When all such things come to your mind, it loses concentration and you don’t perform your best. This leads to further frustration and affects your play. It is important to play a complete game without the emotional baggage of innings, scores and pitch counts with you.

A healthy mind is the result of good mental coaching. So if you wish to improve your game, you know what to do!

Once this method of relaxation is incorporated in your mental system, you will stay composed and focused before a race or a tournament. Although physical practice is highly needed, mental coaching is indispensable for sports persons. All that hard work and practice sessions will not bear fruit if they don’t know how to be calm when they perform.

What do you say?

You can take a walk on a new pathway. Lock up your television set in the closet for a week. Try driving to work using a different street. Celebrate ‘left-hand’ day and do everything using your left hand that day. All these exercises/ activities are aimed to make your brain capable of handling varied environments and situations confidently.

Do you have any more ideas on this?

You should learn from other’s mistakes and not repeat them again. A mentally tough person is he who works very hard for attaining that desired win and also has the patience to wait for it to come. Remember that mental training has to start from you and it is not that difficult. You should go with the flow and results will be evident.

Start reading autobiographies and listen to various audio programs that tell about successful persons who have had to face great difficulties and failures to reach where they are now. You can also browse for such inspirational stories on the internet or in magazines.

Soon you will realize that these winners are just like you and me! So go ahead and reach for the sky!

Along with all this, you can try meditation. There are some breathing exercises and yoga postures that will help you improve focus and relieve your stress for a much longer attention span. You need not be a pro to meditate…simply sit relaxed with your folded legs and breathe deeply. Do this for at least 5 minutes every day and see the difference!

But the truth is that watching TV is a totally passive activity that does not require much of your brain power. So train your brain all through the day by providing mental stimulus in the form of other activities.

Our body needs a good eight hours of sleep every night to rest. When your body is rested well and relaxed, your brain can function better. Our brain has to work hard a lot during the day when we work or even at home for carrying out various tasks. So grab that god night’s sleep and become smarter!

The best way to start this is to start memorizing things that you need every day such as phone numbers, people’s names, addresses, recipes, shopping lists etc. Do you know that there is a powerful connection between our intelligence and memorization? When you have a strong memory, your brain is able to achieve a higher stage of intelligence.

You can switch on the morning news on your radio or television set while having breakfast. Listen to it carefully.

Now simply write the gist of what you heard in the morning later in the day and in the evening as well. You can confirm the accuracy of your news comprehension by reading the newspaper. When you do this you will know for yourself how well you listen and whether you can put it in words as well.