One of my favorite types of emails to receive is when coaches ask me what attributes they should look for when considering a particular child to be in a higher or elite level tumbling program.

The reason? Because the answer is easy, mental toughness. 

But over the years, I’ve realized that there’s a small problem with that answer: It assumes that athletes either have mental toughness, or they don’t. It pre-frames all of our thinking into believing that a strong mindset is in the same realm as good looks — either you’re born with it, or you’re not.

Thankfully, because of some groundbreaking research that’s been done over the past few decades, we know that’s absolutely not the case.

Not only can mental toughness be taught, it can be trained and improved. 

So I called up my friend Jeff Benson, who is an expert in sports psychology, to see if he could share some of his insights on how coaches and athletes can train their mental toughness in order to excel. Click the play button above to tune in. Oh and by the way, Jeff is also the author of a book called Unblocked, which I highly recommend you check out.

For those of you who are new to my site, I had done a previous interview with Jeff on mental blocks which can be found right here.

Show Notes

• 1:00 –  We define what exactly it means when an athlete is “mentally tough”
• 2:30 – Why is mental toughness important? Jeff explains how and why coaches need to “buy in” to the concept and why it’s not something you’re born with
• 5:50 – Why coaches themselves need to have mental toughness first, and how they can lead by example
• 7:00 – Jeff talks about the difference between a Growth and a Fixed mindset
• 8:30 – What to do if you as a coach are getting frustrated with your athletes
• 10:20 – Why mental toughness is like a muscle and how you can work it out
• 11:10 – Coach Sahil talks about a mental toughness study done in the Military, and the shocking results they found
• 15:20 – Why discipline is more important than motivation itself
• 15:40 – Coach Sahil talks about his one criteria of success to get things done
• 17:00 – Strategies on how to create and build mental toughness (besides hard physical training)
• 22:30 – How to help your team think “small” and remove the pressure of competition
• 23:50 – Jeff Benson explains the acronym called WIN and how it can be a useful tool for your athletes to help them perform at their best
• 28:30 – The importance of coming up with a routine before you compete
• 35:00 – Jeff is going to come back on and talk about the importance of team culture

“Discipline is more important than motivation” – Jeff Benson’s Friend [Tweet This]