Mind Gym
An Athlete’s Guide to Inner ExcellenceThis is a great book for anyone trying to understand how to improve overall performance in any endeavor – not just sport.
How does stress/pressure affect performance? Consider this:
Imagine yourself in a parking lot. On the ground in front of you is a parking stop – the long concrete block that keeps your car from rolling to far forward. Your job is to walk from one side to the other. No problem, right?
Now imagine that the block has just been lifted up 25 feet in the air. Your task is the same, walk all the way across. The block is the same, it has in no way changed.
What’s different is the penalty for failure. On the ground there is no risk of injury or humiliation if you slip off. In the air though, at 25 feet, the question is not whether you will be injured, the question is how bad will it be.
Walking across on the ground is easy. In the air, all control seems to have completely slipped away. Why?
Logic tells us that if you can do it on the ground, you should be able to do it at 25 feet. A deeper understanding of the human condition, however, tells us that understanding how to train the mind to perform in any environment is as – if not more – important as training the body.
I recommend Mind Gym – An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence because it opens the curtain to understanding optimal performance in the extreme environment.
Eric Liddel – Profile of a Warrior Athlete
Every year on New Year’s Day I watch the movie “Chariots of Fire”.The movie is set in Europe in the mid 1920s and culminates with the Paris Olympics of 1924. There are two main characters, Eric Liddel and Harold Abrahams.
In the movie, Liddel is a missionary and is torn between running for Scotland and training for the Olympic Games and returning to China where he has lived and worked for most of his life. As it turns out, he decides to run, with the main objective of using his natural ability to serve something bigger than his own self interests.
Liddel runs with amazing passion, and often takes the opportunity to integrate desire to serve others into his racing and training by meeting those that come to see him and visiting and speaking at churches.
Liddel is selected to represent GB in the Olympic games, but runs into a snag when he finds out that his first race is on a Sunday, which conflicts with his beliefs. When he is confronted by the most powerful men of Great Brittan he stands his ground. One of those that tried to convince him to compromise said afterward:
The “lad”, as you call him, is a true man of principles and a true athlete. His speed is a mere extension of his life, its force. We sought to sever his running from himself.
Eventually both Liddel and Abrahams won gold medals in the Paris Olympics, and went on to live successful lives by their own definitions.
As I watched the movie this year, that quote stuck struck me, “a true man of principles and a true athlete”.
That, in my mind is the definition of the Warrior Athlete.
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Restlessness and Discontent
“Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.”
~Thomas Edison
The beauty of understanding the meaning behind this quote is in the realization that it’s OK to not be satisfied with where you are now. Oddly, the realization allows you to be satisfied with not being satisfied.
If you were completely satisfied with your current state in life – whether that be your level of fitness, your current career, or your proficiency in that career, or any other catagory – your progress would slow dramatically. It is the hunger to leave the current state in pursuit of greatness that fuels our efforts.
This is not to say that we cannot be content to be where we are on the path, however. In fact, if you look at your Brass Ring pursuit like the summiting of a great mountain, while the goal is to climb to the top, the beauty of the goal lies in the journey.
I really enjoyed a post I saw on CrossFit Endurance. “Sometimes we have to stop and appreciate why we do what we do.”
Enjoy your rest today.
Deep Survival
Take today off to rest the body and feed the mind. I suggest the book Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales.
Gonzales has written 12 Rules of Survival. Here is rule number one:
Perceive and Believe
“Don’t fall into the deadly trap of denial or of immobilizing fear. Admit it: You’re really in trouble and you’re going to have to get yourself out.
Many people who in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, died simply because they told themselves that everything was going to be all right. Others panicked. Panic doesn’t necessarily mean screaming and running around. Often it means simply doing nothing. Survivors don’t candy-coat the truth, but they also don’t give in to hopelessness in the face of it.
Survivors see opportunity, even good, in their situation, however grim. After the ordeal is over, people may be surprised to hear them say it was the best thing that ever happened to them. Viktor Frankl, who spent three years in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, describes comforting a woman who was dying. She told him, “I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard. In my former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.”
The phases of the survival journey roughly parallel the five stages of death once described by Elizabeth Kubler Ross in her book On Death and Dying: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In dire circumstances, a survivor moves through those stages rapidly to acceptance of his situation, then resolves to do something to save himself. Survival depends on telling yourself, “Okay, I’m here. This is really happening. Now I’m going to do the next right thing to get myself out.” Whether you succeed or not ultimately becomes irrelevant. It is in acting well–even suffering well–that you give meaning to whatever life you have to live.”
How do you get what you want?
I was driving a few days ago and saw a sign that asked that very question.That got me to thinking about Brass Ring principles.
- Define your Brass Ring – That is “what do you want?”
- Envision your Brass Ring – That is to create an image or images that embody getting or becoming what you want.
- Chart your course – That is to map out your route to getting what you want.
- Act on “the three things” – Consistently work on a small number of action items that can be accomplished in three days / three weeks / three months / three years.
- Maintain the balance of your Brass Ring – Revisit principles 1-4 on a regular basis (about every three days).
The sign asked: “How do you get what you want?” The answer that was given: “DO WHATEVER IT TAKES”.
What does all this mean?
The sign represents “Train Hard”. The Brass Ring represents “Train Smart”.
Put them together and you can “Grab your Brass Ring!”
What is YOUR Brass Ring?
In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.
Your first step is to define what you want to accomplish through your training. This is your “Brass Ring”.
Think carefully about what your main goal is. Consider whether it is your ultimate Brass Ring, or merely a step along the way.
What is your Brass Ring?
