vision

YOUR IDEAL VISION

Looking to the future gives us something to focus on and work towards.

Imagine a ship with no destination, the crew and captain may be completing tasks and surviving but to what end, for what purpose are they simply sailing around with no destination?

Do you remember learning to fasten your shoe laces? Probably not, as it’s a skill learned when you were around the ages of 6 or 7 and now you complete that skill without thinking twice, but there was a time when you found the motivation to learn that skill.

But for what purpose?

Although you can understand the point of learning to fasten your shoe laces, ask yourself this question – For what purpose do I want to improve?

Your answer may surprise you or a least spark some interesting internal dialogue around why you do what you do.

We all have our motivation for wanting to improve and when you really connect with your purpose, you will jump into improving with an almighty splash and begin to feel and see results quickly, but if you’re unsure as to why you want to improve, improving won’t come easily to you.

In The recent docuseries the Last Dance about the Chicago Bulls, NBA team of the 90’s, Michael Jordan, arguably the best player that ever lived, told a story about how a young player had got the better of him in a game, scoring 37 points. It was said that after the game the player, LeBradford Smith uttered something to Jordan like “good game’, Jordan took this small comment as fuel to motivate him for the next game and said he would score his opponents full game total of 37 by half time next time they met. Jordan went to score 36 and proved a point.

But here’s where his motivation goes to another level. The comment Smith made, was never made! Jordan allegedly made up the story, meaning it wasn’t the verbal comment made by Smith that lit his fire, which in itself would be a good mindset, but it was simply his inner voice, creating a scenario that fuelled the fire.

Can you imagine! The desire to win and improve so badly was simply created by imagining another player said something disrespectful to him! Now that’s on another level but it is possible to create motivation from anything and it doesn’t have to come from an external source.

In this instance, Jordan’s vision was to beat the same team that beat them the night before and get revenge on a young player.

He simply needed to tell himself the right words.

When creating your ideal vision, think short term, as in next few days, medium term, next few weeks and long terms, next few months/years and keep it realistic.

You can’t tell yourself you’ll be the best in the world if your diet is poor, you are constantly tired and you aren’t even close to being great.

But it’s important to get into good habits so you can achieve your short term, medium term and long term vision.

It’s habits that will help drive you forward.

So now, with that new perspective, ask yourself, for what purpose do I want to improve?

Here at Elite Sports Minds 23 we have deliberately and purposefully created a model that any aspiring athlete can implement right now to give them the best chance for success.

The key to succeeding involves many factors and principles and you should take note that it’s your thoughts that drive you forward.

There is a recipe for success, just as there’s a recipe for baking a cake.

The principles are similar in the sense you have a list of ingredients and a method to follow and when you use the correct ingredients in the right amounts and follow the method, you’ll end up with a great cake.

Here are list of ingredients that help you move towards success…

Have a desire or need to want to improve
Have an open mind to learning new concepts and perspectives
Have an ability to take action

These are the base ingredients you need to have before you are ready to start to use the other ingredients because without a solid base or foundation, everything else you do will come crashing down.

So before you move on, can you honestly say you agree and are able to build the base ingredients into your life?

The next 7 ingredients are the ones that add flavour and substance to your career.

Let’s explore each one to help you understand how to use each ingredient

Reality

Your reality is where you exist. Your reality is your perception of where and who you are. Those that are failing often live in the past or think too far ahead meaning they are stuck on past glories or perceive them to be better than they actually are.

When you accept your reality, you accept your faults, your strengths, your weaknesses but most of all, you accept where you are with confidence knowing you can now make truthful moves forward

When you create your vision, you give yourself clarity and a realistic goal to strive towards. The goal has to be consistent without wavering but knowing when you reach that goal, you can choose to create a new vision or goal and continue to move forward.

Communication

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

This is a biggy! This is the ingredient you need to master because communication is how we are judged.

We demonstrate internal and external communication, verbal and non-verbal and it’s how we communicate that determines our outcomes.

One aspect of communication that many people overlook is the power of a simple word or gesture at the right time. Sometimes the most powerful and influential communication techniques involve saying nothing.

Expectations

There are two perspectives when it comes to expectations – your expectations and the expectations others put on you. When it comes to success you must set your expectations in a way that motivates you, rather than limit your potential and the expectations others put on you must be considered by you and you have a choice whether to take on that expectation by understanding your strengths and ability to adapt.

Unrealistic expectations put on self or by others can be found in another recipe called “The recipe For Failure”

Values

When you live a life that are in line with your values, life can feel great but when you live a life outside your values, life can suck!

For example, my three values are accountability, balance and calm, meaning when I’m accountable, balanced and calm, I’m enjoying life but when i’m unable to be accountable, imbalanced and anxious, life for me becomes a struggle.

To figure out what your key three values are, create a list of ten then whittle them down to three and feel the difference when you get clarity.

When you hear the expression, be true to yourself, it’s your values you need to connect with that allow you to be true to yourself.

Beliefs

As you navigate life, you begin to form beliefs about how the world works and how you fit in and communicate with the world and people around you.

When it comes to sports, it’s usually your coaches and team mates that mould your beliefs.

But there’s something you need to know.

A belief is formed from a situation that happened some time ago. To work towards your success, you must challenge your beliefs to see if they’re still relevant to your new situations.

If you feel there’s something holding you back, it’s usually because you have a limiting or mistaken belief that’s influencing your behaviours.

Is it right to hold onto a belief you formed years ago, even if your new situation demands a new belief?

Relationships

We are social creatures by nature and forming relationships is part of our DNA and help us integrate into communities.

But successful relationships need work and communication forms a big part of whether relationships fail or succeed.

Imagine you’re not playing and not enjoying your sport. You feel confused and unsure and this leaves you wanting something to change but you don’t know how, but at the same time the other person, the manager, has no idea how you’re feeling or what you’re thinking.

They get a feeling there’s something not quite right because your performance has dipped but rather than approach the issue, both of you accept this is how the relationship is. You both accept your position in the relationship and do nothing to improve it.

To succeed, relationships have to have a certain level of honesty, integrity and respect built on a common goal or vision.

What You Can Do Right Now

If there is a sense of something not being right or there seems to be a struggle for you, I’d suggest you consider each one of these ingredients and figure out which part of your life needs attention.

If you’re succeeding, you’ll know there is an alignment with all the ingredients and you’ll be enjoying your sporting career and life.

If you want to know more about this recipe or how you can build the recipe into your club or team, get in touch and let’s communicate.

Live With Purpose

Mike