Channel Your Frustration
- This is an article from a sport psychologist.
- Here’s an idea that will transform your life.
- As long as you do it, your athletic life will be transformed.
- Raise your right hand and say, “I will never let self-pity get the best of me.”
- What is self-pity?
- It’s the idea that you should never have to suffer.
- Other athletes can endure setbacks, maddening officiating, or bad coaching.
- …just not you.
- The way self-pity shows up in competition?
- When something happens you don’t like, you take a turn to negative town.
- You complain – in your head and to people.
- About officiating, coaching, conditions, even your own mistakes.
- The list of things to complain about in sport is long and distinguished.
- When bad things happen, most athletes indulge their self-pity and complain.
- They complain in their mind — and to anyone who’ll listen.
- They get attention this way.
- Self-pity is normal, but it’s also emotional quicksand.
- It distracts you from finding solutions.
- Once activated, self-pity wants more pain, and it will feed off itself to make you miserable.
- In the NBA, each player gets a box score from the coach.
- And the last five letters a player wants to see is DNP/CD. It stands for “did not play, coach’s decision”.
- Basketball superstar Steve Nash got these letters from his coach 14 times straight in his rookie year.
- Self-pity?
- Not for Steve. Not his style.
- He figured playing behind two of the best guards in the NBA was a great opportunity to improve.
- He said, “The practices are my games – my job is to challenge them every day, and that will pay off for me in the future.”
- So here’s the deal:
- No self-pity for the next 7 days. Not in your head and not out loud.
- Instead of self-pity, you’re going to CHANNEL your frustration.
- You’re going to make your opponent pay.
- And while you’re re-training your mind, why not go all the way and re-train yourself for superior mental toughness?
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