Training The Mind
The mind is a powerful ally, but can also be a formidable adversary. The techniques in this chapter are designed to help you achieve an effective mindset to maximize race performance. Each of us can improve performance through the application of these concepts.
Four Questions
Start by taking time to answer four questions:
What are my long-term goals for sport, as well as in the other important areas of my life (work, family, community, friends and other)?
What is the level of commitment I am willing to bring to achieving my goals?
To work towards my goals, how much am I willing to change?
What am I willing to give up (sacrifice)? For example, alcohol, socializing, TV, meals out, weekly tennis games…
Be as honest as possible in making these assessments.
One of the most effective ways to surface our goals is morning journalling. Write down whatever comes to mind, resist the urge to judge and save everything. If you are unsure how to start journalling then these prompts (h/t Dickie Bush) might help:
What am I grateful for?
What am I excited about?
What one virtue do I want to exhibit?
What’s one thing I’m avoiding?
What’s one thing I need to do?
After seven to twenty-eight days of these sessions, go back through the journal and highlight themes that repeat. From those themes, create a short list of overall goals. More about this technique can be found in a book by Julie Cameron called The Artist’s Way.
These questions are a natural starting point for our mental training. Place the athletic goals alongside all other long-term goals, notice that athletic success is only one component of a fulfilling life. The size of this component varies from person to person. As for commitment, the subconscious mind is highly attuned to, and will quickly see through, anything other than genuine commitment. It is best to strive for total commitment to the competitive level that best fits our overall life.
John’s Experience
Our goals need to be realistic.
Males tend to overestimate what they can do (resulting in disappointment) while females often underestimate (and surprise themselves). Setting process goals in the short and long term is more important than outcome goals. Process goals focus on the actions required for success.
Be prepared to adjust your goals depending on circumstances.
Be The Goal
Embodiment is the quickest way to achieve any goal. Meaning, we should aim to replicate as many aspects as possible consistent with our goals. For example, if we are seeking to “Be Our Best” then we could…
Eat like a champion. See our nutrition chapter.
Train like a champion. Focus on excellence in execution. Often, this is the easiest part of endurance sport.
Recover like a champion. A challenge for many. Cultivate a willingness to back off, removing habits & substances that block our natural signals, prioritize sleep and reducing chronic stressors. An inability to listen to our natural signals has been the downfall of many athletes.
Behave like a champion. Grounded ethics are essential. If we follow a well-constructed set of values, we will find it easier to achieve harmony. Harmony feeds into better decision making and improved recovery.
Be a champion. Walk, talk and stand… like a champion. In as many ways as possible, our conduct should mirror our goals.
True commitment is scary. What if we fail? Over time, and hard won experience, we come to realize that failure was far worse in our minds, than reality. Seeking excellence is never something to cause embarrassment. When we are on a path of excellence, in balance with our other life goals, success walks alongside us. The benefit of seeking excellence in sport, is the spillover into our larger lives.
Many athletes feel they need to hide their successes, often out of fear of the responses from others. We may even find friends, peers and acquaintances who belittle our goals. In these situations, the prior time spent consider our goals is valuable. It is much harder to be derailed when we are working towards well thought out goals that sit in harmony with our larger lives. The most stinging comments are those that remind us we may have strayed from our path, or fallen short of our best effort.
John’s Experience
On Failing: There is no failure, only feedback.
I like Gordo’s statement that failure in the mind is generally much worse than in reality.
About the fear of responses from other people if we fail: I have learned that 90% of people don’t care, 10 % do care, and of this 10%, 9% will be with you and support you, while 1% is happy that you failed, and, so what!
Mind Control
Every athlete would like to improve their mental conditioning. The difficulty most of us face is finding a formula that works for each of us, as individuals. What follows are practical ideas for shaping thoughts.
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