TriAptitude Coaching

I just checked my e-mail on my Yahoo account and the news wire had a breaking update showing angry Trump Supporters besieging Capitol Hill and taking over both chambers of Congress during what should have been the confirmation of the Electoral vote count of the 2020 presidential election. I am angry and fearful about these events and so many others which have taken place in the US recently. The divisiveness in this country has become increasingly shocking over the past several years. We face uncertainties in our lives even during the calmest of times. It is always a challenge to navigate life choices, careers, personal and family responsibilities and to then find the right balance for better emotional and physical health. For many people right now, it has become virtually impossible to maintain a steady life balance due to the current circumstances in our world. There are constant worries- big anxiety- about the Covid19 pandemic, about the state of affairs in our government, about the general health and well being of our loved ones, how the current crises in the world will affect the economy and ultimately our financial security. Tension levels and blood pressures across the world are rising. Stress. It distracts us from healthy life choices and leads us down a destructive path if we allow it. We can lose focus of the small daily achievements which would normally bring us joy and a feeling of accomplishment. Personal victories are overshadowed by negativity. How do we stay on task to reach inner peace for ourselves when we are surrounded by so much uncertainty in the world at large??

Well, I sure wish I had the magic answer to that question. But, honestly, I am struggling to answer that one myself and to decide how we as a people move forward to a better place. But, I believe we as individuals can make a huge difference. What I do know is that when we as individuals are able to control and promote the positive aspects of our personal lives, then we have a brighter perspective on our own future and the future of those we love. So, let’s start there. How can we, on a daily basis, make our lives happier and set realistic goals for ourselves in our hope to find a stronger and more self-confident self? And, since I am a triathlon coach and personal trainer who dedicates my life to helping people achieve their personal goals, let’s explore how we might achieve this in the context of health and wellness. Today, I am going to share three strategies for accomplishing this!

Daily Affirmations

Each of us is constantly immersed in our internal thought process. Our internal dialogue has a tremendous impact on our emotions and what we believe to be our reality in a given moment. Positive affirmations are a powerful way to refocus negative feelings and thoughts. As athletes, our thoughts have a direct impact on our performance- for better or for worse. So, let’s make it for the better. Positive thoughts will lead to positive actions which produce positive results. We do not want our minds to run away with negative thoughts. If so, we lose control over our emotions and the actions we take. This is where daily affirmations come into play. We want to run our own self-statements and we want them to be motivational, inspirational and directional. What is a Positive Affirmation? An positive affirmation is a self-statement which is strong, positive and spoken in the present tense about a goal which has the potential to be fulfilled. An affirmation is given in the present tense so that you program your mind to believe that it is a goal which has indeed been accomplished. Your health and relationships can all be directly affected by the repetition of a positive affirmation. Your sports performance can also be directly affected by positive self-talk by creating the belief that, “I can do this!”. These creative phrases can reconstruct a negative dialogue into an inspiring one and lead us to success. So, choosing the right words can help you achieve your dreams!

How do we use affirmations? Affirmations can be used daily to improve your sleep quality, improve performance, accelerate skill learning, improve concentration, help over come fear and anxiety and directly impact the quality of your overall health and relationships. Use self-image statements which start with “I am” or “I choose” and make it short, positive and specific. For example, I often tell myself when I an run training, “I am fast and strong. ” I especially tell myself this on days when I am feeling tired and frustrated and perceive myself to be slow. I override the negative self-talk with a positive affirmation. And, I make my affirmation permanent. It stands firm. “I am a happy and strong cyclist.” Nope, not going to change. I am going to stay a happy and strong cyclist today, tomorrow and on every training and race day. Make sure you attach positive emotions to your positive affirmations. And always anticipate success!

Here are some examples of affirmations:

“I appreciate and love my body”

“I am strong and happy”

“I feel confident and focused today.”

“I am at peace and feel calm”

By taking control of the negative thoughts which creep into your mind and restructuring them into specific positive thoughts attached to emotion, you can transform your performance and outlook. Give it a try!

Find Your Good Reason- What is Your Why?

Another important and effective tool for increasing your motivation toward achieving a specific goal is to define your reason “why” you want to do it in the first place. What are your “good reasons”? Define them clearly for yourself, write them down and post them around your house and use them for added inspiration on a daily basis when you may lose track of your progress. When you have a dream, there is something inherently motivating for you about accomplishing the tasks it takes to make that dream a reality. Those are your good reasons. But, it can be easy to lose track of your “why” when the going gets rough. You can find excuses as to derail you from your success. In those moments, revisit your good reasons for added motivation. An example of a good reason for an athlete? Maybe it’s the feeling of accomplishment he or she feels when crossing the finish line. Imagine for yourself how terrific it feels to have the courage to take on that challenge for yourself. Or, perhaps the “why” is that this task gets you one step closer to a bigger goal. Maybe you are currently sitting on the sofa, watching movies and eating popcorn and have not had a normal workout routine in awhile. But, you dream of one day doing an Ironman. The first step is to find a healthy training plan which will allow you to work on strength and conditioning. Then, you build on from there. But, if you revisit that “why”- that dream of crossing an Ironman finish line- you will be more motivated to wake up early and go for a run on those cold days, right? The largest accomplishments are built upon the smaller, sometimes dreaded, steps leading to that bigger success. Every swim you do, every weight you lift, every plank hold you finish, every single mile you ride on your bike, every cold and windy run you do- they all build to that Ironman start line and the accomplishment of completing that one big day. Define your Good Reasons and focus on them.

Recognize Your Progress and Don’t Give Up!

The reason we recognize milestones in life is so that we can track progress. Every large accomplishment is built upon smaller successes leading up to it. Many people track their progress but do not truly recognize their progress. In order to fully recognize your progress, you must take the time to reflect and analyze how your small successes fit into the bigger picture for yourself. Where are you on your journey? What have you accomplished already and what do you have left to do to reach your final goal? Many people are so product and task oriented that they check off the “to do” list in a desperate attempt to get to the finish line. But, what if you fully embrace the process on the way to that finish? It’s important to fully recognize and understand the importance of showing up every single day to get the small jobs done to make that big dream come true. In triathlon, and especially in long course triathlon, there are a lot of little pieces which have to fit together through months of training to create a happy and successful final race day. Not every training day will be a great one- most won’t even be a good one. But, what we learn as athletes from those challenging days is invaluable to the big picture and needs to be understood. You will be happier, stronger and better for tackling all the smaller tasks- especially the unpleasant ones- and the final goal will be all the more meaningful for it.

I’ll let you all take some time to reflect on these three wellness strategies this week. Try to apply them in your daily life as you take on new personal challenges and set creative goals for yourself. I’ll be back with something fresh for you all to read next week!

C