Throughout all my content you will notice some similar themes and ideas being discussed. That is my way of breaking the stigma that psychological improvement is complicated and requires an immense amount of understanding. It is simpler than you think and one of my key objectives when writing is to help push that narrative forward. Some concepts I discuss act as a foundation for overarching themes that you will see pop up often in my content. Concepts such as being consistent when tackling a task, living and thinking in the present and behaving like the successful version of yourself.
So what happens when we achieve a goal? Surely now we can relax and enjoy the fruits of our labour? Not so, and this should not surprise us. In reality that feeling of accomplishment is never reached, not because of a lack of success or the completion of a set goal but because as we get nearer to our objective, other goals take our attention away. If you have built a growth mindset and your habits and behaviours mirror the success you chase then even the idea of being contempt once a goal is reached should not make sense to you. The idea revolves around the fact that a performance mindset is a lifelong commitment that one makes. That may sound daunting but if you have made it to the fourth and final stage of the performance mindset process then you would have built up strong positive habits on the journey here. Like with any habit, whether it be detrimental or not, breaking it... is difficult.
It's easy to feel overwhelmed when working towards a goal especially when progress seems slow and inconsequential. In these difficult moments it can be helpful to simplify your task down to the next step that can be taken. Identify that step, then commit to making it to the best of your ability. That ability to commit to each next task is a super skill that most high performers have mastered. Shutting out the noise around you and zeroing in on the task at hand. Padraig Harrington, arguably one of the most unconventional yet hard working professional golfers of all time stated that one of his keys to success was never changing his mind. What he means by this is that before you take on any task, you decide how you will tackle it, once that decision is made there is no going back. In Padraig's case, before a golf shot he would decide what he wanted to do and from the moment he takes his first step towards the ball, his mind is set on his target. This helped him become bulletproof to any thoughts or doubts telling him to second guess himself. Padraig's wise words hit home with me as it helped me identify a very important concept. I can sum that concept up in this phrase, "committing fully to what may turn out to be the wrong decision will always provide better results than committing to nothing at all." It may sound simple but in the heat of the moment, being decisive can be tough. Due to this, developing processes and procedures that allow you to zone in are of the most importance. To start, just simply reminding yourself before every next shot that once you take that step forward, you are fully committed. To begin with this will be difficult and you will notice how your mind wants to wander off on the path of 'ifs buts and maybes,' however, in time, with consistent effort, those habits can be built. For a golfer, a way you could do this is to score yourself on your ability to zone in and commit. Instead of writing your score down after each hole, write down how many shots you committed to from all the shots you hit on the hole. It is important to remember that a committed shot may end in an unwanted outcome, in these cases, separate your emotional reaction to the outcome and ask yourself whether you were successful at your task.
Going forward, keep yourself accountable for your improvement and practice being more decisive, regardless of the potential outcome. Choose your next step, then take it without holding back. You will either end up taking a step forward or learning a lesson on what not to do next time... it's a win win!
