Mental Readiness Means Getting Your Game Ready

Do you feel like your 'A-game' is always ready? Or do you feel overwhelmed and underprepared? Mental readiness is about preparing your mind for any situation, at work or in your personal life. It's important to manage your anxiety and give your brain a chance to reset. Analyse your failures and then move on, recognising that more opportunities will come.

Almost everyone in the world has likely heard of basketball great Michael Jordan. Arguably one of the best the sport has ever seen, Jordan believed in the power of mental preparation. He would challenge himself to be the best basketball player that he could be, aligning his body and mind to perform at the peak of his abilities. 

If Your Mind Isn’t Into It, You’re Probably Not Going To Be Good At It

Michael Jordan took the shot that would have potentially won the game 26 times and failed. His team lost the game because he missed that one shot. But instead of focusing on those failures, he used them as the impetus to push himself harder. 

Jordan realised early on that basketball was equal parts physical skill and mental readiness. He understood that failure was to be expected, and he used those failures as opportunities for growth. 

I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot... when you think about the consequences, you always think of a negative result.  

Michael Jordan

Even If You’re Not An Nba Star, Preparing Your Mind Will Improve Your Game

Mental Readiness is the alignment of your conscious thoughts and actions with your non-conscious behaviours. It's the preparations you make in your mind to face a situation. A first step is to realise your goals clearly.

Long-term goals should be broken down into smaller goals, and those should be divided into immediate short-term goals. Understanding where you want to go will help you find the path to get there.

How Mental Readiness Relates To Performance

Mental Readiness is one of the 4 pillars under the competency of Performance in the . While it’s of utmost importance to focus on your physical fitness, it's equally important to focus on your mental fitness.

A person who is mentally fit has mastered the capacity to focus, self-manage and maintain a healthy degree of internal discipline.  will teach you how to enhance this discipline and to improve your levels of confidence to fully enjoy the challenge or task ahead.

5 Tips For Mental Readiness

1. Develop a ‘go to bed’ routine & put your devices away
2. Learn to manage anxiety
3. Practice visualisation
4. Consult a therapist
5. Read about how elite athletes mentally prepare  

Mental readiness means creating goals and working towards them, in bite-size, manageable chunks. It means that you acknowledge failures but then move on.

You imagine yourself making the shot, or landing the deal, or speaking patiently with an ornery child. Being relaxed and mentally prepared for the moments in life will lead to more happiness for you and those around you.