Written by Paula Naeff, Mental Performance Coach
Paula Naeff is a Mental Performance Coach for athletes, artists, and entrepreneurs. With a background in ballet, Pilates, and coaching, she helps clients master mindset and resilience in unique holistic ways. Paula’s journey inspires others to believe in themselves and rise from great to extraordinary.
In today’s fast-paced business world, be it sports or any other business, it’s not enough to simply be good or even great at what you do. To truly stand out among other equally good or great athletes and leaders, you need an edge, something that sets you apart from the competition. Something that draws the attention of the crowd to you.
Ever wonder why two athletes, entrepreneurs, or leaders with similar skills and abilities can experience wildly different levels of success? Why does one athlete get drafted and the other now? It all comes down to that elusive 2% edge that makes someone unforgettable. It’s not just about what you know or how you execute but how you show up mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
So, how do you cultivate this edge? Let’s dive into four essential strategies that can give you that competitive advantage and build your high-performance mindset.
1. Confidence: Your invisible advantage
Imagine this: You’re in a room filled with equally qualified athletes, dancers, entrepreneurs or leaders. What’s going to make them remember you? The answer is simple: Confidence. It’s like your (in)visible advantage, the secret ingredient that can change how people perceive you.
Confidence isn’t about arrogance or showing off; it’s about believing in yourself, knowing your worth and embodying it in a way that makes others believe in you.
Building confidence is a process, just like developing any other skill. It’s not something you achieve once and then have forever. It requires consistent nurturing.
Start by celebrating small wins
Did you make progress on a particular skill that helps you play your game better, perhaps you just had that difficult conversation that you’d been putting off or finally completed a challenging project? Take a moment to acknowledge your success. These small victories fuel your confidence, reinforcing that you’re on the right path.
Use empowering self-talk
Replace doubts or words with a negative tone, such as “What if I fail?” with “I’m prepared for this.” The words you use, both out loud and internally, shape how you see yourself and how others see you, too.
Confidence isn’t just something people feel from you. It’s something they see in your actions and decisions. Confidence is visible. Keep reinforcing this superpower by trusting yourself and your abilities.
2. Character: The foundation of competitive leadership
While confidence opens doors, character is what keeps those doors open. Integrity, authenticity, presence and empathy these are the traits that make a leader truly memorable. Your skills and knowledge may get you noticed, but how you treat your teammates and everyone else around you, respond and react to challenges, and stand by your values will leave a lasting impression.
In today’s competitive landscape, it’s easy to get caught up in the rush to achieve more. However, showing kindness, staying humble, and being consistent with your values, especially when no one is watching, is what builds long-term success.
Stay true to your values
What do you stand for? Are you living those values every day – in your sport and business as well? Whether it’s honesty, fairness, or innovation, maintaining your values, even (or especially) under pressure, strengthens your character and reputation.
Support others
Success isn’t a solo journey. By uplifting those around you whether it’s your team, partners, or fellow athletes and entrepreneurs you create a culture of collaboration and co-creation that drives everyone forward. And when people like training, moving, and working with you, they’ll keep coming back. They’ll have your back too and root for your success.
Character is a foundation to success and sustainable healthy balance in life, sports and business.
3. Resilience: Your secret weapon
Life comes with its fair share of curveballs, challenges, setbacks, failures, unexpected twists, and turns. Resilience is what sets the extraordinary high performing athletes and leaders apart from the rest. How you navigate these moments will determine how quickly you bounce back and move forward.
Resilience is about responding with grace, cultivating the skill of letting go, keeping your focus, and maintaining a positive attitude, even when things don’t go as planned.
Cultivate mental flexibility
You may not control the challenges that come your way, but you have total control over how you respond to them. Each challenge comes bearing gifts and opportunities. Instead of seeing setbacks as failures, view them as learning experiences. This shift in mindset helps you adapt and grow rather than stay stuck.
Practice positivity and gratitude
When challenges arise, it’s easy to focus on what went wrong and start the blame game. What if you were to shift your perspective by actively practicing gratitude – the ultimate superpower behind confidence and high performance? Asking questions such as “What is working?” or “What lessons can I draw from this experience?” will shift your mind, help you let go, and focus on the present moment. A positive and curious mind not only boosts your mood but keeps you open to new opportunities.
Resilience requires consistent training of your mental and emotional muscles. And when you show resilience, it not only benefits you but inspires those around you.
4. Mental and spiritual strength: Cultivating inner stability
The body follows the mind. Just like in sports or the performing arts, as an entrepreneur or leader it’s essential to train your mind. Mental performance allows you to regulate your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in any situation, giving you the clarity to make strategic decisions. Alongside mental strength, a sense of spiritual connection or purpose grounds you, giving you the perspective to navigate high-pressure environments.
Train your brain with visualization
The key to ever-increasing level of performance is a consistent practice of visualization. As an athlete, you go through an upcoming game or rehearse specific skills inside your mind, creating the needed neural pathways to execute these skills and moves when it counts. Much like athletes rehearse their game in their minds, an entrepreneur can rehearse key business meetings, negotiations, or speeches. Visualize yourself succeeding, down to the smallest details, including all your senses and emotions. This mental practice prepares your brain for real-world challenges.
Practice meditation
Taking a few moments each day to center yourself through meditation (even if it is taking one single conscious breath) enhances your ability to stay present, manage stress, and make clear decisions. A calm mind is your greatest asset, especially in high-stress situations, and it cultivates a healthy and balanced mind, body, and soul.
Find purpose in what you do
Spiritual strength is about being connected to something bigger than yourself. It’s about letting go of the idea that you can control everything and having a deeper purpose behind everything you do and how you express yourself in this world. When you understand the "why" behind your actions and trust that the higher power is in charge of the “how,” obstacles become more manageable, and setbacks feel like just another step on your journey.
Your inner stability built on mental and spiritual strength will carry you through all times, keeping you focused and grounded in your mission.
Wrapping it up
In the world of sports and business, it’s not so much about being the strongest, the most skilled, or the most knowledgeable. It’s about having that 2% edge that sets you apart. Confidence, character, resilience, spiritual strength, and mental performance are what separate the extraordinary athletes, performers, entrepreneurs, and leaders from the rest. These are the qualities that don’t just help you survive but help you thrive, no matter the competition or the challenges you face.
By embracing these four elements and working closely with coaches and mentors, you’ll see not only your professional success grow but also a transformation in your leadership and how you impact those around you. Remember, it’s often the smallest things that make the biggest difference.
For more insights into developing your athlete mindset, unlocking high performance, and maintaining optimal mental health, connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. Follow along for more content on building your competitive edge in sports, on stage, in business, and in life.
Read more from Paula Naeff
Paula Naeff, Mental Performance Coach
Paula is a Mental Performance Coach for high-performing athletes, artists, and entrepreneurs. With a background in classical ballet, Pilates, and professional coaching, she empowers her clients to raise their mental strength, build resilience, and elevate their performance both on and off the field. Paula’s diverse career path, from selling ice axes and being a clown to inspiring sports and corporate teams, reflects her adaptability and passion for growth. A mother of two and a survivor of deep depression, Paula embraces her Finnish roots while living as a global citizen currently in Switzerland. She loves dancing, making people laugh, and encouraging others to believe in their potential.
