Perspective is Everything!

Being aware of how you see and view a situation or circumstance will help you understand what type of patterned thinking you have within your mindset.

How is Your Perspective Developed?

Athletes need to understand that what you think matters! The constant thoughts that are programmed in our minds will eventually become locked into a story which is eventually how your brain will move forward believing and seeing any situation or circumstance.

That story that your brain has wired into it is in fact your perspective. Depending on what your perspective on anything is will ultimately determine how you show up and take action or respond to any specific situation or circumstance.

The reason our thoughts matter so much is because we have thousands of thoughts a day and the more you feed your brain a certain thought over time, the stronger that thought becomes locked into your mind and the more you brain will adjust the emotions that go along with that thought.

Let's look at an easy example of this. As athletes, practice is an important part of our process. We all need to be consistently practicing in order to improve.

If an athlete says to themselves, "Practice is dumb and a waste of time, I hate coming here!" over and over again, this athlete will begin to wire this negative statement in their minds which will bring about negative emotions. Eventually, if this thought is repeated enough, a negative perspective on practice will be developed which will affect how the athlete shows up in practice with their effort. This athlete will associate negative thoughts and emotions anytime their brain thinks about "practice" and the story their brain now believes is "practice is pointless".

It is pretty easy to see if an athlete has wired in their minds a negative perspective on practice by the way they show up during that practice. It's going to be the best for themselves on their team.

But! If the perspective is flipped and the athlete says, "Practice is where I get to go work hard, learn and improve!" This athlete will be saying positive thoughts to themselves which will bring positive emotions and eventually their perspective will be wired in their mind so that the story their brain believes is "practice is helpful" or "practice is important".

We must pay attention to the perspectives we have as athletes so we can better understand the pattern of thoughts you have been saying to yourself. Your perspective is developed by what thoughts have been said and accepted in your mind over a consistent basis.

How Do You Change Your Perspective?

To change your perspective, you need to first be aware of the type of perspective you have. Once you realize the story your brain believes about something, you can then make up your mind if you are going to challenge it or not.

It's going to be hard to change a perspective if you don't think you need to! So it's important to ask yourself the question: Is the way I see this situation or circumstance the best for helping me grow and improve? Is it a positive perspective or a negative one? Does your perspective bring about more negative emotions and thoughts than positive ones?

Then also ask yourself if the way you have been viewing a certain situation or circumstance has been holding you back when you go to show up for it with your effort and character.

Typically, if you're not showing up the way you want to, your perspective may be off which means your pattern of thinking may be off.

If you realize the perspective you have isn't helping you or those around you get better and improve, THEN you can challenge it!

Challenge your perspective by questioning the types of thoughts and influences that may have been locked into your mind to eventually bring this perspective about.

You may not be showing up in the game the way you want to. You realize you are afraid of making mistakes. Your perspective on failing is off which is affecting how you respond and show up in the game by hesitating and second guessing yourself instead of trusting yourself.

You realize you want to change your perspective so this means you change your thoughts to create the new perspective.

Ask yourself, "What is the new perspective that I want to have?"

- Failing is a learning opportunity to grow and get better

Now that you have the new perspective you would like, you flood your mind with the thoughts required to establish this new story in your mind.

These thoughts will be any positive statements to fuel the perspective you are trying to create and establish. Negative thoughts never work well and should be avoided the best you can at all costs!

It's ok when negative thoughts show up and you don't need to judge yourself, but replace them as quickly as possible with the correct thoughts you want!

Moving Forward

We all have perspectives on everything!

It's important to make sure your perspectives on all the things you experience are wired in a way to benefit you and those around you so you can continue to get the most out of how you show up for any practice, game, training session, event and any other aspect of your life!

Take a look at how you are showing up in the different areas of your athletic world and how you are acting and responding in those situations. If you are struggling to see things in a way that benefits you and brings you the effort you want to be showing up with, it may be time to challenge that perspective!

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