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How to get the bulletproof mindset and self-confidence of Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor is smiling. Almost laughing. Which is strange because he is in the middle of the biggest fight of his life – a championship fight against world class wrestler Chad Mendes. Conor has spent the better part of 2 rounds on his back, getting his face caved in by Mendes.

His response to losing the first two rounds, blood running down his face and his title shot fading away? Did he dance around and wait for the end of the round? Did he back up towards the cage or give up his chin to end the fight?

He got off his back, he looked his opponent right in the face –  And. He. Smiled. A smile that might have broke Medes’ will and won him the fight.

From there, Mendes backpedalled to the fence, & Conor began his high volume striking game. Thirty seconds left in the second round. Conor presses forward, and lands nine strikes. Conor lands another flurry- thirteen strikes, including two brutal kicks to the body. Conor’s final straight left rattles Mendes’s skull, leaving him falling to the canvas.

Fight over.

A decades worth of struggle finally validated with a gold UFC championship belt.

Brash. Bold. Cocky. Conor McGregor is a polarizing figure – you either love him or hate him. Despite your opinion of him of and his shit talking, extravagant lifestyle, you can’t argue that Conor McGregor has risen to the top of the fight game and has become the biggest name since Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson.

How does someone come out of nowhere and become the biggest star in sports so quickly? What attributes/skills does he have that we can learn from and apply?

UNSHAKEABLE SELF BELIEF

Since he was a pimply faced teenager, Conor had massive self-confidence and visualized his success to come. When he had only 5 fights under his belt in Ireland, he said: “You will see me in the UFC in the near future. Without a doubt. Without a doubt.”

A lot of people don’t know that while Conor was starting his career, he was a plumber in Ireland living in poverty and didn’t have many models for success.  Seeing that her brother was struggling, his fitness model sister Erin gave Conor a copy of the book The Secret. Conor skimmed the book and ultimately dismissed it until he obtained a copy of The Secret on DVD.

Conor and his girlfriend Dee began practicing the law of attraction and visualization in small ways like picturing parking spaces available as they drove through crowded parking lots. When that seemed to work, Conor began using the power of visualization in his fight career.

The time spent training and visualizing success gave him enormous confidence that gave him the feeling of being unstoppable.  Conor now is known as “Mystic Mac” for his ability to see into the future and predict the outcome of his fights in the correct round, by knockout etc…

“If you have a clear picture in your head that something is going to happen and a clear belief that it will happen no matter what then nothing can stop it. It is destined to happen.”

It’s fair to say that if Conor had never came across The Secret, his career, his visualization skills and has bulletproof mind wouldn’t have been the same.

BE OBSESSED

All of the self-confidence and visualization techniques in the world wouldn’t amount to much without putting in the work. Fortunately for Conor, he is the hardest working fighter in MMA.

“I train and I go home, and when I’m home, I think about training. That’s my life every day, and that’s it.”

The average day of training for Conor consists of pool work, jiu-jitsu rounds, pad work, jump rope, core work, and dead hanging from objects.  Then it’s off to do free-weight exercises such as single-leg barbell deadlifts. That’s just the morning.

With his meteoric rise to the top of MMA, some have said that Conor is just naturally gifted. Talented. This suggestion is not taken well:

“There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equal as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that [is] that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.”

To be the best in any craft, it a necessity to become obsessed  – to want it more than anyone else fighting for the same dream, the same shot or the same belt.

RISE FROM ADVERSITY

No one goes undefeated in life or in sports. The greats add to their legend by coming back stronger from defeat.

Undefeated in the UFC, Conor decided to go up 2 weight classes in 2016. Taking the fight on short notice was the toughest test of Conor’s career, the pot smoking, marathon running and equally cocky Nate Diaz. Diaz seemed to be the one fighter impervious to Conor’s shit talking and skull shattering left hand.

After winning the first round, and leaving Diaz’s face a bloody mess, Conor began to tire and Diaz knew he had taken Conor’s best and survived. With superior conditioning, Diaz wore Conor down, got his back and earned the submission win.

The haters, the critics and the doubters came out in droves finally seeing what they had been desperately wanting for years: a McGregor loss. Tired of his brash behavior, big mouth and money driven persona, they mocked him and said he was exposed. Finished. Done.

Rather than make excuses, he said:

“I will never shy away from a challenge, I will never shy away from defeat. This is part of the game. I went in, I took the fight and it didn’t pay off. This is the fight business. It’s another day. I’ll come back.”

A rematch with Diaz was a mistake, they said. Two straight losses could put him into a Ronda Rousey-esque career tailspin.

Most would have been shaken from such a defeat and seemingly the whole world clamoring to close the book on a career.

But the rematch was on.

This time around was far different than the last time for both McGregor and Diaz. Rather than fighting on 11 days’ notice like they did at UFC 196, the two rivals had over five months to prepare for one another as well as the welterweight limit both fights were contested at.

The McGregor- Diaz rematch was a 5 round dog fight. Similar to their first fight, Conor controlled the early exchanges at UFC 202 before slowing down near the end of the second round. Rather than wilt, though, McGregor survived and battled back to unanimously win the fourth frame to secure a 48-47 advantage on two of the three judges’ scorecards, claiming a majority decision win.

The response from the doubters, the haters and the critics? Crickets.

“So after that fight when I lost and I’m looking at all of these people and they’re all celebrating my demise and saying I’m done and this, it certainly lit a fire under my belly. Every single person doubted me. Every single fighter doubted me. Doubt me now.”

TAKEAWAYS

Build bulletproof self-belief and visualize yourself at the top on a daily basis.

Be OBESSED with your work, your calling or your mission.

Rise from adversity and don’t lose faith in yourself.

These 3 qualities/skills propelled a broke plumber from Ireland into the biggest star in sports. What will they do for you?