What do you think of when I say mindset? In my experience most people think about improving mindset by thinking happy thoughts or staying positive. While this seems helpful we can’t just ignore the reality of our situation. Instead it’s about choosing to focus on the right things in spite of what may or may not happen.

As Michael Jordan so eloquently once said: “Why would I think about missing a shot I haven’t taken yet” ? And yes so many of us focus on the worst case scenario or what we don’t want to happen.

Because when we focus on what we don’t want to happen (otherwise known as worrying) it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You see our subconscious is a powerful thing and when you consistently don’t believe in yourself or think you are capable, your actions manifest this into reality.

Let me give you an example. Okay I want you to get to a quiet place where you won’t be distracted. Now the first thing is I DON’T want you to think about the pink elephant on a tricycle…. Okay what are you thinking about? Of course it’s the pink elephant!

The mind body connection is powerful and how you think inherently affects the way you show up at work, with friends, in social settings or at the gym. What has the single biggest impact on what you think is your WORDS!

Yep that’s right the words you speak affect the way you think more than anything else. So if you are constantly having negative self talk then when you show up to a sales meeting, have a new date, or step up to the barbell ready to attempt a PR all that negative talk is going to be translated into the way you act. 

Instead of showing up with confidence and belief you are going to get small and present yourself in a way that makes you or others doubt your own ability!

This is broken down into what we call the Survival vs Creation Mentality.

The Survival Mentality is when we focus on what we don’t want to happen (worrying). This is often true in the gym when we focus on not wanting to be last, getting embarrassed, or failing. 

The result of this mentality can result in cherry picking workouts we do well in or scaling rather than pushing ourselves.  In some cases we may stop before starting because we are so afraid of failing. I see many people just not show up to workout or quit a diet program before starting because they are so afraid of failure or what other people think.

Instead we want to shift to the Creation Mentality: focusing on what you do want to happen. Instead of focusing on not doing well in a workout you focus on what you want: to get better! Which means doing a workout that will give you the best training to improve, without worrying about how others view what you did that day. This also means showing up every day with the best you have! You want to see progress so you get to the gym or open up the cookbook and don’t let fear paralyze you.

After all, the only way you can fail is by quitting.

So quit worrying about a shot you haven’t taken yet, by focusing on only making shots!

Coach Taylor