Studies in New Zealand Journal of Sports Medicine have found that your personality contributes to your athletic achievements. It seems that optimists, planners and self-determined individuals are more likely to find themselves standing on the podium than pessimists, anxious folk and those who do not plan. But just because you choose to think negatively today doesn’t mean you can’t change your ways and become the optimist of tomorrow.
Pessimism is unhealthy. Being realist has its drawbacks too. Optimism on the other hand, even when things don’t pan out the way you want them to, has many benefits. It keeps you going when the going gets tough. It means running further even though your thighs are burning; pushing harder when the only thing you want to do is drop to the ground; it’s not giving up when that’s the only thing that makes sense.
So if you want to become an optimist, change your ways today. Whenever negative thoughts like the following arise, you need to get rid of them because they are jeopardizing your chance of success;
I’m not good enough
She’s faster than I am
There’s no way I can run that distance
Who am I kidding I’m no Ironman
You’re going to make a fool out of yourself
She’s faster than I am
There’s no way I can run that distance
Who am I kidding I’m no Ironman
You’re going to make a fool out of yourself
That’s just your mindset holding you back. There’s nothing to say that you can’t be at the top of the podium receiving the gold, silver or bronze. Sure genetics and training since you were young might help things but in this world there’s little that is impossible. It all comes down to who we are and who we want to become.
From this moment on change the way you think. Instead of the above, try these:
I am good enough
I’ve been training hard and my speed has improved
I can train myself to run that distance
I can work my way up to the Ironman
I’m going to do something most people only dream about doing
I’ve been training hard and my speed has improved
I can train myself to run that distance
I can work my way up to the Ironman
I’m going to do something most people only dream about doing
Eliminate ‘no’, ‘can’t, ‘not good enough’ and ‘impossible’ from your vocabulary. These words are planting thoughts in your mind that are destroying your chances of true success. What you believe you will become. So instead of thinking “I can’t”, start by saying “I can”.
A year ago I couldn’t imagine running 21.1km nonstop. My best run was about 10km and I feared doing anything longer in case I made an idiot of myself. Then I realised that my limiting beliefs were stopping me from doing something that was important to me. So I signed up for a half marathon and finished it in a much better time than I could have anticipated with not much more training than I was already doing. I simply changed my mindset from ‘I don’t think I can’ to ‘I know I can’. It wasn’t about coming first or placing, it was about participating and finishing with my head held high.
Reference Corbam R 2010, The relationship between personality and performance in endurance sport, in New Zealand Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 23 – 25
