It’s easy to look at your friend or another rider & think I should be doing that or I should be riding more like her. One thing that is often overlooked along a fitness journey is finding your identity.
We become so caught up with the latest trend or fads & focus on what everyone else is doing in their workouts or putting in their mouths we forget to stop & think about ourselves.
When I say identity I’m not talking about your driving licence or passport. I’m referring to who you are & where your story is going. A few of you might read that & think ahh more hippy mumbo jumbo from Katie but understanding your identity is actually really important if you’re serious about achieving your goals.
It can change the direction of the story you’re creating & writing for yourself & help to really confirm to you maybe why you are doing certain things & also exactly what it is you want to achieve. By no means am I a mindset expert, I’m a trainer & coach but your mentality is a huge part of your fitness journey & should be seriously considered.
Say for instance you’re struggling to hit 3000 steps on busy office days & you’re trying to smash out 10,000 steps as often as possible. You’re reaching for this goal that right now probably seems slightly impossible & I bet is rather defeating when you keep failing to hit it. If you flipped how you approached this scenario & said;
“I’m going to become the person who takes their dog for a 20 minute morning walk everyday”
Instantly this changes the narrative. You could have said;
“I’m trying to walk my dog for 20 minutes in the morning”
This implies a lack of disbelief in yourself to achieve this & I wonder how much you’re truly ready to change & invest if you’re trying. As deep down that probably means you feel that this is still unachievable.
If you can start to implement this identity focus your WHY is going to become far clearer & you’re far more likely to achieve the goal you set out to & understand why the WHAT (the goal) is so important for you to achieve. It will make the goal seem far more realistic & achievable too if you can honestly believe & invest in becoming the person that does X to achieve the outcome.
Then you can start to become the person that implements daily habits & behaviours to become this identity. For example as above if you said;
“I’m going to eat protein 3 x a day”
It’s alot more convincing & seems more realistic for you as opposed to saying;
“I’m going to try to eat more protein”
Setting your identity allows you to identify the behaviors & the steps that need to happen in order for you to achieve the end goal. In turn, this is going to make the whole journey seem far more enjoyable & easier as you realise you’ve celebrated lots of wins along the way as you make small changes to your daily habits & behaviours! This is where change truly comes from.
So I challenge you to start to really think;
“Who do you need to become to achieve X”
Whatever your goal is just stop & take some time to think.
If you want to become the person that wins their first Novice event what would this person need to do on a daily or weekly basis to achieve this goal?
Maybe that looks like committing to gym sessions twice a week or making sure you have 4 dressage lessons a month. You’re then going to be able to identify yourself as that person who goes to the gym or has lessons to improve & understand the steps you need to put in place that will lead you to the outcome. Start flipping your thought process, rather than just saying what’s the goal & leaving it there. Think about who do I need to become to achieve this goal?
As you become this person through simple daily behaviours you’ll find you reach this outcome as a byproduct of the actions you’ve taken.
Figure out where it is you want to go, think about your dreams & what you want to achieve for yourself & your horse. Then you’ll have a clear idea of where you’re going to & this will feed your inspiration to be the best version of you which in turn will lead to behaviour & habit change which is the key if you’re serious about changing your life!
If you’re struggling to identify your goals then book a free 10 minute call with me here where we can chat through where you’re at & what it is you want to achieve. It may help to give you some clarity & identify what success really looks like to you.
Katie x
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