Floyd Mayweather is one of the greatest boxers of all time. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny the greatness. On top of that, he also happens to be one of the highest earning athletes of all time, hence the nickname: Money Mayweather.

He is also one of my favorite personal brands to study. This summer I had the opportunity to watch a Floyd Mayweather training session in preparation for his fight against Andre Berto.

Note: This article does not detail the specific Floyd Mayweather training routine. You can find that here.

Instead, this article details my own observations and some of the major lessons I learned from watching TBE.

Floyd Mayweather Training Lesson #1- Positive Self-Talk is Empowering.

A Floyd Mayweather training session is a beautifully orchestrated ritual. More specifically, this ritual is chock full of positive affirmations.

Mindset is important. It is important to have internal dialogue. This is your fuel. This is how the competitive spirit materializes a grouping of beliefs into one, solid, burning desire. However, Mayweather takes it a step further because he blurts out and proclaims his internal dialogue.

So in reality, it’s just dialogue. When I watched him train, he did this for the entire training session. Seriously.

• “Can’t nobody beat me! Can’t nobody beat me! Can’t nobody beat me!”
• “I’m the best that’s ever lived!”
• “Canelo. Maidana. Pacquiao… Where they at? What happened to them?”
• “48 and 0! Bout to be 49 and 0!”
• “$300 mil! $300 mil! $300 mil!”

Is it obnoxious? Sure. Is it cocky? Yeah.

But it works. And most importantly, it was true.

It’s true because for his entire career Mayweather truly believed everything he thought. In his mind, the only truth that mattered was that he was TBE (the best ever). That was his universal truth.

The physicality of a Floyd Mayweather training session and his constant positive dialogue simply reinforced this on a daily basis.

Floyd Mayweather Training Lesson #2- Positive reinforcement from others boosts confidence.

A Floyd Mayweather Training Session is an event. Every day there are 100-200 guests watching the champ’s each and every move while he trains.

He also has a massive support system. Every single one of these individuals has a specific job that they are responsible for.

However, no job is more important than the job of positive reinforcement. This is everyone’s job.

Positive talk is just one level of developing a positive mindset. Positive verbal reinforcement from others takes it to another level.

The reason for this is because it reinforces TRUTH. It’s one thing to mentally tell yourself something over and over again. It’s another thing to say these affirmations out loud over and over again.

However, if you have multiple people reinforcing your positive self-talk by verbally repeating all of these good, positive things… this serves as an incredible source of confidence.

Not only is it a massive confidence booster, but it is also a positive enforcer of truth. How could it be possible that your internal dialogue, verbal chants, and positive reinforcement from others all be wrong? Seriously, how could it all be wrong. The answer: It’s not.

This is exactly what you see during a Floyd Mayweather training session. Everyone in his camp offers positive reinforcement. You hear the following over and over again:

• “You’re the best!”
• “You’re the champ!”
• “Hard work! All day every day!”
• “TBE!”
• “Nobody can beat you!”
• “Money Mayweather all day every day!”
• “You’re the best that ever did it!”

Haters will look down on this as just another successful individual surrounding himself with yes men. In reality, these people are his support system that reinforce his already powerful self-belief.

Floyd Mayweather Training Lesson #3- Money is the ultimate motivator.

I give Mayweather a lot of credit because he’s shamelessly himself. He’s 100% real. He’s not one of those “it’s all about my legacy” or “I’m trying to be a role model” figures. Since day one, Floyd Mayweather has been about one thing and one thing only: MONEY.

It’s the reason why he changed his nickname from Pretty Boy Floyd to Money Mayweather.

It’s all about the money. In fact, he’s gone on record saying: “If it ain’t about the money, then what the fuck is it about?” The Answer: It’s about the money. It’s always about the money. 

When I saw Floyd train, there was a point when his assistant came over and handed him a massive stack of hundred dollar bills wrapped in plastic. Floyd continued to pound the bag with one arm while he held the massive stack of cash in his other arm. Everyone went nuts.

During one of his self-talk rants, Mayweather went so far as to ask and answer his own question. “What drives me? What makes me get up at five in the morning to go run? What makes me train hard? Money!”

Floyd Mayweather Training Lesson #4- There’s no better way than YOUR OWN WAY.

As the year winds down, I enter into a very reflective mode. I ask myself a lot of questions. What does 2015 mean to Sonny? What went right? What went wrong? What were my good decisions? What were my bad decisions? I ask myself all of these questions because it is my hope that I will learn from my mistakes and make 2016 an even better year. There is always room for improvement.

One of my biggest challenges I have dealt with since Day 1 of Strength By Sonny is the habit of looking to the competition, seeing what they are doing, and thinking that is THE WAY.

It’s a major challenge for any entrepreneur just starting off. It’s very tempting to look to those who were successful before you and think that you have to follow their same path or game plan in order to win.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, I would go so far as to label this the number one mistake made by aspiring entrepreneurs.

That’s one thing I’ve had to constantly be aware of and work on. I’m thankful that it’s getting to the point where I’m really learning to trust myself and only focus on MY BUSINESS.

This important concept really started to sink in as I witnessed the Floyd Mayweather training session this summer.

Not only was Floyd Mayweather the highest earning athlete of 2015. But he was also the highest earning celebrity as well.

And yet none of this money comes from endorsements. It’s all from earnings in the ring. *** NOTE: He did receive endorsement money for his fight against Pacquiao.

Why? Because he does things his own way and can’t be controlled. There may be some things he has done that are wrong and anger people… but one thing that is not debatable is that Floyd does things his way.

He doesn’t answer to anyone. He’s in control. And his massive support system, functioning like a well-oiled machine, falls in line with this.

He dictates the rhythm during his training sessions. Everyone is on his clock. He starts when he wants to start. He’s finished when he says he’s finished.

Floyd Mayweather Training Lesson #5- SPEED and MOMENTUM are crucial. 

During the Floyd Mayweather training session I witnessed, it astounded me how much energy he had. He barely rested. Sure he took a couple sips of water here and there. But for the most part, he was always moving. He was always working. Even during his brief pauses he was working because he was mentally preparing by engaging in positive self-talk. As his workout progressed, he picked up the intensity and worked at an even faster rate.

I thought I worked fast during my workouts. Mayweather takes it to another level. He’s a machine unlike any other.

When you think about it, this doesn’t just apply to boxing. This applies to every aspect of success. There isn’t time for rest. You don’t have all the time in the world. Time is very precious. You have to work. Momentum is something that you earn. You don’t turn your nose up at it.

When you get that momentum where you’re in the zone, slowing down is not an option. You can’t let up. You have to work faster.

When you think the end of the race is in sight, you don’t let up. You work harder than ever before. Besides, there’s usually another race right around the corner…

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