Is it in you? Do you have what it takes? Many questions often surround us who are searching for the most from ourselves. You’ll often hear that you have to believe in yourself. I often say it to my students daily too, but what if you hear it and agree with it but you don’t feel any different? What if you don’t understand what it all really means? 

This is where the separation comes. Those who believe in themselves stare at adversity or pending failure and believe that they’ll find a way to make it happen. So it ultimately comes down to what you are willing to sacrifice to attain what you really want. 

It’s funny, I have a student who is a developing champion that is so obsessive about getting things right that he works himself into a frenzy to the point where the line between fact and fiction are no longer clear. Emotions get involved and the decisions become a blur. It’s all a reaction to uncertainty and as a result his emotions lead him to a panic. The interesting thing about this particular person is that when he is sick or slightly injured on the court his practice habits immediately become sharper than they ever have. Wait, repeat that?

Yes, his decision making and work ethic actually improve when there is a physical ailment present. How is that possible? 

It works a little bit like this: The brain simply doesn’t have the energy to wander around and dabble in different things especially in areas that have negative consequences. Instead if the task on the court is to hit a target the brain cues the body to do what it needs in order to accomplish the task. There isn’t a mixture of frustration when the result isn’t immediate or a focus on what the pending result may be. It’s all about just getting it done, after all he’s sick or injured and looking forward to his next opportunity to rest. There’s no energy wasted on things that don’t help the desired result. This very same person when healthy can spend hours trying to achieve a remedial task that he can accomplish in minutes when he’s sick or injured all because he’s focused on what he needs to do to be successful. 

So the question is, is he a high performer? We all are high performers, what diverts us from our max potential is what separates us from others. If you can learn to keep your mind in the moment and on the task at hand while using your strengths to accomplish your objective than nothing stands between you and the end result you desire.