Inner Excellence

When I run for distances it’s not good enough for me to be fit. I need my mind to be at its fittest too. It takes a great awareness to understand where you’re at mentally to match up with the physical to be a great runner. To me the mind is the most important muscle of all you can develop. We need to build a mind gym.

There are times where if my mind had been trained better, I would have had no problem meeting my goals. With out a great mind I found what I most feared was the most likely outcome that took place. I had no inner awareness. If I was afraid of hitting the wall at mile 20 of a marathon, you bet the wall was there right at mile 20 just as I feared.

Conversely, if I had trained my inner awareness to be more tuned into things up stairs in my head, I would have been prepared. I would have made a plan to be ready versus react. What we think usually ends up coming true. Our minds a built for negativity.

Our brains like our bodies have strengths and weaknesses. Having the ability and a sharp radar to what they are can give us the inner confidence that becomes enough to over come the physical challenges. One of the best ways we can improve our inner readiness is to learn constantly. Be naturally curious about unfamiliar things. Daily learning for the sake of improving yourself without really worrying about a final finish line keeps your mind muscle in shape.

There is a study called self-consistency theory that states the way we think about ourselves is powerful enough to impact our way forward. This is why most people with a negative mindset rarely achieve optimal performance. I said negative, not pessimistic. There’s a difference. We’re really quick to label someone that is a pessimist as negative. They’re just overly self-aware. You can’t win if you’re thinking you’re a loser. Pessimist don’t see themselves as a loser, just cautious and a little analytical.

Like a body builder creates physical toughness, we can do the same thing for our minds. As I studied this concept, I found there are 7 critical areas that is suggested we focus on with building our mental toughness.

They are:

• Competitiveness – Finding someone to lean into as an adversary. Steel sharpens steel.
• Confidence – Believing that you’re going to win.
• Control and Composure – Learning the skill of focus and not letting our emotions totally lead our actions is key.
• Consistency – Living as much as you can at the top of your game. Regardless of how you feel.
• Commitment – Nothing was ever achieved with out it. You have to want it.

Working through the 7 gives you an awareness of your inner excellence. Focusing that inner excellence when the going gets tough or in the midst of setbacks can help you translate what’s trivial. That filter will help you spend the mental energy you have on the right problem to solve versus wasting it on the wrong one. It will literally give you a chance to see what you can do and what you can’t.

Lastly, our ability to understand the power of loving, learning, and laboring through our work is a key cornerstone in achieving success or feeling fulfilled in life.

With love, you have to love what you’re doing or you won’t be successful at it. Being able to push through a great truckload of adversity loving what you’re doing will get you to the other side.

With labor, a strong sense of purpose in our work ethics is essential for the win. It has the power to overcome deficiencies in talent you might have even. With a strong understanding of vision or purpose conceptually clear and exceptionally strong internally, the physical slogging through or labor is easier.

With learning, as stated above earlier, drawing from the experiences we get when staying curious to learn new things constantly, we can learn the tips we need to find success. Pulling out something you learned at just the right moment is exciting.

All this can create an incredible positive attitude toward ourselves and the progress ahead to achieve something incredible. Learning to accept our failures, set goals we can love, and centering ourselves along the way with inner awareness we can find our full potential. We can tap into the power of inner excellence.

Thanks for reading!

✌ Shawn