My awesome team of coaches, Rodney, and I went to a pretty incredible education summit for sports performance the last two days. It was put on by one of the best strength coaches in the country and the line up of speakers ranged from brilliant physical therapists to NBA strength coaches.
The first day was totally my style. Lectures, learning, and discussion.
BUT…
Day two was a full day of speed and agility training with an amazing coach and expert in sports speed training and development. It was participation unless you just wanted to watch all of the drills and not truly immerse yourself in how to coach athletes to be quicker. I knew I needed to participate, but I was scared.
Why? I have never been a competitive athlete. I’ve participated in sports, but never at a level that would demand me to get better than those around me. I stopped playing sports when I was a freshman in high school and became a manager for our high school soccer team. It got me the credentials and experience I wanted in sports, and that was pretty much it. Trying in sports meant failing in sports at the time, so I never really developed my mental resilience. Amy history in sports came from very punitive style gym classes. I failed all physical tests except the endurance run (10 minutes of running in a circle nonstop). This at a young age set me up to have a fixed mindset on what I was capable of in athletics. (an F student) I do not like to compete athletically, so I rarely do.
However, yesterday I was faced with doing very athletic movements and drills with all men (sports performance has very few women coaches), many former professional athletes while they coached you in your movements.
I was pretty nervous to say the least, but I really had to get over my ego and try because I am always wanting to become the best coach I can for my athletes.
For 8 hours I participated in drills. I ran races. I accepted constructive criticism. I laughed at failed attempts. I celebrated racing against all guys and not coming in last, lol. I overcame a fear.
Why am I telling you this?
I’m telling you this because we all are caught up in our own preconceived version of an untouchable self. One that thinks it can predict when we are going to fail, so we don’t try. One that thinks it knows what we are capable of, so we don’t get better. One that thinks new things are hard and therefore need preparation before execution never actually doing anything but analyzing situations.
And this untouchable self blocks us from experiencing our potential. We stay the same because we know what we can do today, but we don’t try to do more tomorrow. We avoid what might work better than what we are doing now.
I see this all of the time.
A lot of people are afraid of the weight room, afraid of the path of learning, because they might stumble. But the thing is…is that you will.
But you will also have a lot of wins. You also will learn your hidden capabilities. You will increase your strength 100% of the time. It is inevitable.
Get out of your own way if you feel like you are not living a healthy life. Go all in. Don’t avoid something you’ve tried before and failed because it is scary. Truly, you will surprise yourself of what you have learned from the last experience and you will be much more successful than the last time.
I promise.