End Practice Early to Build Mental Toughness?

There are not many secrets to success. There is also no short-cut. 

However, one secret that I think holds true is the ability of one more. When we are tired and fatigued, the key is to be able to endure just one more.

One more rep, writing one more page, one more sales phone call.

Just one more is how we build mental toughness. 

Often, it is effective. Yet, there is a prerequisite to implementing this strategy and that is we first must have the passion and will to do “one more.”

As parents, we all have announced this just “one more” technique. We push, just a little bit, (some unfortunately, a lot) for our son or daughter to give more effort.

Add up the number of practices and seasons of just one more and that is a lot of externally driven motivation in the form of nagging, or strong-arming our son or daughter into practice.

Remember, It’s tough to be driven when you’re being driven. 

Here’s what to do instead:

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Hall of Fame tennis coach Jeff Smith, used a different technique to help build the passion in his son Bryan Smith, also a Hall of Fame tennis coach. 

He would end practice early to build mental toughness.

Here’s the technique

He would first tell Bryan how long they were going to hit tennis balls on the court, say 45 minutes. So, after 20 or 25 minutes, he would then end practice early.

Bryan, having fun, didn’t want to end early.

Instead, He would ask his dad to continue… Voila, the seed of passion and internal motivation was slowly built without the nagging, pleading, or coercion of one more.

Want to have a great athlete, check out our book- Don’t Should On Your Kids: Build Their Mental Toughness 

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates coach executives and professional athletes and is based in Indianapolis. Some clients have included three winners on the PGA Tour, Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. 

Please Check out all the books and the mental toughness podcast - 15 Minutes of Mental Toughness as we interview expert athletes and coaches about Mental Strength and their Hinge Moment. New blog posts are published weekly.