mental toughness

It is the mind-set to meet a challenge and overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of success. It is the inner strength that creates resolve and dedication, the courage to fight back from failure. It is the understanding that achievement rarely comes without enormous hardships along the way, and that the mentally tough are those who can work their way through the ordeals and persevere to success. It means keeping your head when others around you are losing theirs, and it means having the courage to speak up at the right time – or stay silent. The goal for mental toughness is a conscious decision a person makes in order to increase his or her opportunities for success.

Football is a game, a lifestyle, in which mental toughness is particularly necessary. It is a sport in which the mental elements are as demanding as the physical; where talent and mind-set combine to create achievement. Enormously talented athletes wash out because of a lack of desire or a breakdown of mental toughness. Far less talented players find their way to the NFL and college for long and successful careers because of their mental strength. Once said of Tom Brady, “He does not have a strong enough arm and he is too slow. All he can do is beat you.” This happens in high schools, colleges, and on the professional levels. It is almost always because of the formidable combination of desire, perseverance, and attitude that makes up mental toughness.

When scouts and recruiters refer to “makeup”, they mean mental toughness. It’s a collection of values, attitudes, and emotions, a blend of the flexibility to make adjustments with the stubborn perseverance to overcome obstacles. Players who are mentally tough know how to control their emotions to perform in clutch situations; they can stay calm when breaks go against them. They avoid becoming intimidated; they don’t give in by changing plans losing sight of goals, or taking the easy way out. They do the work to grow tough physically as well as mentally; they push themselves to become their best, even working through exhaustion; they are disciplined and avoid easy distractions; they bounce back from disappointments and adversity; they are prepared and know how to prepare; they do not make excuses, particularly to themselves; they overcome fear. Mental toughness requires a state of alertness that allows the player to react quickly to changing situations while remaining intensely focused. It is a combination of self control and discipline that allows quick, intelligent decisions at the most intense moments. Everyone feels fear, the mentally tough learn to execute despite fear.

Mental toughness and physical toughness are very different. Bulging muscles and brawn are no measure of the person within. Confusing the two is a mistake that athletes often make.

The vast majority of people bound through life almost adrift, reacting with emotions and feelings rather than reasoning out the consequences of their actions or their best course for success and achievement. When something goes wrong around them, they fail to evaluate the reasons; instead they make excuses, rationalize, and blame others. Mental toughness would enable them to take control of their own destiny and get the most out of their ability. It will not always work; there are no perfect solutions to every problem. But it is, simply, the most effective approach to virtually all arenas of competition. Mental toughness is a quality that has been exhibited by virtually all leading athletes, by military leaders from Hannibal to Colin Powell, and by exemplary titans of business.

Football is different from most other team sports in that it is a team game filled with individual challenges. But still, all players must work together to make an offensive play click or get a defensive stop.

Without mental toughness, failure eats at the soul, erodes confidence, and can snowball into disaster. Although the basic concepts of the mental game in football have been part of the sport almost since its inception, it has received growing emphasis in the last dozen years. Athletes and coaches have begun to recognize that talent alone does not translate into success. Many college coaches emphasize a player’s mental skills in recruiting, choosing players with a strong work ethic and great competitiveness over players who may be more talented but less motivated. NFL teams ask their scouting staffs to grade personal attributes – such as dedication, aptitude, and maturity – along with a player’s physical tools. This allows teams to better understand the person as well as the player.

Everyone who has participated in sports has a mental game at some level of refinement. In football, the mental game is critical because of the idle time involved in the game, which allows the mind to wander. What is the player thinking between snaps, or between series? Is his mind on the game, considering the next set of possibilities? Or has his mind drifted to his date after the game? Bob Costas wrote in his book Fair Ball, “In any sport, the anticipation of what might happen is almost as important as what actually happens.” Confidence, concentration, attitudes, and an approach to learning are all elements of the mental game. Mental toughness brings these elements together and allows an athlete to perform to the best of his or her ability.

But mental toughness is a skill, not a talent or a gift of nature. It is learned and developed. It is no different than a bench press, 40 time, or route running. The individual must determine whether to choose a path of honing his or her mind toward a course of strength, power, and preparedness. It is a personal choice to take control of one’s abilities and strive for success. Mental toughness is a process of using your mind to gain the most from your abilities. It is, very often, the difference between being a talented person and being a successful one.