Are you thinking right?

You may ask, what does it mean to think right? But my teacher always told me there is no right or worng answer as long as I'm thinking! Well from a sporting perspective perhaps there are ways of thinking that are right, and ways that are wrong.

I have just finished a fascinating and inspiring book called, The Monk who sold his Ferrari. This book I truly feel has changed my perspective, but more so has shown me the power of thought and how important it is to control your thoughts. The discipline to be able to control what you are thinking is what true mental toughness really is. In the book, Golf is not a game of perfect by Bob Rotella, a world renowned sports psychologist, he too echoes the fact that too many sportsmen allow their thoughts to drift into counter-productive ones, and then subsequently blame outside elements for those thoughts. Let's take some examples: How often have you played a poor hole in golf and then thought about it on the next tee only to fluff your next tee shot. How often have you seen a goal kicker in rugby begin to fight demons on the field when he misses his first two kicks, or seen a bowler in cricket send down poor delivery after poor delivery after her gets hit for six. Often what is happening here is the player is letting counter-productive thoughts take over, or, even worse, trying to rectify technical errors during a game. The mind can often take over to thoughts of, 'what if this happens','I'm not in form', 'I should never have been asked to do this' etc. These sorts of thoughts which countless of us have week in and week out, are often the cause of poor or sub-standard performance.

The real trick here is to practice thinking the way you'd like to think. To create a discipline within yourself whereby you control your thought processes. It is not easy at all, and that is why practicing it and finding out exactly what the best ways to think for you are, is so important. Try it even for one day, go out and make sure that every time you feel your thoughts drifting to something undesirable you correct them and steer them to positive, productive things!

Your thoughts are you, and are the key to sporting and personal success. Train them, steer them and watch them work for you!