What is a habit? Habits can be broken down as the following: any kind of specific actions or behavioral tendencies which are carried out with little conscious awareness or reflection, in response to a particular set of associated conditions or contextual clues (Mazar & Wood, 2018; Neal, Wood, & Quinn, 2006; Verplanken, 2006; Wood, 2017). Now that we have a better understanding of what habits are, how can we develop the habits necessary to perform optimally in athletics?

Edward Thorndike developed something called the "law of exercise." Thorndike states that the connection between stimuli and a response can be strengthened or weakened. This connection can be strengthened by practicing hard and often, or it can be weakened by discontinuing the practice. Now think about how you practice. When you're getting ready to go compete, do you just think to yourself, "this doesn't matter, why am I here?" Or do you have ways to get your mindset focused on the competition? It starts with attitude, and attitude is a decision. While some days might be harder than others, the ability to push past stress you're experiencing outside of sport and tune into your optimal performance zone — that level of activation and focus you need to be on task is a practiced skill. When you let your foot off the gas and begin allowing other thoughts to creep in, your focus will shift back and forth. You'll find yourself thinking about that paper you need to work on because you chose to put it off for too long.

The repetition of something simple can make all the difference in the wide world of sports. Exercising to increase our personal health, working out to increase our body strength, or hitting flop-shots with your 56° wedge can only become second nature if we practice frequently and understand why it is important to practice the behavior. That said, many individuals tend to struggle with keeping their consistency up and begin to start to relax their efforts until they seem to disappear. One of the largest reasons is a lack of grit (shoutout Dr. Duckworth). When we keep using bad habits, we're more likely to prolong the amount of time it takes to reach success by those barriers being set. Therefore, we must keep practicing those simple behaviors to become habits.

If you want to get better at anything, you must first develop a basic understanding of why you need to be practicing. Not just to "get better" at whatever your sport is, but to understand the underlying reason that helps explain why mastering a particular skill will make you a formidable opponent. That being able to hit flop-shots with your 56° wedge can get you out of some tricky situations. By attacking our training sessions head-on with consistent effort, we increase our chances of success during competition. We all compete at different intensities of energy, known as arousal levels. By finding out what specific level of energy works best for us during competition, we will practice with the same amount of tenacity. This way, when game day comes around, we will be prepared in that moment of competition. When paired with mental skills training, you will be a dangerous opponent.

We are all creatures of habit and feel most comfortable following a routine. When someone follows their routine ahead of competition, they set themselves up to achieve high levels of athletic success. For example- if your routine includes eating lots of carbs and getting 8 hours of sleep each night before your race, you wouldn't skip dinner the night before and get 5 hours of sleep instead. Everything you do— from the night before the day of competition to what you do when you arrive at the field will influence your performance. This is the final part of the puzzle exemplified in sport. A great example of this is when Lebron James throws up the chalk before tip-off.

Another important area we can develop habits is in the self-preservation department. No professional athlete leaves a game and just hangs out. Instead, they need to take care of their bodies after competing with everything they have. There's a reason why Lebron James spends about $1.5 million a year taking care of his body. If I had that kind of money, I'd do the same exact thing. We need to make sure we're putting the right foods and drinks in our body if we get the proper nutrients to drop 61-points in one game. Kobe Bryant changed his almost non-existent sleep schedule to prioritizing sleep. He made that connection that he was getting older and that he needed to give his body a chance to recover. I challenge you to get 30 more minutes of sleep than you did last night. Then again, and again until you feel a difference. Sleep and nutrition can be the difference makers in how we perform.

The last bit of information I'll leave you with is what really sets apart the elite athletes from everyone else: having a growth mindset. Be open to those new situations. Think about competition as a process. That is to say that we understand there will be highs and lows which come with competing. By accepting (and trusting) the process, we can begin taking the proper steps and risks needed to compete more consistently. I preach to all my athletes the importance of having a "next-play-mentality." There will be times when we miss a play or don't perform as expected- that's alright. The name of the game is being able to move on from a missed opportunity and focusing on your next task at hand.

This is not a comprehensive list. These areas of habit are just the building blocks. I wish I could sit here and tell you there's a magic pill for it, but I can't. If we want to be great and have the need to be truly great, then we must sit down and go through different parts of our game to see what we can improve on. Continuously demonstrating good habits will propel you far— both on and off the field. Even though so much of competition is outside of our control, we can have a say in what we choose to work on. It starts with us.