A Fearless Mind
To be a high performer, you must have a fearless mind. Fear comes from looking into the future where outcomes are uncertain and often out of your control. When you look ahead and focus on the outcome, you develop anxieties and nervousness because of the fear of the unknown and the lack of control you have over achieving your desired outcome. You cannot guarantee a successful outcome because there are so many factors that are outside of your control; how the opponent plays, the conditions, luck etc. To focus on outcomes in the future creates fear in the mind. This is the opposite of having a fearless mind- which is essential to high performance.
There are many different opinions on how important the mental side is for high performance. One opinion which I quite liked was by Dr. Keith Henschen:
“Ninety-five percent of performance is physical, five percent is mental. However, the five percent that is mental rules the other ninety-five percent.”
I like this quote so much because it implies that to be a high performer – physical skills are compulsory. However, without the right mentality you will not be able to make use of the physical skills that you possess and will ultimately fall short of high performance.
Thinking about this quote, it made me try to think of a formula that could somehow represent high performance. This is for those linear and logical thinkers out there (like myself). The formula that I came up with is:
Physical skills* (out of 100) × Mental skills (out of 10) = Overall Performance (MAX = 1000)
*As part of ‘Physical skills’, I include all aspects of the game – tactical, technical & physical – besides mental.
To put this into perspective, I believe that in terms of physical skills there isn’t a huge disparity between a player that’s ranked 500 in the world compared to someone who’s Top 100. Everyone knows how to hit a forehand and a backhand very competently once you get to a certain level. However, it’s the mental skills that make the biggest difference. For example, my physical skills may be 70 (out of 100) and a Top 50 player’s may be 80, but the reason he is top 50 in the world and I’m much lower at #450 is because he’s much more mentally skilled than I am. I may be 6 (out of 10) mentally tough and he’s a 9. If you use the formula above, my overall performance score would be (70×6) = 420 and his would be (80×9) = 720 out of 1000.
Having seen this example, it is now clear to see that improvements in the mental aspect of the game will have exponential results compared to improvements in the physical skills. Of course, physical skills are absolutely necessary, but I believe that it’s the mental skills that control your performance to the greatest degree once you have the physical competencies.
I hope you enjoyed this short little blog post. What I’m trying to show is that the mental aspect of the game is essential to high performance. But usually it only gets looked at once the physical skills are in place. I believe that this is the wrong approach to have, especially if you plan to make a career in this sport. Mental skills should be developed as early as possible, along with the physical skills – like anything, it takes time to master any skill (physical or mental). So start now.
This reflective period of time has opened my eyes and given me a greater understanding of the sport that we all love. For future blog posts like this one, subscribe below to get them sent directly to your email (I’ll only send the best).
Strive to be fearless,
Ev
