Struggling for motivation? This month Gromit tells us how when the going gets tough, then the tough get visualising!
Self Talk, Vision and Making it Happen
Beware this man hears voices!
Can I share something with you?
Sometimes I hear voices in my head!
Now before you all think I'm strange, and start closing you browser they're the same little voices that are saying to you right now "I knew he was nuts, now he's hearing voices!"
Not often, but sometimes as I did recently, I have a real battle going on in my head between two different voices.
One wants to get out and put in the training miles, committed and enthusiastic about ensuring I achieve my goals. The other one is grumpy and lazy and comes up with all the reasons not to.
As I drove home after "one of those days at work" I made the decision to do an 8 mile road route. This would take about 1 hour 15 if my calf strain permitted, but as soon as I left the house it started raining, the wind picked up and then the battle stared.
'Grumpy Gromit' kicked off with,
"I told you this was a bad idea. Not only are you tired because you had a restless nights sleep, your calf hasn't healed enough for this pace yet and now your gonna get soaked to the skin and be freezing all the way round. You should have listened to me, you've got plenty of time to put the training miles in before Spartathlon in September. You should have just chilled out with a beer and cosied up on the couch. I mean look! There's not another soul out running, never mind dog walking they're all too sensible and everyone passing in their cars thinks your mental. It's tipping it down and the wind will be driving hard at the top of the hill, lets just call it a day"'
Growling Gromit' jumped right into the fight determined to win and saying,
"I'm not giving in to a lazy attitude! I'll be buzzing after the first mile and now I'm taking action I'm not tired. My calf feels good and anyway I've got water proof skin and I'll have a nice warm shower when I get back.Another 8 miles will help me hit 40 miles this week and it's a great foundation for building on. Then I'll have some grub, cosy up on the couch and have the beer anyway. So I'm doing it and that's the end of it!"
Well, I finished the run on time, but as I was having the mental battle as I ran it occurred to me that everyone must have the same dialogue running through their thought process. How many new years resolutions have slipped already? How many give up too soon, how many allow their negative voice to win and worse still, how many allow the negative comments or views of others to affect their decisions?
So what makes the difference between achieving the goal you set yourself or not. Is it making the decision to take action, is it determination to follow through with your decision or is it just down to good old will power?
For me it's the fear of failure and the emotional torment of looking myself in the face in the mirror and saying, "Andy, you could have given more!"
Star in Your Own Movie
I believe the secret ingredient lies in emotionally attaching your mind to the pleasure you will feel when you achieve your goal. Visualising the end result in a positive way.
It's like running a scene from a movie through your mind, where you are the star running across the finish line victorious.
And then it's "Talking it into existence", because what we believe we can do impacts on our thoughts, on our attitudes, our actions, results and it becomes our experience.
During this years' Namibian Desert 24hr 120k Ultra, I used both positive self talk and visualisation to help me finish. At the outset of the race I coached myself with,
"Remember Andy, what you're doing today is a long distance so your vision must be long term. Take it slow and steady and stay strong... you can do it...you’ve trained hard and your running strong! Stick with what works".
75 miles in the distance was a beach and I was running until I reached it and that was all I saw in my mind, crashing waves on a sandy beach and a cold beer!
Then again later (when the the pain threshold was reached and I was digging deep) from the back of my mind came another voice. It was the voice of my running club buddy Peter McGouran saying in his inimitable Irish twang “Bloody Wimp, get on with it”, that made me smile.
A balanced perspective and sense of humour also helps when the going gets tough!
Self Talk
The race for your goals however all starts and revolves around the voice that will guide you towards achieving those goal. Your own self talk.
The voice you listen to most in life is Your Own!
How many times do you say, "Oh I'm such a prat, I should have turned left there!"
"Why does it always happen to me, I'm so clumsy?" or "Wow I feel great today, and I must admit I look pretty good too?" or " I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone for a drink it will be such a laugh".
And then you make all those things come true and your confidence matches your feelings.
In reality it all becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. What you say to yourself becomes reality because you always take sufficient action to support your self belief and self talk!
You provide the evidence via your actions to support and prove your belief level. You have the power to make it happen.
By "seeing it happen" in your own mind the way you really want it to be, you can then use your self talk to guide your emotions and actions in a positive way towards achieving your goal.
Become the winner in your own "mind movie" of what it will be like when you achieve your goal. Run your fastest 5k, 10k, or finish your first Half or Full Marathon.
Back to my run and self talk battle between Grumpy Gromit & Growling Gromit.
Well it was really that simple for me, positive over negative, "Good over Evil" (like in the movies).
That and the knowledge that hopefully one day the negative voice will just give up trying, because all the time it was arguing I was running anyway...job done!
So Stay Strong, Stay Positive, "Talk it Positively into Existence" and make your Dreams and Goals Happen!
Gromit
Gromit is currently in training for the awesome Spartathlon Ultra. Keep tabs on his progress at http://andy-desertrunner08.blogspot.com.
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