The Mental Weight Room

Over the last ten years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Olympic gold medalists, NCAA scoring leaders, major-league all-stars, NASCAR drivers, golfers in the PGA and LPGA, NFL Pro Bowlers, and countless other professional and amateur athletes. As a sport psychology consultant, I expect that players will talk with me from time to time about a personal issue other than on-field performance, but I am not some touchy-feely counselor interested in psychoanalyzing athletes’ deepest, darkest fears and desires. Nor am I likely to ever spout some Freudian cliché about my clients’ id or superego and how the disposition of the personality all relates back to the mother. The truth is that we all have issues in our lives. We don’t become adults without developing some baggage along the way. Regardless, I would be making a mistake in assuming that the players with whom I work are interested in my help restoring, rehabilitating, or revitalizing their mental health. Elite athletes don’t want me getting inside their heads and screwing things up. After all, these are people who have cultivated their physical ability to reach the apex of achievement in their sport. In the grand scheme of athletic competition, these players have already enjoyed tremendous success by the time I start talking to them. When presented with the opportunity to work with a sport psychology consultant, they figure there are a whole lot more things that can go wrong than there are things that might go right. What I always try to make clear to the individuals with whom I work, whether athletes or executives, is that my chief aim is to help refine their existing skills more efficiently and consistently than they could do otherwise. In essence, an athlete who decides to work with me to improve his or her mental game is no different from one who hires a nutritionist to maximize muscle growth. A dietitian or nutrition expert identifies the specific formula of vitamins and protein supplements that will help build an athlete’s body to its most efficient form. However, merely hiring a nutritionist won’t do much good if that player isn’t in the weight room doing the work that will optimize how those carbohydrates and protein shakes affect the body’s physical stature and growth. The same is true for athletes and businesspeople who work with me. My 10-Minute Toughness routine provides competitors of all ages and skill levels with the “nutrients” essential for mind building and strengthening. I am not getting into the heads of the individuals with whom I work—they are getting inside their own heads. I merely steer people in the best direction by asking them the right questions and getting them to think about their goals and identify exactly what it will take to achieve these goals. I don’t pretend to be an expert on any of the sports in which my clients participate, whether it’s baseball, football, basketball, gymnastics, or any other activity. Athletes looking for a mental edge don’t need another external voice coaching them along. What they do need is to learn how to become their own coach, internally.