BUILDING CHAMPION MOMENTUM
The key to your achieving success in your chosen sport, or any endeavour for that matter, will not be as a result of a different diet, or through a new cross training regimen, or with the latest technologically advanced running shoes, or the latest software package, or gee-whiz laptop computer – it will be a result of your ability to establish and maintain physical, emotional and mental momentum toward the realisation of your personal vision.
Understanding, and employing, the principles of making things happen allows you to turn a vision from an attractive dream into a fulfilling reality – by chunking it down into achievable goals and action plans. In this article I will show you how to generate irresistible personal momentum to turn your dreams into a reality.
MAKE YOUR SPORTS DREAMS A GOLD MEDAL REALITY
After you have committed yourself to a personal vision which you feel truly passionate about achieving – the next step is to go about achieving it! Having dreams is important – but lot’s of people have dreams, yet they never achieve them. So how do you turn a dreams into a reality?
The most important thing is to understand how you got to be where you are now – because where you are, now, was at one time just a dream wasn’t it? Isn’t it true that there was a time, for instance, when you hadn’t even started playing or competing in your chosen sport, or working in your current career – and to reach the level or position you’re currently at now was just a dream?
How did you make that dream happen? Essentially you made a decision to do it; to follow a particular path.
Your decisions precede all your actions and so determine who you become. Everything in your life, including your current sports performances and your current level of financial and career success, is determined by the decisions you have made, and are making right now. Your decisions determine what you think, how you feel, what you do, and who you become.
DECISION POWER
If someone is achieving greater success than you, the reason is simply that they have made different decisions.
Different decisions about their approach to training and how they spend their time; different decisions about how they respond to obstacles and problems; different decisions about who they hang around with; and especially, different decisions about what they want to achieve in their sport, career, and personal life.
Unfortunately, most people don’t make these kinds of decisions consciously – they just hope they do well, and then wish they had done better! However, hopes and wishes are not good enough to succeed at a high level. If you don’t consciously make these kinds of decisions – about what level of performance you expect of yourself, and what you want in your life – then you’ve really decided to let other people, or the whims of the environment, direct your destiny.
Do you like to think that your life is controlled by someone else? Yet I hear outside excuses from people all the time about why they haven’t achieved more in their sport, in their career, or financially. “I’m not the right build”; “I’m too young”; “I haven’t had enough experience”; “I haven’t got the opportunities or contact they have”; “I don’t have enough time”; and so on.
You’ve heard similar excuses, and perhaps you’ve used some of them yourself – I know I used to, and I still occasionally fall into this trap. Yet I soon realise, as you do, that these are just conditions – and it’s not the conditions in your life that hold you back, but rather the decisions you make! Your performance is determined by what you decide to do, given whatever conditions you currently have in your life – that’s what makes the difference.
Some people are born with a natural sports physique, have large financial resources, or live in an ideal environment. However, lots of those people, even given these advantages don’t achieve their potential, do they? They’re not as successful as they might be.
However there are others who come from a poor background with physical, environmental and social limitations who throw off the bonds of those conditions to achieve sporting, career, and financial successes way beyond expectations.
How do they do it? Simply by making committed decisions. A committed decision has enormous power to positive affect your performance.
REAL DECISIONS
For your decisions to make a real difference in your life, they want to be true decisions. Many people use the word decision to mean preference – things they’d like to have happen, or hope or wish to happen, rather than real decisions about things they will make happen.
When you make a true decision, it engenders a feeling of firm commitment to make it happen, leaving no choice for any other option. For instance, if you really decide to give up smoking, then you’ll do it. If you really decide to reduce your golf handicap to single figure over the next twelve months, then you’ll do it. If you truly decide increase your monthly income, then you’ll find a way to make it happen.
Most people just list preferences rather than make committed decisions: “I hope I get the promotion”; “I’d like to earn more money this year”; or “I hope I’m selected for the team”. These are just wish lists, and have no power to positively change your life or enhance your sporting performances.
MAKE YOUR GOALS DECISIONS
Right now think of a true decision you’ve made recently – something you decided on, and followed through with. Perhaps a decision to move house, take up a new job, start some kind of study, or maybe even the decision to buy this magazine! Notice how you thought about it, and identify the exact moment of decision, when you said to yourself, “Yes, do it”.
Think of something now that you haven’t made a definite decision about yet. Notice how you think about that, and compare the differences in what you see, hear, and feel to the time you made a definite decision. You’ll find that you think about the two experiences very differently.
How have you been thinking about your sports goals and dreams? Do you think about them more like the time you made a definite decision, …… or more like something you’re just ‘considering’ but haven’t really committed yourself to yet? Think about achieving your dreams in the same way that you think about buttoning your shirt, or driving your car …… simple, easy, no questions – I’ll just do it.
COMMIT TO ACTION
Remember, true decisions are always followed by actions.
If you truly decide to get a new job, you’ll check out the papers on Saturday morning, or take your resume to an employment agency. If you truly decide to end a relationship, you’ll confront your partner and talk about it, or you’ll pack your bags! And if you make a true decision to play to a higher standard in your sport, or reach a cherished sports goal, then you’ll do something about it – you’ll take some action. Until the point of action, it’s just been something you’ve been ‘considering’ – action makes it a true decision.
When you make a definite commitment to a particular decision, it also unlocks the energy within you to achieve it. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of agonising over a decision about something for weeks or even months – you know how such indecision can totally sap your drive, because you have no clear direction. However, as soon as you’ve hopped off the fence and decided one way or the other, you’re able to start moving again.
So, right now, you could use the power of a true decision to change your life. The question is, will you? The motivation, the power, the energy to succeed comes from making committed decisions. Why not make some for yourself, today?
About Jeffrey Hodges B.Sc.(AES) M.Sc.(Hons)
Jeffrey Hodges is a performance consultant to elite athletes, sporting teams and corporate clients. He is the author of the widely acclaimed “Sportsmind – An Athlete’s Guide to Superperformance Through Mental & Emotional Training” and “Champion Thoughts, Champion Feelings”; creator of the Sportsmind performance enhancement workshops and audio tapes; and Director of the Sportsmind Institute for Human Performance Research.
He is a NLP Master Practitioner and Associate Trainer, and his Sportsmind programs have been endorsed by the NSW Dept Sport & Recreation, and recommended by top sportsclubs and successful athletes. Jeffrey has competed in many sports, notably Volleyball, Squash, Soccer and Golf, and currently trains in Aikido, holding a black belt.
Some of his clients to date include :
Australian Rugby Union
St. Joseph’s College
Woodlands Golf Club
Financial Institutions Remuneration Group (FIRG)
Societe Generale
Qld. Swimming
Network for Fitness Professionals
North Sydney and Penrith Rugby League Clubs
Qld. Athletics Assn
NSW Netball Assn
Northern Inland Academy of Sport
Victorian Soaring Assn
Orange Agricultural College Equestrian School
Qld and NSW Departments of Sport and Recreation
Qld Academy of Sport
and the RAAF.
For more information, contact :
SPORTSMIND , 77 FLAXTON MILL ROAD
FLAXTON Qld. Australia. 4560.
PHONE 61 7 5445 7994
email : jh@sportsmind.com.au
website : www.sportsmind.com.au
