“Performance process goals involve things like staying in the present moment, accepting whatever happens as it happens, underreacting to everything, being unflappable, and totally trusting in your skills during competition.” GoalTrustCompetitionPresentAcceptPerformUnderreact Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“We can choose to believe in ourselves, and thus to strive, to risk, to persevere, and to achieve. Or we can choose to cling to security and mediocrity. We can choose to set no limits on ourselves, to set high goals and dream big dreams. We can use those dreams to fuel our spirits with passion.” DreamPassionGoalRiskAchieveSecurityStriveMediocrityPersevereLimit Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“He respected his own talent, and he set about working very hard to develop it. He had dreams, and he wanted to see how good he could get.” DreamTalentRespectGoodWork Hard Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“Learned effectiveness flows from the character traits we’ve been talking about—optimism, confidence, respect for your own talent, persistence, and commitment.” CharacterTalentConfidenceRespectCommitmentOptimismPersistenceEffective Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“Respecting Your Talent” TalentRespect Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“It makes me pine for the time when Ben Hogan was the dominant figure in golf. Among Hogan’s many distinctions was this: almost no one thought of him as supremely talented. He was respected for the hard work he put into his game.” TalentHard WorkRespectDominantGame Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“Hal chose to respect his own talent that day rather than Tiger’s. It’s one of the choices champions always make.” TalentRespectChampionChoice Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“Great performers share a way of thinking, a set of attitudes and attributes like optimism, confidence, persistence, and strong will. They all want to push themselves to see how great they can become. These attributes and attitudes cause champions to work harder and smarter than other people as they prepare for competition. They help them stay focused under pressure and to produce their best performances when the stakes are highest.” HardStrongConfidenceOptimismPersistenceChampionWillPush Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“They have optimism and confidence. Because they are optimistic and confident, they react to setbacks not by getting discouraged and giving up, but with persistence. Their attitude is, “I’m not playing well right now, but when I put it all together [or our team puts it all together], I’ll really be something. I can beat anybody.” Because they persist, they get better. Because they get better, they experience success. And that success reinforces their optimism, their confidence, and their respect for their own talent. That’s the virtuous circle.” SuccessTalentConfidenceOptimismExperiencePersistenceSetbackConfidnece Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“You have to figure out a way to make the time you spend with your family and the time you spend at work both extremely efficient and effective.” TimeWorkFamilyEfficientEffective Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“The first thing you have to do is decide that being optimistic is important to you, because you understand that optimism is essential to fulfilling your dreams and attaining your goals. Once you make that decision, you have to start looking at things from a different perspective.” DreamGoalPerspectiveOptimisticFulfill Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“A champion understands that it’s fine to savor an experience when it’s positive, to remember it, to celebrate it.” RememberPositiveExperienceCelebrateSavor Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“I counsel people to laugh at what other people perceive as failures. I tell them not to care if other people think their goals are crazy.” GoalCrazyFailureLaughAre Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“You might think that it would be easier for a player to go it alone. That, after all, is part of the Ben Hogan legend, and Hogan was one of the all-time greats. The legend has it that he worked by himself to perfect his swing, putting in countless hours of lonely practice to achieve near-perfection.” PerfectPracticeLonelyAlone Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“I tell them to recruit kids whose coaches report that they had tremendous work ethics. They lifted weights on their own during the off-season. They showed up early for practice, stayed late, and asked for extra help on their skills. They were leaders who helped push everyone on the team to work harder. And they displayed these traits both when the team did well and when it struggled through adversity. It’s relatively easy to be enthused and hardworking on a team that’s winning. It shows more character to display those same attributes on a team that’s losing. It speaks to a person’s mental toughness, toughness that will be invaluable in dealing with the setbacks and rejections that inevitably come along in a business career.” CharacterToughAdversityWork HardSetbackRejectPushEarlyWork Ethics Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“No one gets to the top alone. A golfer needs a good swing coach and a spouse, family, and friends who believe in him and encourage him.” BelieveFamilyAloneFriendSpouseEncourageCoach Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“A golfer needs a good swing coach and a spouse, family, and friends who believe in him and encourage him.” BelieveFamilyGolfSpouseEncourageCoach Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“We prepared properly and performed well, and it just didn’t go right,” then there’s nothing to regret. You just have to be determined to get ’em the next time.” RegretDetermineNext TimePreparePerform Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“What’s important is not avoiding adversity, but how an individual responds to it. You have to develop a mental hardiness that responds to setbacks with energy and confidence.” HardEnergyConfidenceAdversityMentalSetbackRespond Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“This confidence may come from their parents. When they encounter a tough problem or a tough course, they plug away at it. They persevere. Their confidence makes a major contribution to their success.” SuccessParentConfidenceToughPersevere Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“You have to develop a mental hardiness that responds to setbacks with energy and confidence.” EnergyConfidenceMentalSetback Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“When they encounter a tough problem or a tough course, they plug away at it. They persevere. Their confidence makes a major contribution to their success.” SuccessConfidenceToughPersevere Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“If someone in that category asks me whether he should keep going, I don’t have an answer. I have questions. The most basic is, “Are you sure you’ve honored your commitment?” By that, I mean to ask whether the client has done what he set out to do, which is to make the strongest possible effort to become as good as he can be by creating and fulfilling performance and preparation processes.” EffortHonorCommitKeep GoingPrepareFulfillPerform Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“Exceptional people are resilient. Resilient people react to failure by finding something they can cling to, some hope for the future.” HopeFailureFutureExceptionalResilient Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“People who are trying to be the best get used to tough evaluations. They get used to high standards. Sometimes the evaluations come from coaches like Cal. More often they come from within. But it’s important that the evaluations come at the right time and are directed at the right stuff.” TimeToughDirectBestCoachStandard Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life
“We’ve since learned to the contrary that stress can help people grow, just as stressing a muscle by lifting weights helps it get stronger. I think exceptional people have always intuitively understood this. They’ve understood that they need tough competition to become the best players they can be.” StrongToughStressBestExceptionalGrow Book:How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Source: How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life