What Michael Jordan Said About Mental Skills

Hello Champion: 

Michael Jordan once said, “the game is 80% mental and 20% physical”. As an athlete or in life, it is important to put work into the mental aspect of preparation. 

One way to mentally prepare for action is by practicing visualization. When you are preparing for a big game or presentation, visualization can be used to create a mental image of what you want to happen and how you will achieve it. 

Guiding your thoughts with positive imagery can be useful to calm your nerves and mentally prepare for a stressful situation. 

Some key steps to visualization are:

  1. Visualize the outcome you want 

  2. Use your senses to develop your thoughts

  3. Practice to make it a habit 

To visualize the outcome you want, focus on making your thoughts direct and specific. Imagining the processes involved in completing your goal and visualizing the end result are focal points of the exercise. 

Using your senses to fully immerse yourself in your thoughts is quite helpful. 

For example, a baseball player can think about the feeling of their bat making contact with the ball and the sound of the ball making perfect contact with the baseball. The inclusion of your senses can create a more realistic picture in your mind.

Another important aspect is practicing visualization. Like anything else, practice makes perfect.

Make visualization into a habit. Psychologists have seen that mental practice can be as beneficial as actual physical practice. 

If you focus on physical preparation and mental preparation, you can expect to see results over time. 

Visualization is a useful tool you should try before a big game or a big interview. What do you have to lose?

The WTMG Team

BJ Merriam