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Gold Medal winner Lanny Bassham begins his book with this quote; “I am well aware that there are many fine self-improvement books available. Psychologists, motivational speakers, religious leaders and business professionals write them. A competitor writes this one. The Mental Management® System is not based on psychology; instead, it is 100% based on competition. I did my apprenticeship in the arena of Olympic pressure. My credibility is not based on the course I took in college; it’s in my gold medals and the medals of my students. It’s not theory; it’s simply what works. My goal in this book is to share with you the mental techniques that I have discovered and used to win.”

The author weaves 7 Steps to Mastery throughout this book. Let’s consider some insights into these steps.

Carefully Choose Your Path – A teacher asked the class; who in this class will win Olympic gold? A student stated that he did not know that answer, but concluded who would not win Olympic gold – Lanny Bassham. Lanny was not good at many sports. However, he found his path via RIfle shooting competition. You cannot master everything – so choose your path carefully and master that path in life.
Study Your Chosen Path – Learn from the best in that field of interest. Mastery is not about mechanical repetition to the exclusion of the entire mental process. Also this is not about becoming the lone ranger – learn from others! Select your coach wisely!

Outwork Your Competitors – Learn from the current champions in your path! Watch what they are doing – learn from their habits. You will quickly learn that bursts of deep work done frequently is more productive than long days that sacrifices those you care for the most. Establish smart work habits!
Develope A Singular Focus – Do not become the “jack of all trades” and yet master nothing. There are a thousand voices begging for a piece of our attention. Achieving Mental Mastery begins with a laser focus on one thing not many things. What do you want to be remembered as; a person who accomplished many awards or a person who developed others?

Take An Unused Path – It has been observed that 95% of the victories occur with 5% of the participants. What have these winners have figured out. Obviously, you must expand your habits and thoughts beyond the status quo. Take the time to learn from others and how they have figured out a different path. Tiger Woods approach to golf comes to mind to have accomplished those victories. He brought physical exercise and mental coaching to the game at new levels.
Learn From Failures – Failures are some of the most important learning exercises that you will experience. Stop beating yourself up! Settle your mind to ask what is the number one lesson that I can learn from this failure?

Trust Instead of Try – Master the fundamentals and execute them flawlessly, victory is the result, not the other way around. Groove the daily habits into your inner being and master those – winning will occur!

I leave you with this quote by Lanny Bassham; 

“What’s your game? Golf? Sales? Shooting? Singing? Parenting? Managing? Coaching? Teaching? What percentage of what you do is mental? I have asked that question to hundreds of Olympic athletes and PGA Tour pros. They have all answered that their game is at least 90 percent mental. The top five percent agree that elite performance is 90 percent mental. Then I ask them the second question. What percentage of your time and money do you spend on training the mental game? The answers are always similar: very little or less than ten percent. Now that just doesn’t make sense. All say the mental game is 90 percent of their sport but they almost ignore training this vital area.”

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!