The fifth Essential is learning to Manage Emotions. There is a specific reason as to why you need to MANAGE them instead of CONTROL them. Emotions are a good, healthy, and natural part of life. It’s what makes you human! The challenge comes when you experience an emotion that is too big and impacts your ability to perform in the way that you want.

The fourth Essential is learning to Control Mental Talk. What you say to yourself matters. Your internal dialogue can absolutely make or break your athletic performance. In fact, it has more impact on your performance in a single competition moment than anything else.

The third Essential is learning to Communicate with Others. Whether you are in a team sport or an individual sport, having the ability to effectively communicate with those around you is critical. You need to know what you want to say and put it out in the world in a way that others understand exactly what you mean. This can be incredibly hard, which is why some of the biggest mistakes in sport come from miscommunication. Check out these two key components of communication and see where you need to spend more time developing your skills within this Essential.

The second Essential is learning to Set Goals. Goals tell you where you want to go. They put words to dreams or ideas and solidify the path required to get there. Goals also let others know what you want out of life so they can determine how to help you achieve those goals. Some goals are individual, others are identified with a team. When it comes to setting goals, there are many components that go into being an effective goal setter. Today, we are going to dive into two of them.

The first Essential is learning to Distinguish between Controllables and Uncontrollables. This is the foundation of all teachings with Athlete’s Academy. You must know what aspects of yourself and your sport are controllable and uncontrollable. Being clear on this difference enables you to put your time, energy, and focus on those aspects that can actually have an impact. Your energy is valuable. Be sure it’s not wasted on something that you have no control over.

Be fearless. Suck it up. No pain, no gain. Just do it.

It’s always presented as the gold standard, the thing that you are supposed to aim for and become. The best of the best athletes are fearless. They can enter into a competition and stare it down.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. The importance of being fearless is a LIE. Fearlessness occurs only when you have zero things to fear. And any time you enter into the competition area, you run the risk of losing. The fact that there is a risk means that fear will also exist. There is uncertainty in sport which turns into doubt and fear. You can’t be certain that you will get a hit, make that field goal, or win the game. It’s this uncertainty and the chance to have success in the face of the risk, that makes us love sports.