What is Mental Toughness – Positive Body Language

posted on: March 9, 2013
author: Brian Lomax, Ed.D.

Want a quick pick-me-up while you’re competing?  Pay attention to your body language and make sure it’s positive, strong, confident, determined and shows that you’re willing to fight.  The connection between our minds and bodies is very strong, and negative behavior in one area almost always results in negativity in the other.  The good news is that this also works on the positive side of the equation, and changing your body language is often less challenging than altering or stopping your thoughts.

Athletes who display negative body language in competition don’t realize how much information they’re giving away to their opponents.  There’s a reason you need a “poker face” in poker, as you don’t want to give away your strategy at the card table.  Competitive athletes should learn to adopt that same philosophy so that their opponents can’t read what’s going on in their head via their body language.  If an athlete is displaying negative body language, here’s what he’s telling the world:

• My opponent’s game is bothering me
• I can’t handle adversity
• I can’t control my emotions
• I’ve lost focus on what is important
• I’m not mentally tough

All of these signs give the opponent more confidence to continue their strategy because they know it’s working.  The athlete with negative body language ultimately defeats himself through self sabotage.  So how do you deal with this when it comes up in competition?  Use a little trick called “if, then”.  This is essentially a mental planning trick.  If a particular situation might occur, then you want to have a pre-programmed response for it.  For example, if I get negative in competition, then I’m going to walk with confidence and purpose, and display a strong image.  If you plan this out before you compete, you’re more likely to be able to turn around a negative situation than with no planning whatsoever.

So the next time you go out to compete, do some “if, then” planning and show the world through your body language that you’re a great competitor.  You’ll be amazed at the impact of such a simple change.