Tag: Mental Fitness

  • How to Conquer Self-Limiting Beliefs

    How to Conquer Self-Limiting Beliefs

    We’re dedicating the month of April to mental fitness. Every Sunday, we’ll be releasing a new feature designed to help you strengthen the power of your mind with Klay S. Williams (@planawithklay) a transformational change agent, author and podcast host who specializes in courageous wellness conversations in the media and corporate spaces. Our topics include: manifesting a breakout moment, overcoming the unexpected, discovering the hidden benefits of meditation, and conquering self-limiting beliefs. Here, the final article in the series: how to conquer self-limiting beliefs.

    How to Conquer Self-Limiting Beliefs

    Most of us have dreams—big dreams—whether they include reaching a certain rung on the ladder of your career, having a happy, fulfilling romantic relationship, or achieving a particular fitness goal. But if your present life looks nothing like your dream life, self-limiting beliefs could be to blame. “A lot of us know what we want, but self-limiting beliefs come in and say, ‘I can’t have that’ or “I’m not worthy of that”  or “I don’t deserve those things,” says Klay. “So you’re limited in your present moment and not able to go forward to any of the things that you really want because of those self-limiting beliefs. You limit the possibilities. You limit the manifestation moment.”

    Beyond your own ambition, self-limiting beliefs can impact how others perceive you as well.

    “We train people how to treat us,” says Klay. “When we limit what we feel that we’re deserving of, what we’re worthy of, we kind of receive that.” Here, two ways to break the cycle of limiting beliefs and create the life you deserve:

    Dig into your past.

    Klay suggests giving this some serious thought: If you’re being completely honest with yourself in a nonjudgmental way, in a way that’s not blaming other people, what is the root of your self-limiting beliefs? Where do they come from? “Use your life as the blueprint and comb through your past,” says Klay. “Normally, there’s a teachable moment somewhere in our childhood or adolescence that gave us that first pebble to say, ‘Oh, this is how you should be treated, this is what I should accept.’ To be able to make that identification point, you get to strengthen yourself by knowing that it was never yours to take on. You’re able to go back and have a clear conversation with yourself and say, ‘This is what I was taught and I now can make a different decision.’”

    Put it on paper.

    On one side of your page write: What is the limiting belief? On the other side write: What is the opposite of that (what would happen if you believed in yourself)? Once you have one or more pairs written down, draw a line—a make-believe bridge if you will—between the self-limiting belief and the full belief. What is one step that you can take that will connect that bridge? “If I’m someone with a self-limiting belief that I can only receive the salary that I’m making, I can only stay in this project management role, the other side of that is, ‘Oh, I really want to be a managing director,’” says Klay. “The bridge maker, then, is asking for support and understanding what are the resources or the connections you need to make in order to be that. 

    It’s taking a step in the direction that will help you accomplish that goal by naming what the self-limiting belief is at the beginning.”

    Hold yourself accountable. 

    “A major mistake that many of us make when attempting to conquer self-limiting beliefs is to begin a process without creating any form of accountability,” says Klay. “Accountability supports us in having a greater sense of discipline and commitment towards our end goal while reducing the risk of victimization,” he adds. “For instance, if your goal is to lose 50 lbs and you’ve done the work to identify that the origins of your self-limiting belief came from an unhealthy relationship with a parent who was verbally abusive about your weight as a child, you’re now able to understand that your weight loss goals must be for your own benefit and desires, without the need of proving anything to your parent. To hold yourself accountable, you can make the commitment by creating discipline in your nutrition, scheduling workouts, and carving out time to meditate or envision your end goal in peace. And if there is a set back at any point, accountability gives you permission to refocus and start again, without falling prey to victimization or pity.”

    Need a workout plan? We’ve got more than 30 free ones to try.

    Photography credit: Andre L. Perry; @perrylperry

    Disclaimer:

    This information is for educational purposes only and is not clinical medical advice. Please consult your healthcare and mental health practitioners prior to implementing any lifestyle change.

  • Apolo Ohno’s competitive evolution

    Apolo Ohno’s competitive evolution

    If we were to rewind time nearly tens years, Apolo Ohno would be warming up, stretching out, eating a carefully-portioned meal, and clearing his head. Then, he’d repeat that exact process day-in and day-out. Clearly his system worked. Ohno finished his career as the most decorated winter Olympian in US history with a total of 8 medals: 2 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. While his time on the ice may be over, he’s been far from finished—and in more ways than one. Let’s also not forget, in 2014 he competed in the Ironman World Championships and finished in 9:52:27.

    These days, Ohno’s competition is part-business, part-entertainment. He considers himself a serial entrepreneur and builds on ideas and concepts from the ground up. He’s worked in several industries including telecommunications, biotech, real estate, and most recently, the cryptocurrency blockchain sector with HybridBlock (hybridblock.io) He’s also a commentator and has had a front row seat to witness the next generation of great athletes compete for gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and again at this year’s 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

    A post shared by Apolo Ohno (@apoloohno) on

    Prior to Ohno’s flight to South Korea, we caught up with the legend himself for a discussion about the evolution of his physical training and nutrition, why it’s so important we all strengthen our mental fitness, plus his advice on successful entrepreneurship.

    Everyone gets excited for competition. Finally, all the long hours of hard work, sacrifice, and focus are put to the test. May the best man/woman win. But for Ohno, he recalls the process of getting there as much more rewarding. “That’s where you learn the most about yourself,” he says. And over the years he’s certainly learned a lot.

    OHNO KNOWS TRAINING

    As a young athlete, Ohno would bombard his body with volume (in other words, a lot of work.) “I didn’t really understand the potential that I had physically and how to maximize it because I just recovered so fast,” he says. “The more stress that I placed upon it [the body], the better I adapted, the faster that I got, the stronger that I became,” he explains.

    A post shared by Apolo Ohno (@apoloohno) on

    But as he matured, things began to change. His training evolved to be more specific to his sport instead of bulking up for the sake of getting bigger and stronger. “I realized I’d been wasting half of my training sessions doing things that really didn’t impact my sport in any capacity,” he says. “I was probably carrying an extra ten to fifteen pounds in excess body-weight that really wasn’t necessary for me to skate fast,” he explains. This was the moment he realized it was time to focus on exercises that emulated and mimicked the exact movements he would be doing out on the ice.

    Below is a piece by TIME.com’s Sean Gregory on the specific training Ohno went through prior to the 2010 games in Vancouver:

    OHNO KNOWS NUTRITION

    In terms of diet and food, Ohno made significant changes after an evaluation with a nutritionist found that he had been consuming nearly 3,800 calories for breakfast alone. “It was crazy. I was just young and eating a stupid amount of food and didn’t really know, but most of that was just garbage, wasteful calories. It wasn’t quality nutrition,” he says. After making some tweaks, he found that his body operated best on a quasi-keto diet that favored protein and fats with strategic uses of carbs—saving them for pre and post-workout.“My body was just so much more efficient,” he says. This new approach to eating was a game-changer for his recovery.

    OHNO KNOWS MENTAL FITNESS

    Going hand-in-hand with Ohno’s training and nutrition pivots, meditation and visualization techniques took his performance to new heights. “I think the mental component is probably the most overlooked part of any training regimen. It’s never inside any training program or manual. There’s never a time that says, ‘mental prep’ or ‘visualization time’. It was a real critical piece for me. It was literally the difference between me winning and me not even making it into a final oftentimes,” he says.

    A post shared by Apolo Ohno (@apoloohno) on

    Easier said than done, right? Maybe. But, Ohno believes the key is to learn how to listen and acknowledge what’s going on in your head. “Understand that there’s nerves, and anxiety, and potential fear that sets in, which are all completely natural components of a human being; but these things do not determine who we are, or how we’re going to perform, or what is going to happen,” he explains. “Quieting the mind and focusing on the things that are within your control are the most critical, the most important, and also the most beneficial to any athlete,” he continues.

    Ohno still puts his techniques to practice and thinks there’s great deal of value for anyone. “If your perception is that everything is against you and you don’t know what’s going to happen, that’s a fear state to live in and you have complete control over that, regardless of the actual situation. It’s your perception of the situation that is defining,” he says.

    A post shared by Apolo Ohno (@apoloohno) on

    OHNO KNOWS BUSINESS

    Now, when it comes to being fit enough for the world of business, Ohno admits he hasn’t always won but he’s always evolving and adapting—similarly to his younger and older years as an athlete in training. “I’ve done many businesses, some have been wildly successful, some have obviously failed but I’ve learned from those,” he says.

    His two biggest lessons? Timing and research. “You could have an incredible idea, with an incredible team, and an incredible product, but if you’re just too early, you can’t force your way through it,” he says. And don’t think you can blame it on a lack of funding or resources. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have either.”

    But before he even starts on a new venture, you’d better believe he’s doing his studying and homework. “I think that people oftentimes jump into something without having any understanding, or breadth of knowledge, or experience,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong with doing that, but just understand that there is going to be an educational period.”

    Can’t wait to see what Ohno gets into next.