I never realised the importance of the mind before I started doing endurance sports. I had always been big on my weight lifting, getting as “jacked” and “swole” as possible. That did teach me many useful lessons, including how to train, stick to a plan and be disciplined. But endurance has taught me so much more. This post has broken down the four keys of endurance from my current experience.
- Anything is possible
The foundation of anything endurance related and the motto of the Ironman series of races, “anything is possible” is a mantra that you should always remember. In endurance, the greatest victories are when you are doing something that once seemed impossible, whether that’s running a marathon, doing a triathlon or even doing your local park run. At some point in your life that distance would have seemed impossibly large. “Anything is possible” is more of a fundamental belief that allows you to build your plans and goals around.
2. One step at a time
I remember it well, standing at the start line of my first Ironman. I saw the buoys dispersed across the water marking out the 3.8km swim. It looked like an impossibly long distance, out one way, back the other, then back out the other way before doing one loop and returning. Before the gun went and the race started, I said to myself “take this one buoy at a time”. There were around fourteen dispersed over the course, and in that way I could break it down into fourteen separate chunks. When I got in the water and started swimming I only had one focus: the next buoy. Before I knew it I had covered all fourteen. That was one of the key lessons from that race (more lessons from my first Ironman to come).
3. Stay in the game
Woody Allen famously said “80% of life is simply showing up”. That mantra applies to endurance sports more than first meets the eye. Endurance is about staying in the game, and when it’s important, fighting to stay in it. When the distances get larger on any given day it’s simply about completing the race. The only way you can lose is if you drop out, and even then you can come back and do it again. The game we are talking about refers to the discipline of endurance, it is something that you can only lose in your mind. Think about some goals and dreams that you have given up on, did you “drop out” on those?
Remember, follow the mindset, stay in the game and you can never lose.
4. Control the controllable
In any situation there will be things you can control and things you can’t control. For instance, you can control the equipment you take to a race but you can’t control the weather. The important thing is not to get “hung up” on the things that you cannot directly influence or control. You can only control direct actions that you do and to a very slight degree other people’s actions. In endurance races all manner of things can go wrong- so it’s important in these situations that you remember what you can control and focus your efforts on those things because effort spent on anything you can’t control is wasted.
Closing thoughts
Endurance is a discipline that is better lived than learned. If you’re new to endurance start with something, anything, a run, ten press ups, whatever you can do. But make it a habit. You’ll start to see changes which you may not notice while they’re happening and after some time has passed you’ll end up being a completely different person.
So follow these four mindset rules and you can make a start. Share this post if you think endurance applies to you or the people you know and be sure to stay tuned for my new book on my lessons from endurance.
For more of my writing feel free to check out my book Live Life With No Limits: The Ultimate Personal Development handbook. From sports to business to super fast learning, the Ultimate Personal Development handbook has all the information you need to make a start on your own all round personal development.
If it’s fear that you are struggling with then check out my book THE HERO MINDSET. The Hero Mindset teaches you methods to approach fear and anxiety. This is best for when you’re goal setting and you’re in that moment of determining what you can and can’t do- a time when you’re highly susceptible to any fears and anxieties you have.
Endurance Oz 