Mindset Matters 2: skills for success

Create skills for success by training your mind

Welcome to our second blog at HeadStart. Today we continue with our exploration of the benefits of training your mind and developing mental skills. Today's focus is on how training your mind to develop mental skills creates a set of skills which will lead to success in all areas of life.

We will go beyond the pitch today and understand how adding mental skills practice to your training routine makes football much more than "just learning to kick a ball better". 

Using football to teach skills for life!

going beyond the pitch

Football as the ideal learning environment

Football is the ideal learning environment for people. It provides immediate feedback on a person's actions and shows them the consequences of these actions. This constant and immediate feedback allows you to quickly learn, adapt, and improve on your actions.

Moreover, football allows you to do this in a safe environment. You are able to make mistakes to learn from while being supported and guided by others. While not all footballing environments allow this kind of growth, when you do find one which allows it the results can be extremely powerful.

Importantly, football is also an activity in which people "buy in". Since players enjoy football and have an interest in becoming better, it becomes a powerful motivator which can be harnessed to teach skills for success in all areas of life.

"expand the teachings"

This is where we have the opportunity to "expand the teachings". Instead of narrowly focusing training on increasing football performance, we can relate actions and situations which occur on the football pitch to similar events which happen off the pitch.

An easy example is how a player passes the ball to his or her teammates. Passing the ball to the correct foot with the right speed and giving helpful communication like "turn" helps your teammate do well on the pitch when he or she gets the ball. You have given your teammate a lot of value with your pass.

Understanding this, and then relating it to other situations off the pitch in which you can give another person value (think giving your classmate value through helpful communication) is how skills for success in other areas of life can begin to be built.

Football allows people to better understand other people's perspectives and to take action in ways which benefit and provide value to others. This is just one example of how football can be related to other areas of life (there are countless more which we teach in our HeadStart training programs).

Key Point: "football is a great learning environment for skills which benefit players off the pitch as well"

Train your mindset, create skills for success

Mental skills underlie life skills. To understand someone else's perspective you must develop empathy. To take initiative you must have confidence. To overcome challenges with resilience you must take responsibility. 

These mental skills are bundled up into your mindset. Below are two reasons why training your mind to bring forth a stronger mindset through developing mental skills will have a lasting benefit for your success in all areas of life.

reason 1 - develop a set of transferable skills: 

Building a stronger mindset through developing mental skills such as discovering values, purpose and resilience gives you a set of transferable skills which you can use in all areas of your life.

These mental skills are at the foundation of who you are as a person and therefore influence you during all parts of your day (not just when you are on the football pitch). That's why these mental skills have been shown to increase athletic and academic performance, along with predicting the quality of your relationships and your life satisfaction.

Growing a stronger mindset stays with you, no matter what situation you find yourself in. It makes you feel capable, no matter if it is on the sports field, in the classroom, or at home with your friends / family. 

Key Point: "having a stronger mindset through developing mental skills positively benefits you in all areas" 

reason 2 - improve your personal qualities:

Similar to the above paragraph, developing mental skills such as strong values, better emotional control, or having the ability to peak under pressure leads to a stronger mindset, which improves you as a person.  

Developing these mental skills cause you to act with more quality. They cause you to treat other people better and allow you to be more productive in what you choose to do. Other people value you more highly and you feel better about yourself too.

Better still, your mindset stays with you! You can rely upon it with the mental skills you are developing (if you have taken / are taking the time to train them) no matter what situation you are in. They cause you to be a better-quality person and act with integrity. 

Key Point: "Building a stronger mindset gives you a set of skills which you can use in any situation in your life, making you a better person"

Key takeaways

•Football is the ideal environment in which to learn skills for success in all areas of life

•Skills for success like taking responsibility or initiative come from mental skills such as confidence and resilience (which are all tied up in your mindset)

•Training your mind by developing mental skills allows you to create a mindset for success, no matter what situation you find yourself in

Coming next

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and congratulations in investing in your personal development! Our next post will be about how developing mental skills increases your well-being so that you can function better and feel good more often.

If you are curious to learn more, or have any feedback, please contact me at: 

francis@headstartcoaching.co.nz