More from Olivier Leroy "Mental Toughness"

Hey there! Want a simple trick to be 10% mentally tougher? (Why 10%? I’m not sure…but it felt like a good, round number to roll with, so bare with me for a hot moment.) We all want to be categorized as someone who is mentally tough. After all, some swimmers are born with talent and power-forward genetics… But mental toughness is something you control. It’s something you are. Mental toughness is something we all want more have, but aren’t entirely sure how to go about it. So we read the stories of swimmers who perform feats that require mental toughness. And we read all about the theory about mental toughness. And all the research on it, and how effective and how much a deal-breaker it can be. But if you really want to be mentally tougher… And I am pretty sure you do… It starts by deciding to be tougher. Yup. That simple. Okkkaaaayy, you’re probably thinking. Sounds nice… But how do I do that? How do you make the decision? Well, you get a dozen or so opportunities in practice every single day. Each of those moments is your chance to tell yourself… Be tougher. Seriously. That’s it. Just be a little tougher. Stop overthinking things... And be tougher. When you feel yourself fading at the end of a tough set…tell yourself, “be tougher.” When you don’t feel like holding the breathing pattern anymore… tell yourself to be a little bit tougher. I know… This looks too simple. Too easy. I have talked a lot about how awesome self-talk is, and how much it can help your performance in the water (and its importance is why there is a full section devoted to it in our mental skills manual “Dominate the Pool”)… Try “be tougher” the next time you want to give up on something. It’s an easy, no-frills way to get more from yourself. Why do I like this? It just asks you to nudge a little further… To give just a little more effort… To do a just a little more. It’s not asking you to be the toughest. Or to break a world record in practice. Just to go a little further. You can use it anytime. And it gives you the power back in moments of adversity… Yeah, things get tough… That set seems like it will never end… But you can choose. Be tougher. See you on deck, Olivier