The probability of becoming an elite athlete is very low, with less than one percent of young athletes going on to reach the highest level in their chosen sport. It generally takes a combination of natural ability, determination, practice and an elite mindset.
If you look at some of the most successful athletes of all time, across all types of sports, one of the key characteristics they have in common is their dedication to improve and they align their mindset to achieving their goals.
Let’s look at the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the most respected and decorated players of his generation. Ronaldo experienced a challenging childhood, revealed in interviews where he discusses growing up in relative poverty, with a father who died from an alcohol related illness when Ronaldo was 20 years old. His father’s history of alcoholism meant that his mother worked two jobs to try to provide for her four children.
Despite the challenges that Ronaldo faced during his childhood, his love of football and unique mindset propelled him to successes that most players can only dream of. A five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Ronaldo went on to become the all-time leading goal-scorer in international football and has a trophy cabinet full of personal and team accolades.
One of his most famous quotes is “If you don’t believe you are the best, you will never achieve all that you are capable of”. He is the poster boy for overcoming adversity and has built a legacy that few will ever be able to emulate.
Ronaldo attributes much of his success, and the prolonging of a playing career into his 40s, to the work he has put into his physical fitness and his level of focus. Following a strict diet, he spends hours in the gym doing high intensity workouts and he uses the most effective recovery methods such as cryotherapy.
If you need an example of an elite athlete mindset, you’ll struggle to find a better one than Ronaldo.
Applying the elite athlete mindset across iGaming and other domains
Successful business people often use athlete mindset principles to achieve their career goals. By developing clear goals and effective strategies to help achieve these goals, they can excel in their career field. In competitive fields, a driven and focused mindset can set you apart from other job candidates and help you to outperform peers to gain promotion.
The mindset principles of elite athletes can also be applied to iGaming. For example:
Mental resilience – When playing casino games or betting on sports fixtures, there may be numerous setbacks before achieving successes. Regular players of online casinos Canada may experience losses but if they maintain mental resilience, they can stay calm during losing streaks and look at the long term journey. Sticking to a strategy instead of panicking will help to avoid bigger losses.
Targeting Marginal Gains
For long term betting success, focusing on smaller gains is generally a more effective strategy. While an athlete looks for marginal wins such as gradual fitness improvements, iGamers can look for small edges such as comparing betting odds to take advantage of marginally better odds. It might not make a significant difference on one bet but over time, the total accumulation of marginal differences can be significant.
Performance Analysis
Athletes and their coaches dedicate a lot of time to analyzing past performances to look for areas for improvement. They use video analysis and track a range of stats to make adjustments that will help drive future success.
With iGaming, tracking performance can also be beneficial to drive higher success rates. For example, you can track all the data on your betting performances, including bet type, odds, stake, outcome and profit/loss. This data can then be used to identify stronger and weaker areas and you can adapt your future bets based on this data.
Consistency
An athlete has a consistent routine that they stick to. It is very rare that they will break their routine during the season, keeping training intensity levels to a constant pattern and following nutrition plans every day of the week and for every meal.
Consistency is also important in iGaming, applying a consistent strategy garners greater success compared to random betting practices. Staying disciplined to maintain strategies will allow players to make better decisions and avoid emotional reactions that deviate away from their strategy.
Applying an elite athlete mindset in iGaming can help you to take a more professional approach to playing with the potential to achieve more success. From maintaining consistency to analyzing performance to adapt your strategies, your mindset can give you a significant advantage. With strong mental resilience you can stay focused on your strategies and avoid disrupting your tried and tested approaches.
