185 Commitment: Leisure Athletes vs Performance Athletes #BITESIZE

Commitment, setting goals and delivering on your promises without being derailed, is an important ingredient of Mental Toughness. In this BITESIZED episode leading Performance Coach, Mark Bennett MBE and I go on to discuss the differences in commitment levels between leisure and performance athletes.  Mark goes on to share suggestions for coaches so that they can get the best out of their athletes.

Key Learning Points:

• Technical ability, physicality or skill doesn't define a leisure or performance athlete, it is their attitude and daily behaviours.
• Whether they are supervised or unsupervised, a performance athlete is somebody that will do what they need to do to be the best they can be.
• The performance athlete will ask themselves important questions daily such as; "What's my plan for the week ahead?" "How much sleep do I need?" "What am I going to eat tomorrow?" "What do I need to do?"
• High performance coaches, continually look at the everyday behaviours of their athletes and don't overly concern themselves of the athlete's technical ability. 
• Coaches will seek to understand the athlete as a person, their personality, preferred environment and habits, to understand where their mindset currently is and what their commitment is to their goals and objectives.

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Performance Development Systems, PDS Coaching Website

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To Listen to Related Podcast Episodes

• Ep042: Mark Bennett MBE – Characteristics of High Performance Athletes 
• Ep140: Chris Cook - How to Improve Your Mental Strength: Secrets from an Olympian
• EP147: Aaron Walsh – The Application of Mental Performance Coaching in Elite Professional Rugby
• Ep161: Paul Phillips – How to Create a Culture of High Performance in Professional Rugby Union
• Ep166: Mark Bennett MBE – How To Help Athletes and Coaches Reflect On Their Performances

Other Resources to Help You

Blog: Developing your Mental Game in your Downtime

Blog: Training Hard Vs Training Smart | I Must Work Harder

Blog: Are you Motivated or Committed

Blog: 4 Steps To Form A Habit That Actually Sticks

Blog: Why You Should Stop Setting SMART Goals