Holding Back

Do you ever hold a negative feeling in the back of your head, hoping that it’s not true, but allow yourself to expect that it’s going to happen? You know, psyching yourself out. I do this all the time. Tests, work, school, people…Since this has happened to me more than a few times, I started thinking about why. I wanted to grow from it. I’ll sharing my thoughts.

The conclusion I came to was I was allowing myself to think these negatives thoughts to be true because I would be less hurt if I expected it to happen, rather than seeing it as a shock.

Whether it’s not getting the sale, failing a rep or getting into emotional battles with people, you’re not going to win by ‘saving yourself,’ if you just come to expect it.

If anything, you should just let the shock happen. Winners take the shock, learn and move on. Take a basketball game for example. You have to detect what the other team is going to do. See your weaknesses for what they are and cover those bases before the game starts. Yeah, I know.

But the mental game, the part that a lot of players will miss, is the skill side of things. Kobe Bryant used to say that he’s done everything in his power to get a successful outcome, that’s how he stays so calm and collected in game. Performances are never going to be perfect, outcomes aren’t always gonna be perfect. But the worry is all avoided if you are mentally prepared to go in there, win or lose, knowing the effort you put in preparing for this next stage was maximal.

Do this for me: prepare so much that you don’t have to worry about the mental game. Health, fitness, business. Keep going.