This past week it hit me - most athletes don’t really know what it takes to be dominant; most athletes have ideas of what it is, but don’t really know what it is.

And it’s not your fault either - you’ve been taught how to perform like a high performer, but never how to think like one.

Here are the 4 hacks we follow with athletes to help them build a more dominant mindset.

1. Work On Your Confidence.

Every day.

Confidence is like a muscle - it must be worked on and used, or you’ll lose it.

So many times I see athletes make the mistake of assuming that their confidence stays with them forever; they practice something one time and cross their fingers that it’ll stay with them.

The truth is that you must work on it daily - we do the following with our athletes to do this:

1. Select a skill

2. Visualize it daily

3. Work on it daily

4. Study film on it daily

These four aspects are your key to consistent confidence (for help with that, you can check out our YouTube video here).

2. Speak Up.

You don’t have to be overtly loud and outspoken, but you do need to share your opinions.

Challenge your teammates, challenge yourself, and share your thoughts; so many times we assume that people don’t care about what we say.

When the truth is that most people want to hear about what we think.

Speaking up allows you to have more of a presence, which in turn helps you be more dominant.

For example, there’s an NBA player that we’re currently working with who’s been asked to step up and be a leader this year for his team.

Naturally, this can be a challenge for anyone who’s never been a leader before (and introverted for that matter).

The reason he wasn’t speaking up was because the thought others didn’t want to hear about his opinions, when the truth is that it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Once he started speaking up, others listened, and to his surprise, his opponents realized his new demeanour which helped him to be more dominant.

3. Take Control.

Decisions, not conditions, control your life.

Meaning: just because you’re in a negative situation, doesn’t mean your life has to be dictated by it.

When you decide what you want and who you want to be, the conditions around you become irrelevant.

I’ve seen so many athletes who’ve come from challenging backgrounds that had every reason not to make it, but because they took control, everything changed.

You need to do the same.

Take. Control.

Sometimes it gets uncomfortable because you must face hard truths, like you’re not really being as specific in practice as you think you are, but these truths are what set you free.

4. Stand By Your Beliefs.

In a world with a lot of complexities and misinformation, what you believe in comes more valuable nowadays than the common opinion.

Think, the reason that you appreciate, or idolize, or look up to, leaders is because they stand by something.

No matter what, they defend their beliefs and have the humility to admit when they’re wrong.

The self-respect they have to stand by what they believe in is crucial.

Does this mean it’s easy? No.

Is it comfortable? Not really.

But does it allow you to feel fulfilled because you’re operating off a belief system that you appreciate?

Absolutely.

And that in turn allows you to come from a place of dominance, not weakness.

Stay Resilient

And there you have it - these are the 4 hacks we use to help athletes become more dominant. This year, you deserve to reach your full potential - remember that.

Stay resilient,

Matt Caldaroni

Co-founder, Molliteum

P.S. if you want to work with us in any capacity, there’s 3 ways we can help you:

1 - TOGETHER with a Molliteum Coach (on an application base only)

2 - ON YOUR OWN with the Molliteum Pocket Coach

3 - FOR FREE on YouTube and on our Podcast