Have you ever wondered what's the best approach to psyching yourself up to stay the course of your athletic goals? One important formula to remember is that beliefs lead to thoughts that lead to actions/decisions that lead to results. So, it goes to show that positive results are rooted in our beliefs. Our belief system is something we can train along with our bodies. Long-time elite running coach Frank Gagliano of the NY/NJ Track club likes to say, "the mind is 70% of the athlete". How we think and feel about who we are and what we do goes a long way compared to our genetic predisposition.
Many people use positive affirmation phrases, but this doesn't work for everyone. One young runner I coached liked to silently repeat, "I am a champion," and it really worked. Another client wanted to try positive affirmations, but when we came up with some together, like "I can do this," the opposite effect occurred. She felt sabotaged by her own beliefs that she couldn't. So what was happening?
The Voices in Your Head
That brings us to the work of Carol Dweck and her research on Growth Mindset. How we language our inner dialogue is key. If the phrase is assigned directly to who we are, such as, "I am unstoppable," it's harder to rebound psychologically when we are stopped. Also, many people like my client live with some deep underlying negative personal beliefs that feel very true. What can you do?
Dweck believes that rather than try to build self-esteem with positive affirmations, start by not over-personalizing things. Phrases such as, "whatever happens today will be useful information," are hard to refute. The phrase, "I'm not where I want to be, YET," leaves an opening for discovery and possibility. We tried these with my client, and there was a definite shift. We also did some inventory and got rid of old conditioned phrases such as, "I just have to keep trying." Obviously, keeping trying was way too unspecific and untrue or it would've worked.
Be Specific
As a long time distance runner and coach, I am a big fan of the concept of specificity--that the training should not only be relevant, but appropriate, begin broadly, and become more refined as the program develops. Eventually, as my understanding of my client deepened, as well as her self-knowledge, she was able to shift her beliefs to take on stronger, more specific phrases such as, "I embrace challenge," or ask herself, "what strategies or people can support me right now?" Asking yourself questions allows you to stay curious, opens the boundaries of fixed thinking to bring in more solutions, and empowers you to tap into your own wisdom. This exercise helped my client move away from the perfectionism/failure cycles that had plagued her past attempts and towards a feeling of unconditional win-win. That shift in language, shifted beliefs, which shifted thoughts, which shifted actions, which shifted results. Bam!
Get Strategies & Support
Developing strategies and people to support your goals are key aspects of Growth Mindset thinking. Specificity plays an important role here, too, since winning strategies are very personal. The athlete and coach who take this on learn to thrive through setbacks and challenges. One athlete I worked with had solid training and workout performances but choked whenever she ran in higher caliber races. The language I used with her was that whatever happened today was just information. We co-created a mental rehearsal routine that helped her visualize being assured at a big race, as well as a symbol she wrote on the base of her thumb--an "&"--that reminded her to stay away from limiting thoughts AND be open to discovery. Other helpful strategies are learning from peers who are practiced in the mental game, praising your effort over outcome, (it took a lot of hard work to get here), and objectively writing down what was learned with each experience.
