HH Mentality

“I know I can perform. I do it all the time in training. But when it’s matchday, it’s different.”

I hear versions of this from players quite often.

And my first question is usually pretty simple:

Are you actually behaving the same way on Saturday as you do on Wednesday?

Because if you prepare differently, think differently, react differently and try to control different things, why would you expect the same performance?

A big part of the problem is also all the advice footballers get about how they should feel before a match.

Be confident.
Pump yourself up.
Get rid of the doubts.
Don’t have negative thoughts.

So you end up spending the hours before the game trying to become some “perfect” version of yourself.

You don’t need to.

You are already good enough to play. You just need to learn how to play while having the thoughts, nerves and emotions that come with caring about the game.

Don’t fight yourself. Fight the opponent.

That is a big part of what I work on with players in mental coaching.

This is the usual work I do as a mental performance coach. If you are feeling stuck in showing off your absolute best, you can send me a DM.

Football happens too fast for conscious thinking.

The pitch isn’t where you analyse every decision, judge yourself, or search for answers.

The pitch is where you play. And when you play on your intuition and instinct, you play your best.

Reflections happens afterwards.

When you spend just a little time on your mental training, e.g., on understanding your thoughts, emotions and decisions, something good happens.

Your instinct becomes smarter.
Your football IQ grows.

So next time you’re on the pitch, you don’t need to think your way through the game.
Because when you think, and think about your thinking, how and where is your mental flow state?

That’s what we’re training at Henrik Hjarsbæk - Mental Coach for Football Players

That’s why we don’t train players to think during matches. We train them to become wiser between matches.

Over time, your football brain becomes better at recognising situations before you’re even conscious of them. And you, the player, knows how to react on these newly learned triggers.

That’s what mental training and football intelligence really is.

Train your brain off the pitch. Then you’ll think less on the pitch.

As a mental coach working with football players for the past 10 years, I find the ability to postpone inner comments, evaluations and self-criticism to be one of the most important mental skills.

As a football player, if you allow yourself to get caught up in the tempting thoughts your brain is creating, you make yourself vulnerable.

You start allocating more of your mental resources to your thoughts, leaving fewer resources available for your performance.

You start thinking more.
You react slower.

To put it simply, you’ve just improved your opponent’s chances of succeeding.
The best players also have these thoughts.

They’ve just learned that there’s a time to perform, and a time to evaluate.
They have learned to master their attention better.

This is Mentality Mistake 1. Save this post for your next match.
Many more to come.

Follow along if you want to understand the psychology behind football performance.

Many footballers think they’re playing badly because they’ve lost confidence.

Take a look inside a player’s mind after a mistake:
“Maybe I didn’t sleep well.”
“Why am I so sore today?”
“Why is my teammate warming up?”

The problem is that football happens too quickly (swipe the carousel →) for you to think your way back into performing.

The more your mind searches for explanations during a match, the further you drift away from the mental state of flow.

That’s why this chapter begins with three ideas that surprise most players:
• You can’t control your thoughts.
• You can’t control your feelings.
• You can’t control your confidence.

Once you understand how the football brain actually works, you stop trying to control your performance and start playing on your instincts.

📚 The Mental Training book ‘A Footballer’s Mentality’ is now available on Amazon.

📚 Bestseller book

My Danish mental training book has now reached 3,000 copies sold and officially become a bestseller.

When I heard the news, I was honestly just really happy.
Like… genuinely happy. From the inside 😊

Big thanks to Morten and Søren from Forfatterskabet.
For being there since December 2020 and for believing in the project.

From the beginning, I had a clear vision:
That the book would be on the football player’s nightstand.
And in their bag on away trips.

✍🏻 When I started writing back in 2019, my goal was simple:
To make it easier for players to stand stronger in themselves.

My ambition was clear:
It has to work. On the pitch.
And it has to be easy to apply in real life.

At the same time, it was important to me that players wouldn’t become dependent on feeling confident
or on the absence of nerves.

💭 Because my experience as a mental coach is this:

Most players struggle with their inner beliefs.

◼️ Is it okay that I don’t feel on top?
◼️ Is it normal that I don’t feel ready on game day?
◼️ And maybe most important: What do I do with the thoughts and feelings I wish I didn’t have?

Hand on my heart – I’ve tried to answer these questions in the best way I could in the book.

Because it’s not about removing challenges.
It’s about being able to handle them.

As a player, a person, a performer you need to be able to face everything your career throws at you.

Not avoid it. But Go through it.

🙏🏻 I’ve received a lot of messages from readers – and I just want to say thank you.

Every single message has been read.
And it means more than you probably think.

I don’t get flooded with reviews, so every message, every comment matters.

One thing is still clear to me:
Most players train the physical side of football consistently…
…but not the mental side.

That’s a mistake.
Or at the very least, a huge untapped potential.

🧠 the book will be available in English within a few weeks on Amazon 🙏🏻

The brain of a football player doesn’t burn out from the intensity and pressure on matchday.

Instead the lack of mental skills for dealing with emotional regulation and thought patterns are draining your football brain slowly but surely.

Watch Cubarsi in the video 🧠⚔️

Cubarsí knows Williams is offside.
But he still finishes the action.
No complaining. No looking at the referee.
Just doing the job.
This is the kind of mentality we work on in

I love this clip.
Cubarsí knows Williams is offside.
But he still finishes the action.
No complaining. No looking at the referee.
Just doing the job.
This is the kind of mentality we work on in