Thread by @CoachesClub_

Most coaches recognize that the mind is a significant factor in performance.

But not enough coaches take the time and effort to develop their athlete's mental skills.

Here are...

2 reasons coaches don't do it

3 ways to start doing it

🧵 ⬇️

—Why Coaches don't do it—

1️⃣ Limit Beliefs & Fixed Mindsets

Too often coaches talk about players mental skills or mental toughness as either...

"They have it"

OR

"They just don't have it"

What's issue with this?

It's a perfect example of a fixed mindset.

When we have fixed mindset toward our athletes, we are unlikely to invest time in building critical skills that they all need.

When we believe athletes either have it or they don't when it comes to their mindset and mental skills, we won't invest in developing those skills.

2️⃣ Ill-Equipped to teach it

Even coaches who want to incorporate the development of mental skills in their coaching often struggle to do so.

It's not easy, and unfortunately, coaches have not been equipped to do it well.

Teaching and developing mental skills can be uncomfortable, so it's not surprising that many coaches don't do it.

Few of us like being uncomfortable.

And even fewer have been give specific strategies to build mental skills.

—How to develop mental skills—

1️⃣ Develop Your Own

"We can't give what we don't have...

It all starts with you.

You're going to set the limit for your team's mindset."
- @BretBurchard

It. All. Starts. With. YOU!

If we as coaches aren't intentionally developing our own mindset, then we will likely never develop the mindsets and mental skills of our athletes.

The easiest where to evaluate your mental skills and mindset is to reflect and get feedback on how you respond.

For example...

What do you do when...

- things don't go your way?

- you are uncomfortable?

- life or the game seem unfair?

- people disrespect you?

- people challenge you?

- you make a mistake?

- practice doesn't go well?

Answer those questions honestly and you'll start to get a sense of where you need to develop some mental skills and improve your mindset.

REMEMBER:

It. Starts. With. You.

"We can't give what we don't have."

2️⃣ Develop Common Language

Most athletes haven't been given the language to use around mental skills and mental performance.

For them to develop those skills, they need to understand what they are, which includes giving them language to talk about them.

This is about educating your players.

Teach them about the mind.

How it works, why it matters, and why it's important for them to develop mental skills.

Show them examples of the kind of mindsets you want them to develop from athletes that they admire.

Educate your athletes.

Use intentional language to talk about mental skills.

Give them examples.

3️⃣ Create Space

This is about making it safe to have conversations around mental skills both as a team and with individuals.

Once they've learned a language around mental skills, mindset, and mental performance...

Then, you can really start to dialogue with the team and individual players about where they are and where they need to grow.

That's coaching!

Taking someone from where they are to where they want to be.

We should be doing that with their physical skills AND mental skills.

Start asking your athletes the same questions we mentioned earlier for coaches.

Have them consider their responses, then consider what the ideal response would be in those situation.

Just start somewhere!

This thread was inspired by @LukeGromer's conversation with @BretBurchard on Ep. 28 of The Coaches Club Podcast.

If you enjoyed this thread, would you go retweet the first tweet?

You can...

Listen to Ep. 28 with @BretBurchard

OR

Get a 5 page PDF of notes from Ep. 28

Listen + Notes ⤵️ CoachesClubPod.com