Athlete vs. Mental Toughness
Working out during a spinning class yesterday I came to a realization, I am no athlete! As a matter of fact, I am borderline clumsy!
Ok, let me back up, I play as much basketball as humanly possible, I love it, and I'm not the worst person in the gym, but I'm close. I made state for swimming, placed 18th as I recall, maybe a relay put me on the pedestal, played water polo through college. I have ridden bikes my entire life tackled the double tipple bypass the MS150 a few times. I snowboard, I wakeboard, skateboard dabbled in roller blading. I jumped on the trampoline all of my high-school years, and still try when I take the kids to "Jump Street" get my kicks in!. I did it all and I did it all ok, I was never really great at anything. I think I always had my mother's voice in the back of my mind as I was doing all of these activities "if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything."
The realization I came to was 8 minutes into a 40-minute spin session, I was sweating like a pig and no one else of the about 15 folks there where even glossing over! I thought to myself, good god am I that out of shape?! Then I looked around, I was in better shape than every person in the class (except the teacher of course), that must not be it. So I started studying the other folks in the gym, the lady teaching the class was great, she kept pushing us. "Crank it ONE more RPM!!! Turn it up!!! I obeyed, the remainder of the class didn't change a thing. Nothing in their faces represented any pain, any real effort. They were all mental pussies! Some may have even been Athletes, as in they would have beaten me on a bike if we were to be racing and they could do it with no mental anguish, but they would never accomplish what they could until they unlock their mind they will never accomplish what they are capable of.
People that are Mentally Tough become pros or close to (whether that means in the sport they choose or the career path they end up in). People that are not Mentally Tough skate through ezlife, peak in high school and hide behind their high-school accomplishments for the remainder of their lives.
Not being an Athlete is one of the best things that happened to me, similar to "Rudy" I had to work harder than all of my peers just to keep up, unlike Rudy, I suck at most everything athletic! So keeping up with my peers was simply recreationally being able to run, jump, shoot, and throw.
Are you Mentally Tough?!
The good news is being Mentally Tough can be taught, Athleticism I believe is nature, not nurture thus not teachable. I lost out in that gene pool, and more than likely so did you! The easiest way to teach Mental Toughness is to work to accomplish something that is physically out of your range. (Don't kill yourself, but come close!) Mental Toughness is built at the folding point and continuing; it's at the point of failure then you persist, it is even failure and persistence at the same time.
Working out during a spinning class yesterday I came to a realization, I am no athlete! As a matter of fact, I am borderline clumsy!
Ok, let me back up, I play as much basketball as humanly possible, I love it, and I'm not the worst person in the gym, but I'm close. I made state for swimming, placed 18th as I recall, maybe a relay put me on the pedestal, played water polo through college. I have ridden bikes my entire life tackled the double tipple bypass the MS150 a few times. I snowboard, I wakeboard, skateboard dabbled in roller blading. I jumped on the trampoline all of my high-school years, and still try when I take the kids to "Jump Street" get my kicks in!. I did it all and I did it all ok, I was never really great at anything. I think I always had my mother's voice in the back of my mind as I was doing all of these activities "if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything."
The realization I came to was 8 minutes into a 40-minute spin session, I was sweating like a pig and no one else of the about 15 folks there where even glossing over! I thought to myself, good god am I that out of shape?! Then I looked around, I was in better shape than every person in the class (except the teacher of course), that must not be it. So I started studying the other folks in the gym, the lady teaching the class was great, she kept pushing us. "Crank it ONE more RPM!!! Turn it up!!! I obeyed, the remainder of the class didn't change a thing. Nothing in their faces represented any pain, any real effort. They were all mental pussies! Some may have even been Athletes, as in they would have beaten me on a bike if we were to be racing and they could do it with no mental anguish, but they would never accomplish what they could until they unlock their mind they will never accomplish what they are capable of.
People that are Mentally Tough become pros or close to (whether that means in the sport they choose or the career path they end up in). People that are not Mentally Tough skate through ezlife, peak in high school and hide behind their high-school accomplishments for the remainder of their lives.
Not being an Athlete is one of the best things that happened to me, similar to "Rudy" I had to work harder than all of my peers just to keep up, unlike Rudy, I suck at most everything athletic! So keeping up with my peers was simply recreationally being able to run, jump, shoot, and throw.
Are you Mentally Tough?!
The good news is being Mentally Tough can be taught, Athleticism I believe is nature, not nurture thus not teachable. I lost out in that gene pool, and more than likely so did you! The easiest way to teach Mental Toughness is to work to accomplish something that is physically out of your range. (Don't kill yourself, but come close!) Mental Toughness is built at the folding point and continuing; it's at the point of failure then you persist, it is even failure and persistence at the same time.
Comments
Post a Comment