"I feel so much better in myself, I’ve got so much more energy and people have commented how much brighter I look! I feel so happy!"
Training and exercise can have a seriously positive impact on your mental well-being and your mindset. That comment is from 1 of my coaching clients in the first 4 weeks of her journey. Mindset is a huge part of a fitness journey and if you’re really serious about changing your life once and for all and making this a long-term change then mindset is something you are going to have to work on and this is why it is a big part of all of my clients coaching programmes!
We're focusing on making this a lifestyle & therefore concentrating on behaviour & habit changes which ultimately means being prepared to work on your mindset to change your beliefs.
Science has shown that when we exercise our brains release feel-good hormones. When exercising the body releases chemicals known as endorphins and these are our feel-good hormones! They can give us that exercise high that many people experience or that post session pump & leave you feeling awesome.
So it’s not a surprise that those who train and excise on a regular basis feel so much better and more positive than those who don’t! As well as physically having a mental impact training will also give you that sense of accomplishment and achievement within your day. When life is hard and there is so much going on it’s really important you feel like you are achieving something otherwise it’s easy to feel demotivated & like life is on top of you so this is really important.
Whenever we start a fitness, health, riding or other journey we all have self-doubt. It’s a completely normal thing to experience and a narrative that everyone will have. When we are putting ourselves out there, trying something new or doing something we've never done before it's totally normal to think can I actually do this? This lack of self-belief and maybe even having a negative self-narrative in your head can come from many things.
This can be influenced by experiences we’ve had in our life, comments from other people, behaviour from those close to us like family and friends and people we’ve grown up around as well as the influence through social media and society as well as the fact I mentioned above that you're doing something completely alien you've never tried before!
For many of us what this looks like is feeling that we are not good enough to achieve something or believing that we can’t do it. I’ve ran 5 marathons so far in my life and every single time I’ve done one I’ve had the comment of;
"Oh my God that’s so amazing I could never do that!"
People always bring it straight back to themselves and my response to that is the same as when somebody said this weekend to me;
"Well done your triathlon I could never do that"
My response?
Why not?
There’s no physical difference between you or I so why can’t you achieve the same thing? A year ago I could barely front crawl & I'm not a talented swimmer so why do you believe I can & you can't?
The only thing that is different between you & me is that thing between your two ears and the narrative it’s feeding you. When I put my foot in the sea on Sunday to swim the event I never once thought I couldn't do it, yes it was going to be hard but I knew I could do it.
If you set your mind to something, have a structured plan to follow and don’t let yourself become defeated you can achieve anything you want. There will be times it doesn't go to plan of course but so many of us put off doing a certain fitness activity or competition because we don’t feel like we can do it or we don’t feel like we’re going to get a good enough result but the only way we’re going to get better is to practice, put ourselves out of our comfort zone and repeat those repetitions just like in a workout.
The more you do something the more confident you’re going to become and therefore the more self-belief you’re going to have that actually you can do this! You’re going to feel more confident in your ability and then be more likely to progress faster and push yourself harder.
If you put your mind to it and are prepared to put in the hard-work & consistency then you can do that BE100 or maybe it’s to actually wear that dress that has been hanging in your wardrobe for years! If you have the belief you can, set your mind to it then I’m a big believer you will achieve what you want.
We are so much more capable than we realise it’s just a case of setting our minds to it & believing we can. These are my top tips to help you work on your self-belief and start to progress within your journey;
1; Tell yourself you CAN. Positive affirmations go a long way, if you tell yourself you can do something you're far more likely to achieve it & believe it. Positive self-talk all the way
2; Remove the fear. It's totally normal when starting something new or stepping out of your comfort zone, maybe stepping up a level in the showjumping ring say to feel nervous. It's something you haven't done before & you're questioning how will it go? Logically think about what you're nervous or fearful about. List them down & this will probably help you to realise there's not much to actually fear & that your worries aren't really that likely to materialise
3; Focus on YOU. Never compare yourself to others, stay in your lane. How do you know that person you're comparing yourself to is at the same level as you? How do you know that they didn't feel like you right now at the start of their journey? Stay in your lane & focus on you
4; Repeat, repeat, repeat. It's not a shocker that the more we do something the better we get at it so repetition is key. Once you see yourself improving your self-belief & confidence are going to rocket! Unless you repeat something you're not going to get better at it!!!!
5; Start to journal. Writing down what you've achieved on paper can help you to realise & reflect on all your achievements & actually confirm to you that yes you are good enough & can do this. Looking back at journal entries is a powerful tool to see how far you've come.
6; Focus on the journey not the result. Of course, we all want to do things well & to the best of our ability. No-one likes to do things badly but so often we only focus on the result & outcome & get so caught up we don't stop to enjoy the journey. Learning things takes time, there are going to be bad days without a doubt but if you take the ups with the downs & see this for what it is, a learning experience you're going to realise you're growing & achieving so much on the way. This is a process, not a 1 stop shop!
Move out of your comfort zone, start practicing these points & see your self-belief & achievements grow! You can!
Katie
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