Know When To Create And When To Model: How To Individualize Your Mental Game Plan
How many of you have heard of Mamba Mentality? I would hope that's all of you. There are so many layers to that famous Kobe Bryant mindset, many of which I would encourage athlete's to embody. Some of these layers are, "live every moment to the best of your ability" or "it's about empowering and inspiring others around you." These are phenomenal messages and general enough to understand and follow, and everyone should engage with this message.
BUT Kobe did say, "I wake up at 4am, hit the gym or court at 5am train for two hours. Come back to recover for 2 hours, and then go back and repeat that process the whole day." Now if you're not a critical thinker, if you're not a leader, and if you do not understand yourself, you are going to over conform to someone else and do their exact same regimen thinking it will make you the next Kobe Bryant. Wrong!
Don't get this mistaken. I'm not saying you shouldn't idol or model certain qualities of these all-time greats. And who knows, maybe that particular regimen Kobe used could work for you! Give it a try! But understand you are unique, and you need to pull pieces from several legends, as well as create some of your own regimen to fit what works best for you! How do you know what's best for you? Trial and error or skip the wait and speak to a mental performance consultant like myself!
If your favorite athlete is Russell Wilson does that mean you are going to do dynamic stretches in the aisle of an airplane? If you love Zlatan Ibrahimovic are you going to do taekwondo to train your mobility and breathing? Will you listen to Beethoven before games because Lebron James does? Or are you going to try these methods based off science and your personal needs?
By the way, I appreciate Wilson, Zlatan, and Lebron. But I'd prefer to do visualization or meditation on the plane, yoga over taekwondo, and Kygo over Beethoven. That's a personal example of how I create intentional methods that I know work for me, but it's because of personal trial and error. Learn from these athletes and soak up as much information as you can! Don't be a copy cat and worship them as if you are not capable of conducting your own path and your own methods.
Do you even know how you can measure the efficacy of your strategies? No? Then you're going into it blind. Have a guide help you piece this all together to create your own mental training plan with an appropriate timeline that is going to help you become a more dominant player with higher execution. Ultimately, you cannot pass anyone else if ALL you do is follow everyone else. Know when to lead and when to follow, when to create and when to model.
Tribute:
I'd like to thank Kobe Bryant for leaving behind a legacy of endless inspiration, knowledge, and influence to help guide people to live a more fulfilling life. I aim to be the best version of myself and help those around me become the best version of themselves. Rest in peace Mamba!