Forging Elite Mindsets

 *Photo courtesy of www.EricNelsonPhotography.com

“It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.” – Bear Bryant

Hammering New Neurons: Begin with the End in Mind

Great achievers have trained their brains to focus on the possibilities through forging new thoughts about their ability. They block out the noise of negativity and shut out voices of doubt. They get that their mindset is a valuable resource. They become skilled in using it.   

They begin with the end in mind. 

Beginning with the end in mind is a way of thinking that involves starting and keeping in the forefront of your mind your desired end result, what you want to accomplish in your training or WOD (workout of the day). How you want to finish. To go faster, further, higher, heavier or set a new PR. Knowing what you want and aiming your brain towards it. Your body will follow.  

Here’s how;

When you begin with your end result in mind, your brain fires signals telling your muscles and nervous system to go along for the ride. It’s how the human body is wired. Your body is connected to your mind and will physically perform according to thoughts, conscious or unconscious. When you entertain self-doubt, negativity, how it’s going to suck, how hard it is, what your weakness is, how you won’t be able to do it or how fatigued you are going to feel, guess what? Your brain communicates to all your body systems to stay comfortable and under-perform in order to “survive”, which is its primary, genetic goal.  You’ve told it to do so by firing off neurons of familiar thoughts, actual pathways that have been carved from thinking that way for what could be years, or even a recent experience. There is more in you for increased performance and accomplishment. 

Using your brain and your thoughts is the key to digging it out. It will make the difference of shaving off seconds, minutes, unbroken reps, going one more mile or pushing through another round. It is in you, if you use your brain to tap into it.

Here’s where I wax the inner science of the brain for you, but in laymen’s terms that you will easily understand and apply for achievement;   

Your brain fires off neurons which are your thoughts/thinking.  Those neurons have pathways that control your body.  Think of your brain as a thick forest and neurons create the pathway the same way hikers who frequent a trail carving out a foot path in the forest.

All of your beliefs, habits and everything making up your mental reality (the way you think, what you believe about yourself and what you can accomplishments) is contained in these physical neural-pathways.  Each time you think a thought, it is communicated among your nervous system to your body.  Positive and negative thoughts are all reinforced in neural-pathway. They become part of the way we think and drive your actions.  

You forge pathways in your brain of thoughts that make up how you function, most of which happen in mili-seconds, they are unknown to the conscious brain. They make up your mindset.

The great news is mindsets are not fixed. You can reinvent them. 

You have an opportunity to reinvent and practice an elite mindset by noticing your thoughts and forging new neuro-pathways by thinking in absolutes and certainties rather than “try” or indefinites. All with that excited, nervous feeling in your gut that happens moments before a challenging workout, race, competition or any aspect of the nervous unknown that presents itself in your life. 

Best time to forge a new path is when you cross it. The moment you think it, when old, familiar thinking has come to the forefront. Like developing any skill, practice makes perfect. Elite mindsets and transforming your thinking and performance happens with same commitment and hours as physical training.  

As you practice and experience thinking different you will create the most physically complex and durable neural pathway forged and hammered into great performance and achievement. It is what I call forward thinking.  Thinking forward, or beginning with the end in mind.

Practice. Repeat. Practice. Repeat.

Practice isn’t what you do when you’re good. It’s what you do that makes you good.

Your thoughts can be altered, you will weaken old patterns of thinking with NEW thoughts; override old wiring and produce a new achievements, greater performance and what was once the next level is beneath you, giving way to greater heights of achievement.    

Do you see how your thoughts are an integral part in creating greater achievement and success?

Forging, hammering and reshaping elite thinking through practice creates a cemented highway for your high achieving neurons!

Think in certainties, think in absolutes. Think different.  

Rachael

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Watching the intensity, focus and determination of the athletes competing in the Winter Olympic Games, and the NLP Team tryouts for the 2010 CrossFit games this past weekend, I am ever reminded that fighting well begins in the mind, but must be activated the heart.  

 The Olympic Creed of Athletes denotes the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential component is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.

Fight well. 

Fighting well begins in your mind.  The mind is an amazing instrument. It will first and instinctively find a thousand reasons to stop, give in, do less and be comfortable even though our bodies have more to offer.  You must find the ONE reason to keep fighting, to press on, to overreach your limits. To fight well.  It starts with training your mind, then your heart takes over.   

Fight well.

Though winning is a valiant goal, most of the thousands of athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games know they will not receive a medal. They train and compete for the experience of an amazing world tournament that will test their limits, redefine who they are and to conquer what was once a personal best.

They fight well.

No one truly knows but you what your personal best is. Regardless of your finish, if you pushed your personal boundaries like many of the Olympic Athletes beyond where you had been before… then you have the heart, mind and Viking Spirit of the Olympics and its Winter Games origin.  You have fought well.

Train your mind to fight well. Your heart will follow.

Fight well.  Finish impeccably.

Mind Wide Open

Developing Your Greatest Skill, the Language of Your Mind for Increased Performance

By Rachael Cadden

  *Photo courtesy of www.EricNelsonPhotography.com

Before building anything, a foundation is set. In athletics, architecture and mental conditioning.  

The foundation is the basics.  By understanding and mastering the basics, we can go deeper, then improve, enhance and accelerate your mental conditioning for personal and athletic achievement.  

This entry is setting the foundation that will be your accomplice in increasing your performance, pushing beyond your limits and defying the impossible.   

All of us have our own internal language.  It is what we tell ourselves, consciously and unconsciously, and drives our achievement or lack thereof regardless of intention or will. Usually influenced or taught to us growing up by others. Some we learned and created from our own experiences and circumstances. We all have an internal language of belief about ourselves, what we can do, our surroundings and how it inhibits, limits or accelerates us from/into personal excellence and achievement.  

Example, we all grew up believing the sky is blue. In our young state we didn’t question it. What if the sky really isn’t blue? What if it was actually purple. What if I told you what you “thought” about the sky being blue your entire life isn’t actually true. Would you believe it or be open to believing it? Think about it and just notice how your mind may combat and even question the absurdity. It is the same with ingrained language patterns and beliefs. Often the mind, for survival or protection, does the same. It combats anything that challenges the story we've believed. These old languages/beliefs/stories are the driving force that often limits advancement.  

This example is obviously far fetched and will allow you to see, think and be more aware of your own thoughts in your performance and accomplishments. It’s broad and very general, most of my work is individualized and personalized, but these examples will provide insight for developing your mental conditioning by first being aware. It is your personal responsibility,  notice them, be willing to let them go and give yourself a new language. How? By practicing.

Let’s challenge what language or thoughts you have been holding onto, what stories you have been telling yourself and your belief about what you can lift, run, PR, perform, achieve, race, accomplish and crush. It begins with your awareness. Notice your thoughts going into a WOD (workout of the day), a WOD that is a challenge for you, one that scares you or involves movements that you are not “good” or “strong” at. How quick are you to think or state your reason why you are not good or strong at something. Are you beginning to see?

Awareness and thinking independently of your old beliefs is a process and isn’t remedied or conditioned overnight. It requires your action and like any skill, involves PRACTICE. The practice of being aware and thinking independently of your old beliefs. Almost every WOD does this for me.  Once you have uncovered something, you will find another layer of stories and beliefs in your language/thinking to let go of. It no longer serves you or your performance so why rehearse or hang onto it?

By the way, most of your thoughts that pertain to belief about yourself aren’t true. You just believe they are because it “feels” true.  Challenge them! I dare you.   

By doing so you give up the right to blame circumstances and outside excuses and move beyond reasons.  

Training, practice and conditioning the language of your mind will enhance and develop an elite mindset for personal and athletic achievement. Developing the language of your mind obviously overflows into all areas of your personal life, career and successes.

It’s time to learn a new language and give up your right to keep telling your story. Are you willing?  Welcome to the revolution!

What have you been thinking? Comments and questions welcome.

Stay tuned, next up: Visualization and Tapping Into Your Animal Brain.  

Rachael Cadden, Neuro Linguistics Practitioner & Mindset Coach 

Available for individual, group and specialized consults

Contact me at: Rachael@VerveEnterprises.com