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Success Is 95% Mental
When I was home for Christmas, I noticed a book on the bookshelf in my family’s living room.
Mental Toughness Training For Sports: Achieving Athletic Excellence by James E. Loehr, Ed.D.
The man on the cover was wearing a track suit from the 80s, which showed the book’s age. My father had probably made this purchase four decades ago, right around the age I am now. Seeing what he had been reading back then gives me a window into both who he was and who he wanted to be.
My father’s love for basketball and athletic excellence was a prominent part of my childhood.
His favorite player was Jerry West, and he spoke often (at the dinner table, in the car on the way to hockey practice) about how he was “the smartest player on the court.”
It didn’t take me very long to realize “smart” didn’t only mean intelligence. Smart also meant mental toughness.
As I picked the book off the shelf, took it over to a nearby chair and started reading, I recognized the man I had always thought of as my father, but never considered as a competitor in and of himself. The book stated the importance of daily discipline, and I remembered, day after day, watching my father repeat his same morning routine: coffee, workout, oatmeal in the car on the way…
