Rugby Strength Show # 8 – The Secret to Being an Elite Athlete
Today’s lesson is simple:
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
Watch the video to see what I’m talking about and how it relates to YOU…
The biggest mistake I see young athletes make is that they do not believe that they can improve at a fast rate. This disbelief then transfers itself into poor physical performances, justifying their initial limiting beliefs and causing little to no progress in their sporting performance.
But why do people think like this (and it isn’t just young athletes, this applies to ALL people!)? Why do we limit ourselves?
Well…
It is a LOOONG way to go from being a 12 year old benching just the bar to believing that you can become a pro athlete and bench 160kg+, you’d have to be crazy to think you could do that, right? Remember when you were 5 years old and it felt like waiting for Christmas was the same as doing a lifetime sentence on death row? It’s the same thing. When you really want something it feels like it takes a long time to happen.
It takes someone who is a little crazy to believe that in 5, 10 or 15 years time they will be the BEST athlete in the world. Why the hell would you believe that? The mental pain of failing is what our brain is HARD-WIRED to avoid. Our brain does not like to feel the emotional side of failing at a big goal like this, so by setting limits for ourselves where we can always operate successfully, our brain feels HAPPY.
“I think that there is a certain delusional quality that all successful people have to have. You have to believe in something different than what has happened for the last 50 million years of history, you have to believe that something different can happen.”
~ Will Smith
I’m here to tell you that it is OK to fail, it is ok to have a bad day, it is NORMAL to fall off the wagon, even EXPECTED to happen to everyone on the road to GREATNESS. But come back tomorrow and TRY AGAIN, have a better day, try to succeed and get back on the wagon! These are temporary defeats on the journey to your goals.
It is NOT OK to walk away from your journey and admit permanent defeat. Because then you really have failed. The mental pain you’ll have from NEVER knowing whether you could have achieved your goal or not is the worst pain anyone could have because it lasts FOREVER.
Try to apply this in everything you do, it may seem tough at first, but trust me it gets easier!
That's your lesson for today, now go and get your goals!
Anthony