How to Bounce Back After a Bad Sports Performance
After watching the “Last Dance” about Micheal Jordan and the Chicago Bulls last championship season, it was common for Micheal Jordan to say I’ll Get Over It” after a bad performance.
Big Day went ALL BAD! It was a lousy game, a horrible interview, or you lost the race. So what now?
Most of us want to be good at what we do. We seek to push our limits and test just how far our talent, hard work, will power, and plan of action will take us.
There are always those who want someone else to pave the way, give them the gift or open up the opportunity. But many of us are willing to do whatever it takes despite the circumstances. When you step out on faith, make a move on your own to reach for that dream, it takes courage.
Using Visualization to Bounce Back
Visualization gets the ideas and goals started.
Dreaming activates your imagination.
Dreaming and visualization are necessary for achievement and living life as a champion.
Obstacles are part of life and sport; it produces high character that is prepared to overcome the failures and handle the success.
When you dream big, you must be willing to face roadblocks, setbacks, and significant losses. When you reach for the stars, sometimes you may land on the hill, but that hill still sits above most.
I’ve listened to many Micheal Jordan interviews, and What I learned is, “If you want to experience achievement, you must expect there will be challenges and roadblocks. All those who have climbed the mountain top or experienced that rare success not to be confused with just money; have overcome obstacles and difficult circumstances. You cannot let one lousy performance or multiple failures derail you. Figure out how to do it better and improve, climb the mountain, bust through it, and figure out how you can overcome the obstacles.
The fact that you attempted to reach for Mount Everest or attempted to leap above the rest takes courage, and ultimately when you exercise courage, you have already won.
I can accept a loss; everyone fails at something. But I can’t take not trying. ~Michael Jordan
This Day may not have gone how you wanted it to, or how you planned it or visualized it, but it is part of your process to the top. Get back to work, study, continue to prepare and stay focused on the prize while doing those things that will get you to your ultimate goal.
A loss is only one more opportunity to begin again more intelligently, with better preparation and an improved strategy. ~ Souletics
To Bounce Back You Must – Don’t Give Up
Have you ever felt like giving up? I mean giving up on everything, material attachments, even human attachments – all the stuff, the business, the job, the career, the politics, the struggle, and also the victory. You hear the phrase “don’t give up,” but at this point, it means nothing to you.
If you’ve ever been there, it’s an incredible place where you feel everything. Somehow it seems like at this point you’ve done all you could and if you haven’t, you’ve concluded that you’ve done all you want to do. It’s not as if you somehow hit rock bottom, but you’re tired of running on the treadmill. You’ve seen enough, experienced even more, and benefited from the successes of your hard work. You understand what it takes to accomplish what you want, and you know everything that must line up for your remaining dreams to become a reality. But the question still nags at you.
When you feel like this, it’s an excellent time to assess your environment. To make sure that you take a step back and understand all the right things and possible other decisions you’ve made to get you to this point.
4 Important things to do to assist you in overcoming that problematic moment:
- Prayer: It can be as short as five minutes to start. Seek divine wisdom and understanding.
Releasing negative thoughts: making the conscious decision to drop negative, judgmental thoughts and anxieties daily. Slowly eliminate social media depression. - Gratitude. Write down all that you’re grateful for.
- Connect with people in person. Meet people face to face and one on one.
- Give it to someone. Give your time, a donation, or it could only be words of encouragement. This is a way to send the world a gift that will ultimately come back to you in some way.
Be Aware of Your Mindset – Choose To Be Mentally Tough
Mental Toughness in sports is an absolute must. Mental Toughness separates the complacency from the great. A great athlete with mental Toughness becomes an elite athlete. An average athlete that is exceptionally mentally tough can be a great athlete. But a great athlete with no mental toughness is just average or non-existent.
Bobby Knight said Mental Toughness is to physical to four to one.
Concentration, focus, mindset, and mental toughness are the margins of victory. – Bill Russell
To me, football is so much about mindset, mental Toughness; it’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you can physically, mentally to help your team win, make individual plays and win championships. – Tom Brady
Whenever Micheal Jordan speaks of mental Toughness, he talks about the “will to win.” He discusses the will to succeed regardless of the obstacles. Examples are the many people that said he couldn’t be better than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson, or that a scoring champion could not win a championship. Micheal, in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, talked about how he could never please Tex Winter, the assistant coach. Micheal desired and sought to be the best. He didn’t internalize criticism, but what he did do was use it to drive him and perfect the game of basketball.
Michael Jordan said I could accept the loss; everyone fails. But I can not take not trying.
Michael Jordan has always talked extensively about bouncing back; he also stated players must always be, Be honest to the game, because the basketball will be right to you. If you try to shortcut sports, then basketball will short change you. If you put forth the maximum effort, good things will result. That’s what I have found right about the game, and in some ways, that’s about life too.
Michael Jordan
Here are two keys to Mental Toughness in Sports
Taken from Don’t Stop The Swagger
Ignore the Critics -Criticism is a part of life. Often when we receive criticism, we internalize it, think about it all too much and sometimes even believe it. Try ignoring the criticism in a way that allows you to stay engaged and focused on the task. For example, if someone is talking trash to you, do not respond. Use all that energy to destroy your competition in silence.
Push Through The Pain – When you’re having the worst Day many times, you may show frustration through verbal outbursts, trying to do too much, or calling it a day (living to fight another day). When you’re having that painful Day, try to stay focused and again try not to verbalize your frustration. Use that energy to focus on the task at hand. Try to turn up the intensity in a different way. If it is basketball, try playing better defense. If it is football, try blocking with more energy. If you are racing motorcycles, focus on your corner speed.
Muhammad Ali said he who lacks courage would not take the actions or enough risks to accomplish anything in life. – Muhammad Ali
More Secrets on How to Develop Mental Toughness
You develop mental Toughness by having a clear vision, setting a strategy to accomplish that vision, and then setting on the path to do what it takes to achieve that vision. There may be obstacles, but you can develop what it takes to overcome most circumstances set before you.
Often we get deterred by the small roadblocks along the way. Will we be required to do the work? Yes. Mental Toughness is merely staying the course. Writer Napoleon Hill, who is the author of Think and Grow Rich, said, “Great success is usually a result of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.”
Never forget to acknowledge the small success along the way. Progress is progress; you cannot win the war without gaining a few battles along the way.
Napoleon Hill also said, “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.”
John Wooden spoke about battles and success and stated, “There are many keys that are critical to arriving at 100% peace of mind, and one of the most essential is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.
Often, mental Toughness is developed because of significant opposition, lousy environment, or willingness to change their life. Mental Toughness is a will, power, control, and balance. Mental Toughness is balancing your energy so you can maximize that output. The focus should be on winning, or whatever your desired result or goal.
Jackie Robinson said it best, “Life is not a fun sport. If you spend your whole life in the stands just watching what happens, in my opinion, you’re wasting your life away. Mental Toughness is the something inside you that you must search and find, it’s the part of you that wants something more, it wants to change you for the better, impact the world in whatever way you choose. Mental Toughness is doing what it takes to create the life you want!
Learn more about sports and mindset!
How to bounce after a bad sports performance?
Accept that you cannot change that outcome. Give yourself a reasonable time to feel emotionally upset about the loss. But now you must evaluate your performance and use your findings as fuel and motivation to performs better at the next sports event. Every time you are faced with a loss or lousy performance, use the approach acceptance, healthy emotional response, evaluation, and new strategy. Don’t have continuous negative conversations about the horrible performance but rather take appropriate actions that will result in improved performance.