For someone who played at a high level for a long period of time, it is always mind-boggling to me how many times I thought about the negatives rather than the positives after training sessions or games. I know each and every one of us, boys and girls, men and women, are most likely focusing on things we do negatively and wrong on the field after each and every game. We get to our cars and sit with our parents or self-meditate with ourselves and think about all the wrongs that we may have committed throughout the course of the game.
It definitely takes time to understand what we are great at, but with easy steps, we can create that positive mindset, as well as create a positive outlook on things that will ultimately push us much further rather than focusing on the negatives. It is always great to understand things that we can always “build on”, which is a great way to look at and understand our weaknesses. Working on your “build-ons” can be done during training throughout the week or even by ourselves when no one is watching (always the most important time to train).
One of the best strategies that I have come across, even throughout my professional career, was to journal my strengths. Journaling our strengths allows us to truly connect with what we are really great at. We look at certain examples of understanding how great we really are by writing them down and taking them with us at all times, whether it is reading them right before a training session or visualizing them right before a game.
