Your mind is a really powerful tool. Whether it’s in your personal and professional life or in your training, a positive mindset will lead to positive results. Let’s find out how to build a mind of steel that will help you to overcome every obstacle and challenge.
1/ Make the most of what you can control
The first very important step to build a bulletproof mindset is to make the difference between what’s under your control and what’s not.
This first step will allow you to focus on what you can change in your training or more globally, in your life, and to put aside the negative feelings or circumstances that will just affect your stress level and impact on your performance.
By staying positive and optimistic, not only you’ll be more efficient and be able to reach your full potential, but also, you’ll see and experience less of the things that are outside of your control.
For example, you’re in the middle of a CrossFit competition, where you’re doing great, and the next workout is a handstand walk obstacle course. Handstand walk is one of your biggest weakness and you’re probably not gonna shine in this event.
Do you have any power over the situation? No. So, do you want to spend all your energy being frustrated, and blaming the competition organizer? Or do you want to make the most of what you can control and give 1000% of your best?
A quote from Henry Ford that I really like says:
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”
That’s the point. Believe in yourself and you might be surprised.
2/ Fix long and short-term Goals
Once, you overcame the first step, it’s important to set short and long-term goals.
Without any goal, you’re not going anywhere. If you cannot write down what you really want to achieve in your life, in your week or even your day, then, there’s a lot of chances that you get lost.
Your long-term goals are something you really want to achieve as a lifelong dream, a career objective, a place you want to visit, having your first muscle up … It can be anything that will fuel your motivation.
From this long-term goal, you’ll fix short-term goals which will be little steps that you can easily reach and that will make you confident in your ability to reach your ultimate goal.
3/ Turn the negative thoughts into positive self-talk
Whether it’s at work, in your private life or in the gym, your negative thoughts, even though they can be hard to notice sometimes, can lead to bad internalized feelings.
Walking in the gym like, “That’s gonna suck, I wish I was still sleeping, I won’t be able to lift that for sure” is only going to defeat you and before you know it, everything seems to be worse and worse.
Even small things like “It’s so cold”, which looks like just an insignificant comment that everybody could do in winter, is actually having a bad impact on your mindset.
If you start thinking that’s it’s cold, unconsciously you’re already finding an excuse that will explain your bad performance of the day.
When you catch yourself doing this, stop and try to replace those negative messages with positive ones. For example, « It’s so cold this morning » becomes « Having the opportunity to train with different types of climates is gonna make me a better athlete, ready to face any kind of challenge. »
Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, and your actions dictate your destiny.
It’s all about the initial mindset that we create.
4/ Don’t compare to others
The last thing you want to do is comparing your weaknesses with someone else’s strengths.
Comparing yourself to those who are faster, stronger and in better shape than you is the best way to generate negative thoughts and to underestimate yourself.
Even though some person can be an inspiration to you, don’t try to copy them. Instead, you can learn lessons from their success and apply those keys to your own goals.
Everyone is different and has its own path.
Don’t waste your energy trying to be like someone else and focus on how to make your journey the best. You can work to change things but do it on your terms to be a better version of yourself.
5/ Surround yourself with positive people
Jim Rohn said,
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.
People have a huge impact on your life and If you have positive people in your life, you’ll be surrounded by positive stories and positive affirmations.
Finding those people can be difficult, but you need to eliminate the negativity in your life before it consumes you. Negativity is contagious, so don’t let other people diminish your happiness.
Do your best to improve the positivity of others, and let their positivity affect you the same way. Your positivity will always be rewarded at the end and it will only attract good things to you.
6. (Bonus)
SMILE !
