Dorian Yates Quotes

I'm supposed to relax and concentrate on the image of myself out there skating my race.

If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.

In order to win, you must expect to win.

I say things as if they've already happened, so as I'm getting ready I can think about it and feel it, how it's going to feel to win, and I see myself getting on the podium.

I'll watch a highlight tape of my kicks and I'll play a song that I like the night before the game and then I'll sing that song in my head to visually get myself ready and have positive thoughts.

I basically try to visualize the team doing good things on the court the night before the game. I get shots up. There's not actually a pregame ritual that I do. I'm still trying to figure that out. I say a prayer. I go out with confidence.

You must first clearly see a thing in your mind before you can do it.

My golf is so delicate, so tenuously wired together with silent inward prayers, exhortations and unstable visualizations, that the sheer pressure of an additional pair of eyes crumbles the whole rickety structure into rubble.

One of the main techniques I used was focusing on the goal and visualising myself competing in the race before the race started.

I like visualizing a lot, so the night before a competition and right before, I will visualize myself. I'll close my eyes, turn away from everybody, and just see myself doing exactly what I want to accomplish.

You're trying to put yourself in that moment and trying to prepare yourself, to have a 'memory before the game. I don't know if you'd call it visualising or dreaming, but I've always done it, my whole life.

Put a Post-It note on your mirror that says: 'Someone has to succeed. There's no reason why it shouldn't be me.' Repeat before every audition.

I always save a few special outfits for the final rounds of a tournament, because they put me in a more positive mindset and I then make better decisions.

First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, 'I believe,' three times.

It's a very big mental game, all day leading up to warm-ups. You're not sure if your curveball will break, or will you be able to throw it over the plate? It's all negative thoughts going into the game.

I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw. Or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one.

It's really important for me to look good before a race. I definitely think if I feel I look good, it makes me feel more confident.

If you're public speaking, imagine yourself feeling confident; if you're nervous about a date and thinking, 'I'm gonna be a dork,' picture yourself being funny. Then it will be familiar to your brain.

I listen to music before my competitions to get me pumped up. It helps me stay focused.

I visualize what I do before I do it. Visualizing makes me better.

I'm a huge believer in visualizing achieving the task before it happens.

I made myself a little angry before beam. That's the best way to do beam. It's important to fuel yourself with some devastating things, but I also realized that if I daydream about doing well and having this silver medal, it's more motivating than focusing on the negatives. So I learned to focus on the positive.

If golfers know they look good, they will play better. I think that is valid for men and women.

As I've got older, the nerves aren't there anymore; they just left one day when I was at Watford. I only feel excitement now, whatever the game.

I actually rid myself of superstitions, but I do a quick 20-minute meditation before games.