Mental coaching: a method to win your Olympic Games

We have just followed the Olympic Games on television, we still have before our eyes the images of athletes who celebrate their successes built-in years of training. An event where large sports companies bind to effort, dedication, and perseverance.

Many athletes, celebrating their victories, also told their difficult times, tensions, wounds, the fear of seeing their careers end prematurely, and the strength of will that supported them.

But for all the results obtained another fundamental element was the external intervention of people such as coaches, sports preparers, family support, and a figure which has acquired increasing importance and which we intend to speak about more and more Often: the mental coach.

Who is a mental coach

In short, we can say that a mental coach is the one who helps to train the mind to make it more capable of achieving goals to improve the quality of our life. Of course, we are not only talking about sporting goals but all the objectives that we can wish to achieve throughout our lives. Its role is to deal with blockages and possible interference with our objectives to help us achieve them.

This can help us when we face a change, accept a challenge, want to improve our performance, increase our self-esteem, live our aspirations, accept ourselves and express ourselves for what we are, and improve our relationships with others, Without this fear of being tried which too often limits us.

The fundamental presupposition of any mental coach is that everyone has the potential in them to achieve their objectives, their role is to bring out this potential by optimizing the individuality and uniqueness of each.

Its objective is to ensure that those we consider obstacles and difficulties become opportunities to learn to face problems, put us to the test, and be stimulated to commit to the desired change.

Even if it can sometimes involve efforts and sacrifices, let's not forget that having objectives is fundamental for our personal, emotional, and intellectual growth.

Which is not a mind coach

A mental coach is not a doctor, he does not deal with pathology and does not interfere with them. It does not offer solutions and does not prescribe behaviors a priori, but it accompanies the search for a suitable method to find the solution most suitable for each. In a completely individual and subjective process.

The mental coach is not a psychologist, he is neither a guide nor an example, it is a figure who helps him become aware of his capacities (and his limits) for a defined objective and limited in time.

Characteristics of the mental coach

About a recent figure, the course for the acquisition of this professionalism has not yet been clearly defined. We can speak of a general technique, but not in a way of putting it into practice which has a universal value given the countless diversity of people who can be in front of them. There are preparatory studies and courses of different levels, but they certainly cannot ignore appropriate personal predispositions.

The main characteristic of a mental coach is the ability to be in empathy with his neighbor, adapt to his opponent, establish a dialogue, ask the right questions, and focus on the objectives to be achieved in each particular case.

And also to know in what situations a coaching intervention is not useful for the realization of what is in front of it has fixed.

Why turn to a mind coach

The basis of the need for support from a mental coach lies in the lack of confidence in our capacities and our chances of achieving goals. Several elements contribute to this, such as a problematic context, a lack of personal self-sufficiency, dispersion, and difficulties in remaining focused on our objectives which it is sometimes difficult to focus on.

First, it is important to define a goal. We often confuse the wishes with the objectives, but these differ enormously. A wish only becomes a goal when an action plan is established to achieve it.

The action plan is generated by motivation. Without real motivation, no important result can be achieved. Sometimes ours are not concrete objectives, but general ideas that we do not consider to be achievable.

Be an achievable objective must have these characteristics:

It must be specific and therefore clearly defined;

must be measurable, i.e. the results must be quantifiable, even if they can be obtained by intermediate steps;

must-have appeal, i.e. consist of something that we believe can have a positive impact on our lives;

must be realistic, and achievable, and perhaps setting “sub-goals” whose achievement will motivate us to sustain commitment and enthusiasm to reach the final goal.

Become your mental trainer

But do you need to go to a mental coach? Can't we learn for ourselves to overcome the difficulties that prevent us from achieving our goals? Yes and no.

Any good mental coach does not become a good coach by learning theory but by putting it into practice in the first person. It requires care and attention for one's personal growth, openness to experiment (accepting the risk of error and failure), and commitment to always keeping up to date through courses, workshops, and seminars.

The first characteristic is to love yourself and have confidence in your abilities. But self-confidence is not necessarily innate and is not always an entirely positive value. If a lack of trust limits the ability to act, excessive trust prevents you from questioning yourself and correcting possible behavioral errors.

No one is devoid of self-confidence, it is usually lacking in one specific area while in others we feel more secure.

Some basic steps are:

learn to identify one's own goals and focus on them without wasting energy;

valuing accomplishments and accomplishments to gain trust.

A mental coach is not a magician, increasing self-confidence and learning how to achieve your goals can be done even by ourselves, maybe only in a little more time. In any case, motivation is decisive, without it, each objective will become distant and difficult to conquer.