Category: mindset

Actions build your reputation

Act in accordance to how you want to be perceived. It sounds simple, but that’s because it is. For example, if you want to be taken seriously, you have to be serious. If you want to be given responsibility, be responsible. If you want to be viewed as trustworthy, do trustworthy things.

If you don’t know where to get started, here are some simple rules that I feel will benefit everyone:

Don’t talk about people when they are not able to defend themselves.

Look optimistically toward the future.

Always try to perform your best/make the most of what abilities you have.

Work hard.

Be respectful.

Do things because you believe that’s the right thing to do, not because someone wants you to.

Sport-specific training

Working on your genera fitness is great for most people. This would include your average working out like running, lifting weights, or doing yoga. But general physical preparedness (GPP, as we call it in the biz) should only be the baseline for those who are training for a specific sport or event. GPP focuses on health, but not on performance. And while you typically need to be healthy to perform at the highest level, being healthy does not necessarily translate to athletic achievement.

For example, in most sports, it helps to have one or more of the following attributes: strength, explosiveness/power, flexibility, agility, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, etc. You can easily work on all of those at the gym by yourself. But no matter your strength or conditioning level, you still need sport-specific training to work on your skills if you want to excel at your sport. It doesn’t matter how many times you hit the weights or run, those are not going to make you run a better route, use better technique, or improve your hand-eye coordination. Being more agile will not make you a better shooter, swimmer, golfer, etc.

Always work to have GPP. But if you are competing in a sport, make sure you take the time to focus on your sport-specific skills. Most of the time, if someone is highly skilled and in decent shape, they will outperform someone with low-to-moderate skill but is in great shape.

Small efforts repeated daily

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” - Robert Collier​
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

When many people think of success, the part that often gets overlooked is the consistent, focused effort applied by the successful person. They think if I just do this ONE THING, I will achieve my goal. But that’s only part of the equation. Sure, you should probably focus your efforts on the most important actionable step, but you’re probably going to have to chip away at that one thing for a very long time to get where you want to be. It’s a long, slow, boring process. You have to enjoy what you’re doing, have a bigger “why” (a reason to push through difficulties), and a lot of grit in order to keep going when you aren’t seeing progress as quickly as you would like.

Two quick notes:

1) Make sure you take the time to really give your focused efforts a chance to pay dividends. If you keep bouncing around, switching from one idea to another (like a fad diet), you’re never going to see the results you want.

2) At the same time, be cognizant of if the efforts you’re making are really what you should be focusing on – are they going to make the biggest impact? Do you need to modify what you’re doing to optimize results? Do not scrap everything you’re doing, but tweak one little part at a time. It’s like an elimination diet. You eliminate one item at a time until you can pinpoint where the problem is. If you eliminate/change everything, you won’t know what caused the results.

Thoughts -> Words -> Actions -> Life

Your thoughts determine your perception of life and the outcome of your successes and failures. Change your thoughts. Change your words. Change your actions. Change your life.

Not: I need to do this.

But instead: I want to this this.

Not: I have to do this.

But instead: I get to do this.

Not: I should have done that.

But instead: I could have done that.

Not: I didn’t have time to do that.

But instead: I didn’t prioritize my time to do that or I didn’t make time to do that.

Not: I can’t do that.

But instead: How can I do that?