Rhino Training For Personal Success

Mental Strength, Peak Performance, Personal Develpoment, Personal Success No Responses »

Feb 012012

In this post we’ll begin to cover the exercises and habits that are essential in maintaining a healthy rhinoceros spirit. Let’s face it. If you weren’t born a rhinoceros, it’s sometimes difficult to stay or rhino in a cow and sheep world.

You don’t want to be “rhino for a day”. You want to be born again; and this time as a powerful, mentally and physically strong rhino!

It’s All In Your Mind

The most important ingredient for being an effective goal charging rhino is your attitude. If you don’t think like really want to be a rhino, you won’t charge like one. You have to want to be a rhino so badly you can feel your skin growing thicker and turning grey. You should almost swear you’ve gained a couple thousand pounds and your breath has taken on a strong, hot odor. And best of all, you have an insatiable urge to charge.

You Are A Bundle Of Energy

Every muscle in your body is twitching with excitement. You have a personal goal you’re after. And unless you get out and start charging it down, you’ll feel as though you’ll explode from all the excess power cursing through your veins.

You Are A Niagara Falls Of Energy

The power in your body, you could easily light up the city of Los Angeles. You are an atom bomb waiting to be dropped (in a good way). All you have to decide is what personal goal to drop it on. Don’t waste your energy on trivial matters. Don’t let anybody or anything drain your power. Make sure you’re going after something worth your time. Think big! Rhino’s do not charge at jackrabbits. Atom bombs are not used for the Fourth of July in the Niagara Falls is not used for taking a shower.

Go after a rhino size goal: one equal to or a bit larger than your potential. Don’t underestimate yourself, you are rhino after all. Remember “it’s better to attempt something great and fail than to attempt nothing and succeed” – Dr. Robert Schuller.

You are a powerful rhinoceros…go for the biggest!

Declare Yourself A Rhino

Before you do anything else, stop reading this and two 3 x 5 cards and a pen. Don’t cheat now! A true rhino would charge right over to the drawer and get them. If you have a 3 x 5 card, get a sheet of paper and make two.

Now right in capital letters the following on your first card:

I AM A RHINOCEROS! I HAVE A DAMN THE TORPEDOES SPIRIT! I AM FULL OF ENERGY AND CAN’T WAIT TO GET UP IN THE MORNING TO START CHARGING!

On the second card, write a sentence declaring the fact that you have reached your personal goal with the date you got it. For example, if you’ve always wanted to start a martial arts school for rhino’s, you would write:

IT IS NOW JULY 1^ST, 2101 AND I AM THE SUCCESSFUL OWNER OF “THE MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL FOR RHINO”!

It is important to state it as though you already have it. And remember, say it the way you want it.

Next, put these two cards near the head of your bed.

Before you go to sleep at night, read them out loud to yourself. Do it again in the morning when you first wake up.

Read them with them with feeling and belief, but some energy and emotions behind your words.

At first, you might have to pretend that you’re excited to get up in the morning and go ahead and “fake it till you make it.” The important thing here is to make reading the cards a habit.

Just so we’re clear on this, you can’t skip a week and then read them seven times in a row. Read them once, every morning and every evening. By using your mental strength and do this unconditionally for 30 days, by the end of the month you will actually be a rhino! You’ll need to get a bigger bed and car though.

Take Action

Affirmations and writing down personal goals are absolutely no good unless you combine them with taking action.

You’ve just declared you are a rhino so now act like one! Reading affirmations and reciting goals without acting is just kidding yourself. Get in the habit of moving.

Get in the habit of not just taking action, but MASSIVE action toward your personal goals. Tell yourself that you’re excited to get up in them morning and to start charging. Then when the morning comes, leaped out of bed and start charging!

Rhino Portraits

Another good idea is to find pictures of rhino’s and hang them in your home to constantly remind yourself of your proud heritage. The home-office is a great place. The pictured will add extra inspiration around 3:00 PM in the afternoon to keep going!

Make A New Family Album

Find a picture up of a rhino family and claim it as yours. Look for posters of a charging rhinoceros. Frame it and hang it in your living room over the fire-place. Look for carved rhino’s during your exotic rhino style vacations or your local stores and zoo. The idea here is to constantly remind yourself of your heritage and that you are a powerful, charging rhinoceros.

Look out world!

Maintaining Your Rhino Energy

You just charged out of bed; showered, brushed your horn, dressed and are enjoying a hot cup of muddy water. You pick up “The Animal Daily” and what do find on the front page:

Dollar at an all time low
Water shortage predicted this summer
Unemployment rate still high
Forty rhinos killed in bus tragedy

Heavens forbid, don’t turn on the television because they will have film report on the bus strategy.

How do you think this affects your ability to charge throughout the day?

It tends to dampen your enthusiasm, doesn’t it?

Why subject yourself to this kind of negative stimulation?

You have thick skin, but seriously, there’s no reason to point a cannon at yourself, is there?

Rhino’s do not make a career of watching television. Neither do they spend the whole mornings reading about every crime and killing across the country in the paper.

Let the cows out in the pasture filled there tiny brains with the negative aspects of life. Do not ignore the negative, but don’t saturate yourself with it either. Just as weeds grow in the most beautiful gardens, life too, will always have negatives to contend with.

Watch that your garden is not overrun with weeds and remember, the news is the news because it’s not the norm.

Instead, read books and magazines stressing the positive aspects of life or something educational. We become the product of three things: who we associate with, the books reread and what we listen to.

A great place to start is by picking up a copy of “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior.” It will help transform you into a 2 ton charging rhino. You can get your today HERE.

OK…until next time, keep charging live large!

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How To Have A Successful Practice Session

Athletic Performance No Responses »

Aug 042011

We’ve all heard it, “there are guarantees in life.”

Maybe you’ve heard this as you were looking for some assurance that the car you just purchased won’t break down, or the investment you’re about to make will pay off, or the flight your about to board will arrive on time so that you can make your meeting.

While we plan for the best, it is true that there are no guarantees. The same hold true in sport. Athletic success is far too involved and comprehensive for someone to be able to guarantee success by following a simple set of guidelines.

There is always a chance that things will not work out the way you’d like them to.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to set yourself up for athletic success both on and off the field of battle. In this post we’re going to discuss how to set yourself up to have a successful practice time and time again.

While this post will focus on the mental aspects of training, keep in mind that setting yourself up for athletic success also involves controlling the other aspects of your performance such as physical training, technical training, and nutrition, etc.

Success in Practice

In competition, success is about achieving your goal. Success may be winning the race, wining the game or breaking an Olympic record. There are definite goals to demonstrate in competition that provide feedback as to a successful competition.

If you’re like most athletes, you know exactly what you want to accomplish in competition, and you see success as achieving that goal.

Practice should be no different. Success in your practice is about achieving practice goals. If you don’t set goals for each practice, you are not alone, and now’s the time to change that. The need to recognize that daily practice goal setting is the necessary first step toward setting yourself up for success in practice, and then in competition.

You should have a goal for every practice, something you want to accomplish. Even on those days when you wish you were anywhere but in practice, it is important to be able to take something, however little it may be, away from your training.

As a first step, before every practice session, ask yourself “What do I want to accomplish today?” or “What am I going to work on today to make myself better?” Oh yea…make sure you answer the questions

The answer to these questions, whether it is doing 30 minutes of cardio, lifting 3 more reps, working on specific elements of technique, or maintaining a positive attitude, is your goal. Achievement of this goal helps you set the stage for practice success.

Look For Patterns of Success

Whether you realize it or not, you know better than anyone what does and what doesn’t work in regards to having a quality practice success. Take few moments to think about and identify strategies and tactics that have produced successful practices in the past.

Identify these aspects, perhaps two or three things, you have found through your experience that you need to do to get the absolute best out of a given practice session.

In doing so, reflect on your habits, patterns and tendencies. Most athletes have a pattern that emerges that will have the greatest influence on practice success. For some it may be having the right energy level, whereas for others going in with a positive attitude has a critical influence on practice.

Two great questions to consider are:

What tends to get in your way and you have a poor practice?
What tends to help you in a great practice session?

If you can’t identify any patterns or trends, start now! Keep a practice journal and begin to log information about your practices session. Keep notes on what influences your performance, both good and bad. This will help you focus on what helps and leave the other behind.

Something’s to consider journaling about are:

How were you feeling during practice?

What were you thinking about?

What did you eat and drink before and during the practice?

Did you have an argument with someone?

How was your sleep?

What was your mood before and during practice?

Start logging this stuff now and when you look back over your records in the month you’ll begin to see patterns and trends emerging.

Leave Your Baggage At Home

It’s important to realize that you are more than just an athlete. You may be a student, a husband or wife, a brother or sister, a friend, or simply a person going through the ups and downs of life.

This means that you have things going on in your life outside of your sport. You’re undoubtedly well aware of this as you struggle to balance the numerous stresses and responsibilities in your life and still able to get something out of your training.

And how many times have negative thoughts outside of your sport crept into your mind before practice? You can set yourself up for practice success by consciously leaving these thoughts outside the practice environment.

As you get ready for practice imagine as you’re getting changed that as you take off your street clothes all the worries of the day come off at the same time. Visualize these worries actually being removed from your mind as you change out of your clothes.

Then, as you put on your workout gear image the great practice session you’re going have, run over your goals again, say a few affirmations, listen to some music that will get you pumped.

The key here is to consciously change your thoughts and state by associating the worries of the day with the removal of your street clothes and the pump yourself up by associating a great practice session with your workout gear.

During practice, commit to physically and mentally being an athlete and only an athlete.

Control Your Self-Talk

“You suck! I can’t believe you missed that list”

“That’s OK…let it go. Focus on the next one.”

In reading the above statements I’m sure you know which one will support a better practice and which one will not. Being overly negative, critical or unrealistically demanding can have a huge impact on your practice performance.

Setting yourself up for success in practice involves monitoring and controlling your self-talk. To begin, you first need to aware of how you talk to yourself. Then, commit to being your own best friend. That is, talk to yourself about what you can do and will do instead of what you can’t do or did incorrectly.

It’s all about practice, practice, and more practice. Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. This holds so true in sports and athletic performance, practice perfect, play perfect – play perfect, compete perfect – compete perfect…win.

As an elite athlete, you spend an enormous amount of time in training, so make sure your perfect practice extends to your mental preparation and goal setting. Make the most of this time by taking the steps is to set yourself up for success in practice.

Get down to the brass tacks of mental preparation, mental training and mental strength for athletic performance, come on out for a private 3-day mental training intensive. Contact Me for more information.

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The Faces of Motivation And Your Personal Success – Part III

Personal Empowerment, Personal Performance No Responses »

Jun 142011

Welcome back! This is a series on “positive motivation” bases on a e-course I’m taking. The foundation of this is rooted in positive physiology.

These series, and the e-course takes a look at the different aspects of motivation and how they can affect your personal success and reaching your personal goals.

Again, so far we’ve been talking about the “why” and “what” of motivation. Today we’re going to explore systems for the achievement of personal goals.

The Goal Systems Approach to Motivation

This “goal systems” approach is in mechanistic in nature. It sees humans similar to robots that need to be correctly programmed in order to achieve their personal goals and objective. I don’t know about you, but I don’t resonate with the idea that we are like programmable robots! Although at some level we are all programmed, I like to believe that we can choose the programs to install.

Anyway, when this mechanical approach is combined with the humanistic SDT (Self-determination theory) approach, there is a very powerful resulting process.

To introduce the goal-systems perspective, let’s go back to the “why” question of motivation. SDT says it is best to do anything “because it is enjoyable” or “because I believe in it,” (intrinsic) and not “because I have to” or “because I ought to” (extrinsic).

But if you think about it, the “why” of many behaviors of yourself or others, it very often turns out to be a bit more complex than simply “how I feel about it.” Often one goal is related to another and they can be more accurately described by statements such as “because I needed to complete X before I could move on to Z” or “because X brings me closer to Z.” In this arrangement, X (the lower-level goal) supplies the “how” of Z (the higher-level goal), and Z supplies the “why” for X.

This is how I coach around setting goals. I have my clients determine an “achievable outcome”, something one year out. Then they set SMARTER goals for 1, 3, 6, and 9 months out. The we break it down into strategies, tactics and an action plan.

This has worked VERY well. So let’s take a look several points in a goals setting system.

Goal Systems Point 1: Hierarchical Organization

This point illustrates, action is hierarchically organized, that is longer-term goals, principles, and values set the agenda for shorter-term skills, processes, and procedures. Then the shorter-term action steps give the means of bridging the gap the between the present state and a desired future state.

In other words, short-term goals act like stepping-stones that help break up overwhelming goals and give us a clear path for progress. In NLP terms we call this “chunking down.”

Imagine, for example you want to write a book. If you sat in front of a blank page on your computer screen and thought about the overwhelming task of churning out a 350 page story, you might give up, even though it is a meaningful goal to you.

Instead, what you would do is chunk down writing the book into smaller goals. You might consider writing a page or a chapter per day. Then these smaller goals will seem much easier to carry out and still putt you on the road to the long-term goal.

Goal systems are how we pull ourselves into the future — first envisioning, and then actually creating, how we want things to be. In addition, most if not all of our momentary behaviors can be located somewhere within the overall system.

The ideal action system should have a clear set of characteristics. First, every goal, at every level, should be furnished with lower-level plans, skills, and procedures, that allow people to keep bridging the gap between the present state and desired future state.

Bringing this concept back to reality, ‘self-regulatory’ tools are necessary in order to pursue personal goals effectively and efficiently. That is, goals are not just products of random luck or the shotgun approach. Succeeding at them is not a matter of effortless trial and error.

Instead, we have to be in control of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and often at a conscious level in order to succeed. First, we need to be able to keep the goal in mind; second, we need to be able to mentally compare it to our current situation, noticing discrepancies between the goal and the current situation; third, we need to be able to act effectively to bridge the gap, and fourth, we need to be able to detect when the discrepancy is gone (when we have achieved the goal!), so we can stop taking action and celebrate!

The Four Steps of Goal Systems

Keep the goal in mind
Evaluate our current situation, and be able to compare it to where we want to be in terms of the ultimate goal.
Understand what actions we need to take in order to reduce the discrepancy and move closer to the goal.
Recognize when we have achieved the goal so we can quit working and pat ourselves on the back!

Goal Systems Point 2: Goal Conflict

A second positive goal system characteristic is, goals should be consistent with each other, and not conflict with one another.

For example, it would be hard to simultaneously achieve the goals of becoming an Olympic level athlete and reading all of the masterpieces of world literature! The problem here would be a time conflict. There also can be material conflicts between goals, i.e. ”I want to own a private yacht and helicopter” but “I am dedicated to the idea of working in the non-profit sector for a low salary.” As well as logical conflicts between goals, i.e. to “become a more agreeable and cooperative person” may conflict with the goal to “aggressively grow my business by beating out the local competition”.

Chronic goal conflict is associated with chronic low-level stress and with increasing health problems over time, and thus it is worth the effort to untangle and sort out any such conflicts.

In NLP parts integration might be used to resolve these types of conflicts. People who actively pursue conflicting goals find themselves frustrated, ambivalent, or stretched thin.

So far we’ve discussed that in a “positive goal system,”

Desired outcomes should be helped by goals at lower levels of the system, and should help goals at higher levels of the system.
People should be able to realize when action is needed towards a goal, and take action effectively.
Goals should not conflict with other goals at the same level of the system, and ideally, would help and support those same-level goals.

So, how can we tell if these are the case?

One way is to diagram your own goal system thoroughly, and to explore the helpful and harmful interconnections between the different goals.

Goal Systems Point 3: The Importance of Success Expectancies

A very important issue for motivation, from the goal systems perspective, is a person’s expectancies for success. Having high expectations for success (or a high sense of self-efficacy) provides many resources.

For example, when unexpected difficulties emerge, high-expectancy people do not immediately become discouraged and withdraw their effort; No…dig into their mental strength and keep going, and why shouldn’t they, after all this is the warrior mentality.

They expect to succeed in the end. Having high expectancies also allows us to proceed with social confidence and conviction, persuading and selling others on our intentions and thereby securing their help and cooperation.

But what if a person’s expectations seem overly optimistic, unrealistic, or even self-delusory? This can happen, but there this is still an open question of “how unrealistic is too unrealistic?” The existing research suggests that overall, positive illusions provide more benefits than drawbacks, often helping people turn former illusions into current reality. As a result, the take-home message for motivators is:

Always display confidence in your or your friends’ abilities to do what needs to be done, and do not be too quick to criticize your or their high ambitions!

Goal Systems Point 4: Approach and Avoidance Goals Differ

Another important distinction from the goal systems perspective is between approach motivation and avoidance motivation. In NLP we take about “move away from” and “move towards” goals.

Approach motivation is working toward a desirable future outcome, such as making a sale or getting a new client, whereas avoidance motivation refers to trying to avoid an undesirable outcome, such as trying not to get fired or not becoming overweight.

Most goals fall into approach or avoidance. The research shows that approach framing is preferable — both for promoting greater performance and achievement, and for promoting better mood and feeling.

Why?

First, avoidance goals contain an implied reference to failure, which can in the end automatically cue failure. If I am trying not to fail, I am aware of failure as a constant possibility. Just think of when we tell children “Don’t spill your drink!” – and then they do – at least in part because we primed that thought in them!

Second, achieving an approach goal simply requires finding one path to success, from among the many paths that may be available; in contrast, achieving an avoidance goal requires avoiding (or fending off) all possible paths to failure. The latter is often more difficult.

Third, the goal system is built to take action, not to avoid action. This makes avoidance goals logically awkward to pursue.

The take-home message for motivators is therefore:

Try to use approach (moving towards) rather than avoidance (moving away from) framing, whenever possible.

This can extend even to goals like “lose weight;” as framed, this has an avoidance component (avoid weight), and might be better framed as “exercise more” or “eat better.”

Review:

In this post, we discussed the goal systems viewpoint upon motivation. This mechanistic approach, “positive motivation” means to be a high-functioning “robot”, with a well-constructed goal system full of action plans, strategies, skills, sensory acuity, and tactics, and with little conflict between goals. In this case, one makes swift progress towards the goals in the system.
Goal systems thinking can tell us a lot about the “how” and “why” of motivation, by showing which higher-level goals supply the “why” for lower-level goals, and which lower-level goals supply the “how” for higher-level goals. They can also further clarify the “how” with concepts such as planning, bridging the gap, execution intent, and preparation.
But we also noticed that goal system theories don’t talk about how the higher-level goals get into the system in the first place, i.e. did I really decide to become a doctor or this what my parents wanted?
This shows the importance of picking goals that represent one’s true values, interests, and dispositions, rather than the insistence of others – in this case the Self owns the goal system, rather than being owned by it.

OK…I hope you go a lot out of this post…I know I did! So…what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.

References:

Carver, C., & Scheier, M. (1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Carver, C., & Scheier, M. (1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Emmons, R. A., & King, L. (1988). Conflict among personal strivings:
Immediate and long-term implications for psychological and physical wellbeing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 10401048.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, N.Y: Freeman and Co.
Taylor, S. E., Kemeny, M. E., Reed, G. M., Bower, J. E., & Gruenewald, T. L. (2000). Psychological resources, positive illusions, and health. American Psychologist, 55, 99-109.
Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54, 493-503.
Bargh, J. A., Gollwitzer, P. M., Lee-Chai, A., Barndollar, K., & Troetschel, R. (2001). The automated will: Nonconscious activation and pursuit of behavioural goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1014-1027
Elliot, A.J., & Sheldon, K.M. (1998). Avoidance personal goals and the personality-illness relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1282-1299
Sheldon, K. M. & Elliot, A.J. (1999). Goal striving, need-satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The Self-Concordance Model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 482-497.
Sheldon, K. M. (2002). The self-concordance model of healthy goal-striving: When personal goals correctly represent the person. In E.L. Deci & R.M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 65-86). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Elliot, A. J., Maier, M. A., Moller, A. C., Friedman, R., & Meinhardt, J. (2007). Color and psychological functioning: The effect of red on performance attainment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 154-168.

Unconsciousness Beliefs and Personal Success – Part III (warriormindcoach.com)
Training Logs For Increased Athletic Performance (warriormindcoach.com)
Motivation! – When is it ever the right time? (beingasuccessfulwoman.wordpress.com)
Creating Action For Personal Success – Part VI (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength, Commitment And Personal Success – Part III (warriormindcoach.com)
Setting Yourself Up For Athletic Success (warriormindcoach.com)
The Faces of Motivation And Your Personal Success – Part I (warriormindcoach.com)
The Faces of Motivation And Your Personal Success – Part II (warriormindcoach.com)

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Warrior Mind Podcast – Episode # 41 – 5 Steps to Success

Podcast No Responses »

May 282011

In this episode of the Warrior Mind Podcast I’m going to go over the 5 Steps to success.

The 5 steps for success go’s hand in glove with creating a well-formed outcome and SMARTER goals. This formula can be applied to all areas of your life. Remember: it’s much easier to hit a target that is clearly defined and visible.

I’ve just opened up a new “store” Mental Training Store that has an audio program about success.

Enjoy the podcast:

Warrior Mind Podcast

Who Ever You Think You Are, You're More Powerful Then That

1 – Know Your Outcome

You need to know your outcome, you should have an outcome for everything you do Although you might be tempted to accept outcomes from someone else, your outcomes are the most important..

Choosing to do nothing or to wander through life is an outcome – realize you chose it and ask yourself ‘How well is this outcome serving me?’ When you do not have something specific to achieve, there are many other people who do have a goal and how often do you find yourself helping them to achieve their outcome! When this happens, you may feel taken advantage of or blame the other person. You need to realize that you chose that path and in doing so created the ensuing results. There is no one to blame. Be conscious of the choices you are making in your life and the consequences (rewards) that arise.

What is your outcome for getting this program? If it is to simply to listen to and read the information? If so, congratulate yourself, you are on your way to achieving it! Or you may wish to consider the following outcome: Find at least one idea in this program that if you were to adopt it today, it would change your life for the better.

When you are ready, why not set other outcomes that you would like to achieve, in the areas of health, relationships, career, family … ?

2 – Take Action

While this might seem self-evident, many people do not do this. They make up excuses, or give excellent reasons (side note: “reasons” are an indicator of limiting beliefs) of why sitting around and doing nothing or something apart from their goal is the right thing to do. This program is all about making things happen, for you or for others.

Many people with a clear outcome do not take action to achieve it. How many times have you heard a friend (or even yourself) talk passionately about building/achieving something or taking a special trip and yet, they never fully commit to it and it remains, but a dream.

For illustration purposes, suppose my outcome is to travel to Los Angeles this weekend to enjoy the restaurants and night life. Unless I take action, such as getting in my car and driving to Los Angeles (or taking the bus, train or airplane); this will remain an outcome that I would like to achieve next week, next month, next year, … .

3 – Have Sensory Acuity

If you have the awareness to see, hear and feel what isn’t working, you can change your behavior to steer you towards the desired outcome. It’s OK to be off course, as long as you are aware and make corrections.

You need to pay attention and have some form of measure to know whether you are making progress towards our outcome. Or, maybe you have already achieved it or are going in the wrong direction.

Turning to our example of spending an enjoyable weekend in Los Angeles, assume I am driving along the highway of life, when a signpost appears which says ‘Phoenix 180 miles’ (Phoenix if west of Los Angeles). I can notice this piece of information make a correction and continue to Los Angeles. Or as many of us do – choose to ignore it and continue on my current direction. Have you ever done that? I know I have when I have not been paying attention to what is important to me and what is happening in my life!

4 – Have Behavioral Flexibility

If what you are doing isn’t working, anything else has a better chance of working, so change what you are doing. Many times we just stubbornly repeat the same thing, yet that has already proven not to work. The more flexible you are in your own behavior, the more you are controlling the situation you are in, and the better you become as a communicator and sales professional.

Some of us actually see the signposts of life and choose not to admit we need to change course, behaviors, beliefs etc.

In our example, I can choose to notice that I have driven 380 miles in the wrong direction and hope that if I persist long enough in this one direction, everything will eventually work out. Or I can become aware of the signpost and decide to explore what other options are available to me – turn around at the next interchange and head for Los Angeles, or stop at Palm Springs and take a flight to Los Angels, or stay in Palm Springs for the weekend.

5 – Operate From a State of Physiology Excellence

Operating from a totally resourceful state will empower you, and as states are quite contagious, it will also empower whoever you are with. If you are not feeling too hot, change that, by adopting a physiology of resourcefulness and firing off ‘anchors’ that make you feel good.

Your thoughts (internal representations) affect your physiology and your physiology affects your thoughts. In your mind, you should have thoughts (pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes and smells) of achieving your outcome, while adopting a physiology of having already achieved it.

This reminds me of a true story told to me by a student in one of my classes. He had a friend who, after graduation from college, wanted to be an executive in a financial institution. After graduation, the best job he could find was in the mailroom in a financial institution. This did not deter him at all. Every day, he showed up for work in a suit and tie and carried himself as if he were already an executive – for in his mind, he was an executive, who just happened to be getting a little experience in the mail room. Do you think he was noticed? You bet! Do you think he advanced in the financial institution – YES! A couple of years later, management recognized what he knew all along and officially appointed him an executive in the financial institution.

Warrior Mind Podcast Episode #32 – Personal Goals (warriormindcoach.com)
Warrior Mind Podcast – Episode #34 – Emotions (warriormindcoach.com)
Warrior Mind Podcast Episode 31- Know Your Purpose (warriormindcoach.com)
Warrior Mind Podcast Episode # 36 – Four Levels of Communication (warriormindcoach.com)
Warrior Mind Podcast Episode 33 – Excellent Thinking (warriormindcoach.com)
Warrior Mind Podcast Episode #39 – Contemplation (warriormindcoach.com)
Warrior Mind Podcast Episode # 35- Mental Discipline (warriormindcoach.com)
Warrior Mind Podcast Episode 40 – Know That You Don’t Know (warriormindcoach.com)

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Lost Your Motivation For Working Out? Here’s How To Get It Back!

Athletic Performance, Personal Performance, Physical Strength 3 Responses »

Jan 272011

If you’re like most people, you workout either in the early morning before work/school or late afternoon. Often this is tough enough, but if it’s cold, dark and damp outside, well that’s a whole other story. At times is seems the bed is so much more warm a cozy then normal. These conditions can challenge even the most highly motivated individual.

Motivation—I presume you understand what this implies, correct? Athletes frequently use phrases such as “drive,” “desire,” or even “going after something with intensity” to explain or even define their motivation. They think of this as a motivated behavior that will bring them closer to peak personal performance.

We frequently believe that motivation happens completely from within the person (intrinsic), that a person is born with the “desire.” It’s important understand that motivation is really a function of both the person (an individual) and the circumstance (extrinsic). Which means that, to improve your motivation, you’ll want to address both the ‘you’ part of the process, i.e., what motivates you? why do you exercise? What are you training for? and examine the situational elements as well, i.e. the gym, your coach, your training partner and yes…even the weather. Both of these factors play a major role in your motivation.

Let’s look at a few methods to “keep your fire of desire burning” during inclement whether, the off-session and generally anytime you feel someone poured water on your embers.

1 – Vision, Goals and Maps

Many times athletes and individuals will workout with consistency, but unfortunately see minimal results. They train day-in and day-out thinking their doing good, yet often they’re simply going through the motion. When this type of mindset sinks in, it’s difficult to remain inspired since they really don’t have a specific ‘destination’ in mind.

Let’s use a driving example to illustrate this point. An individual get’s in their car and wants to go somewhere, they don’t know where they want to go, so the drive aimlessly around and simply meandering about without goal or objective…and they end up nowhere in particular. Let’s now compare this with the driver, who has a specific purpose, they want to get to 611 5^th Avenue in New York City. In addition to a known destination the drive also has a map to get there. She’s focused and purposeful as she gets behind the wheel. She knows exactly where she wants to go – Saks Fifth Avenue (sorry guys) and she knows exactly how she’s going to make it happen…when she wants to arrive…and she wants to do when she gets there. This makes for a very motivated driving and shopper, right?

Similarly, the athlete who has a specific objective in mind is definitely going to be more purposeful and motivated to get the job done. Especially when he has a crystal clear reason and vision for exactly what he’s going to be doing during each and every workout session and where those sessions will eventually lead him. Coincidently, this also applies to ALL areas of a person’s life.

A motivates athlete has:

A vision – to win the competition
A series of goals – the workouts
A map – what he/she will be doing during the workouts

To keep the fire of desire burning, create a vision, identify daily training goals and the route our going to take during the workouts (what you’re specifically going to do)

2 – The Power of Reinforcement

I know a martial arts dojo which maintains an attendance chart for the younger students. For each practice session attended, the keiki athlete was given a sticker. After two weeks of practice, if they received eight stickers they were given a reward. Equivalent techniques are utilized by parents as well as teachers to encourage suitable behavior in children, the reward for “good behavior” servers as great motivation for youngsters.

So…if it works so well for others, why not consider using this motivation technique for yourself? Rewards aren’t just for kids…or is it Trix are for kids

If you’re battle with getting out of bed when it is dark, cold and damp, or believe it’s OK to miss a practice “just one day” because there’s always tomorrow how about coming up with a reward that will motivate you to get your butt out of bed, i.e. going to see your favorite movie after five quality training sessions, going out to dinner, etc.

If this doesn’t work, perhaps a swish pattern can be used to change the picture in your mind. If you’d like to try a swish pattern let me know, I definitely can change your unmotivated picture to an inspired vision for you.

When you use the reward system always be extremely specific with what has to be accomplished. Commit to paper what you must do, how frequently you must do it and push yourself…after all this is also mind training, isn’t it? Once you’ve accomplish your personal goals…or goal, reward yourself with something of value and that’s meaningful to you. Buying a pack a gum just won’t do it. In the event that you don’t achieve your personal goals, don’t say “I was close. I’ll reward myself anyway.” Use your mental strength and hold back the reward and dig deeper next time and achieve your goal for personal performance.

3 – Look Around You

How much do think about your training environment?

Most likely…not much.

Before you start training next time look around, are there elements in your environment that you can change to provide more enthusiasm? Often it’s the straightforward changes that produce major and favorable impact on your motivation. Here are a few examples to get you thinking: For those with a home gym, do the walls inspire you? How about hanging few posters or writing some powerful affirmations on the wall? Hey, this is your room, your can do what ever you like to motivate yourself. Then there’s my favorite, playing some very powerful music like AC/DC, Metallica, Rob Zombie…to name a few. You can even add some mirrors to check out your progress…er…form.

Do you train alone? Getting a training partner can bring a positive change to your motivation. After all, will you really stay in bed knowing your partner is waiting for you at the gym? If you have a training partner, let them know things they can do and say to enhance your motivation.

This is not a one-way street so make sure you ask the same of them. What about something as simple as putting together a CD with songs that will motivate and get you energized as you drive to the gym? Or even setting “partner” goals.

Write your long-term goals on a piece of paper and tape it where you will see it prior to a workout or training session—in your bathroom, on the refrigerator, in your car—to serve as a reminder of why you do what you do.

And then before your training session, take a few minuets and visualize yourself having a great workout.

It’s important to do the “little things” in order to succeed in achieving your personal goals, you’ve heard the expression before, “Inch by inch, anything’s a cinch.

If you know you have an early morning workout, go to sleep early, don’t stay up late and watch Jay Leno. Lay out your workout clothes the night before. Put the coffee pot on auto-brew so the aroma of a freshly brewed pot will entice you from the bed.

Share your goals with your coach (like me), family or friends, but only those that will support you. Ask them to hold you accountable and don’t get mad when they challenge you when you didn’t work out today…this is part of being accountable and responsible.

We’ve all experienced those days where the last thing we want to do is get out there and put in the effort to have a good training session. We’ve also experienced those positive feelings that come with completing a great workout once. And most of us have also shared moments where we have been able to do something spectacular in a training session, i.e. personal performance record, 1 rep. max, or similar. When you have those days when you feel completely jazzed after your workout…anchor it! This way when the day comes when you’re not so excited about training just fire off the anchor and bam! You’ll be back in sate.

If you need assistance in dynamic goal setting, mental training, swish patterns or understanding about setting and firing anchors, contact me, I’d be glad to help.

There are so many things you can do to enhance your motivation. It just takes mental strength, a determined mindset and bodacious personal goals. I encourage you to take control of yourself and your environment; this will give you the best chance for personal success and peak personal performance.

Fitness Coach, NLP and Personal Performance – Part II (warriormindcoach.com)
The Mindset of Confidence – Part II (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Training and Goals For Athletes (warriormindcoach.com)

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3 Saboteurs of Human Performance and Mental Strength

Personal Develpoment No Responses »

Jan 112011

I think everyone deserves to have mental strength, don’t you?

Before I begin I’d like to give a quick definition of what mental strength is. For the sake of this post let’s define mental strength as “The ability to overcome mental resistance and intentionally cause things to happen” (i.e. human performance). We could break this definition into many parts and examine each of them – check into my other posts for further information.

For this post I’d like to focus on “mental resistance.” Without resistance of any kind strength cannot be developed. Look at muscles. If they don’t meet with some resistance, i.e. weightlifting, they will not gain strength. The same is with mental strength. The mind and your thoughts have to meet with mental resistance and move past them. Once you move past them you’ll then gain mental strength. Then next time you face the same or similar situation (resistance) it will be easier for you to move past it.

The trick is not to break under the pressure of the resistance. If we use our personal power and consciously and intentionally move past the resistance we develop our mental strength. The opposite is also true. If we give in, we develop mental weakness. This difference can be subtle, but to be an aware observer it is quite obvious.

To help become an aware observer here are the 3 saboteurs when facing mental resistance:

Don’t Attempt the Perceived Threatening Activity: If you listened to your conditioned mind you when facing a perceived threatening experience you’ll say “This is crazy, I don’t have to prove anything, and I’m out of here!” Sometimes (very rarely) is this the appropriate action. But most of time if you do the opposite you not only survive and develop mental strength, you also have some fun!
Compromise Your Personal Goals: Let’s say you get all jazzed about accomplishing something great. You set the goal and off you go. Then at the first or second sign of resistance you question yourself and your goal. You them bring the goal down, in other words, you compromise your goal. This automatically reduces the mental resistance associated with the goal and you lose the mental strength needed to reach your original goal.
Try to be Mentally Stronger: This may sound like a contradiction, how can this be a saboteur? If you want to become mental stronger you tell yourself I’ll try to be mentally stronger. Now I’m sure you’ve heard a thousands times the famous Yoda quote, “Do or do not, there is no try.” Well this hits so hard that many of us just laugh it off. But when you really, I mean really think about it, “try” has an automatic failure built in. “Try” looked at as failure with respect. You can practice mental strength, but you cannot try to be mentally stronger.

So, as Nancy Passmore said, “Awareness is participating in your own evolution.” I hope these three simple, yet powerful points have brought awareness to you so that you can step into your personal power, evolve and develop the mental strength required to achieve your personal goals!

OK…your thoughts? Let me know in comments below.