Every day for the past month I’ve been texting my Competition Team a little daily mantra to “Be Perfect Today.” You see, I’m not looking at the end result, although I have all of their show dates in mind. What I’m more concerned with is their day-to-day functions and activities. Are they doing everything they can and SHOULD do to achieve their best look onstage come contest day? Are they able to keep their heads on straight as they navigate through these tough waters? For some, it’s an easy accomplishment. For others, in fact, for many, it’s psychologically challenging. Their mental focus and ‘game day’ mindset is lacking. So as Coach, my job is to do whatever I can and have to do to keep their heads on straight. That means every single Saturday since mid-January we’ve been meeting to not only go over diet, nutrition, posing, presentation, and all other aspects of being onstage, but most importantly, we start Every. Single. Saturday. with at least 30 minutes of mental training, and most sessions are 45-60 minutes. Yes, it’s me talking a lot, but we also watch videos of some of the greatest mindset-oriented athletes, such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. I share with them the teachings of my college professor, Dr. Colleen Hacker, one of the leading Sports Psychologists in the country, and Psychology Coach to the Women’s National and Olympic Soccer team many years ago.
For those of you struggling to stay on task, you’ll be pleased to know that each day through the Emerald Cup, I’ll write a quick blog looking at the mental discipline of competition training. These blogs of daily affirmations may be the ticket to seeing you through to the end. If you know of someone struggling, please pass this along. Either way, subscribe, follow, and share so that all may become better. This first blog is the longest as it sets the foundation. All other blogs will be somewhere between 500-750 words each – a quick read. If you’ve read any of my other blogs, you know that I typically write in the 1500-2500 word range. This is simply a ‘bite’ of a blog. Let’s get started…
Do you believe in yourself and what you can and will accomplish? I’m not talking about what your coach feeds you. I’m not talking about what your facebook friends tell you when you post selfies, status updates, and food porn seeking adulation, affirmation, and confirmation. I’m talking about what YOU believe about you. You see, what we do is simple, but not easy. And all the words from others will have little impact if YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN YOU! You’ll find a way to self-sabotage. You’ll self-destruct under pressure. And boy, will there be pressure. But we’re not here to talk the negative talk. We’re here to build you up. To get you to understand that there’s something greater in you than you think you possess. It doesn’t matter whether this is your first or 50th show, you must learn to dig deeper. So the goal is to be perfect. Not for 12, 16 or 20 weeks but for today. Be perfect today. Not tomorrow. Today. If you weren’t perfect yesterday, let it go. It’s done and over with. You can’t do anything about it, so why worry over it? Once the milk has spilled, you simply clean it up and move on. Be perfect today.
John Wooden, arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time once said, “The greatest satisfaction for me would be sitting on the sideline watching my players execute perfectly and never have to say a word the entire game. It wouldn’t matter if we won or lost, because the OTHER team could ALSO be executing perfectly. AND they could be more talented. That’s out of our control. But if WE executed perfectly then I’m happy.” Coach Daly of the Connecticut Women’s Basketball team was reputed to have said, “If you don’t want to give me your best, then go play for someone who likes to lose…” Do you see where I’m coming from? Talking about what you’re going to do, and DOING it are two different things. And cheating on your foods when you’re not supposed to by either eating too much or missing meals, skipping cardio, cutting back on cardio, reducing cardio intensity and working in your ‘comfort zone’, and buying into the ‘light weights define and cut you up’ BS will do nothing but cause you to sabotage yourself. Do you want to look your absolute best, and feel good…no…feel GREAT about what you just accomplished? Be perfect today.
See ya’ll tomorrow…
Doc
