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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