1 The NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook The Courage to Win® in Sport System Lisa Brown & Associates, 2020 In the NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook, you will learn how to become much more mentally tough so you can perform your best under pressure, become a star athlete, and WIN consistently. If you are like most athletes, you are probably getting in your own way a little bit. That’s why in this Handbook you will discover the real root cause of under- performing, choking, and losing in sport and how to get rid of these problems. By eliminating these problems, you will become a much better, more consistent athlete. You will stop having yo-yo confidence and have permanent confidence instead. Best of all, you will stop being stuck and finally reach your potential. You will also learn the 3 secrets to getting in the Zone when you compete. These secrets will work even if you lack confidence, doubt yourself, and sell yourself short. They will work even if you feel extremely anxious or nervous before big events. These secrets will work if you worry about what others think and get self-conscious when people watch you. They will work if you are easily distracted and have trouble focusing. They will even work if you are lack composure, get frustrated a lot, and have never been consistent under pressure. My name is Lisa Lane Brown and I’m an athlete too (in the 2 The NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook The Courage to Win® in Sport System Lisa Brown & Associates, 2020 Canadian ice sport of ringette, similar to ice hockey). I love my sport, but for the first 14 years of competing I was what you’d call a ‘mental marshmallow.’ I had wild confidence swings from one game to the next...I never knew why, and it hurt me all the time. Even when I practiced and prepared with 100% intensity, I’d often find a way to choke in big events. Other times, I’d start out totally confident, only to face problem after problem – such as a poor start, an opponent who was ‘on fire’, or bad officiating. Pretty soon, I’d get a sinking feeling in my stomach that today wasn’t my day and it would go downhill from there. My worst moment was losing the National Championship in 1991 with one second left on the clock. If you’ve ever worked hard to reach a goal--only to fail at the very end, you can guess how devastating this was. I had definitely choked in the biggest game of the year. My coaches and friends said things like, “You just need to believe in yourself,” and “Don’t worry about it. You’ll do better next time.” But no matter what they said, these failures really ate me up inside. Secretly, I knew that my failures had something to do with my mental game, and not just my circumstances. I seriously considered quitting for good. Fortunately, I Was A Very Stubborn Athlete... Obsessed with Finding “The Answer” After years of choking too often, I decided to do something about it and embarked on a mission to find answers. These answers didn’t come overnight. I did all the traditional sports psychology stuff— (some of it was great, but some of wasn’t...and actually made me WORSE by crippling my will to win). 3 The NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook The Courage to Win® in Sport System Lisa Brown & Associates, 2020 I threw out the ideas that didn’t work and spent several years carefully researching and testing new (even radical) mental toughness strategies on myself and other National Team and Olympic athletes in Canada. My stubbornness paid off. Through trial and error, I discovered mental toughness secrets I never would have thought about winning under pressure -- even things that went against traditional sports psychology. These are secrets that only superstar athletes have figured out and jealously guard from their competitors (not something a guy with a PhD read in a book). These secrets transformed my life as an athlete forever... By learning how to psyche up and infuse myself with unstoppable confidence before championship finals, I let my team to 8 National Championship Gold Medals. I changed my self-image as an athlete and became so consistent that I made Team Canada (including being named Team Captain by 1996). And, to my astonishment, By Dramatically Improving My Ability to Perform Under Pressure, I Scored The Winning Goals In The Dying Minutes of Three World Championships! (Later I was humbled to be named to the Who’s Who of Canadian Sport and inducted into the Hall of Fame for my efforts). I tell you this not to impress you, but to 4 The NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook The Courage to Win® in Sport System Lisa Brown & Associates, 2020 impress upon you that only by living and breathing these ideas personally in the heat of competition did I realize that.... Superstar Athletes Use An Amazingly Simple Mental Toughness Formula to Gain the Courage to Win® Under Pressure Have you ever watched an athlete like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, or Tiger Woods put on a display of incredible mental toughness? Where this athlete showed a profound ability to stay in control and triumph when facing setbacks and adversity? This is common for the ‘best of the best’ because these superstars have internalized a simple, effortless formula for amazing mental toughness under pressure – but while they chat in interviews about the importance of the mental strength, they rarely disclose their actual methods. It’s Not A Fantasy! You see, what I discovered had little to do with me and everything to do with this incredibly straightforward formula, because it brings out your own innate mental toughness. How does formula do it? Simple...by eliminating the 3 deadly mental errors virtually every athlete (even the highly talented) automatically makes when competing in big events. The 3 Deadly Mistakes Athletes Make Under Pressure Without EVER Realizing It... Through my research and personal experience, I’ve found that these 3 mistakes will cripple your will to win under pressure: 5 The NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook The Courage to Win® in Sport System Lisa Brown & Associates, 2020 Mistake #1: Trying to Control Winning or Performing Well (PRESSING) Most athletes are obsessed with winning. They’re thinking about how to perform well and look good. They’re especially obsessed with not choking. Maybe you’ve been there yourself. I know I have. Many, many times. The obsession with performing well and winning usually comes with another impulse: TRYING TO CONTROL – your confidence, your performance, and winning. This leads to pressing, which deteriorates your performance. Here are some of the signs of an athlete who is PRESSING: • He interferes with his technique rather than letting his body lead. If he’s a tennis player, he’ll try to guide and steer the ball, which messes up his strokes and erodes his game. If he’s a basketball player, he’ll try to ‘do it all himself’ and drive to the basket every time instead of reading the defense. If she’s a swimmer, she’ll focus on her opponent instead of executing her own race plan. • He pressures himself to be emotionally perfect. 6 The NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook The Courage to Win® in Sport System Lisa Brown & Associates, 2020 He wants himself to be calm, cool, and collected at all times, even when it’s natural for him to be a little nervous or frustrated. Anytime he isn’t feeling 100% confident, he becomes unglued about his low confidence. • He pressures his teammates to play better, he pressures his coach to make changes, and he pressures officials to shape up. He takes his focus off the event and puts it on stuff he can’t control. Mistake #2: Not Knowing How to Defeat Your “Demon” Stressor Did you know that there is one thing that makes you lose your confidence more quickly than anything else—and that this stressor is completely unique to you? While there are many stressors you can face in competition (a mistake, a bad start, negative coach), one of these affects you more than all of the others combined. I call this your “demon stressor”. Your demon is the stressor that will cause you to lose your confidence unless you have the proper mental toughness antidote for it. Sadly, even confident athletes can fall victim to losing their confidence when their demon shows up. If you want to perform your best under pressure, figuring out what your demon is and defeating it is a MUST. 7 The NEVER CHOKE AGAIN Sports Mental Toughness Handbook The Courage to Win® in Sport System Lisa Brown & Associates, 2020 Ignoring his demon stressor is what almost cost superstar Andre Agassi his entire career. Agassi's demon was any error on the court that made him feel shame, because he was an intense perfectionist. By dealing with this demon stressor well, he turned his whole life around. Let’s talk about Mistake #3... Mistake #3: Over-Criticizing Yourself Have you ever criticized yourself for getting frustrated or performing poorly? You might find this shocking, but here's the truth: Frustration is not the problem. It's perfectly natural to get mad if you're under- performing. Also, briefly under-performing is Ok too. Sometimes an opponent out-smarts you or you get hit by a weird setback.