7 Ways Gratitude Enhances Athletic Performance
Gratitude is an active state, not passive. It is a conscious process that leads to great benefits - in mood and performance.
During times of stress and pressure, it’s difficult to get into this active state of being grateful. Deep down, you probably know shifting to a grateful mindset is the right choice, but it’s still difficult. Oftentimes, you won’t reach this state - or if you do, it’s short lived. Arming yourself with more knowledge about the benefits of gratitude as well as different ways to access this state will make this transition easier so you can be more prepared to neutralize the effects of excessive stress on your brain and body.
First off, some different ways to enact gratitude:
Journaling: either with a numbered list, or free-flow writing. Put pen to paper, or fingers to a keyboard, and explain what you are grateful for today or in general. Try doing this daily in the morning or at night. You can also opt to journal when you feel the need to clear your mind or improve your mood. This type of practice trains your brain to be more grateful throughout the day, leading to benefits listed below.
Awareness: notice when you’re thinking negatively. Oftentimes, we put excess weight on the stressors and negatives in our life. While you shouldn’t minimize what’s bringing your mood down, it’s important to give the same (and ideally, more) attention to what is positive. Through different awareness techniques, notice when your mindset could use some gratitude, then make the shift to think about the things you wrote down in the morning or will journal at the end of the day.
Grateful for others: enacting gratitude doesn’t always have to be about yourself. Sometimes, that can be difficult for people. In this case, you can be grateful for other people in your life.
Does this sound familiar? You’re having a crappy day, and then you do a small (or big) favor for someone, and you instantly feel better. There’s a ton of research that shows this is a great way to get out of a funk. Feel the mood boost by being gratitude for others - either through your own thoughts, or actually messaging someone a grateful text.
Note: it can be difficult to say or send something to someone you appreciate. You might think, what if they think I’m weird for saying this? But, let’s be real - this always goes well. Unless you smother them with a ton of these texts or calls every day, it’s probably going to make them, and you, instantly feel better.
7 Ways Gratitude Enhances Athletic Performance:
1) Your mind defaults to negativity. Counter this mechanism through gratitude.
When it comes to evolution, our ancestors were more likely to survive with a brain that was scanning for danger, always on the lookout. While this didn’t necessarily lead to a flourishing life, it lead to survival. Unfortunately, this mechanism is still alive and well even though we don’t need it most of the time.
Athletes often find themselves focused on what could go wrong or what to worry about because of this wiring. Flip it on its head by noticing this, then reframing your thoughts to what you can be grateful for. Examples include the opportunity to compete, you’re injury free, you aren’t living in a war zone like many others…there are many things - big and small - to be grateful for at any point.
2) The optimistic athlete outperforms the pessimistic one.
Optimism does not lead to complacency or underperforming. In fact, with hope comes motivation and fuel to your fire to execute pieces of the process that lead to the outcome you want. A pessimistic mindset leads to frustration, self-doubt, and giving up.
You can shift your mindset to be more optimistic through gratitude.
3) Gratitude leads to contentment.
Happiness is not a state you can realistically experience at all times. That’s too much to ask, and it’s not how humans can operate in today’s world. A state of contentment is a more realistic goal for your state of mind. Training your brain to pick out what’s grateful throughout each day is one of the best ways to find more contentment throughout life.
My philosophy, as well as many other sport psychology coaches, is that the happier, less stressed out athlete outperforms the unhappy, stressed out athlete. Finding more contentment in life on and off the field will lead to better performance outcomes.
4) More gratitude = better sleep. Better sleep = improved performance.
Research shows people who walk the walk of gratitude experience better quality sleep. This means both falling asleep and staying asleep throughout the night. It’s due to this mindset’s ability to manage stress.
What’s also shown time and time again in studies is how important sleep is for performance and mood. If you sleep well, you’re giving yourself a much better opportunity to perform near your potential - and have fun doing it - than if you didn’t sleep well.
5) Enhanced motivation
What you’re grateful for often comes down to things that represent your core values. Relationships, security, learning, challenge, risk-taking, and purpose are all internal motivators you can be grateful for.
Here’s an example: you’re struggling with a difficult training session. As you focus on the negatives of the day - pain, self-doubt, worry, you can catch yourself doing so and shift focus to what you’re grateful for in this moment. The fact that you’re putting in the work, fulfilling your purpose, and are struggling with teammates that builds your relationships all serve as fuel to internal motivation, leading to better performance outcomes.
6) Better relationships
Think of one of your best friends or loved ones. Do you enjoy their company more when they bring up stressors and hardships, or when they’re laughing with you and in a good mood?
It is, of course, important for people to disclose what they’re struggling with and confide in trusted others. But, if this happens every time you meet up with them, you’ll feel drained and stop looking forward to their company. We all enjoy relationships that are filled with more laughter and support. Living through gratefulness leads to this positivity and better company. Your relationships will thrive - on and off the field - through gratitude. Team cohesion is a great predictor of success in team sports. Gratitude is one piece of the puzzle to team chemistry.
7) Mental toughness emerges.
Many athletes might not find the connection between gratitude and mental toughness. This is because many people mistakenly think of mental toughness as macho and emotionless.
Everyone has emotions and experiences stress. Mental toughness is on display when someone doesn’t shy away from challenges, consistently thinks with a constructive, objective mindset, and builds themselves and others up.
Gratitude helps athletes experience more optimism, which leads to perseverance and enhanced performance. It manages their stress levels, meaning they don’t even need to be as mentally tough as the athlete who can’t manage stress effectively. The grateful athlete is also more likely to think about challenges and obstacles with a constructive and objective mindset - by the facts. Doing so leads to less emotional thinking, which would show up as self-doubt and frustration. It doesn’t eliminate emotions - it keeps them from getting out of control.
