Achieve Your Goals Like An Athlete!

 A lot of my fitness friends have this “train like an athlete, act like an athlete, be an athlete” kind of fitness mentality.  This outlook is SO SO true!  And you know what? You don’t have to be an athlete to live like this either.  Athletes have massage therapists, yoga instructors, fitness trainers, athletic coaches, nutritionists, meditation teachers, and they make ample time to SLEEP.  They get all of this stuff in because it allows them to perform at their peaks.  Athletes train hard because their JOB IS TO WIN!  But...isn’t that your job too?  Shouldn’t we all perform at our very best? I believe if we start to think like athletes, we will start to make things happens and achieve our goals with greatness.

            Here are 5 things that elite athletes do that we can all learn from:

1.    Athletes set BIG TIME GOALS!  Football players WANT their team to get into the Super Bowl.   Maria Sharapova wanted to be a World Tennis Association Champ!  She didn’t just wake up one day and say I think I’ll be a four-time grand slam winner (So Elle Woods!).  She set lofty goals.

SET BIG GOALS FOR YOURSELF!  Be optimistic and have faith.  If you believe in your dreams and want them bad enough, you’ll get there with time and effort.

2.    Athletes have a vision.  They picture themselves bench-pressing a certain weight or scoring the winning shot for their basketball team.  I can even recall my own high school lacrosse coach telling me to imagine me blocking every single shot that came my way (I was goalie).  You know what?  IT HELPED SO MUCH!

As I always say, envision your finish line.  How you want to be, what you want to be doing, and who you will be with.  Once you have a vision, your goals become more real and attainable.  NOW GET THERE!

3.    Athletes chip away at their goals.  Marathoners know that in order for them to achieve their run time goals, etc., they must do things every single day until the race to get them to where they need to be.   

As long as I keep pushing forward every single day to achieve my dreams and learn from every setback, then I’m great.  Like athletes, I incorporate high intensity interval training into my workouts so I can have power later on.  I practice yoga and meditation so I can improve my flexibility, decrease my chances of getting injured and feel stress-free.  By taking small steps every single day, you’re prepping yourself to achieve your greatest goals.  Athletes work with nutritionists so they can fuel themselves for success.  We eat healthy most of the time so we can feel good and perform at our very best.  We work on being happy every day to help spread joy around the world.  The list goes on. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT WE DO NOW WILL IMPACT HOW WE PERFORM LATER ON.

4.    Athletes get comfortable being uncomfortable.  Their workouts have to be intense.  No, they’re not going to be easy.  Every single one WILL challenge them in one way, shape, or form.

 Not every day is going to be an “easy” day.  Actually, I don’t think most are.  But we do get stronger every single and more adept to overcome obstacles with improved power, knowledge, and confidence.  STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE AND MAKE MAGIC HAPPEN!

5.    Athletes use motivational techniques like positive self-talk to achieve their goals.

How many times have I talked about positive self-talk and motivational mantras?! EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE ONCE YOU SAY IT IS!