Allyson Felix, Track & Field - "Mentally going over her races helps." She says that as she warms up, she reviews every step so she can mimic what she's imagined when she's on the track. "Visualization involves thinking through every detail of a performance, she says, "so when the time comes, you know exactly what your next move is."
Anna Tunnicliffe, Sailor - "The best way to live is in the moment." She says, "I shifted the emphasis from the finish line--and the glory or disappointment that might come with it -- to having fun." Once she allowed herself to sit back and focus on the present, Tunnicliffe wound up in first place. "Sometimes", she says, "a change in attitude makes all the difference."
Danielle Scott-Arruda, Indoor Volleyball Player - "I don't let losing get me down." She says, "The trick is not reliving over and over what went wrong. That's the kind of thing that can become paralyzing and keep you from moving on."
Venus Williams, Tennis Champion - "Practice, practice and more practice." Venus says, "It's the key to confidence. The more sure you are of yourself - in everything you do - the more likely you'll be to come out on top.
"Training your mind" or even just changing your thoughts is NOT an easy thing but you can do it. I read the book, "The Power of Positive Thinking", by Norman Vincent Peale years ago but I still refer back to it often. It's filled with ways we can change our thoughts. Here's one I like...."Imagination is a source of fear, but imagination may also be the cure of fear. "Imagineering" is the use of mental images to build factual results, and it is an astonishingly effective procedure. Imagination is not simply the use of fancy. The word "imagination" derives from the idea of imaging. That is to say, you form an image either of fear or of release from fear. What you "image" (imagine) may ultimately become a fact if held mentally with sufficient faith."