Do You Always Have Bad Luck in Sports?
Do you feel you never get any breaks in competition, as if you were cursed by bad luck?
Do you feel you get unlucky bounces, unfair officiating, bad seeding, unlucky draws, inopportune equipment failure, horrible competition conditions, injuries, and opponents who are firing on all cylinders just at the right time?
You probably question, “Why do these unlucky things always happen to me?”
That’s a good question… Why do these things happen to you?
Why does bad luck seem to follow you constantly?
When you think you’re unlucky, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Every bad break will become evidence to support your belief that you are unlucky.
The reality is all athletes get bad breaks…
It’s just that some athletes perpetuate the bad luck cycle by calling themselves unlucky while other athletes rely on effort to move past those bad breaks.
How can you turn your supposed luck around?
Take responsibility for your performance!
Don’t blame your performance on bad luck. Look to those performances for insight to improve future performances.
Taking responsibility requires that you focus on your strengths rather than misfortune.
Focusing on misfortune hurts your effort and leads to under-performance.
Focusing on your strengths will keep you motivated to try to turn the tide, to make your own breaks rather than passively waiting for some opportunity to come your way.
Focusing on your strengths will help you see what you can do, right now, to turn things around instead of getting stuck on what has already happened.
Taking responsibility also requires that you prepare for all contingencies.
Preparation is a proactive step that helps you develop the physical and mental tools to meet challenges.
If you take responsibility for your level of performance, then you have the power to improve future performances.
Taking responsibility puts the ball in your court.
Taking responsibility is what the Ottawa Senators know they need in order to break out of their mini slump.
The Senators had a stretch of six losses in seven games.
One particular loss really hit hard when they allowed the Tampa Bay Lightning to tie the game with 27 seconds left in regulation and then lost the game 14 seconds into overtime.
Ottawa defenseman Mark Borowiecki talked about the team’s need to take responsibility for their level of play in order to be better prepared for future games.
BOROWIECKI: “As a group, collectively, we’ve got to take some ownership for our play and our results. It’s been a few too many years here for us where the players haven’t taken ownership. We’re going through a rough patch here and this is where it’s a true test of our personalities and a true test of the group we have in here.”
Ultimately, the athlete that recovers from bad breaks is the athlete that asks themselves, “What now?” Instead of, “Why me?”
That is the essence of personal responsibility.
Turning Your Game Around:
Taking responsibility is a matter of focus and effort, not excuses.
Monitor your self-talk…
When you notice that you start blaming performance on outside sources, redirect your focus by asking, “What positive step can I do right now?”
Changing your luck is a matter of making your luck.
Boost Your Self-Confidence And Focus With Expert Mental Game Coaching!
If you’re a top performer during practice but find yourself under-performing in competition, the most likely culprit holding you back is your mental game. In fact, many athletes struggle with the same problem….
Master mental game coach Dr. Patrick Cohn can help you overcome your mental game issues with personal coaching.
Meet with us via Skype, phone, FaceTime, or GoTo Meeting. With today’s video technology, we are able to connect with athletes and coaches all over the globe.
Mental toughness coaching helps serious athletes like you to uncover the beliefs and attitudes that keep you from performing to your potential. You’ll learn mental game strategies to perform at your peak more often, overcoming performance plateaus and lack of consistency
Call us toll free at 888-742-7225 or contact us for more information about the different coaching programs we offer!
What are our mental coaching students saying?
“WOW!!! What a week I had. I was able to perform with a confidence that allowed my style to shine through–no more entering the arena with that “deer in the headlights” look or feeling. I stopped evaluating myself while I was performing, and I actually left the arena after my patterns feeling like I had experienced a lot of fun. Thank you so much.”
~Julia Dreyer, National Champion Equestrian
“After your session, Mason had a game. He had the best game so far! He hustled, shot, no goals but two assists but he was cool with it because his focus was on shooting and not scoring (finally), defended well with his hands – finally put it all together. It was fun to watch and you could tell he felt really good about it.”
~Kelly, Lacrosse mom
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~Diana, Michelle’s Mother
“Thanks for all your help Dr. Cohn. You can rest assured that all our work came in very handy when I successfully qualified for the European Tour. I’m very happy and extremely thankful to you for helping me achieve this massive goal of qualifying for the European Tour! Thanks a lot again.”
~Alex Rocha, European Tour Player
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