“Champions behave like champions before they are champions” Bill Walsh

Basketball is a game that requires you to be not only physically prepared but also mentally ready.

You can spend a lot of hours working on your physical skills, but if you do not work on developing your mental techniques and fundamentals, you will have a hard time reaching your full potential.

One of the most successful basketball coaches of all time John Wooden once said that failing to prepare was preparing to fail.

Check out below how champion athletes make it happen.

By Doing Things Differently and Consistently

Whether it is during a regular game, tournament or more long-term than that, there will be adversity. Look at all the great basketball players, at some stage, they have suffered setbacks in their careers, whether through injury, with a devastating loss or just by losing an important game. But they came back with more developed basketball mental toughness.

Ben Hogan is the prime. If you can learn to cultivate consistency in your work, you’ll eventually beat any talent, luck, skill, and even quality — just by being consistent. Champions are not born, they are built. They became champions long before they start their first Olympic competition. They are champions because they practiced every day, keep the right attitude, focus on the process and what is in their control.

They Overcome Pain and Stress

Champions view setbacks as opportunities for their mental game growth, and not as roadblocks. In fact, coping with adversity with a level of autonomy ultimately make them more self-reliant and resilient. They tended to be both proactive and looked for positive meaning in response to “bumps” in the road with a “bring it on” mentality.

They Master the Process

Champions are clever. They are bold and bright and brazen at times, but they are also cunning and intelligent. They know that it isn’t tub-thumping passion that drives them to victory, it isn’t primarily a will to win that earns the Gold or the championship. It’s the process. Yes, that’s right – the tedious process.

The very best love to master the fundamentals of the game. They have an unshakable attitude to win every game. They want to be quicker, faster, and stronger; they want to jump higher, last longer and go further. And they know to do this they have to focus on the process.

They Prioritize

Elite athletes always prioritize their goals and their dreams. You have to prioritize your goals to progress in the direction you want to go. Goals are your roadmap to success.

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