The Little-Known Secret Behind Michael Jordan's Excellence
And how you can start using it to your advantage, too
Michael Jordan began every practice in a circle, holding hands with his teammates, eyes closed.
Breathing.
The best athlete in the game - and maybe in the history of the sport - meditated to warm up.
He was brought to meditation by his coach, Phil Jackson (who coincidentally introduced another GOAT, Kobe Bryant, to the same practice). Perhaps in the spirit of mimicry, last season we saw LeBron James meditate on the sideline during a timeout. The 3 greatest players of all time in one sport - even at different positions - all used this 1 practice to reach their full potential.
There are countless examples of the all-time greats using mental training to perform at their peak.
Phelps and Biles use imagery. Aaron Donald, hall of fame defender in the NFL, uses self-talk. Roger Federer explains his greatness through the use of goals, staying present, resilience, and reflection.
To ignore working on your mental game is to ignore the possibility of reaching your full potential. There’s just no way you get there without some strategies to overcome self-doubt, overwhelm, indecision, and stress - the elements that kill peak performance and leave you with regret for what could’ve been.
The best way to train your mind is to just pick somewhere and get started. There’s no magic, silver bullet technique that’ll give you everything you need.
In the gym, you need different equipment to strengthen different areas of your body. Mindset training is no different. You need different tools to strengthen different parts of your mental game.
So pick a piece of equipment - a technique to try - and get started. 5 minutes a day is enough.
And so you don’t have any excuses not to begin, here are my suggestions on where to start:
Set a goal.
Practice mindfulness.
Reflect on your day.
This 3 step process will go a long way to creating a mind like Mike.