Sports: Winning ways, Bo Jackson excelled in NFL and MLB
There are some athletes out there that just constantly win at their sport. There is a winning combination that allows them to be very successful and the question is whether it is possible for a struggling athlete to follow that formula and become just as good. It seems to be a combination of temperament, training, a great coach and good luck that gets an athlete to the top and keeps them there.
Over the years there have been some very dominant athletes who have continued to be at the top of their game despite strong pressure from all sides. In this list of top athletes is Michael Phelps, Roger Federer and many others who have retired like Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson. While everyone has heard of Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, they may not know that the great Bo Jackson was a star in two different sports; the NFL and Major League Baseball. Michael Jordan tried to achieve the same feat but could only manage to get to the Minor Leagues in baseball. So Bo Jackson seems to be ahead of all at the moment.
It takes a combination of certain factors to enable a top athlete to consistently win. The qualities that an athlete has that keeps them winning are the following; passion, focus, desire to succeed, willingness to learn, persistence, ability to accept defeat, willingness to take risks and a strong team. These factors are some of the most important that can help an athlete become the best. If we take a look at the top athletes in the world we will see these traits reflected in them. All of the top sports stars have a passion to win and a passion for their sport. Combining that passion with a focus and a desire to succeed makes them excel at whatever they are doing. The most interesting aspects of this list are the willingness to learn, accept defeat and the willingness to take risks. Humility is a very important characteristic in a top athlete and if they lose they accept it and say that the other player played very well. This winning formula can be applied to many other fields besides sports and the results will be similar.
There is also a difference in an athlete's psychological view of their sport. There are two different approaches to winning and being the best at any given sport. The first is a goal orientated approach; this as the name reflects, refers to only the outcome and an athlete will focus solely on either winning or losing and nothing more. The other approach is the process orientated approach, this refers to an athlete that constantly improves his or her process to win. The athlete works on improving some aspect of their ability that they feel is lacking and needs improvement. It is these athletes that think there is something that needs improving and focus on the process of winning rather than being constantly champions in their sport. They seem to realise that how to get to the end is more important than the end result and inadvertently the end result is in their favour.
It seems those athletes that are at the top also have some internal way of dealing with immense stress. Winning all the time can lead to a lot of pressure being built up inside an athlete and this can cause top athletes to break down and start to lose. It is those athletes that can use the pressure that they receive to their advantage that keep on winning. They use the pressure and turn it around to work in their favour. They do this by having a strong support team that works with them every step of the way in overcoming the pressure and helping to reverse it into something positive.
The top athletes in the world are the complete package, they have the winning formula, the right sort of attitude to their sport, they have a very strong team behind them and they have an innate desire to succeed. These factors can be copied by others to reach the top but it should be done as a complete turnaround of the athlete's process and only by focusing on the overall picture can this be achieved.
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