When it comes to achieving any type of athletic success, performing at your peak state seems to be an ever-elusive goal. Whether you're a seasoned athlete who is looking for 1% improvement, or a newcomer looking to improve your basic skills; optimizing your performance is essential for success. Let's dive into three powerful strategies tailored to enhance your mental toughness, which will also bring you more athletic success.

As the great Yogi Berra once said, "Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical." But when you think about it, his quote is true for any sport. So many wins and losses are based upon how a coach or player responds in tough moments, and that response is based upon our mindset.

Studies have proven that 95% of our daily decisions

are made by how we "feel" in the moment.

Want to improve the way you "feel" in those moments? Spend time beforehand working on your mindset.

Here are a couple practical ways you can improve your mindset:

• Focus on what you can control, not what you can't. 🧘🏽

• Implement a "No Complaining" rule on yourself. 🚫

• Practice positive, motivating self-talk. 🗣️

It's natural to shy away from emotions, thinking they'll get the best of you in a big moment. But is that truly what's best? I don't think so. Great coaches and players learn how to embrace their emotions in order to maximize their performance.

Listen below to what Kobe had to say on this topic. 👇🏼 🗣️ 💯

This one is so simple, yet so undervalued. If you want to maximize who you are and perform at your highest level possible, you must be deliberate in choosing to do things each and every day that aren't easy or that you typically wouldn't choose to do.

You do it because you know it will make you better.

Our teams always called this a "Take The Stairs" mentality. Think about it this way. Imagine that after a long day of travel and you finally get to your hotel. Your tired and you have luggage to get up to your 4th floor room. In that moment, the easy default is to push a button and hop on the elevator. To take the stairs in that moment would force you to dig a little deeper and do something uncomfortable. And when you choose to do it, you're strengthening your mental toughness.

If you can find ways to "take the stairs" each day, you're preparing yourself for the toughest moments in any practice or game. When others want to give up or loose their cool, you don't. Petty problems like a bad call or a missed open shot don't bother you like they used to, You're trained your mind to embrace difficult situations and find ways to rise above them.

Here are a couple of my favorite ways to Take The Stairs:

• Don't hit snooze when an early morning alarm goes off. ⏰

• Do the thing you want to do the least, first. 😬 This could be replying to the tough parent email right when you sit down at your computer, doing the homework for your least favorite subject first, etc.

• Build sweat equity each day before scrolling on social media. 🏋🏼

By embodying a Take The Stairs approach to life, you're choosing to make the present hard and allowing the long term to become easy. It's one of the best choice you can make.