One of the many things I have learned pushing my body through my long-distance triathlons journey is the power of beliefs. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t-you are right” said Henry Ford.
An athletic coach I have been working on told me: 90% of your triathlon target will be achieved thanks to your mind, 10% thanks to your body. I first didn’t understand that. That didn’t make sense.
But then I started to train. And I realized that my results at the race were dictated by how much and how consistently I trained. And how much and how consistently I trained relied mainly on my beliefs system. For example, can I wake up early tomorrow morning and ride my bike in the dark and cold weather? Clearly, my body can handle it. That’s not the question. The question is around my mental toughness: do I believe I can do it? Am I ready to make the short-term sacrifice of waking up early and battling on my bike, for the long-term benefit of continuously improving my strengths.
I came to the realization that whether I was going to set up my clock at 4:30 in the morning, whether I was going to get up and go practice relied heavily on my beliefs system.
The advice from my coach started to make sense, not only for race day but for the entire journey. If I see myself as an accomplished long-distance triathlete, it comes very naturally for me to train. If I see myself as a not so accomplished long-distance triathlete, then I struggle much more moving my butt to practice. So, what is true? Am I an accomplished long-distance triathlete or not? Who can answer that question? Well, nobody but me. I struggled with that question. Because who am I to say I am a long-distance triathlete? Well, I realized it really doesn’t matter. Because if I say “Yes, I am”, then I will act accordingly and get results accordingly. I will prove myself that I am correct in my assessment. And if I say “No, I am not”, then I will act accordingly and get results accordingly. I will prove myself that I am correct in my assessment. Henry Ford was right! “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t-you are right”.
I concluded that instead of having a set mindset and trying to get strong results with it; I needed to ask myself what the mindset is I need to have to get the results I want to have.
I want to be an accomplished long-distance triathlete. What is the mindset of such a person? What is the set of beliefs this person has? I realized that’s where I need to start.
And progressively, I understood that our beliefs are shaped by our experiences. And then our beliefs trigger more thoughts, which trigger more actions, which give us results and give use experience. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the beliefs are not changed. That’s why people who believe to be successful find ways to be successful and by experiencing success, they reinforce their belief in being successful people. That’s the good news. The bad news is that people who believe to be unsuccessful people find ways to be unsuccessful and by experiencing lack of success, they reinforce their belief in being unsuccessful people.
The secret when you are not getting the results you want to have, is to challenge and change your belief system.
Through my journey, I have found 6 ways to change my beliefs:
- Write down your current core beliefs. Be honest with yourself. And then challenge them.
- Reflect on what person you want to become and ask yourself what belief system this person would have
- Start by implementing very small habits that this future person would have mastered. By taking actions (even small), you are already changing your identity, which is going to change your results and reinforce the feeling of being a new identity
- Consistency with these new small habits. It is not how long you are staying at the gym, but the fact that you are going to the gym every day. It is ok to just stay 5 minutes at the gym.
- Rely on other people you are very close to, and who are truly genuine (a coach is probably the best option!). Share with them you current set of beliefs and receive their feedback. Do they agree? Or do they see you differently. We all have blind spots, and we are usually very hard on ourselves; so relying on close genuine friends can help a lot.
- Finally influencing your subconscious through meditation, prayer, affirmations is a great way to change your thoughts, which would push you towards different actions.
