I’ve been involved in fitness for over 30 years and been coaching as a profession for 20 plus. In all that time, I’ve found one thing that consistently limits an athlete’s ability to reach their full potential: The mind.
As athletes, and people first, we fall into the trap of believing the stories that we tell ourselves about. Stories about our perceived limitations. Stories that make us out to be our circumstances.
We unknowingly turn the power of the mind against us and a believed story from our oldest most trusted friend soon becomes the reality that we’re living. So we begin to move, operate and think as if “this is the way”. And for lack of a better option, we accept it.
We start to reinforce this mindset with the conversations that we have about it, until we stop having speaking about it at all.
The it, is our fitness life. Past, present and future. But somewhere between then and now, your interpretation of your future shifted. It changed the way we interpreted the potential of our fitness future.
You started asking “What if?” more than “Why not?” You talked more about why you can’t, and let your mind forget to look for ways you can. A lot of times we reside to ourselves to the identity we’ve accepted as the new “Us”.
The Trap of Mental Shrugs and Silent Quits
One thing I like to impart on my athletes and anyone that will listen, is that everything adds up. When you see people that are in elite condition, it’s the combination of many little decisions made correctly.
Going from where you are now to your best self can feel overwhelming. But it becomes impossible the moment you mentally shrug. And you think “whelp, guess this is what life looks like from here on out”.
You might say, ” I never said that!” But in those weeks that turned into months—when frustration turned into anger, then sadness, and eventually apathy—you kind of did.
This is a common pitfall that many of us fall into and I have to point it out. As we’re looking at the shape of our world and our responsibilities, we can believe that we’re in a unique situation. You kinda are and you kinda aren’t.
The Way Out: Own It and Act On It
The solution is to own it. Own every aspect of your life and take control of it. Recognize and acknowledge where you currently are and decide where you want to go. Then you must decide to take action.
The key is to look for seps you can accurately and consistently take. This may come in to form of an addition or a subtraction. Do this with the understanding that impossible helps nobody. Accuracy and consistency are your best friends and your captains.
Create some type of system to measure your progress, so you can evaluate your efforts and gain confidence from the work you’re putting in. This is an important step in changing the narrative you have in your mind.
Nothing like the PROOF YOU acquired, shows you that YOU can do exactly what YOU thought YOU could do.
Build the New You, One Hack at a Time
Then you continue to look for little life hacks. Things you can add or subtract in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t seem that big. It’s just something that you do now. Walking 15- 45 mins a day, drinking lemon water in the morning. Finding time to turn each muscle group on once a week.
Recording and stacking up more evidence until you can confidently go from thinking that you can do the things you told yourself you wanted to do, but believing that you’re on the path to that.
When you finally become someone who knows who they are, and where they’re going, obstacles won’t knock you off track. If you know me, you’d have heard me say that whenever things get…”interesting” they’re either a lesson or an opportunity. I’ll say they’re annoying….but again, once you life hack your way past it, you’ve built that button for whenever a situation like that should happen again.
Maximum Output
