I was racing myself.
If you really want something that much, it doesn’t matter if you are not super successful the first time, because if its something that you are truly passionate about its something that you will do again, and again, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. It doesn’t matter how hard it is to get there. If you really want something, there shouldn’t be a damn thing in this world that should get in the way of you and accomplishing that goal, and thats the bottom line. Because if we put our mind to something, we can accomplish truly anything.
Passion Over Everything
Athletes inspire us to do more, to live our best life and to go after what your heart desires. There are not too many people that are courageous enough to fight for what they really want in life, but many athletes are cut from that cloth.
How do atheletes get to the top of their game? What do people who win gold medals do differently to the competitors? What can we learn from them?
Peak performance requires preparation and commitment to your athletic development at every level: physical, technical, and mental on a consistent basis.
It starts in the mind
- Vision – They have a clear simple goal and visualise it.
- Positivity.
- They want to be the best.
- They face fear and have courage.
- What is their relationship with fear?
- They are committed –
– the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.– an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.
- Be obssessed
- Belief – They believe that they can do it.The reason these athletes perform at their peak is their belief in their ability to overcome obstacles. Peak performers are never deterred by mistakes, losses or uneventful circumstances.
“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does- that makes you’re a winner right there.”
~Venus Williams(Tennis Great)
You need to make a choice every day. “Do I want to be a peak performer or a bleak performer?” Then you need to be willing to make sure that your actions match your desire.
“If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!”
~Charles Barkley (NBA Hall of Fame Inductee)
They do things differently:
In order to be beating all the other competitors they must be doing something differently.
It can only be either:
- Natural talent
- Working smarter with a better strategy
- Working harder
You can’t control your natural talent, so you can only focus on working smarter and harder.
Preparation:
- They research, study, and learn.
- They don’t give up
- They have a coach, or multiple coaches – every successful sports star has a coach.
- They identify the key skills they need to develop
- They have a clear plan, and schedule.
- They focus on what they can control
- The focus on the basics – food, diet, sleep.
- Food – making sure they have enough nutrition and the right kind of nutrition
- They track their progress.
- They rest. Downtime is important to prevent injury.
- They focus on what they need to do today, to get where they want to be.
- They make sacrifices – to be the best in one area you need to make sacrifices
- They embrace the struggle
- They take risks – These athletes consistently look to move out of their comfort zone. Instead of playing it safe, peak performers lay it on the line even though the result may not be favorable. Peak performers live by the motto, “No risk, no reward.”
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.”
~Fred Devito (Fitness trainer)
- Doing things when you don’t feel like it.
Studying Elite Atheletes
Who are elite athletes that we can study?
– Michael Phelps
– Tiger Woods
– Jesse Owens
– Muhammad Ali
– Manny Pacquiao
