What Do We Actually Train When We Train the Mental?

In the previous article, we looked at some of the assumptions that surround mental performance. The advice can sound deceptively simple: stop thinking about it, think positively, do not put pressure on yourself, stay calm. Yet thoughts cannot simply be switched off, difficult emotions are not signs that something has gone wrong, and trying to control every internal experience is not the same as developing the ability to perform effectively.

So if mental performance is not about eliminating thoughts, avoiding emotions or forcing ourselves into a permanently positive state, what exactly are we training?

That question leads somewhere more interesting.

So what are we actually training?

The mental side of performance is not one single quality called mental strength. It involves several interconnected capacities: the way we understand ourselves, the way we engage with what matters, how we interpret our abilities, where we place our attention, how we regulate activation, how we experience our bodies, how we adapt, learn and respond to setbacks, how we execute under pressure, and how the people and environments around us influence all of this.

These capacities do not operate independently. They interact constantly, and their importance changes according to the person and the context.

Consider someone preparing for an important competition. In the days before the event, they may become increasingly aware of everything that could go wrong. Their attention moves towards the outcome. They notice tension in their body and interpret it as a sign that they are not ready. Confidence begins to fluctuate. At the same time, the competition matters deeply to them, which makes the possibility of failure more significant.

It would be easy to describe this simply as nerves or a lack of confidence, yet several different processes may be involved.

How someone understands themselves and what the competition means to them can influence how much pressure they experience. Their beliefs about their own ability can affect where their attention goes. Their interpretation of physical sensations can change how they respond to activation. Previous experiences can shape what they expect. Their motivation may help them move towards the challenge while fear of failure pulls in another direction. The people around them and the expectations they perceive can add another layer.

What looks like one problem may therefore involve several interacting processes.

This is one reason why the idea of “mental strength” can be misleading. It compresses something complex into a single characteristic, when performance is influenced by a range of psychological processes that continually affect one another.

More than a trait

The language we use matters because it shapes what we believe is possible.

When someone is described as mentally strong, it can sound as though they possess an inherent quality that others lack. Perhaps they are simply more resilient, more confident or better at handling pressure. This way of thinking leaves little room for development.

Sport psychology makes a useful distinction between psychological characteristics and psychological skills. Characteristics describe tendencies or qualities associated with how someone typically functions, while psychological skills refer to capacities and strategies that can be learned and developed. People clearly differ in their starting points, and not every aspect of psychological functioning is equally malleable, but the distinction challenges the idea that effective performance is simply something we are born with.

The same principle applies to physical preparation. Nobody expects an athlete to develop strength by deciding to be strong. Strength is built through repeated exposure, appropriate challenge, recovery and adaptation. Psychological capacities can also be developed through deliberate practice and experience.

This does not mean that mental training can transform every aspect of personality or eliminate every difficulty. It means that there is room to understand how we function and to develop the capacities that matter for the situations we want to navigate.

That is where mental training becomes more interesting than the idea of simply becoming “mentally tough”.

Different ways of looking at the mental

There is no single model that captures every aspect of mental performance. Different approaches in sport psychology and mental training organise the field in different ways, depending on what they are trying to understand, the population they are working with and the context in which performance takes place.

Some models focus primarily on psychological skills such as goal setting, imagery, self-talk or attentional control. Others place greater emphasis on broader psychological characteristics, wellbeing, development, relationships or the interaction between the individual and their environment.

At Unfold, we have chosen a broader lens. Rather than starting with a list of techniques, we want to understand the person, the performance and the context in which they meet. Our framework brings together ten interconnected areas:

• Identity & Sense — how we understand ourselves and the meaning we attach to what we do.
• Motivation & Engagement — what draws us towards action and keeps us engaged.
• Confidence & Beliefs — how we interpret our abilities and what we believe is possible.
• Attention & Presence — what we notice and where we direct our attention.
• Activation & Regulation — how we respond to changes in arousal, stress and emotional intensity.
• Body & Sensations — how we experience and interpret physical information.
• Adaptation & Resilience — how we respond when circumstances change or things do not go to plan.
• Learning & Development — how experience becomes information that can shape future performance.
• Performance & Execution — how preparation translates into action when it matters.
• Relationships & Environment — how the people, expectations and environments around us influence performance.

These are not ten separate boxes, nor are they intended to describe a universal hierarchy of mental skills. They are different but connected ways of looking at performance. What matters most will depend on the person, the situation and what they are trying to develop.

Understanding before intervening

This is also why mental performance training is not about collecting techniques.

It can be tempting to think of mental training as a toolbox: breathing for anxiety, imagery for confidence, self-talk for negative thoughts, goal setting for motivation. But psychological skills do not map so neatly onto individual techniques, and techniques themselves do not belong to only one category of problem.

The same breathing exercise, for example, might be used to regulate activation, bring attention back to the present moment, increase awareness of physical sensations or create a deliberate pause before responding. Imagery might support confidence, prepare someone for an unfamiliar situation, rehearse a response under pressure or help clarify what they want to execute. Self-talk can direct attention, reinforce an intention, create perspective or help someone respond differently to a difficult moment.

The technique is only part of the picture. Its purpose depends on the person, the situation and what they are trying to develop.

This is why quick fixes only go so far. A technique may be useful without addressing the reason a particular difficulty is happening in the first place. Two people can experience the same outward problem while needing very different forms of training.

Understanding therefore comes before intervention. Before deciding what someone needs to practise, it is important to understand what is happening, what may be influencing it and what the situation actually requires. Only then can a strategy be chosen deliberately rather than applied as a generic solution.

Training what matters

Mental training is not about becoming permanently calm, confident or positive. Those states are neither possible nor necessarily desirable in every situation.

A competition can matter enormously and still be approached effectively. Someone can feel nervous and perform well. Doubt can coexist with commitment. Frustration can be present without determining what happens next.

The aim is not to create an ideal internal state before performance begins. It is to develop capacities that remain useful when the internal experience is less than ideal — and to be able to draw on those capacities when performance matters most.

Being able to execute well in training is one thing. Being able to access what has been developed when the stakes are higher, the pressure is real and the outcome matters is another. There is little value in developing a skill that only works when everything feels easy.

The real test comes when the conditions change: when pressure increases, fatigue sets in, expectations rise or the outcome suddenly matters much more.

This is where practice becomes important. Developing a capacity requires more than understanding it intellectually. It involves recognising patterns, deliberately working with different responses, observing what happens and adapting over time.

In this sense, mental training has much in common with physical training. It is deliberate rather than accidental. It requires repetition rather than a single intervention. It develops progressively, and what needs to be trained changes as the demands change.

Working with the mind

Thinking about mental performance in this way shifts the starting point.

Instead of asking whether we are mentally strong enough, we can become more precise about what is actually happening. Instead of treating a difficult experience as evidence of a personal weakness, we can examine the processes involved. Instead of immediately looking for a technique to make an uncomfortable feeling disappear, we can first understand what is happening and what response the situation requires.

Understanding that complexity does not make performance simpler. It makes it more workable.

Mental performance is not a personality trait, and it is not a fixed measure of how well someone copes. It is a dynamic set of capacities that can be developed through experience, practice and deliberate training.

Perhaps the goal was never to control our minds perfectly.

Perhaps the goal is to understand them well enough to work with them.

The takeaway

Mental performance is not one quality called mental strength. It involves interconnected psychological capacities that influence how we approach, experience and respond to performance.

Many of these capacities can be developed. The useful question is therefore not simply “Am I mentally strong?” but “What is happening here, what does this situation require, and what can I develop?”

The mental side of performance is not something we either have or lack. It is something we can develop.

Sources & further reading

Birrer, D., & Morgan, G. (2010). Psychological skills as a way to enhance an athlete’s performance in high-intensity sports. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 20(Suppl. 2), 78–87.

Dohme, L. C., Bloom, G. A., Caron, J. G., & Falcão, W. R. (2019). A systematic review of definitions and conceptualisations of psychological characteristics and skills in sport. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology.

Vealey, R. S. (2024). A framework for mental training in sport: Enhancing mental skills, wellbeing, and performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 36(2), 365–384.

Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (2019). Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology (7th ed.). Human Kinetics.