“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it.”
– Steve Maraboli
My Goals
At the beginning of the autumn semester, we were asked to take the time to develop a couple goals that we desired to achieve. The initial goal that I created for myself was, “To be a better student and improve my GPA”. However, I quickly realized that this goal was too specific and that to be a better a student and improve my GPA I must set a goal that was focused upon a broader topic. The broader topic I concluded need the most attention was the mindset. To accomplish any task, you must first set your mind on the right course, the moment I came to that realization I knew what my goal needed to be. Thus, I changed my semester goal to, “Developing a mindset that focuses on success”.
My Book
After I had decided on my goal and determined where I wanted this semester to go, I began looking over the book list in search of the perfect fit for my topic. The moment I saw the title, Jim Afremow: The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive, I knew I had found what I was looking for. Upon reading the summary on the back and skimming through the first chapter, I had decided that Afremow’s book was perfect for me. Although the book focuses on athletes, the ideas very much relate to achievement and proper mindset in any aspect of life. Athletes perform at some of the highest levels of pressure in society, thus preparation of the mind is super important. So, I figured if I wanted to set my mindset towards success this book presented the perfect platform for ideas and tips that would help guide me in the right direction.
Strategies
After finishing my book and analyzing all the ideas I had been presented throughout the text, I was able to determine two main strategies that would help me with my goal. Each strategy is a direct example from the book that I edited to fit my specific goal. I was able to use both strategies over the past few weeks of the semester and have some personal examples of how to implement each strategy.
- Daily Practice to Maintain Mental Fitness
This strategy is based upon many of the broad concepts presented by Afremow, but a lot of the influence came from chapter ten which really emphasized a ‘fit mind’. In chapter ten Afremow writes, “Excellence is not random. It is developed by design and achieved by setting and tenaciously pursuing high, competitive goals”. It is essential to understand that just with any other activity we want to be good at, practice makes perfect. To succeed at a high level and keep our brain engaged and function as efficiently as we want we must be intentional in our daily routine. I have learned that every day must begin with the focus on success and finding ways to guide your thoughts and minds towards your goals. One thing I did throughout the semester to ‘maintain mental fitness’ was using a planner:
For each day of the week, I was intentional in my planning and preparation. I made sure to list all the classes, activities, or plans I had for that day and then from there I filled the open time slots with either homework assignments or studying sessions. By planning out each day, I am maintaining mental fitness, implementing tactics that often lead to success. Another aspect of this ‘maintaining mental fitness’ strategy came through quotes that I either found in the book or searched online.
Each time I found a quote that I enjoyed or found motivational while reading I recorded it at the bottom of my daily planner. Both quotes come from the book, although I often would often see inspirational quotes on social media or just while scrolling the web and have also written these down in my planner. By putting inspirational ideas and quotes at the bottom of my planner I found that each time I opened it to look at my daily tasks I was reminded of my goal. It is an essential part of training my mind to think positively and focus on the task at hand. I also discovered that when feeling a lack of motivation or just feeling drained mentally, I could turn to these quotes for sources of happiness and redirection of my thinking.
2. Take Control of Your Personal Destiny
This second strategy may be the most important of the two. A passage from the book reads, “Studies have shown that conformity in thinking can lead to poor decision making, which can be detrimental to your sports career”. This passage is extremely true within our society today. Very rarely do we see people who conform to the ways of those around them reaching the pinnacles of success. If you want to be successful you must make that decision within yourself and begin the journey on your own unique course. Each person must figure out what works best for them, what allows them to reach their full potential, what best suits their values and ideals, and ultimately what helps them achieve their goals. No two paths are the same, each path will be filled with twists and turns, obstacles, let downs, things that cause you to feel like you have failed. But in those moments, YOU must take control, you must not let the things of this world hold you back from what you desire. For myself, taking control of my own destiny meant achieving good grades over the course of the semester to increase my GPA. Here is an image of my current grades as documentation of me ‘taking control of my destiny’ and striving to reach my goals and full potential.
Closing thoughts
Throughout the process of reading the book and enacting the two strategies, I have learned a lot of things that I hope will help me reach my goal of developing a winning mindset. I also hope this information will be useful to others, thus I have summarized everything into three main takeaways, 1. Importance of mindset, 2. An effort is key, and 3. Intentionality.
If you found any or all this information useful or applicable, you should definitely check out this book! It will help you correct your mindset and hopefully guide you towards success and achievement of your goals.