On my two weeks vacation from my first professional football/soccer season I decided to check out a new book called; Mind Gym, Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence. A friend on the island who is also from the States recommended me to read it because I was not happy with the way I was performing on the pitch. I pretty much laughed at him and said no that is not going to work but I will read it anyway.
I was completely wrong. This book is the real deal. It takes you outside of your own vision and look inside and see what being an athlete is all about other than your talents and what you can bring to the table physically. The book really relaxes you and makes you realize that being an athlete is not only about your talent, your determination, your work ethnic, and your love for the game. A big part of being a successful athlete is about the mental part of your game if you already got the goods.
The writer of this book is a sports psychologist who has worked with many professional athletes including Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Kurt Warner, and many others.
I can’t put a percentage of what part of the game is really mental. It is a high percentage. I have always been so gifted with my athleticism that has always helped me achieve to the high level in football/soccer. My mentality is something that I have been struggling with since I left South Carolina in fall of 2006. Mentality is a huge piece of an athlete’s game.
Yes, 2006 seems so long ago but it is the truth. After reading this book my team has played against the top two teams in the league and we won one and tie the other. I have been performing better than I have been all season. I have scored 3 out of 6 of our team goals. This book is not going to make me reach my maximum potential in a matter of days, weeks, or even months.
If I continue to follow the philosophy of this book I believe it will take me to places that I think could be possible. Basically what it really emphasize on is whatever sport you play, don’t think about scoring, hitting a homerun, and etc. For my football game I just focus on my weaknesses and what I can do to improve. I write down my strengths and weaknesses; and say how much I want to improve (there is always room for improvement whether they are strengths or weaknesses). Before each game I can tell myself what I need to work on that will cause things to fall into place. I try to avoid the line “I need to score, I need to have a hat trick, etc.”
I need to worry about what I need to do in order to score; I need to stop worrying about how many goals I will score each game, which is preventing me from reaching the maximum level. It is time to focus on many little things and if I succeed at each of those little things success will come my way.
Those who are athletes and have struggled here or there I would recommend this book. Trust me, I know now what I need to do to become a better football/soccer player. That is to work on my strengths and weaknesses and think about what I need to do in order to score; pressure well defensively to cause defenders to make mistakes; make good first touches; good passes; take more shots (become a little more selfish). There is so much I need to work on in order to become a better player.
Basically my philosophy is not how many goals I will score in a game now, it is what I will work on in order to lead into that direction and things will fall into place. Last but not the least to believe in myself 100%.
If you’re a athlete trying to reach the highest possible level! Pick up this book and read it!
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