The Fighter’s Questions

Greatness and Questions to Ask Yourself If you Are Ready HOW DURABLE IS YOUR MIND?

•  Are you ready to strip yourself of any lie you live in, any façade, and embrace the bare truth? Maybe you’re not good enough? Maybe your families think you’re not good enough?
• Are you too weak minded to get tools out of the bottom of the toolbox of skills?  Or will you just use the little tools you prefer even if they’re not working so well?
• The hard truth: Are you ready to face someone physically better than you in every way?  Are you ready to doubt your work yet continue to work and try to win? Are you ready to risk to work, not risk to get lucky?
• When you’re losing and you need a knockout, are you going to “launch 3 pointers” or work to get that knockout and do what is difficult to put out the best effort to win?
• Are you ready to work to win by knockout and look bad knowing you really gave it your best effort, or do you want to make everyone think you “went for yours”? Are you willing to not clinch?  Are you willing to get knocked-out to try to win when you’re behind?
• If you can’t process 12 simple numbers, how are you going to process vital information when you’re tired and hurt and in need of instruction?
• Are you strong-minded enough to be the only one who knows you’re injured when you’re not looking your best?
• If the coach warns you about your opponent being “really good” in something, is it going to make you flustered? Or are you ready to be prepared? Are you really ready for the worst?
• This game will break you at some point in time…. are you going to quit or not. And the further you go, the harder it may break you? How are you going to quit? How are you not going to quit? Can you hear the truth and deal with it or are you too weak to take it?  What will you do after you lose?  What if you get embarrassed?  Will you be back the day after?  The week after?
• Do you only train because you love the training? When is it okay to hate the work, the training, yet continue to do it?
• When you train, do you need to be in your own world opposed to the boxing gym world? Do you need headphones to distract you? Do you need an empty gym? Do you need people around you?
• Are you boxing because you are trying to prove something to someone else?
• Are you going to be in a situation, any situation, and lose your mind?
• How are you going to feel when your bubble gets burst?
• What is your process before fighting? Why do you do it? Are you acting tough because you need an edge? Do you need an edge because you’re insecure? Are you acting nice because you need an edge? Are you trying to “rock your opponents to sleep” or do you want them to be nicer to you (Teddy Atlas calls this the “Silent Agreement”)? Are you psyching yourself up because you are not strong minded enough to be yourself?
• When you’re down and depressed, what excuses will you make?  What truth will you run from?
• Are you strong enough for your coach to critique your work without feeling attacked? What if your strongest supporter thinks you behaved like a “game quitter?”
• Do you need to be coddled?
• What are the deep-rooted reasons that you want to box?
• How are you going to feel mentally, getting up from being knocked-down? Embarrassed? Driven?
• How are you going to deal with almost being afraid?
• When every instinct tells you to blame everyone else, can you swallow the responsibility and forge ahead?
• Assuming that the transfer of information from your coach is equal, is it your coach’s job to have faith that you will be the next Sugar Ray or to be neutrally realistic?
• Do you have right to believe you are the best fighter in the world?  What did you do to earn that over anyone else?
• Do you love the hitting and winning or do you have the heart for the fight?