As we rushed onto the field for our second home game I could hear everyone screaming for us. It was a different sound than last year when we were a football team that lost all 9 games and 8
out of 9 games the year before. We had already won our first 2 games of the season and felt unstoppable. Our classmates, the alumni and our coaches believed in us. Most importantly we believed in our selves. We went on to have a season of ups and downs. We won five games and lost four. In three out of the four losses we were only outscored by 6 points combined.
We gave it our best and fought tooth and nail every time we hit the field. Unlike previous years, we didn’t doubt ourselves. I think that made a world of difference. Many players that had a negative outlook had graduated or decided not to play this year. We had less players, but it didn’t matter. The negative locker room talk was gone. It was like removing a smog and now we could clearly visualize what we wanted to accomplish and how to get there.
I meet so many people that are like my winless football team; they have the ability to reach their goals but they have negative locker room talk in their heads. They say things like, “I don’t have the discipline to do online training or eat right.” Or they meet me and immediately tell me about their past fitness failures and how those failures will stop them forever. Can you imagine Lebron James going to the microphone before the game and saying, “Thank you all for coming out tonight, we are going to lose”? He’d never do that and neither should anyone kick off a fitness regimen with that kind of self-talk. When you think negatively and say negative things you create a loop that is hard to break. It goes from your mind, to your mouth, to your ears and back into your mind. Your body cannot achieve what your mind can’t conceive.
You have to speak life into your goals. You have to create a positive mental loop by being mindful about what you think and say. Visualize your goals and pump yourself up. You have to be your own best cheerleader. Write down your goals and imagine how it will feel to accomplish them. That will brew up all kinds of positive energy that will impact your attitude even in the face of adversity. You need to remember that you were not designed to fail. Also find like-minded people with similar goals to connect with. That way you all can pump each other up. And stay away from people that don’t believe in you. Those energy suckers have their own issues.
Your goals are important. Don’t make them harder to achieve by knocking yourself down during the journey. The only time you should look back to past failures is to analyze what you can do better this time. Step into your journey with positive thoughts, positive words and positive actions. You got this.
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