Importance of a Winning Mentality Like The Best

Mental state equals outcome

Think back to a time in your life, where you performed in boxing, and you were at your absolute best, where you made little mistakes and made  a string of correct decisions. Now… imagine a time where you were at your worst. Your body may have fatigued quicker when training for some reason. Your mind may have been a second slower than it usually is, and you may have been lacking in your confidence to carry out the task in question, whether it be in sparring or in a boxing match. If you’re completely honest with yourself, what you may realise is that the mental state on each of the occasions may have been the total polar opposites of each other. The mental state of a boxer, and any other athlete or performer for that matter, is so significant and important in determining the outcome of a match. If you want to be successful in your craft, you have NO CHOICE but to master of your own mind in order to gain results. When looking at the greats of the past, it is all too clear to see that the mental strength of the champions, differ to that of the challengers.

Mike Tyson was known to place a huge importance on mental strength

Traits of a champion

What separates the good fighters and the elite fighters is the understanding of how a good mental state can be to your chances of success. Many of the elite athletes invest time and energy into mental improvement. Champions in ANY sport know that mental improvement can teach a person how to stay focused, in control, motivated and how to adapt to situations of adversity and trouble. No elite boxer lacks these trait, so if you want to be elite you have to commit to creating a strong positive mentality.

Positive Affirmations

Take former pound for pound number 1 Floyd Mayweather for example, who may well be the best example to use today. Time and time again he has said ‘all I  think about is winning, I’ve never consider losing’.  I imagine that Mayweather Jr., and all the great boxing legends such as Muhammad Ali, has told himself he is winner THOUSANDS of times over and over again since he first laced on a pair of leather gloves.

Ali is the prime example of positive-affirmations

Psychological benefits

          So what does this repetition of positivity do for you? The constant internal repetition of positive concepts serves to create a winning expectation for yourself, and set a parameter of the type of successful standards you have for yourself. It’s no good just getting in the ring and then telling yourself ‘ I won’t lose’, you have to tell yourself that you expect to win all the time, and the only way to drill the message in your brain is to continuously do so, even outside the ring. For example, when you’re training, and you are hitting the heavy bag and you feel fatigue setting in, you have to tell yourself you are a winner and whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to continue. Why? Because the only expectation you have for yourself is that you are a winner and you will act accordingly, and anything and everything that is necessary to ensure success, is what you will do.

A sense of pride

You have to develop somewhat of an ego, in the sense that you believe you are deserving of being in a reality where you demand constant victories. Every great champion, no matter what they say, knows that they’re in a class above the rest when it comes to their craft. This is not to say that they automatically believe they’re a better person than anyone else, because that thought process would breed complacency. But when it comes to their sport, an elite athlete knows what they can do because they know what it took to get there. The most basic way to develop such a confidence in yourself is simple…. LONG HARD COMMITTED WORK.

Marvin Hagler developed a strong mentality to battle criticism

Extreme confidence in your field

Think about it this way, if you were to ask a question to a usually loud person about something they know little about, they would be predictably quiet. On the other hand, if you were to ask a usually quiet person who has great knowledge say, on the career of Manny Pacquiao for example, you might notice that all of a sudden they’ll become very talkative, knowing that this is a subject that he excels in, meaning he is entitled to feeling confident about the situation. The same principle can be applied to yourself when it comes to your boxing. You want to immerse and learn in a way that makes you feel that this is YOUR sport.

A sense of entitlement

Imagine you train every single day you possibly can, knowing you do more than the other guy who at some point is wasting time procrastinating, and more importantly, you’re learning and improving constantly.

Do this, and no doubt you’re going to set yourself on the road towards forming a resilient mental frame within in yourself, based on an attraction and feeling of entitlement to winning. And rather than your belief being built on the soft and unstable foundations of just desire and hope, instead your belief will be built on the stable and steady foundations of expectation fostered from the fact that you’ve done more than your opponent, and there is no substitute for this. So how could you fear losing? Why would you lack confidence in your ability to win?

Rocky Marciano’s mentality allowed him to keep losses at bay

Final Note – Are They Doing It?

Remember, an elite boxing champion always does more than his counterparts, in the boxing gym and in the boxing ring. Whenever you feel yourself losing motivation or doubting yourself, find a way to tell yourself you are worth more than stopping and risking a loss. Think about your potential opponents and ask yourself, ‘are they doing it?’  As long as you do what the others are not doing , you have no reason to doubt yourself or fear losing.