The reason you hear most about ‘personal bests’ and ‘being the best you can be’ at the swimming pool or on the sporting field is because athletes know that by focusing on and achieving a personal best on match or meet day means they couldn’t have done any better. Hopefully their best was good enough to win but if not then, at that moment at least, they can have no regrets.
Most of the rest of us are rather more insipid and haphazard in the way we go about being the best we can be and yet the benefits in doing so with more focus and intensity are huge. Using simple compound interest theory if you were able to improve your personal best performance by 20% each year then in 4 years time you would be twice as good as you are now. Imagine the benefits that would flow your way. Even a more gradual annual increment in your skills and expertise would see a fundamental change in your capability within the next decade.
For mental toughness followers being the best you can be is an important part of the MTQ48 4C’s of Challenge because it extends your comfort zone and personal capacity and therefore your adaptability for change.
So, how do you become the best you can be?
Here are my 5 tips:
1. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
Having a strong self identity and being comfortable in your own skin is a solid foundation to build towards your personal best. You better understand what you are passionate about, and your mental and physical capability and potential. Your inner voice will be louder and more positive with constant realistic encouragement which will go a long way to overcoming your inbuilt negativity bias.
2. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
Once you have knowledge and belief in yourself, crystalise your goals and targets. Knowing what you want to achieve is deeper and stronger than hoping or wishing that something good happens. It also provides clarity which gives you the confidence to really go for it.
3. ORGANISE YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS
To achieve your PB you need to be disciplined and well organised to achieve your goals and targets without being distracted or diverted by “hang-ups or hangovers”. Be focused and, as as much as you can, “declutter’’ from your physical and mental obstacles and commitments.
4. LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION – GO FOR IT
Put everything you have got into being the best you can be. The hardest part of achieving your personal best is starting out so just go for it and put all your energy and positivity into making the things you want to achieve happen. Be willing to learn, practise, improve and fail along the way to achieve your PB.
5. DON’T GIVE UP ON THE ‘WHOOSKA’
Whooska was a saying we used to have in our Ambition business which was when a a new service or business line really took off after a prolonged and intense period of activity. When we thought it was almost time to give up, usually 6-9 months after starting, the whooska would come. Whooska is also relevant for personal endeavours too. Nothing happens immediately but stick with it with the same focus and intensity – the whooska and your personal best will come.
Original Post from Mental Toughness Partners
