Key Components Of A Winning Betting Mindset; Developing a mindset that supports winning sports betting is ultimately the key to achieving and sustaining consistent profits. Here are some fundamental aspects of a winning betting mindset. It can be helpful to see these ways of thinking as being part of a mental framework that helps to steer your decisions and behaviours in the right direction, towards disciplined betting.: *Take personal responsibility for your betting performance and results: One of the most important factors in achieving and sustaining success in betting is understanding and accepting that you are responsible for your results. It is easy to find some other cause for your poor performance; to create stories that shift the focus away from yourself and onto external factors – to blame and complain – but in doing this you take yourself out of the learning and development loop. Ask yourself ‘How did I create that?’ *Adopting a mastery approach and focus on learning: Feedback from each bet and each day is seen as being important to development, and what some people might perceive as failure those with a mastery approach see as feedback and opportunity to learn, develop and improve performance. “Expect to make mistakes. They are a part of the learning process.” *Embrace risk: “As punters we must embrace risk and not be afraid. As a participant in the sports markets we are risk takers. We have to take risks in order to achieve reward – this is our reason for betting.'' *Get comfortable with uncertainty: Sporting events offer plenty of opportunity for uncertainty and uncertainty is not easy to deal with – most humans prefer certainty, we fear the unknown. To embrace uncertainty means to accept that there is uncertainty. To understand that you will never know for sure what is going to happen next and in fact that you do not need to in order to be successful and profitable. *Accept the reality that losses are a part of betting: Something that is absolutely key to success in sports betting is accepting the realities of what sports betting is and what the possible outcomes are and one of those is that you will have losses. Once you have accepted that losses are a part of betting it frees your mind, reduces the tension, and helps to manage your emotions. *Focus on managing risk not picking winners: A common misconception amongst people who are new to sports betting and also shared by those who are less successful at it is that the primary focus is on picking winners. A key focus of those who have enjoyed long term success in betting is that their focus has been on managing their risk, and controlling losses. *Bet for profits not excitement: If people want to become successful at sports betting the first question they must ask themselves is why am I doing this? Is it for fun and entertainment, or is it to make profits? *Emphasise ‘betting well’ over winning: What is more important having a winning bet or knowing that your betting approach was disciplined and applied correctly? For the punter it is all about the result and the buzz they get from that result when it goes their way. For the professional the process is key – doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons. The ‘buzz’ comes from the feeling of knowing that they did everything possible to get the best possible result. This is a mastery approach and unlike a punter a professional trader would not feel satisfied with a winning bet if their process was flawed. I call this approach to performance a focus on ‘flawless execution’. *Take a long term view: “Get rich slowly”. If you are looking to make money from sports betting then you need to play for the long term and accept the short term risks. This is quite a challenge as humans are hard wired for short term reward and as a result short term thinking. This is even more evident now as we have developed into a microwave society where we want everything faster than before and we are used to fast food, fast internet connection etc. * Believe you can be a winner: Do you believe it is possible to win at sports betting? Do you believe that you are able to win at sports betting? Many people feel that there is only one winner in betting and that is the bookie. This is the common perception and amongst those who choose to continue to bet at the bookies without structure or discipline it is probably the case, however since the advent of sports spread betting and the betting exchanges in particular the betting landscape has changed dramatically, the balance of power has shifted, and with it so have the opportunities for profitability and success. The bookies key advantages of the overround and the ability to lay have both been removed by the betting exchanges and the availability and accessibility of information and data has significantly increased to give you an extra edge. Success in sports betting is possible, and you may be able to achieve it yourself, but it will take time and effort, it will take a professional approach, it will take discipline.