One question that I have regularly been asked over the years pertains to personality “types” and how they relate to athletic sports performance (Mind of Steel). Do athletes need to be “mean and intense” in order to play their best? Some coaches and parents falsely believe that mental toughness only develops by having a tough personality, and they also believe the opposite is true – that laid-back personalities actually prohibit young athletes from reaching their full potential.While it is very difficult to establish the degree in which a person’s personality will impact their athletic performance, there are a few important points to think about with respect to this question:
- Successful athletes show a dramatic range with respect to their personalities – some athletes are more intense, while others seem to be more laid back. The reality is there isn’t much of a correlation between one “template” of a personality and future sport success
- While personality is a somewhat malleable trait, it is relatively stable. Delving deeper into personality, our temperament (which is generally assumed to be an innate quality) may be something we have much less control over, and therefore may not be something we can change even if we wanted to! What this means to coaches and parents is that young athletes may not have much they can do about “getting tougher” if it’s simply not in their genetic makeup.
- The best mindset for athletes is to work toward always being confident and comfortable when it comes to athletic competition
The bottom line? Its pretty tough, if not impossible, to dramatically “change” a person’s personality. The better advice is to help athletes become confident in their athletic abilities, and more comfortable while on the field competing. Confidence (also known loosely as a person’s level of self-efficacy), has been found to be positively correlated with peak athletic performances according to sports psychology studies. Rather than trying to change a young athlete’s personality, working on his or her self-confidence might actually pay greater future dividends.
In addition to confidence, the more control a person has over his or her surroundings, the more synchrony he or she will experience between mind and body. Social and behavioral research consistently shows that when people feel in control, they are less likely to allow stress and adversity to become catastrophic, enabling them to perform at an optimal level.
Athletic performance and mental toughness can be improved upon, and these things can happen without trying to fundamentally change the personality of someone. As the ancient Greek adage suggests, it may be more worthwhile to “know thyself” rather than trying to change thyself!
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