The Champions Mind by Afremow

Ref: Jim Afremow (2015). The Champions Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive. Rodale Publishing.

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Summary­

  • What does it take to be a champion; to excel in the pool, on the track, at work, or at home? Set daily goals, strive to achieve them, focus on the present, do not succumb to apathy and inactivity. The Champions Mind presents the psychology and science necessary to achieve your goals in life. Key to the Champions Mind is Communication, Teamwork, Leadership, focus, mindset, goal setting, and parenting; they are all pillars of a combined approach to becoming a champion. Above all, a GOLD MINDSET will turn your weaknesses into strengths and promote your best self.

  • The mental abilities of confidence, concentration, and composure are crucial for being a champion in everything you undertake, be it work or sports or both.

  • Hold yourself to higher standards both on and off the field. You have to make going above and beyond the rule, not the exception. You need to focus your energy on achieving daily acts of excellence. You must maintain a stick-to-what’s-in-front-of-me mentality during competition despite distractions or doubts.

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The Champions Mindset

  • Adhere to your regular exercise or training program.

    • Train with purpose and passion. You have to be crystal clear about your purpose, your passion, and your mission. 

    • Hard work always beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

    • Exercise variety keeps your body running smoothly and your motivation level high.

  • Write down your SMART goals.

  • Stick to your nutrition plan.

    • Eat lean meats, healthy fats, and unprocessed carbohydrates is key. Also, the use of certain supplements such as creatine, beta-alanine, and protein (especially postworkout) is an effective strategy for enhancing the effects of exercise.

    • Busy athletes will sometimes binge at night because they did not eat enough during the day. For regular and constant fuel, carry balanced snacks with you, such as nuts, raisins, and bananas. These will help maintain your blood sugar level throughout the day.

  • Maintain a regular sleep schedule.

  • Confidence & Attitude are the key sources for peak performance.

    • You are responsible for maintaining a great attitude, expending your best effort during practice and in competition, and showing strong character off the field. Our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are accountable for who we become.

    • The never-say-die attitude and belief that we would prevail in the face of great odds proved to be the deciding factor in countless competitions in which we were outmatched in nearly every aspect except one . . . self-efficacy!

    • In the Bronze universe, the athlete is too excited. In the Silver universe, they are overly worried. In the Gold universe, they are calm and focused.

    • Do not allow self-doubt and negative thoughts to hold you back from playing how you really want to play. To move forward, catch yourself when you are mentally unfocused or physically coasting and reaffirm your commitment to being a champion by striving to compete at your best level. Utilize any momentary negative emotions, such as anxiety or boredom, as important cues to immediately resurrect your champion’s mindset and put your attitude and effort into high gear. Reaffirm that you are in control and still running the show.

    • Our entrenched self-limiting beliefs are often the biggest barrier to overcome.

  • Prioritize High Quality Training and Continuous Improvement above all else.

    • Most athletes are under activated for practice (“This doesn’t matter”) and overactivated for games (“This means everything!”). The next time you are practicing or competing, ask yourself, “Is my intensity level too low, too high, or just right?”

  • Mental Imagery: Visualize positive performances and picture the ideal steps for achieving the successful result:

    • Vividly see yourself performing successfully.

    • Deeply feel yourself performing masterfully.

    • Thoroughly enjoy seeing and feeling yourself winning.

  • Focus and Flow

    • The ultimate goal in the moment of action is to transcend conscious thinking so that you are fully experiencing your performance in the moment (i.e., you are in a flow or zone state).

    • Athletes play their best when they have only one dominant thought or image in mind, such as “See ball, hit ball.” If you tend to overanalyze or overload your mind, stay target oriented and remind yourself to keep everything as basic as possible.

    • Avoid the perils of perfectionism and survive the “paralysis-by-analysis” syndrome—underperforming by overthinking. Let your body do what you’ve trained it to do.

    • Performing with a quiet mind is a key characteristic of being in the zone. Athletes must stay focused on the task, not letting their mind wander beyond the moment, in order to play at their best level. Extraneous or jumbled thoughts (fog) reduce the quality of our focus and increase muscle tension.

    • Focus, or selective attention, is your dedication to the task at hand to the exclusion of all else. In sports, focus requires screening out useless information (fog) to concentrate on the target, such as the bull’s-eye in archery or the flag in golf. The preferred sequence is to lock on the immediate target, disregard distractions, and prevail.

    • Throughout the duration of your practice or game, do not mentally process any personal concerns (e.g., a student-athlete worried about upcoming midterm exams). Leave these burdens in your mental locker when you hit the field, go to the rink, or step on the court.

    • Narrow down your thought process so everything is incredibly simple.

  • Always try to win against your own standard of excellence and keep raising the bar on your own level of play.

  • Positive Affirmation

  • Mental Toughness

  • Anxiety Management

    • Tightening and relaxing a muscle makes the muscle more relaxed than it was beforehand.

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Training

  • Self-reflection:

    • Am I just mindlessly working hard, or am I aware of what I am doing?

    • Self-reflection: Do I breathe easily and deeply throughout my day?

    • Do I take 100 percent responsibility for my successes and failures?

  • Learn to emotionally detach from things that cannot be changed, rather than getting distracted by them.

  • Evaluate the mental, technical, and tactical aspects. Specifically, ask yourself three questions:

    • What did I do that was good?

    • What needs to get better?

    • What changes should I make to become my best?

  • Develop a vision for success and stay enthusiastic about pursuing it.

  • Find workout partners for support and encouragement. An exercise partner can help keep your training on target. Pledge to meet at the track, pool, or gym on set days and times.

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Personal Pep Talk:

  • Keep it simple, clear, and powerful.

  • Evoke previous success for confidence.

  • Tell yourself what you need to focus on to play your best.

  • Remember that there is nothing to lose and everything to win.

  • Make a decision to enjoy each moment.

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Communication

  • Avoid mind reading. Ask the other person what he or she is thinking, feeling, or experiencing rather than telling them what you think they feel.

  • When someone’s behavior violates your rights, let him or her know immediately instead of waiting to see if it happens again. Ideally, this should be stated explicitly.

  • Be present while listening. Give the other person your complete attention rather than planning your response or daydreaming. Maintain an attentive posture, make eye contact, and nod in agreement. Summarize what the other person is saying to convey your understanding. Good listening skills encourage the other person to talk.

  • Discuss problems when they begin. Do not allow a problem with another person to fester. If needed, take a short break (or perhaps even a full day) to clear your head or calm down; then express how you feel and what you want corrected.

  • Always be encouraging, up-front, and honest in your communication.

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Teams

  • Self-reflect on your role as a teammate:

    • What am I doing that is hurting my team (e.g., complaining, gossiping)?

    • What am I not doing that is hurting my team (cheering for my teammates, accepting my role on the team)?

    • What are the specific action steps I will take to be a better teammate moving forward (e.g., hustling on every play, being more vocal on the field)?

  • Social Facilitation: the tendency that people perform better on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others. However, if the task is difficult, the presence of others can have the opposite effect—performance is inhibited as physiological arousal or activation becomes excessive.-Floyd Allport.

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Leadership

  • Strong, positive leadership is crucial because destructive criticism and bullying does little to motivate people; in fact, it often causes people to shut down and stop trying.

  • Several recent studies in the field of positive psychology demonstrate that expressions of gratitude can encourage individuals and groups to thrive.

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Relaxation & Breathing

  • Pre-Competition Syndrome (PCS): the added nervousness, excitement, and irritability most athletes experience prior to performing.

  • Simply prolonging exhalation, regardless of inhalation length, promotes the relaxation response.

  • There are three simple steps to taking a deep, centering breath:

    • Breathe in through the nose for a count of one, two, three, four, and five.

    • Hold for one and two.

    • Breathe out through the mouth for a count of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.

  • Simply prolonging exhalation, regardless of inhalation length, promotes the relaxation response. Proper breathing helps expel the stress and tension from your system and brings you back into the present.

    • 1. Begin by breathing deeply and mindfully for 3 to 5 minutes. Breathe in through the nose and breathe out through the mouth. Inhale relaxation into your body and exhale tension out of your body. Let go of worries or concerns; you have nothing else to do, no one in particular you have to be, and nowhere else to go.

    • 2. FOREHEAD: Lift your eyebrows enough to wrinkle your forehead. Hold this tension in your forehead and scalp focus on that tension and release. Allow your forehead to become soft and smooth.

    • 3. FACE: Tighten the muscles of your face by scrunching your eyes shut, wrinkling your nose, and tightening your cheeks and chin. Hold this tension in your face and release.

    • 4. SHOULDERS: Raise your shoulders up to your ears and hold. Feel the tension build to a peak and drop your shoulders back down into a comfortable position.

    • 5. BACK/CHEST: Tighten the muscles of your back by arching your back slightly. Feel your back tightening, pulling your shoulders back and your chest outward. Hold this tension and let go into a comfortable position.

    • 6. BICEPS/FOREARMS: Tighten both biceps by curling your arms. Squeeze for a few more and release.

    • 7. RIGHT HAND/WRIST: Squeeze your right hand into a fist. Feel the tension in your hand and wrist. Notice the contrast between the tension in your right hand and the relaxation in your left hand. Hold it for a few and release.

    • 8. LEFT HAND/WRIST: Squeeze your left hand into a fist. Feel the tension in your hand and wrist. Notice the contrast between the tension in your left hand and the relaxation in your right hand. Hold it for a few and release.

    • 9. LOWER BACK/BUTT: Focus on the muscles of your butt. Tighten these muscles. Hold this tension and release.

    • 10. THIGHS/SHINS: Tighten all the muscles of your legs by lifting your legs a few inches off the ground (keep them straight), squeezing your thighs, and pointing your toes toward your face so that you can also feel tension in your shins. Focus on this tension and release.

    • 11. THIGHS/CALVES: Tighten all the muscles of your legs again by lifting your legs a few inches off the ground (keep them straight), squeezing your thighs, and, this time, pointing your toes away from your body so that you can also feel tension in your calves. Focus on this tension and release. Wiggle your toes.

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Parenting

  • Parents should comment on attitude and effort, but refrain from technical and tactical instruction.

  • Parents should provide practical advice (e.g., reminders about nutrition and doing warmups).

  • Parents’ nonverbal signals should match their verbal communication (i.e., making encouraging statements in tandem with relaxed body language and gestures).

  • Parents should understand and respect the etiquette of the game (e.g., avoiding displays of bad manners, such as screaming at the officials).

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Sports Injuries

  • Traumatic: Hard Contact.

  • Overuse: Repetitive Stress.

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Misc Quotes

Always stay coachable.

“Deal with the small before it becomes large.” Strive to release stress and tension as soon as you notice it is beginning to build.-Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher.

“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.”-Michel de Montaigne, 16th Century.

“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.”-Rice.

Altius, Citius, Fortius (Higher, Faster, Stronger): The Latin motto of the modern Olympic games.

“You have much skill with your bow, but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot.”-Chinese Proverb.

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”-Babe Ruth.   

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."-Michael Jordan.

“The arrow that hits the bull’s-eye is the result of 100 misses”-Buddhist saying.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”-Aristotle.

“The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.”

“The time is now, the place is here.”-Dan Millman.

“Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”

“Overthinking leads to underperforming.”

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Chronology

  • 2011: Dr. Britta Hölzel, a psychologist at Mass General and Harvard Med School show that practicing “mindfulness meditation” for 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks can dramatically improve the physical framework of the brain.-Champions Mind by Afremow.

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