This blog post has been inspired by a quote I put up on my Mental Skills Training FB page a week or so ago. After I came across the quote and posted it on my wall, I decided to use the quote with a team I was working with to create a theme for our time together. I loved the idea of applying the concept to sport and decided it would be make a great quote-inspired post.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
This idea has many applications to athletes from both team to individual performance. If you want things to be different, you have to do something different. If you aren’t happy with the way things are going with your team or your performance and you want things to change – that change needs to start with you.
Team Sports
When I work with a team I will sometimes see that they are stuck in this place of wanting things to be different, but not knowing what to do about it. What Gandhi so eloquently stated was that if you want things around you to be different, you need to start with yourself. Oftentimes we sit around and wait for things to change or wait for someone else to initiate the change. If you want things on your team to be different, you may need to be the catalyst that starts things off. When you inititate the change, you may be the first domino that falls and creates the momentum for the rest to follow.
Individual Performance
I wish I had more confidence.
I wish I wasn’t so hard on myself.
I wish I wasn’t so nervous before competition.
You can’t just wait around wishing things were different and expect anything to change, but sometimes that’s exactly what we do. If you want things to be different, you have to do something about it. What is it that you want? Here is an easy little exercise to move in the direction of the change you want to see. Think about what you wish were different and on a piece of paper, write out your answers to the following questions:
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- What do I need to STOP doing in order to make this change?
- What do I need to START doing in order to make this change?
- What do I need to CONTINUE doing in order to make this change?
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Being the change often means pushing out of your comfort zone. Knowing both why you want to make this change and what it will mean if you make this change, can give you the courage it takes to push out of your comfort zone.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It’s time to break out of your box. No more waiting around for things to be different. You have more power than you think. You can start the dominoes moving.