Cultivate A Winning Mindset In 2021!
We made it to 2021 guys!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
To kick-start this year, I’m sharing 5 tips to help you cultivate a WINNING mentality for the year ahead. I have also created a video for this topic as my first Fit With T video of 2021, so make sure to check it out!
So, here are five things you’ll need to implement to build a winning mindset in this new year:
1 — Aim for Something
“If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” ~ Zig Ziglar
Many people don’t aim for anything. They don’t set goals and they don’t really like to have expectations due to the fear of failure/disappointment. However, though this may seem “safe” on the surface, this type of fear will cripple you and hinder you from rising above mediocre.
Personally, I believe that we should always be prayerful about any goals we set so that we place our expectations in the right place. Nevertheless, we still need something to hope for, a goal to look forward to — that’s just the way we’ve been created.
Hope does that for us. The ability to hope is a gift that God has given to all mankind. Whether you’re a believer or not, you need to use that gift to dream, to imagine, to aim for something.
Whether it’s in sport, fitness, or life in general, we can’t hope to achieve greatness “by accident”. We must first see the destination in our mind before it becomes words, and then action/reality. We must first aim for something.
2 — See Failure as a Set-Up and Not a Set-Back
“There are no failures — just experiences and your reactions to them.” ~ Tom Krause
If you want to cultivate a winner’s mentality this year, you’ve got to change your view on failure.
Yes, the definition of failure is the lack of the desired result. However, failure is not fatal or final unless you allow it to be.
Choose to see failure as not achieving the desired result YET. Choose to see failure as a learning curve or opportunity for redirection.
Even where your “failure” may be public, choose not to allow embarrassment or shame to cause you to quit completely. Instead, see failure as something that is part of the process and not the end of the process.
3 — Don’t Be Afraid To Change The Plan When Necessary
“If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, but never the goal.”
I want to tweak this quote slightly and say that sometimes you might need to tweak your understanding of the goal.
Sometimes what we thought was the goal, isn’t the actual goal. Sometimes it's the process of doing a thing that is for a completely different purpose than what we have in mind — a much bigger purpose. So sometimes the goal needs tweaking i.e. we need to adjust our mindset to see the bigger picture.
At other times though, where we do have the right goal in perspective, the method/plan may not be working so we need to pivot, redirect, or outright change the plan and that’s ok. We can’t be afraid to change the plan. Just make sure you’ve actually implemented the plan consistently or diligently before you conclude that it doesn’t work. Be disciplined and give the plan a chance, but if the plan doesn’t work — adapt!
4 —Monitor Your Journey
“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” (Habakkuk 2:2)
What isn’t monitored, can’t be measured, and can’t be managed. If you have nothing recorded, how can you assess if the plan is working or not? How can you adjust or adapt when you don’t even have a written plan or documentation of the process?
It doesn’t matter how great we think our memories are, there will always be things we forget or omit if we don’t keep a record. That’s why I’m such a big advocate for journals and diaries.
If you’re an athlete in need of a training diary, check out my #TrackLife - Athlete Training Diary.
If you’re a fitness enthusiast, check out my Train Smart Workout Logbook.
5 —Make A Decision To Persevere
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” ~ Winston Churchhill
Perseverance is the stuff champions are made of. If it were easy to keep getting back up after a set back, everyone would do it, but it’s not.
Nevertheless, if we make a decision with our heart (using our free will choice), we give God an opportunity to strengthen us and help us to honour that decision.
The problem is, many people don’t make a decision prior to a circumstance arising. Instead, they allow the situation or peer pressure to dictate their reaction or choice.
If you want to cultivate your inner winner, acknowledge that the journey you are on won’t be 100% smooth (that’s just life). Instead, make a decision about what you’re going to do should XYZ happen. Make a decision that you’re not going to give up, that you’re going to keep pushing forward.
It’s human nature to want things quickly, but anything worth having in life requires TIME. Choose that you won’t let time or difficult circumstances force you to quit, but that when you come to a bump in the road, you’ll acknowledge your learning possibility, assess your progress (based on what you’ve monitored), adapt your plan/perspective if necessary, and then continue ahead with persistence!
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment below and/or share it with a friend.
Want a personalised plan for your sport/fitness journey? Train with me.
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