Win once and you are most likely to win again. Rory McIroy is a great example of this phenomenon. Neuroscientific research has shown that the very act of winning changes the chemical balance in the brain, and these chemicals that are released serve to assist you in becoming more likely to win again. Winning basically helps you to win. You might hear this referred to as the winning effect.

The younger you are, or the earlier in your career that you achieve a win sets you upon a course that makes you more likely to win again and again. You have the intellectual knowledge that you are a winner, the emotional feeling of winning and the chemical reactions in your brain and nervous system.

In contrast, if you do not manage to make that early win, it becomes more difficult to reach that goal. Winning becomes more elusive to you. Luke Donald in golf or Andy Murray in tennis can be seen to demonstrate this fact in that although they have won to a degree, certain major titles have remained outside their grasp. One can observe great ability, but somehow an inability to win those titles that matter to them most.

It is vitally important to not allow yourself to think in terms of having lost. If you come second in a competition or tournament then you have almost won; you haven't lost. If you allow yourself to feel that you have lost then the chemical reaction in your brain will be the exact opposite of the winning effect; lets call it the losing effect.

Even if you manage a win at a later time in your career the winning effect will not be quite as powerful as if you had won several times earlier in your career. The positive chemical reinforcement to your brain has to work hard to counterbalance the effect of the previously experienced losing effect.

Thus you can appreciate how very important it is to not allow yourself to see things as losses or failures. This applies to every aspect of life, not just to golf. As is so frequently the case, golf highlights and provides a great example of the mental issues that we face and overcome as we grow and expand in life.

And so what we can draw from this is twofold: -

First, never allow yourself to think in terms of a loss. You nearly won, you played well and you almost won. These thoughts make you feel an emotional sense of well being and this triggers good chemicals in your brain. It serves to safeguard yourself from the "losing effect". Always remember that you have the ability to choose your thoughts and your thoughts are what create your emotional reality, which is in fact your actual true reality.

Secondly, when you do win, choose to intentionally reinforce the winning effect so as to make it as robust as it can possibly be. Think about your win again and again. Feel your win over and over again. Enlarge your image and memory of your win. Make your thoughts as big and bright and as colorful and emotionally full as you possibly can.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in mind training mp3 downloads for winning in golf and in every area of your life.

P.S. Visit my website and grab a free mind training mp3 for yourself.

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