You’re an athlete.
You have goals.
You know where you are.
You know where you want to be.
And, you have a rough idea of how you are going to get there.
You’re laser focused on your goals.
Nothing else matters.
Everyday, when you go into the rink, thoughts about goals fill your mind.
How close are you?
Will you be able to reach them today?
These types of thoughts dominate your mind.
This is normal, but it’s also a pitfall.
At first it may help motivate you, but as the time it takes to master a skill increases, it can turn into a demotivator instead.
When you’re trying hard and not seeing improvement, it can become frustrating.
This can cause you to lose sight of the fact that you are still improving, and lead you to want to quit.
When we’re focused on our lack of progress, we get stuck in our heads.
We believe that we aren’t making progress and that everything is taking too long.
How to succeed
In order to reach any goal you have to try, fail, and refine.
Mistakes are part of the process.
They help point us in the right direction.
Now let me preface this by saying, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to get results.
You wouldn’t be a competitive athlete if you didn’t have a burning desire to reach your goals.
But, as skills get more complex and it starts to take longer to reach your goals, this desire can lead to frustration.
So we don’t go crazy, we need an alternative.
Luckily, there’s a way to get there with less stress.
A smoother, faster way.
You know what it feels like to be tired.
You know what it feels like to be frustrated.
You know what it feels like to dread going to the rink.
But even when you’re feeling down on training, there’s a small part of your brain that’s excited.
If there wasn’t, why would you continue to work so hard?
This part of you is excited when you land a jump.
It’s happy when you skate well.
It’s satisfied when you reach a goal.
The only problem is it’s been too long since you’ve had that feeling.
Find something to celebrate
How would it feel to live in that place where good feelings exist?
The more you live in that place the better you’ll feel, and the stronger your mindset will be.
When you feel better and your mindset is more resilient, your skills will improve faster.
But, how do you live in this mythical place?
How can you harness its power?
The key is to celebrate your successes.
Start by noticing your bigger successes, then work your way down to finding the smallest ones.
This might sound hard, but it’s actually pretty straight forward.
However, like learning any skill it will take a lot of practice and repetition to master.
Everyday, make it a point to look back on your practice and find one thing that you were successful at.
It doesn’t matter if training was terrible.
It doesn’t matter if you couldn’t land anything.
You have to find at least one success, no matter how small it might be.
Maybe you stayed on until the end of the session, even though you were cosplaying a zamboni.
Maybe you completed your reps even though you were ready to go home.
Maybe you modified your plan to focus on exercises because your jumps were off.
If you can’t find something from practice, look for something outside of it.
Maybe you ate your favorite food.
Maybe you don’t have homework.
Maybe you have a roof over your head.
All of these things are worth celebrating.
A different perspective
It was the last session of the day.
You were doing great, but during the last five minutes you hit the wall.
All of a sudden, you started falling on everything.
You couldn’t do a jump to save your life.
Many athletes let those last five minutes shape their perception of the whole day.
Even though the rest of the day was great, they feel like it was horrible.
However, if you look back on your day and tally up your small successes, you might realize that it wasn’t so bad.
This is how you build momentum.
This is how you keep the ball rolling.
This is how you achieve your goals faster.
As you continue to do this, you’ll be able to look back on truly horrible sessions and pick out small successes.
Maybe, your jumps felt a little better.
Maybe, you rotated a bit more.
Maybe, you stood up on a landing.
Instead of forcing yourself into a positive mindset, this process will lead you to the same place.
You will naturally be able to pick out the good from the bad, instead of becoming stuck on the bad in the good.
Celebrate your successes
You perform better when you aren’t miserable.
It’s common sense.
When you’re excited to work on something, you perform better.
And, this doesn’t only apply to skating.
You want to rewire your brain to become more aware of your successes.
You want to focus on the good, rather than the bad.
Momentum increases momentum.
When you focus on your small successes:
- You’ll think clearer.
- You’ll improve faster.
- You’ll be happier.
- You’ll be more relaxed.
- Your muscles will work better.
- You’ll be engaged in what you’re doing.
- You’ll be excited.
- You’ll be eager to move forward.
- You’ll have less resistance.
- You’ll be more resilient.
- You’ll bounce back quicker.
- You’ll be able to problem-solve better.
When you ignore your successes, everything is like slogging through the mud.
But once you start acknowledging them, a new world will open up.
Start celebrating your successes, no matter how small.
You’ll find you’ll improve faster.
Mental skills training can make a difference because it can help you access what is already there during competition and practice.
Start here: download “Confidence Myth Busters,” a complimentary eBook and make a change.