Adapt To A Racer’s Mindset – Your Race Day Is Waiting For You To Step Up And Win

There’s a new job opportunity, a new career path to pursue, a new business venture, a fork in the road and a chance to take a completely different path.

The unknown path is outside the comfort of what’s familiar.

Others are racing by and choosing their path into the unknown.

You can watch the race, or you can join. If you choose to join, then design a plan to get you ready for your race day.

Practicing each day for race day is more important to the success of your race than the race itself.

 

Your Goal: running a marathon toward success.

Your Requirement: daily practice with a designed planned, so your body and mind have the strength to cross the finish line.

 

Pause and reflect. What is your marathon? What is that goal, job, career, investment, new business you want to start?

 

Write down your race, and then start planning the training schedule to get you ready for race day.

Your plan doesn’t have to be perfect. Your branding doesn’t have to be perfect. Your messaging doesn’t have to be perfect. Put your plan together first, realize it’s not perfect, fight through the mental muscle burn, and start your practice, so you’re ready for your race.

Don’t worry about your pace, your place, or others around you running faster. This is your race. This is your marathon. What’s your personal record (PR) goal for your race? There’s thousands of runners all around you, but they aren’t running your race. They are all running their own race, and they aren’t judging you on how you’re running. In fact, they’re excited your out there taking a risk and running in the race just like them.

 

Be an action taker.

 

“Don’t manage your time, allocate your time.” –Jeffrey Gitomer

Every hour of the day is either invested or it’s spent. Are you spending your time running in circles, going down social media rabbit holes, or binging TV shows?

Or, are you following a training schedule that allows you to invest your time so you are getting stronger, increasing your stamina, and mental fortitude to get you through the demands that the long race will have on your body and mind?

 

Do you know which race you are going to sign up for, and then start preparing?

Are you watching the race, or are you in the race working on your PR?

 

There are tens of thousands of steps in your marathon. Are you prepared to make them all without quitting? Will you be prepared to push through the mental wall as your body starts fighting you to stop?

What’s your race?

It’s that nagging feeling, that nudge to do something different. Do something that scares you if you fail but excites you if you succeed.

 

Define your successes.  What does success look like? Give yourself Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to be held accountable.

 

You know what you are called to do, but you might not have admitted it to yourself. Pause and reflect. Find your calling. Then, map out a plan on paper how to get you there. Get the ideas out of your head and into existence on a piece of paper that you can keep on your desk or stare at on your wall.

Think outside your comfort bubble.

Give yourself permission to meditate, to pray, to reflect on the bigger picture.

Find your courage to race that marathon. Your marathon looks different than someone else’s race. The courage to start your race comes from within you.

 

Too woo for you? Exactly. It’s supposed to be too woo.

Woo challenges the status quo of your existing mindset. It’s a muscle that must be stretched and exercised every day or you will fall back into your default equilibrium.

Move your equilibrium. Design your training program for your race.

 

Play the long game. You’re running a marathon. Your training plan needs a well thought design, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. It will never be perfect. It doesn’t have to be all or none.

If you step up to race day with zero training, no plan, and hope to just wing it…how will your race go? Will you drop out as your muscles start giving up on you? Will you be distracted by all the other races around you and try to run at their pace? Is the finish line to your race too far away because you didn’t plan for the length of the race?

If you settle into race day after months of training, and have the confidence that your muscles are ready for the long race ahead…how will your race go? Will your mind be ready to block out the noise from all the other runners? Will you stick to running at your planned pace instead of the using short lived adrenaline to chase after someone else’s pace? Will your muscles have the strength to last the entire way, and will you have the mental stamina to push through all the inner demons that want you to quit the race? As you approach the finish line, will that runner’s high kick in as you realize it was all you, and it was your grit and determination that got you to this point of the race?

After you finish your first race, how will you feel? The journey is one that very few even attempt to try, and you had the courage to sign up for the race and stick to your training schedule.

Then, when the mind settles down, you can ask yourself: when’s the next one? Where is the next race, and how can work toward a new personal record (PR)? What KPI can you improve that’s better than your last race?

 

Are you ready to join a race?

Do you want to watch the racers in the stands as they cross the finish line?

Do you want to watch a race, or do you want to win your own race?

 

Be still and reflect. Listen to where you want to go. Then, plan your training schedule and prepare for race day.

The fellow racers are here to cheer you on as you step up to the line and prepare to jump through the starting gate. Grit, determination, and purposeful training will keep you in the race.

 

What’s your plan if you choose to take a risk and start your race?

You can do this. Design a plan, show up every day to practice and train your muscles, and have the drive from within to get you ready for race day.