The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most on-line retailers! Click Here to Order 
YOUR VOICE IS YOUR CHOICE
It’s important to note that athletes need to be accountable for their mindset, attitude and outlook. If you feel you have a bit of a fixed mindset, listen and spot those negative voices. It takes effort and commitment to flip a fixed mindset with a new, proactive growth mindset. Congratulations are in order for those of you willing to improve your mindset.
Along the lines of mindsets, improving one’s life skills promotes a healthier, self-reliant individual. Life skills are universal stepping stones necessary to succeed in sports and life. At the heart of emotional aptitude is the ability to be self-reliant and self-disciplined, two of my favorite life skills.
SOLUTION # 3: Life Skills Assessment
Increase your emotional aptitude by improving the following life skills. For each of the following life skills, grade your level of competence 1 through 10. (The number “1” represents an extreme weakness and the number “10” represents an extreme strength.) Simply circle the number that best describes your comfort level.
Time Management: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The time management life skill is the ability to use one’s time effectively or productively. To become a more successful athlete, this would include organizing daily, weekly and monthly planners. This includes the scheduling and development of each of the four major components (technical, athletic, mental, and emotional) essential to compete at the higher levels.
Adaptability: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The adaptability life skill is being able to adjust to different situations and conditions comfortably. To get the most from your physical talent, one must be open to change. Adapting is emotional intelligence at work.
Handling Adversity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Handling adversity is a critical athletic and life skill. Competition brings hardship, drama, and suffering along with the positive attributes. Overcoming the daily problems is what a champ thrives on. Seeing adversity as a challenge versus a life or death crisis is key.
Handling Stress: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Stress causes biological and mental tension. It occurs when one believes that their physical skills aren’t strong enough to meet the challenge. While some personalities stress more than others, stress is dramatically reduced by proper preparation and a positive attitude.
Courage: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Courage is the ability to apply belief in your skills in spite of the threat at hand. Of course, if you aren’t training at 100%, true courage doesn’t exist. Courage is knowing that competition in sports is not to be feared but to be embraced. Courage is not allowing yourself to listen to the typical noise of “What if I lose.”
Work Ethic: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Work ethic is a diligent, consistent standard of conduct. It is the belief that the physical, mental and emotional components will strengthen, and goals will be achieved through a deliberate, customized plan.
Perseverance: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Perseverance is one’s ability to stay on course through setbacks, discouragement, injuries and losses. It is the ability to stubbornly fight to achieve greatness.
Resiliency: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Resiliency is the capacity to recover and adjust after difficulties. Champions fall, hurt and fail just like us but they have preset protocols to adapt and press on. Winners aren’t always the most intelligent or even the strongest athletes in the event. They are often the individuals who respond with the best adjustments after misfortunes.
Goal Setting: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Goal setting is the process of identifying something that you want to accomplish with measurable goals. Dreams are a great start, but the work begins when both specific performance improvement goals and outcome goals are set with action plans and target dates. Setting daily, monthly and long term goals builds the emotional strength you seek.
Sticking to Commitments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Commitments are obligations that restrict freedom of action. Staying loyal to a written action plan separates the champion from the part time hobbyist. Hobbyists train when it’s convenient. Committed athletes put their sport above their social calendar.
Determination: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Determination is the power to persist with a singular fixed purpose. It’s being hell bent on reaching your goals. Champions often begin as average athletes with abnormal determination.
Problem-Solving Skills: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Identifying the problem is only the first step. Step two is to isolate the causes of the problem. Step three is then to customize the solution to the problem. Creative problem solving requires digging deeper than simply identifying the flaw.
Spotting Patterns and Tendencies: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Patterns and tendencies are an individual’s predisposition to do something repeatedly. Spotting reoccurring behavior is essential in understanding your own strengths and weaknesses as well as defeating a worthy opponent.
Discipline: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Discipline is behavior that is judged by how well it follows a set of rules. It is one of the most important emotional elements that turns dreams and goals into accomplishments. It often requires you to choose to train…when you’d rather be socializing. Discipline is painful but not nearly as painful as losing to people you should be beating.
Sportsmanship: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sportsmanship is the underlying respect for the game, the rules governing the sport, the opponents and the officials. It’s giving it your all and carrying yourself with pride regardless of the outcome.
Focus: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Focus is the ability to be single minded in your interest. This relates to a short term goal such as a single play, point or game all the way towards attaining a long term goal such as being offered a college athletic scholarship.
Preparation Skills: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The life skill of being prepared is especially important in athletics. Preparing properly for battle is one of the most neglected aspects of intermediate athletes. Success stems from total preparation. It is truly the key to preventing a poor performance.
Persistence: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Persistence is the continued passion of action in spite of opposition. You need constant energy devoted to your sport. Anything less means that you’re a hobbyist. Persistence gets you to the top. Consistency with that persistent frame of mind keeps you there.
Dedication: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Dedication is the quality of being committed to a purpose. Dedication to a sport requires passion and commitment to strive for daily improvement. Lazy, non-athletic people use the word “obsessed” to describe the dedicated athletes.
Positive Self-Image: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Strong emotional aptitude starts with positive self-esteem. Trusting yourself is a key to competing freely. Changing the negative self-talk into positive internal dialog is a great start.
Revisit your scores above and begin strengthening your emotional aptitude by improving any skill that you graded 7 or less. Keep in mind that solutions are customized to your personality and circumstances. These life lessons are the roots that competitive character skills stem from. Achieving spectacular results requires thousands of hours of deliberate customized practice. Without the foundation of critical “root” skills (optimism, growth mindset and life lessons), a deliberate customized developmental plan will fail to bloom. Subsequently, without proper training; results never materialize.
