When you absolutely know in your heart and soul that you can do something, you do it easily!
It is not just a belief, it is an inner knowing, a conviction. You can see it in your eyes, hear it in your talk and observe it in the way you walk and how you move. You lead, you do not doubt. You are always positive even when the odds are against you. And when the pressure is really on, you thrive even more. You think like a winner. You KNOW.
Notice the picture of Kim Clijsters here. You can see it all over. She totally believes in herself. She knows. Many are surprised to learn that it is actually a skill to believe.
Professional athletes are not born into this world believing they are going to be a pro footballer or an Olympic Gold Medalist. It is a skill acquired over time that can be learned. It is also a function of your environment but more of that in a later section. In the next few blog posts, I am going to focus on learning techniques to help you develop that winning mindset and motivation techniques but like all skills, they must be practised! And practised daily!
Make great habits, and they will make you!
What do you Believe Now?
Before we can ever succeed, we must first believe we can win. Achieving peak performance starts with a thought. But what thoughts are you choosing to hang on to? What do you choose to believe? What has someone told you in the past that you still believe? Eg: “You’ll never make it as an athlete,” “you’re too slow,” “your technique is poor.” What are those beliefs that hold you back or doubts about your ability? What stops you from creating your dream to become a top athlete?
It is only natural to get negative thoughts. The difference between winners and losers in the game of life is that the winners don’t choose to stay with the negative thought. Just like champion athletes, they don’t dwell on the negative and instead focus on the positive and stay present in the moment. Your thoughts deliver direct commands to the nervous system, affecting how you feel and act. If you have a lousy thought or feeling, tune into it and identify where it is coming from. Listen to what you are being told. What do you need to do? Then do it! Don’t dwell on negative thoughts. Learn from them and let them become a stepping-stone to your success.
Our Mind is like a Computer. When you type something, your computer accepts it. It does not know whether it is right or wrong, fact or fiction. It simply accepts what you feed it. Your mind acts in much the same way. It does not know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. It acts on whatever you tell it. The problem is that so many of us feed our minds full of rubbish.
Imagine you had a friend who was incredibly negative and always put you down and criticized everything you did and yelled at you too. I bet you would not stay friends for long! Of course not. You have a choice. And yet so many of us choose to listen to that negative inner critic in each one of us. However, don’t worry because you are in charge! Like it or not, it is what that voice is saying to you that is determining what is happening in your life. The great news though is that you are in charge and you can change it – immediately. Let’s get to work in the next blog post and become aware of what is holding you back.
