You're
Mental
The Moment of a Lifetime: May 6th, 1954
When
the bell rang, marking the last lap, Roger Bannister's time
for the 1 mile record was 3:00. The crowd was roaring and
he knew he would have to run the last lap in 59 seconds. Chataway
led, then Bannister sped past him at the beginning of the
final straightway, with only 300 yards to go.
Although
exhausted, Bannister kept running, forced on by immense effort
of will and aided by his years of training. When he was only
five yards from completing the race, the tape marking the
end of the race seemed to be moving farther away from him.
He later wrote, "My effort was all over and I collapsed unconscious.
The stop-watches held the answer, the announcement came-'Result
of the one mile time, 3 minutes'- the rest was lost in the
roar of the excitement." His time was 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.
In
last month's article I touched on the "But" issue and self
talk. This month I will start to touch on a more positive
aspect of our minds … your mental state during exercise.
Roger
Bannister, the first person to break the 4 minute mile mark,
"kept running, forced on by immense effort of will," is a
perfect example of how our minds can move us to a predetermined
goal. Even when the body says quit.
When
reading about Bannister, the one thing that stood out was
the fact that he developed a plan of success and orchestrated
it. His goal was simple, to knock a second of his time over
regular intervals prior to the race.
Taking
control of your mental state and developing a plan results
in only one thing….success! When you keep in mind that a successful
life is nothing more than several successful days strung together,
goals become much more achievable.
The
key is to not just focus on the start and finish. Some of
our biggest fears are of the unknown, fear of embarrassment
and the fear of humiliation. Because of these, many people
will never reach their full potential because they focus on
the wrong aspect of a goal.
One
of the most damaging mental pitfalls is to compare yourself
to someone who is where you want to be. I hear of so much
lost potential because someone will give up thinking, "I can
not compare to….." Then, one of the previously stated fears
pops up and they quit before trying.
On
August 8, 1995, I started to achieve a childhood dream of
flying small planes. Intimidated by everything associated
with flight, including the cost, I started to look at the
journey one flight lesson at a time. Instead of focusing on
how I would pay the $5000+ to accomplish this dream while
maintaining a job that could not afford it, I focused on only
the next lesson. By committing to a schedule after I finished
each lesson, I was unknowingly setting a task for each mini-goal
to accomplish my dream. On May 18, 1997, I received my license
and not until ten years later did I realize that such a habit
would create a road to success.
In
next month's article, I will touch on the power of Serotonin
and the endorphins in relation to exercise and the role they
play on your mental state. Until then, mentally attack each
goal in an aggressive, positive mindset … your success will
depend on it.
