Mental Toughness & Sports Science: 1 yard away from a touchdown

For some of us it is the fear of the unknown. For others it is the fear of failure. For several it is the fear of success. Yes, can you believe it? The fear of success! The common theme here is fear. A mentor of mine once said that F.E.A.R. stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.

There are so many excuses we can come up with to convince ourselves that it is too hard, or not worth it anyway, or the stress is too much so I am going to stop. I believe that a lot of people, if they were able to look at their big dream as a football field would find that they are just about ready to score. If you are reading this and saying, “This is me”, do not let your heart be troubled. A very practical method for accomplishing that dream or that goal is laying out a series of action steps to accomplish this goal.

People always say write your goals down, but when do they ever say, write your action steps to attain the goal. Action steps are the driving force to achieving that goal. For example if my goal is to spend more time with my wife or husband, then what would be a good action step for accomplishing this? You might say in order to spend more time with my spouse I must first call work and schedule the morning off. This puts focus on the steps rather than a big scary goal in front of you. Action steps help put the fear out of that unattainable goal. Remember life by an inch is a cinch, but life by a mile is a trial.

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Author: Steve Huber, B.S., M.S. Candidate, USPTA

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