MINDSET. YOUR ARE WHAT YOU THINK
mind·set or mind-set (mīnd′sĕt) n. 1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations. 2. An inclination or a habit.
Your mindset plays a pivotal role in your success, not just in the gym, but in life.
Speaking from experience of countless hours coaching people, one-on-one and in group classes, I can tell you that I see the importance of mindset daily. As a coach one of my roles is observation. Not only do I observe movement but, also observe attitude and mindset. Many times I have observed one person show up to a group class with a bad attitude and it have a negative impact immediately on the entire group. Conversely, I’ve seen someone come in to a class with the “I’m about to crush this workout” and it have a positive effect on the entire class. The class as a whole was more upbeat and thus their performance across the board was better.
Attitude is contagious.
You’ve heard the saying “you are what you eat”? Well, let’s take that a step further— You are what you think. Let’s use age as an example. A recent study in the journal Psychological Science, found that implicit exposure to positive associations with aging were shown to be more effective on physical abilities than a similar study that prescribed six months of exercise!
Basically a total of 100 subjects ranging in age from 66-99 were split into 4 groups. A control group, an implicit intervention group, an explicit intervention group, and an implicit-explicit intervention group. The implicit intervention consisted of subjects coming in for 15-minute sessions, once a week for four weeks. They were shown a smattering of words like wise and spry, coupled with words like senior and old. The explicit intervention group was asked to write about fit, active older people.
After four sessions and follow-up at one and three weeks, they were given physical tests like their ability to walk, balance and get up from a chair. There were no improvements in the explicit intervention group, but the implicit intervention group showed considerable improvements in their fitness. (Huffington Post)
“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
― James Allen “As a Man Thinketh”
So how can we proactively improve our mindset?
1. Start your day with some you time. Take a few minutes, without technology, to pray and/or meditate or to journal your thoughts or read something positive. (I can recommend several books to help with this if you’d like. Just shoot me message)
2. Love yourself! Shut down that negative self-talk that is in your head and speak positive to yourself as well as everyone that you come in contact with. Choose words that uplift. (I can, I will, I got this, you are awesome, etc.)
3. Surround yourself with others that are positive. One personal example I use for this one is I stopped watching and reading the news about 2 years ago. Most news is negative. (if something major happens you’ll know, someone will tell you)
4. Have fun! Smile! Enjoy the day. Enjoy the workout. Have fun, life is much too short to not.
Every day that you wake up is a blessing and you have a choice to choose the mindset that you begin your day with. Choose happiness. Choose to be positive. Choose to show some love. Set your mind to be awesome!