The Mental Game : How Elite Athletes Master the Mind and Why Founders Should Too!

🧠 What is Mental Training and Why Don’t We Prioritise It?

When we think about training, we think about skill drills. Practice hours. Gym sessions. Tactics. In both sports and startups, we’re taught how to perform. But rarely are we taught how to think.

Mental training is the work you do when no one is watching, to stay focused when everyone is. It’s the process of strengthening your ability to deal with uncertainty, pressure, doubt, and emotion without letting it hijack or sabotage your performance.

In India, sports culture has long undervalued the mental side of the game. We focus on talent. Technique. Endurance. When I was playing tennis professionally, I saw it happen again and again.

Two players with equal talent. Equal training. Equal hunger.

But the one who kept their mind steady in tiebreaks, in bad light, after double faults won the match.

It wasn’t about who hit the hardest forehand or who volleys perfectly. It was about who could stay calm when the crowd got loud, the legs got tired, and the doubts showed up.

Years later, I saw the same thing play out in entrepreneurship.

Founders with the same tools, same mentors, same markets but radically different outcomes. The difference? The ability to think clearly when things get foggy. The emotional discipline to respond and not just react. The resilience to keep going when the metrics don’t move.

In professional sports, mental toughness is often the differentiator and what makes you or breaks you. Just like in sport, startups are not just a game of raising funds and capturing the market. They’re a mental one. Founders face pressure, isolation, rejection, burnout and often don’t train their minds for it.

In sports, you’d hear phrases like:

"Toughen up." "Be aggressive." "Push through it."

But no one taught us how. Same in entrepreneurship, everyone talks about grit, resilience, founder pressure but no one gives you tools to train for it.

We prep for investor decks. We practice our pitch. But we don’t prepare for rejection. We don’t know what to do with self-doubt. We aren’t trained to sit with fear, failure, or that slow, creeping feeling of burnout.

And just like in sport this gap eventually shows up in performance.

Talent gets you started. But your mind keeps you in the game.

Great athletes train their mind like a muscle as should founders.

🏆 How Champions Train Their Minds (and What Founders Can Learn)

The best athletes in the world don’t just train harder they train smarter. They know that their mind is their operating system. If that crashes, nothing else runs.

Here are a few playbook-worthy examples:

1. Michael Phelps: Visualising Every Outcome

Before every race, Phelps would sit with his eyes closed, visualising every second of his swim not just the perfect version, but the things that could go wrong. His goggles filling with water. A slow start. A missed turn.

He didn’t wait to be surprised. He rehearsed discomfort.

Startup parallel: Before a pitch or product launch, ask yourself:

• What’s the worst question an investor might ask me?
• What if this feature fails on launch day?
• What if we don’t hit the target?

Not to induce a panic attack but to be prepared but not be caught by surprise. By mentally preparing for chaos, you move through it more calmly when and if it actually happens.

2. Novak Djokovic: Meditation, Stillness, Mastery

Djokovic doesn’t just practice tennis. He practices silence. He credits his longevity and dominance to daily meditation, conscious breathing, and emotional detachment from outcomes.

He once said:

“We live in a fast-paced society. You need to slow down to find clarity.

Startup parallel: Instead of defaulting to frantic decision-making, founders can:

• Meditate before high-stakes meetings or even better mediate as a daily habit. My mantra:
• Journal after tough conversations. It brings a lot of clarity and calmness.
• Pause before reacting to a Slack message or pitch rejection. Respond and not react.

A calm mind is a competitive edge.

3. Simone Biles: Choosing Self-Preservation Over Gold

In the 2021 Olympics, Biles, at the peak of her fame pulled out of events citing “twisties” (a mental block that disrupts a gymnast’s sense of direction mid-air). She was expected to win gold. Instead, she chose health over headlines.

That moment wasn’t weakness. It was elite-level self-awareness.

Startup parallel: How many founders ignore early signs of burnout? How often do we push for growth at the cost of clarity or well-being?

Mental strength is not about pushing through everything, sometimes it’s about knowing when to pause.

🧠 So What Can Founders Actually Do?

You don’t need to be an Olympian to train your mind like one. You don’t need a sports psychologist or $1M recovery chamber.

What you do need is consistency, reflection, and a few grounded habits that help you lead under pressure and stay sane while you scale.

Here’s your starter playbook:

1. 🧘 Anchor Your Mind: Start with Stillness

Elite athletes like Novak Djokovic and LeBron James meditate to manage chaos. As a founder, your day is full of noise — investor updates, Slack notifications, internal fires. Start by creating a pause. Not for peace but for perspective.

Try this:

• 5 minutes of mindful breathing before you start your work.
• Use an app like Insight Timer or Waking Up or a simple timer on your mobile.

2. ✍️ Journal with Intent (Especially After Hard Days)

Michael Phelps didn’t just visualise, he reviewed. Founders often go from fire to fire without ever slowing down to process what happened.

Try this prompt:

• What decision today felt off?
• What emotion was I avoiding?
• What lesson do I want to carry forward?

Even 5 lines before bed will sharpen your pattern recognition as a leader.

3. 🧠 Visualize the Win and the Setbacks

Top athletes prepare not just for the best, but also for the worst. Founders can do the same before big investor pitches, launches, or team presentations.

Try this exercise:

• Close your eyes and walk through the event not just the ideal version, but the awkward question, the buggy demo, the awkward silence.
• Picture yourself recovering. Staying calm. Delivering anyway.
• The brain doesn’t know the difference between imagined and real reps so use that.

4. 📆 Create Your Mental Hygiene Routine

You can’t lead like a champion if your mind is constantly cluttered. Make mental resets part of your actual calendar.

Add this to your week:

• 1 hour of no-input time (no meetings, podcasts, calls, just white space)
• A “reset ritual” before high-pressure events. E.g. short walk, music, affirmations
• 10-minute reflection every Friday: Where did I lead well this week? What drained me unnecessarily?

5. 🙋♀️ Talk to Someone (Before You Break)

Athletes have coaches. Therapists. Whole support teams. Founders? Often alone, bottling everything up. Here’s when your peer community comes in handy.

Your move:

• Find a founder peer group, coach, or therapist.
• Schedule conversations that aren’t just about KPIs.
• Normalize emotional check-ins, especially if you’re managing a team.

Your mind is your startup’s most valuable asset. Protect it like you protect your equity.

A little Inspiration corner

1. Leila Hormozi – The Discipline Queen

Leila, co-founder & CEO of Acquisition.com, is known for her exceptional operational clarity. But behind the spreadsheets is a woman deeply committed to mental work.

“I don’t rise to the occasion — I fall to the level of my training.”

Her rituals:

• Strict morning routine with workouts, reading, and reflection.
• Weekly journaling to identify patterns in her leadership behavior.
• Clear boundaries and tech hygiene to protect focus.

Takeaway: Self-awareness isn't soft — it’s your sharpest leadership tool.

2. Sahil Bloom – From Finance to Mental Fitness

Sahil, a former Stanford baseball player turned investor/creator, credits much of his consistency to routines borrowed from sports and evolved for business.

His mental training stack includes:

• Daily journaling (“wins, losses, and learnings”)
• Blocking 90-minute deep work sprints with no phone access
• Regular therapy and reflection walks

Takeaway: If you want to scale sustainably, start by studying yourself.

3. Melanie Perkins – The Quiet Storm

Canva’s co-founder isn’t loud on socials, but her clarity under pressure is legendary.

In early years, when she faced 100+ investor rejections, she kept showing up. Calm. Centered. Focused.

She credits much of that to:

• Early years of competitive figure skating
• A strong inner belief system built on patience, preparation, and practice
• Mental reframing of failure as feedback, not identity

Takeaway: Inner calm is a superpower and the best founders are not reactive, they’re recovered.

🔚 The Match is in Your Mind

Here’s the truth most founder playbooks skip:

You can build the best product, hire a dream team, raise a killer round… But if your mind is scattered, exhausted, or on autopilot — it will all feel heavy.

Your team mirrors your energy. Your decisions reflect your clarity. Your runway is tied to your recovery.

So train your mind like a pro. Because this game? It’s mostly mental.

💬 Over to You

I’d love to hear what your mental routine looks like.

• Do you meditate?
• Use journaling?
• Take walks without your phone?

Hit reply, comment, or DM me. Let’s trade playbooks.

And if this issue helped, forward it to another founder who might need a mental reset this week.

See you in the next one. Until then, Lead like a Champion.