This past weekend we had one of our teen athletes, Sam, compete with some of the best in North America out in Michigan (for those keeping track he finished FIFTH…so proud to have been a small part of this journey to this point…but I blew up instagram and facebook over the weekend so I will try to stay focused on this topic). Anytime there is a 3 day competition (or any competition for that matter) there is so much to learn. Strengths are highlighted and weaknesses are too.
And I’m not just talking about for the athlete. As a programmer and coach you pat yourself on the back for some parts and kick yourself for others. I should have spent less time here but spent the right amount of time there. I gave him the right dose here but should have given him more there. I said the right things here but the wrong things there. I stayed silent when I needed to here but needed to be more vocal there.
And so I learn. Correct. Adapt.
But underneath all of that, and one thing that stood out to me over and over, is trust. Namely trust in yourself. Trust, even if you did the wrong thing knowing that next time you will make the adjustment to be better.
As I watched these athletes you can see it before the workout begins. You can see it in how they carry themselves. How they look. You can see almost off the top how the workout will go for them before they start or finish. You can see whether or not they trust themselves to be able to do what they have trained for the previous 3 months, 6 months, year, 5 years. And the moment they don’t trust themselves is the moment doubt and defeat starts to creep in.
Now, there are certainly limitations that each person had – whether strength or gymnastics or conditioning or muscle ups or fill in the blank. But when you could see an athlete go back into his or her mental catalog of work that had been done, pull that information out to trust his or her capabilities (not someone else’s or how you are relative to them) but trust YOUR capabilities – the athlete shone and even, at times, surprised themselves.
Now you and I may not be on the same competition stage as Sam but we are in our own relative worlds. Do I trust that I belong in this gym (the answer is you do)? Do I trust that I am capable of my job (you have the job so you are certainly capable of parts if not all of it)? Do I trust that I can finish the workout (think of just the next rep instead of the next 150 reps)? Do I trust that I can lose the weight (maybe you can on your own or maybe not…but with help/accountability, absolutely)? Do I trust that I deserve Marielle (well…that’s still up for debate)?
Trust doesn’t equate to arrogance. It is tied, though, to confidence in being able to accomplish your goal. And sometimes on our own we have a hard time with. It’s also why one of our pillars, community, is talked about so often. But we all have life experiences that we can pull from and when we can start pieces those life experiences together, we can start to see that we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for.
And where you don’t trust yourself, allow others to help develop and nurture that for you.