Premier Mindset, Part 3

The top 10 things I learned about the Premier Mindset Program

1. I don’t have control over what thoughts enter my brain, only that I have the control to choose which I FOCUS on.

2. Intrinsic Motivation is a natural extension of my vision, passion and values. Post your values and your passions where you can clearly see them. You are more likely to act accordingly.

3. Everyone could use their own personal highlight reel.

4. You can improve your performance by up to 20% by just using imagery.

5. Emotions will happen. You can’t control them, but you can control how you react to them.

6. You can’t just feel confident. But by physically doing things you do when you are confident will help you find it.

7. Find what your peak performance level is and then learn how to get there.

8. Mindfulness- allowing yourself to be frustrated at times and then focus on growing.

9. Your goals should look like a pyramid- process goals on the bottom, performance goals in the middle, and outcome goal on the top.

10. It’s true what they say 90% mental and 10% physical.

*Emotions will happen. You can’t control them, but you can control how you react to them.

I usually enter competitions and I feel 90% ready to compete both physically and mentally. When signing up for the Granite Games I thought I could be superwoman. News flash. I am not super woman. I also thought I would do the Brady Oberg Ruck March across the state of North Dakota the week before and my body would be just fine. I had been drilling my strict handstand push ups and olympic lifting the 8-10 weeks leading up to the Ruck and I was feeling really good. My nutrition had been more on point than it had during this winter/spring. I had been working the Premier Mindset and felt like I was going to crush that competition. News flash. I am not super woman. I went into the first event differently than I had for past competitions. I am typically nervous but these nerves were different. I was more worried about not getting injured that I was about performing my best. Not the mindset of the emotions you want to control your performance. I merely wanted to get through the event. I struggled with these emotions of inadequacy throughout the weekend and still do. I know I earned my spot to the Granite Games but wasn’t sure I belonged there. I know my body was physically vacant, but mentally I wanted to push so hard. There are usually difficult events in a 4 day competition where I do not have a stellar performance but typically this doesn’t last for the whole 4 days as it did during the Granite Games. I could have given up during this competition but I pressed on and used my Premier Mindset training to get the most out of my weekend. I was proud of my focus during the handstand walking, running and strongman event. Even when I didn’t feel I had that second gear, physically I did everything in my focus window to do what I could to have a good event for that. I was not proud of my mental fortitude during my handstand push up event. Typically this is a challenging movement for me, but I did not find the mental focus to really forge through and get the most out of my body on this event. This is a movement where imagery and mindfulness is still in progress and is continued to be worked on weekly if not daily. Although I did not love my emotions during this event, I was proud of my 30 minutes of re-centering after the event and allowing myself to feel those emotions and them move on from them to focus on the next event.

You can’t just feel confident. But by physically doing things you do when you are confident will help you find it.

1. Smile when appropriate, not just because I am uncomfortable

2. No excuses

3. No complaining

4. Only go to the bathroom 1-2 times before I compete… not endless trips to the bathroom because I am unsure

5. Time my fueling

6. Proud shoulders and walk/stance

7. Pre-determine my warm up and stick to it

8. Visualize me having success

9. Wave to my friends/family

10. Converse with my competitors

11. Persistence

12. Positive self talk

Sitting back and asking myself what I do (physically), like what are my mannerisms when I am confident I drew a blank right away. But then I sat back and dug a bit deeper and here are the things I do when I am confident

Find what your peak performance level is and then learn how to get there

Mindfulness- allowing yourself to be frustrated at times and then focus on growing.

YOGA with no eyes- Challenge of the week-

I challenge you this. If you have never done yoga, do it this week. Listen to your instructor fully and do what they ask. Think what they ask you to think. Just be mindful. If yoga is a part of your daily life, then try it without opening your eyes. We use sight as such a cue for everything in life, but your senses will become heightened and you will become more mindful when you have your eyes closes. Note your senses: smell, sight, taste, feel, sound, kinesthetic sense, emotion, focus and behaviors can improve your imagery skills. How does this differ from your normal practice? What did you notice more of? What did you notice less of?

Some things I noted:

1. Breathing takes a front row

2. I criticize myself less

3. I don’t compare

4. I really feel into my joint alignment and kinesthetic awareness

5. I keep my focus window clearer of things that don’t need to be there.

6. I forget who else is even in the class

7. I make it about me.