“The right mindset and attitude gives us opportunities to do the best we can and to realize the potential that’s in every one of us.”
- Tom Brady
Mental toughness is the single-most key contributing factor in all the greats in this world. The ability to push through adversity with the right mindset and attitude gives each of us the opportunity to realize the potential that we all have inside of us. Sometimes, our mindset, or commonly referred to as "yourself," is the single-most limiting factor to your own potential. At A11 Performance, our foundations of our programs lie in mindset. Justin Arth, our founder has exhibited that through all the adversity and challenges in his career, thus far, and we want to pass that on to you.
Here are the 6 components that make up the A11 Performance Mindset:
Stay Positive
Always Give Your Best Effort
Accept No Limits
Learn from Your Failure
Develop a Growth Mindset
Stay Determined
STAY POSITIVE
How do you stay positive in the midst of adversity and make it a daily habit? By taking action at the beginning of your day. When you wake up, consciously choose a positive outlook for the day ahead and stay grateful to God above for the opportunity to live another day a pursue the plan He has in store for you in this day, As you go throughout your day, it is essential to know the difference between the things you can control and the things you can’t. If an event that’s out of your control and does not go your way, try to avoid sliding into anger and frustration, as emotions are firmly within your control. Consciously choose to remain positive. You may not have control over what happens, but you can choose how you react and carry yourself.
A positive mindset doesn’t mean you ignore life’s difficulties and challenges, it means you approach them in a more constructive and positive way. A positive mindset has been linked with lower rates of depression, resistance to the common cold, and better cardiovascular health.
We put this philosophy into practice daily, with each training session by cultivating an overwhelming atmosphere of positivity. We attack every challenge with positivity because we know through positive perseverance, all goals will be achieved.
HERE’S WHAT TO DO:
Choose to remain positive. Control the controllables. You may not have control over what happens, but you can choose how you react. Visualize yourself succeeding – throwing the perfect pass, sinking the putt, making the stop, crushing your PR, or getting that promotion. Pre-frame your mind for success by thinking only of the positive outcome so you tell your nerves what you expect to happen. A perfect story is the story of Justin's mentor, Tom House, as he faced a batter while pitching for the Boston Red Sox in 1976. Tom's pitching coach came out to the mound and told House, "Don't hang your curveball and let him take you deep." Well Tom took that message and thought what his coach had told him. The nerves do not hear positive or negatives, like we do. All they heard was hang the curveball. So, the curveball hug and the batter took House deep to lose the game. In that situation if you can pre-frame a situation before the coach talks to you or reframe the message that the coach tells you to a positive like, "Throw the perfect curveball for a strikeout." then the result you seek is more likely to happen.
JUSTIN’S TAKE:
“Control the controllables. Those are your attitude and effort. Think and speak positive and reframe the negatives to give yourself the best shot at success. I've never had a good game when I lost my cool in a game.”
ALWAYS GIVE YOUR BEST EFFORT
In our opinion, there are two things you can control. One of these things is the effort you give. Whether you’re facing a tough workout, an assignment at work, or life’s everyday challenges, the best thing you can do is attack the task at hand with the best effort you are capable of giving in that moment. Your best effort won’t always be the same – it changes based on the situation you’re in, and that’s okay!
You can’t always perform at your peak, but you can always put forth the effort you’re capable of depending on the situation you’re in.
HERE’S WHAT TO DO:
Expect the best from your day, and then give your best possible effort.
JUSTIN'S TAKE:
“It used to always be about outcome, but after meeting Tom House, I learned that being a process to bring about your best effort is way more important than the outcome. I always try to come in to the facility and give the best effort I have for the day.”
Accept no limits
No matter who you are or what you do in life, you will always have people and situations around you which, whether consciously or unconsciously, will try to put limitations on you. For some of us, it comes in the form of an untimely injury or a coach who doesn’t see our true potential – for others, these limits and obstacles present a lifelong challenge in the form of racial or gender inequities, a disability, or poverty.
Whatever your situation entails, just keep going. Ignore the noise and focus on you. Don’t let outside thoughts or pressures change the confidence you have in yourself, and remember that you are strong enough to take on any challenge that comes your way.
Here at A11 Performance, we want to push the boundaries of every athlete to achieve their maximum potential and not limit the athlete to anything. If you can dream it, we want to help you achieve it.
HERE’S WHAT TO DO:
As much as the people and circumstances around you will try to dictate your path, remember to push forward and forge your own way. Getting cut from your JV basketball team doesn’t mean you can’t play on the Varsity team next season. An ACL injury is indeed a significant setback, but it doesn’t mean your athletic career is over. Believe in yourself and don't give any attention to limitations others try to put on you.
JUSTIN’S TAKE:
“If things go my way, awesome; and if they don’t, that’s okay, too, because I know I will just get back to work and have a chance to overcome the failure in the future.”
Learn from Your failures
Rather than going into a dark place when things don’t work out or if you have a bad day, find things to learn from it. The best way to turn a negative situation into something positive is to learn from the mistakes you made and what went wrong. Instead of dwelling on a rough day of work or a bad performance at practice, be self-critical – think introspectively about what you did and didn’t do, and make a change. The best way to do this is ask yourself in the third person, "Why did this happen?" This will take the blame of the failure out of the the equation and solely look at the lessons you can learn from it.
For Justin, this principle plays a major role in his success on the field. Every failure Justin encounters, he has two options – he can either dwell on it and get frustrated, or pay close attention to what went wrong and learn from it. Justin will ask himself "Justin, why did you throw this interception?" or "How did Justin lose this game?" Although this is not the easy way out, it is the way that promotes the most learning and growth.
HERE’S WHAT TO DO:
If you truly want to learn and grow in the face of failure, you have to be willing to self-reflect and learn from it. This principle applies to everyone – you don’t even have to be an athlete to bring this approach into your life. Reflect on the things that went well, but focus especially on your weaknesses. It won’t be easy, but this kind of constructive approach will help you grow!
JUSTIN’S TAKE:
“Every mistake is an opportunity to learn and grow. If you never learn from these mistakes then you'll make it over and over. Ask yourself why and move on with a new direction with the knowledge to get that 1% better."
DEVELOP A GROWTH MINDSET
Maintaining a focus on growth is a crucial part of the overall A11 Performance mindset. People who attack the challenges in front of them with a growth mindset understand that their own intelligence and ability can change as a result of their effort, strategy, and persistence. Having a growth mindset is about embracing challenges when they arise, and accepting criticism and failure – as both play a crucial role in helping you continue to grow as a person.
HERE’S WHAT TO DO:
Embrace life’s challenges, and don’t be afraid to learn from your failures and any feedback you receive. Never lose sight of the fact that your effort and attitude determine everything, and that you can persist through the adversity or setbacks that come your way with the right approach and preparation.
JUSTIN’S TAKE:
“I’ve had to learn to use losses in games as ways to be better for the next opportunity on the field. Usually, what I learn afterward, through reviewing film and thinking back on how I felt in the moment and what I saw and reacted on the field, is a greater positive than whatever benefits might have come from a win,”
STAY DETERMINED
Determination is the engine that drives the A11 Performance mindset. If you aren’t determined to be the best version of yourself and committed to self-improvement, then none of these other principles really matter. Determination has to come from within – you have to believe in yourself and be driven by a purpose.
Determination means that you’re willing to do the extra work required to be great in everything that you do. No shortcuts, no quitting, and no excuses – if you’re truly determined to accomplish something, you won’t let anything stand in your way.
HERE’S WHAT TO DO:
Start by identifying what your goal or purpose is. Write it down and keep it by your bed, add it as a note in your phone, or do whatever you have to do to to give yourself a regular reminder of what you’re working towards. When you’re motivated by a purpose like this, you’ll find it’s much easier to stay determined and relentlessly pursue your goals.
JUSTIN’S TAKE:
“If you don’t believe in yourself, why is anyone else going to believe in you?”
Developing a mindset with the help of A11 Performance by building in these habits – choosing to stay positive, focusing on giving your best effort, accepting no limits, learning from failure, developing a growth mindset, and staying determined — can turn mistakes into valuable lessons and failures into victories. Believe in yourself and always keep going.
