Mindset: It was me vs. me

“Don’t let tomorrow’s worries ruin today’s peace”

Many professional athletes, special operations military members, and high performing business professionals would say that their mindset is their greatest resource responsible for the majority of their success. But what is mindset?

  Mindset is your internal dialogue, self-talk, pictures that you associate with words and actions based on previous experiences, attitude, and outlook on your current reality or future. Much of your mindset comes down to your beliefs and perception. Good news is, these things are completely up to you to control. Bad news is, with all of today’s exterior influences, it is harder than ever to control. By starting with your identified “why” and focusing on the objective you want to achieve, you can harness the energy and excitement that achievement will bring you to turn it into motivation and determination.

  Every thought you have is usually accompanied by a picture and then after the picture presents itself, you associate words and emotions with the picture in your mind. By keeping these pictures, words, and emotions positive you will be positioned to have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset which is most often associated with limiting beliefs on what you can or cannot achieve.

 It Was Me vs. Me

As previously shared, in my younger years when I was growing up, I was a bit over weight. I remember the exact moment I said to myself, “enough is enough, I control my actions and thoughts so why am I still over weight? Why not just work my butt-off and lose this dang weight?” I was getting on the bus to go home for summer vacation from the 7th grade. I weighed 165 lbs. at 13 years old.

  The next day I woke up, it was the first day of summer vacation. I wrote down my goal sheet stating I had 62 days to lose 20 lbs. prior to the new school year starting. I wanted my goals to be specific, measurable, and attainable. By writing them down, I was holding myself accountable to the goals I had identified. I then took some of my savings and went to the local Gold’s Gym and signed up for my first gym membership. I began working out there for 2 hours every day and ran close to 20 miles a week. At first, the 4-mile runs were tough and sucked but after a few weeks, they began to become easier. I also started to study different fitness routines and how to eat healthier than I was. I had single handedly changed my health and fitness habits with a decision I made inside my mind.

  I found motivation and determination in picturing myself 20 pounds thinner, then I paired those pictures in my head with the confidence and emotions I would feel if I were to achieve my goal. I lost 22 lbs. that summer and went into the 8th grade school year full of confidence and satisfaction because I knew that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. I wasn’t satisfied because I was concerned with how others were viewing me or what their judgments were of me. I was satisfied because I needed to prove to myself that I could do it. It was me versus me and now that I knew that, I could begin challenging myself in other ways. Little did I know at the time, I was just getting started…

 Takeaway:

We are all human and we’ve all started the same way-from birth. One thing we can always control is our effort. A goal is just a dream without proper preparation. Don’t get caught up in your thoughts of what others think of you or their judgement of you. Focus on competing with yourself and being a little bit better at work, fitness, and throughout your overall life each and every day. You set your own standards and goals and you know if you are meeting or beating them each day.

This is an excerpt from my new book, Leadership A Life Sport: a playbook on what it takes to win as an individual and as a team.

Click here to read more about the book.