Maintaining Motivation: Will Power is Not Enough!

Hello Wonderful Skaters!

So many of you have told me that developing and maintaining motivation is one of the major struggles you face when it comes to high performance and reaching your full potential. Initially everyone sets goals and begins the journey focused and excited until obstacles arise (ie. it is taking longer than expected, you get sick, you injure yourself). At this point you begin to lose motivation and those old familiar voices in your head plant the seeds of doubt “you can’t do that”, “you aren’t good enough”, “you will never make it”. The end result, the finish line appears more and more unattainable and you either downgrade your original goal or scrap it completely.

What is the major reason why most individuals fail at achieving their long term goals?

The fault lies in focusing solely on the end state, the result that you want to achieve. Your brain devalues the importance of long term goals and this is why will-power is often not enough to get you where we want to go.  Together with a partner, parent, coach, teacher you probably talk about or write down your goals at the beginning of the season. This is great, however, it does not help you commit to them.

The magic happens when you learn how to become motivated by the action steps required to achieve your goals and, in doing so, commit them to habit.

The process I guide skaters through in the Mind-Body Performance Coaching Program focuses on creating alignment between your habits and the goals you have set for yourself.

There are 4 simple steps that I follow:

1. Set the performance goal

   – We work together to get very specific about what it is that you want to achieve. Too often skaters are not specific enough or only know what it is they don’t want.

2. Identify the action steps

   – Action steps are the things you will do on a daily/weekly basis to guarantee you achieve your goals. It is important to create action steps that are both comfortable and uncomfortable. Getting uncomfortable helps you expand your comfort zone.

3. Visualize the achievement

   – You are instructed to spend time visualizing what it will be like when you have achieved your goal. What will you see, hear, feel? This helps create a compelling vision of your desired end state.

4. Identify a feeling

   – How will achieving this goal make you feel? Pairing a feeling with the image that you have created in your mind is the secret to rapidly manifesting the result you want.

    

Moving through these steps is a large part of the journey of achieving what you want but the real magic happens in the creation and utilization of the script, a process that is unique to the coaching experience. Once your script is presented to you, then you are responsible for reading, recording and listening to it daily. Listening to the script becomes one of the action steps and is an incredibly powerful tool for changing behavior at an unconscious level. This is a key component in the success of training the mindset to achieve peak performance.

Because there is more to changing behavior, recreating habits, and maintaining motivation than the conscious mind can possibly take credit for, tapping into the power of the unconscious mind is the key on the journey to excellence.  If you would like to learn more about the Mind-Body Performance Coaching Program I offer contact me by email at:  

mindbodyperform@gmail.com