Five Performance Stories. One Mental Game Lesson They All Share.
Why would I think about missing a shot I haven't even taken yet?
That question — spoken by Michael Jordan in The Last Dance — stopped me completely the first time I heard it. Not because it was surprising, exactly. But because it was so simple. So clean. So completely free of the fear and outcome thinking that derails most of us before we ever begin.
This week on the Cowgirl Up podcast we spent five episodes inside some of the most compelling performance stories on screen right now. And the more I sat with each one, the more clearly I saw the thread connecting all of them.
The ones who perform their best when it matters most are not the ones who don't feel the fear. They're the ones who have learned — through work, through support, through daily mental game practice — to stay present, trust their preparation, and let the outcome take care of itself.
Here's what each story taught us.
RORY MCILROY — KEEP BELIEVING
Rory McIlroy was twenty-one years old and leading the Masters going into the final round. He shot an 80. One of the most painful collapses in the history of the tournament.
He came back every year for seventeen years. And in 2025, at forty-one, he finally won — completing the career grand slam.
His advice: keep believing.
Not a new strategy. Not lowered expectations. Keep believing. Keep showing up. And critically — toward the end of his pursuit, he finally sought the help of a sports psychologist. Getting the right support, doing the intentional mental game work, building the tools. That is what gave him the foundation to keep believing in a way that actually translated into performance.
SIMONE BILES — SHE WAS SCARED. SHE WON ANYWAY.
After withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles came back at the World Championships — her first major competition back. The eyes of the entire gymnastics world were on her.
She said it was the most nervous she had ever been for a competition in her entire career.
And then she won the world all-around title.
By the time Paris 2024 arrived — her redemption tour — she was ready. Not because the nerves were gone. But because she had done the work. Visualization. Weekly therapy sessions. Daily mental game preparation. She said — I had done the work. And because of that, it wasn't going to happen again.
Being scared doesn't mean performing badly. It means we care. And when we've done the work, we can walk into that moment scared and still show up as our best selves.
SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA — WHAT DO YOU WANT ON YOUR EPITAPH?
There is a question in the book Seven Days in Utopia by Dr. David Cook that stopped me cold the first time I read it.
What do you want written on your epitaph? A golf score?
Nobody says yes. And yet — if you look honestly at how we live, how we let a bad run ruin a whole weekend, how we attach our worth to our performance — we act like the answer is yes all the time.
The book's most powerful truth: life will be measured by significance — not by a score. Significance as defined by our character, our relationships, our values, our virtues, and our faith. A bad run is just a bad run. It is not a verdict on our worth.
Hold the sport a little more loosely. Compete hard, prepare well, show up ready. And then let the run be what it is — one moment in a life that is being measured by so much more.
MICHAEL JORDAN — WHY WOULD I THINK ABOUT MISSING A SHOT I HAVEN'T TAKEN YET?
In The Last Dance, a journalist describes what made Jordan truly exceptional — not his athleticism, but his complete presence. He was never anywhere else. His gift was that he was right here, right now, this play. And that was the separator.
Jordan worked with a mindfulness coach named George Mumford to develop that presence deliberately. It was not a personality trait he was born with. It was trained.
And his question — why would I think about missing a shot I haven't even taken yet — is the 95/5 rule in its purest form. Process focus. Present moment. Let the outcome take care of itself.
What is the equivalent question for our sport? For us it might sound like — why would I think about missing the shot, fumbling the play, or hitting a barrel before I’ve even gone? Find our version of that question. Write it down. Use it.
FULL SWING — THE MENTAL GAME SHOWS UP AT EVERY LEVEL
Full Swing Season 2 Episode 3 — titled Mind Game — follows Wyndham Clark's transformation from one of the tour's most negative competitors to US Open champion, after five months of working with a sports psychologist.
Two things he said that are worth writing down.
First: "Pretty much all the way up until this year I've always felt and feared the bad things that are going to happen more than believing the good things are. Now I truly have a belief that good things are going to happen."
That is the fear cycle we've talked about on this podcast — fed by worst case scenarios we play in our heads. And the antidote: purposefully directing our thoughts toward what we want to happen instead.
And then this: "Anytime I think about results, I typically don't get the result I want. But when I stay in my process and do the things I can do well, I succeed."
The 95/5 rule. Right there. From a US Open champion.
Every player on the PGA Tour is fighting to develop and maintain their mental toughness. And the ones who figure it out — who get the right support, do the daily work, and master their mindset — rise to the top. The mental game doesn't care what level we're at. It shows up at every level. And the tools that work for them work for us too.
THE ONE LESSON THEY ALL SHARE
Do the work. Trust the process. Believe in yourself.
Rory did it for seventeen years. Simone did it religiously with weekly sessions and daily visualization. Seven Days in Utopia reminded us that life is measured by significance, not a score. Jordan trained presence deliberately with a mindfulness coach. Wyndham Clark did five months of intentional mental game work and won a major.
The tools are the same. The commitment is the same. The daily practice is the same.
And it is available to all of us. Not just the elite. Not just the professionals. Anyone willing to continually show up for their mental game the way they show up for their physical game.
Do the work. Trust the process. Believe in yourself.
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Ready to go deeper? Listen to the Cowgirl Up podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts — new episodes drop Monday through Friday.
Interested in building a complete mental skills toolkit with personalized coaching support? Schedule a free discovery call at mentalgame101.com.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laurie Blickenstaff is a Certified Mental Performance Coach, competitive team roper, and founder of Mental Game 101. She hosts the Cowgirl Up daily mindset podcast and works one-on-one with women competitors in western horse sports who are ready to close the gap between their physical preparation and their mental game. Learn more at mentalgame101.com.
Mental performance training is NOT intended as, nor is it a substitute for, mental health care.
