Personality Characteristics Of High-Performance Athletes

In sport, personal strength decides whether you win or lose. In the case of successful athletes, characteristics such as determination, perseverance, etc. are often considered success factors.

Individuals take different approaches when dealing with events that occur in their life – trait and situational. An individual who uses a trait approach applies the same personality to their sporting activities as they do in everyday life. Other individuals with strong situational approach traits may react differently than they normally would. Sports personalities are very diverse…

 

What are the characteristics of a good athlete?

Every athlete is unique with his or her personality, but which personal characteristics can actually make a difference? We answer! Listed below are some of the traits that help high-performance athletes succeed.

Hard Work

Talent alone is no longer enough today, and if you don’t show the necessary diligence, you will not be successful (at least in the long term). Especially when you are currently successful, it means to continue to work hard on yourself and not let up. In addition to hard work, courage plays a huge role besides it. Only those who have the courage to go new ways, to keep trying new things, will achieve their goal. You should also have the courage to involve other people from time to time and to implement new, different ideas.

 

 

Sacrifices

The willingness to make sacrifices is one of the success factors for top athletes. To get to the top in a highly competitive sport, the athlete has to be ready to subordinate everything to the sport: fun, family, friends, partner, job. Success requires mental focus – a certain amount of meticulousness combined with a focus on the essentials is necessary for desired results.

Motivated

There are many obstacles on the way to success.  The really good athletes show a great will to pursue a certain goal with the necessary consistency. You are ready to forego a lot and instead work hard for your goal. The hardness gives way to the necessary looseness in your training and competition in order to reach maximum relaxation. Those who are motivated by enjoying the chosen sport are particularly successful. 

Perseverance

Perseverance is also required because no career curve always points upwards. Anyone who does not manage to stay on the ball even in the event of failure disappears from the scene faster than they would have thought possible. Successful athletes work their way up step by step until the first successes can be seen. To work towards a goal with perseverance, persistence, and tenacity, to put up with setbacks, and to let the inner fire burn for the corresponding sport, supports the athletes on the way to achieving their goals. 

Risk orientation

It is also important to take into consideration Michael Jordan’s advice where he said, “I have missed over 9000 shots in my career.” I’ve lost almost 300 games. It’s been 26 times that I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. Throughout my lifetime I have failed many times over. And that is why I succeed.” Jordan, in other words, acknowledges the challenges and looks for opportunities despite setbacks. Despite adversity, he won’t get too hung up.

Fast and accurate

Motorized in the game overview and creativity. Talent can be promoted but not trained, a misunderstanding that often leads to anger and tears. In baseball, “Fast and Accurate” is often the problem when a good defender faces a fast and accurate world-class striker. Talent can lead to unconscious stress through too much pedagogy and tactics, but this can be unblocked by the daydream technique.

Calm and critical

A good, i.e. successful athlete is also characterized by the fact that he is extremely critical of himself during training and that he pays attention to the smallest details in order to improve himself every day. In competition, on the other hand, good athletes are forgiving and very relaxed about themselves. Errors are part of the competition and are analyzed afterward.

Consistency or determination

By this, we mean that you have to stay true to your line, even if criticism or incomprehension comes from outside. If one has chosen a path, then one should continue along with it until either the success fails permanently or one personally comes to a different conviction. So it is important to never lose sight of your goal and to work towards it with determination. 

Happiness

In the end, good athletes smile both in defeat and in victory: in defeat, because they know that they will learn lessons from them and will do better next time. If they win, because they have already analyzed what was not yet optimal and know that they are not yet at the end of their ambitious path. Along with it, ultimately it also takes luck. Luckily that you meet the right people, make the right decisions, and that the body also plays along on the path to becoming a good athlete.

 

Final words

You can develop your personality! A successful athlete possesses a variety of characteristics, all of which contribute to their success. Some of these traits are innate, but they can also be nurtured through lessons learned from their parents, schooling, competing, and programs such as youth athletic training programs. This article is intended to get you thinking. So that you become clear about who you are, what you can do, and what defines your personality.

If you are looking to reach your fullest potencial as an athlete and you want to learn more about sport science, VBT training and how to improve your workout routine, we have lots of articles that can help you achieve your goal. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Leave a comment or contact us here.