Athletes should use the hostility of a crowd as fuel to keep going instead of letting it wear them down.

“I kind of had to find a way to win a match and to use that energy as my fuel and not have it wear me down.”

Israel Adesanya thrives when he is an underdog and when people doubt his abilities.

“I like when my back's on the wall I like when people doubt me I like when I got the chips in the dip you know because like I've always thrived in that position”

Accepting and reframing negative thoughts is a crucial tool for empowering oneself to handle challenges during performance.

“there's so I talk a lot about like reframing things in your mind and that to me is like one of the most helpful things that I use all the time”

He believes that embracing an underdog mentality and using criticism as fuel is essential for a player's career.

“Not until I'm done done playing. For sure. And even the rest like it's crazy. Y if y'all would talk if y'all were able to like have these conversations with some of these refs like there's rest like I'll just say Zach Zara cuz he's known for being one of the best refs now.”

Mark Cavendish advises looking for solutions to turn negative situations into positives to avoid being weighed down by negativity.

“for me of course you can have negatives but find a solution to any negative or look for a solution to turn it into a positive like negativity drags you down and that's not to say just don't be negative that's like saying before don't be depressed that's not you know it's if you can find solutions to”

He argues that maintaining calmness and staying mentally focused during fight week is crucial for a performer.

“you got to stay calm during fight week you know you're here for a job it's here you're here to work”

Elite athletic performance is more effectively achieved through a mindset of relaxation rather than through displays of visible, high-exertion effort.

“What came out of that, was this idea that we needed to teach these fighter pilots how to relax. That out of relaxation, this paradox that the best way to achieve peak performance was to relax. Which is commonplace now, heresy in the 1940s.”

Elite athletes must be able to maintain maximum physical ferocity while simultaneously staying relaxed and fluid to achieve peak performance.

“You have to have maximum ferocity and maximum fluidity. And it's that's and if you don't, you've got no shot.”