Athletes struggle with things like pressure, doubts, and negative emotions more than ever before. However, the good thing is that mindset training or coaching is becoming popular and many athletes are benefiting more and more from it these days.
Nathan de Veer was a student-athlete at Georgia Gwinnett and DePaul University who has now been helping athletes worldwide for the past couple of years to break free from pressure, boost confidence, and get better results. He will be sharing some practical tips to help you be happy and successful!
1) Living the College Dream
If you have the chance to go to the United States and have a career as a student-athlete, then I know it can be easy to take it for granted once you’re in the day-to-day “grind” of practicing, studying, competing, etc.
I’d invite you to take some time and start a diary or journal to reflect on what you really enjoyed today, what you learned, or what you’re proud of. Many athletes worldwide don’t have the opportunity that you do due to money, lack of skill, or other reasons and it flies by quickly.
Action > By creating a simple routine to reflect and be grateful, you train your brain to enjoy yourself more but it’s also nice to have later when you look back!
2) Dealing with Pressure
When I went to the United States, I felt some pressure to make it to the line-up of my tennis team. I actually got injured during challenge matches and couldn’t travel with the guys.
Maybe you’ve heard that you shouldn’t worry about the results and enjoy the process but what if the results do matter to you? Athletes who contact me say they’ve tried this or taking a deep breath but the nerves or pressure continues to come back… Can you relate?
Action > Realize what you’re trying to avoid is not the end of the world by comparing it to something (you resonate with) that you feel is much worse or bigger than your fear
3) Challenge to Opportunity
As I said, challenges are inevitable in life and especially when you get into a new environment. There was a lot more involved than I realized in finding and getting into a college I wanted so the help from Dennis was very valuable to getting my paperwork ready, contacting coaches, and having Universities to pick from.
Once I got in, I was very happy but as always, new challenges showed up: I felt pressure to do well from coaches, had some injuries, wasn’t that good in English… It can be easy to think: Why does this happen to me… Or maybe you feel: I should be positive but internally, you still feel negative or disempowered so how do you deal with it?
Action > Find reasons why it’s positive: What can I learn from this or be grateful for?
I genuinely hope the tips that Nathan has provided were helpful! Even though they will give you quick results when you apply them, real lasting change is easier said than done. We live in a world with tons of podcasts, books on psychology, and online programs which are nice. However, if you’re looking to accelerate your happiness, confidence, and results, then having Nathan on your side to guide you will make this much easier and faster. He has been in your shoes so knows exactly how it feels like and has had great results with tennis players and other athletes.
If you’d like to learn how your mindset and routines compare to the best athletes in the world, then he has offered the readers from Madescholarhips a free high-performance mindset test with some personal feedback too. Just email him at: nathandeveer@gmail.com: Mindset Madescholships. If you’d like to know more about working with him, you can use that email too.
