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There is a difference between a good performer and a great performer, and that difference is Mental Toughness.

If you want to be good at anything you will need to learn and practice the associated competencies.

If you want to be a good tennis player you will need to learn and practice serving, backhand, forehand, lobbing, slicing, etc.

If you want to be a good musician you will need to learn and practice chords, scales, patterns, modes, rhythms, etc.

If you want to be a good presenter you will need to learn and practice vocalisation, rhetoric, storytelling, body language, etc.

However, if you want to be great at any of the above, there is a limit to what acquiring skills and competencies can achieve; the acquisition becomes “asymptotic” with a minimal increase in performance for the new skills acquired.

Good performers, perform well some of the time, whereas great performers, perform great all of the time.

Great performers are not “streets ahead” of good performers in terms of skills and competencies; however, they are invariably ahead in terms of attitude. They have the self-belief, the self-control, the stickability and the have a go attitudes that make them mentally tougher than the good performers.

Even if you can’t see their Mental Toughness, you can see, hear and even feel its impact on their performance; they look confident & in control and they are committed to the challenge(s) they have taken on.

Developing your Mental Toughness is a bit like developing your skills and competencies; if you want to be better at tennis maybe you need to work on your service, or your backhand or your slice or even all three. It’s by improving each element that you will increase your level of tennis.

Mental Toughness is the same, maybe you need to work on you Emotional Control, or your Risk Orientation or your Achievement Orientation or all three – or even other elements

Even if Mental Toughness can’t “be seen”, it can be measured; or, more exactly, it’s constituent parts can be measured and that’s the starting point to your development – understanding & building on your strengths and recognizing and overcoming your weaknesses.

If you would like to measure your Mental Toughness and develop a concrete action plan to improve your performance do not hesitate to contact me: boblarcher@boblarcher.com

 

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