can dominate - what matters is how you decide to manage your stress and move forward with life's challenges.
Here’s our simple guide that you can use to reinvent yourself after a poor season so that you can build your mental toughness and be the Difference Maker you were meant to be.
1. Don’t Try to Make Up for Anything
You must understand that just because you had a poor season last year, it doesn’t mean you need to try to make up for it; you don’t need to try to “prove” yourself to your coaches or teammates (and fans if you have them), just get back to being you.
Adopt this mindset early so you can focus on growth, versus putting unneeded pressure on yourself to make up for the past.
2. Remember What Got You Here
The best athletes in the world have a system that they fall back on that allows them to consistently deliver; in this system, they have the strengths that they use in performance to be successful, what they focus on when they’re at their best, how they prepare mentally to feel confident, and how they prepare physically to feel confident.
Reinventing yourself means understanding what got you here and committing to innovating these strengths so that you can get back to being certain going into performances.
3. Understand Why You Had a Poor Season
Here’s the truth: every poor season has a cause of occurrence, or a reason as to why it happened - and this cause can be boiled down to your standards and the systems behind them.
For example: think of someone who gains unnecessary weight (fat); is it because they ate just one bad meal and all of a sudden they gain weight? Absolutely not! It’s a result of multiple little habits that don’t serve them, like skipping daily workouts, snacking on bad foods, etc.
The same can be said about your poor season: isn’t it true that you didn’t have the best habits this year that served what you really want? And these habits could be mental, like thinking the coach is out to get you, or physical where you don’t put in the work ethic required.
You must examine your habits to understand exactly why you had the season you did; in your habits lie the answers to your positive or negative performances. And this is as true in life as it is in sports.
Take the time to understand and examine these poor habits right now; by doing this, you won’t make the same mistakes again!
4. Create a New Vision and Raise Your Standards
The truth is this: the past is the past; what happened last year happened, and it doesn’t matter anymore.
What matters now is that you create something new for yourself; in life, we have the amazing ability to create something new as human beings.
But to do this, you must raise your standards; your potential is limitless - human beings absolutely have the ability to do amazing things!
The sad truth is that we often don’t.
So, this year we’re challenging you to raise your standards; if last year you settled with “do just enough,” this year challenge yourself with “lead the pack.”
If last year you settled with “just be good,” this year challenge yourself with “set the tone.”
By creating a new vision and raising your standards, you push yourself to be more, and by pushing yourself to be more you can have a greater impact on those around you.
That’s what the best athletes in the world do - they work hard on themselves so that they can impact others, or they get selfish to be selfless.
Right now, create a new vision of who you want to be this year, and make it totally in your control. You can be a leader, with or without a coach telling you to; you can be a goalscorer, with or without a coach telling you to.
Create your vision.
5. Create New Systems and Habits
The results you get in any area of your life are a result of the systems you put in place and the habits that you follow through on.
Think about it: the best athletes in the world have much different daily systems and habits than the majority do.
For example: Michael Jordan practiced so many shots per day, even when others left the gym. Tiger Woods changed his workouts and his swing, even when others kept the same workout habits and swing style for years.
The list goes on and on, but the point is that the best of the best activate their new standards by creating new systems (or specific times that they perform a specific combination of habits), and new habits (repeated behaviours that drive results).
Right now, take the time to ask yourself, “If I want to accomplish INSERT NEW VISION HERE, what daily systems and habits must I perform? What time must I do these? How must I perform them?”
If you need help with this, you can learn more about how we do this with our athletes here; everything in high performance is about building certainty.
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Stay resilient.