The phrase 'what you see is what you get' applies to pretty much
everything in life. The way you see and carry yourself will reflect on
others. If you think you can't do something, you likely to fail. If you
give your 60%, you will get 60%. If you think your are not good enough,
you will find a way to put yourself down.
Anything and everything will always echo back to you. It is up to you how you think and what attitude you choose, that will determine what you will get in return. Most importantly, you need to be able to see and visualise the things that you want to achieve.
Athletes who race for example, know that their visualisation needs to be exquisitely detailed. It's typical for racing athletes to imagine every bump, every turn, every nuance. Partly it's for safety reasons (especially for ski racers). Mostly it's because when you visualize with total detail, you invest emotionally.
Visualizing goes from being vague and uninspiring to incredibly powerful. You commit to winning on a core level.
Mac Wilkins, gold-medal winner in the discus throw in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, said:
"It boils down to the fact that if you are trying to accomplish a goal on the track, and you can't visualize it, then it's pure chance if you perform well. If you visualize that goal and really see yourself performing well... you have a very high probability of achieving that success."
In other words, what you see is what you get in sport. Most athletes have heard this before and they believe it, but they still don't visualise with emotion and detail.
Why not? Most of them are scared. What if it doesn't work out? They want to win so badly that they are terrified to visualise with total detail and emotion.
But pretending you don't care about winning doesn't work. You'll never relinquish your desire to win, no matter how much you pretend.
Here is the good news. You're capable of dealing with disappointment. There's no feeling you can't handle. So buck up and do yourself a favour. Acknowledge that you desperately want to win and start visualising your next performance, including winning.
To reach your potential as an athlete, you need to dramatically increase the quality of your effort in training or practise. And that indeed includes increasing the quality of your mental game as well, by using visualisation.
I'm a Finnish girl living my dreams in Florida. I'm a combat
sports athlete, type-1 diabetic, blogger, entrepreneur aka
ninja-preneur. I have a degree in Psychology & Anthropology. I love
sports, coffee, traveling, cultures, writing and living the life in my
own terms as my own boss.
Anything and everything will always echo back to you. It is up to you how you think and what attitude you choose, that will determine what you will get in return. Most importantly, you need to be able to see and visualise the things that you want to achieve.
Athletes who race for example, know that their visualisation needs to be exquisitely detailed. It's typical for racing athletes to imagine every bump, every turn, every nuance. Partly it's for safety reasons (especially for ski racers). Mostly it's because when you visualize with total detail, you invest emotionally.
Visualizing goes from being vague and uninspiring to incredibly powerful. You commit to winning on a core level.
Mac Wilkins, gold-medal winner in the discus throw in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, said:
"It boils down to the fact that if you are trying to accomplish a goal on the track, and you can't visualize it, then it's pure chance if you perform well. If you visualize that goal and really see yourself performing well... you have a very high probability of achieving that success."
In other words, what you see is what you get in sport. Most athletes have heard this before and they believe it, but they still don't visualise with emotion and detail.
Why not? Most of them are scared. What if it doesn't work out? They want to win so badly that they are terrified to visualise with total detail and emotion.
But pretending you don't care about winning doesn't work. You'll never relinquish your desire to win, no matter how much you pretend.
Here is the good news. You're capable of dealing with disappointment. There's no feeling you can't handle. So buck up and do yourself a favour. Acknowledge that you desperately want to win and start visualising your next performance, including winning.
To reach your potential as an athlete, you need to dramatically increase the quality of your effort in training or practise. And that indeed includes increasing the quality of your mental game as well, by using visualisation.
