ARE YOU WINNING THE BATTLE WITHIN?
When I started Champions 101, my mission was simple. In all the years I spent as an athlete and a coach, I saw so many people struggle to build the mindset it took to reach their potential and achieve the success they were capable of...including myself. I’m one of those people who struggled with the role fear and doubt and negativity played in my sports experience, and I wish some of the things I know now I had known back then. My hope was that Champions 101 could help athletes who are still in the midst of creating their experience learn the lessons and build the skills that their very best in performance - on the playing field and in life beyond it - requires them to possess.
Today I get the opportunity to work with schools around the country, supporting the growth and development of athletes, coaches, and sports parents in the education-based athletic experience. (If you’re an athletic director, I'd love to work with you!) Our training and resources and curriculum clarify the mindsets, behaviors, and habits that define the champion, that set them apart, and that make them people worthy of winning, on the playing field and beyond. If you're an athlete here today, I'm guessing that's the desire you have for yourself, and if you're a parent or a coach, I'm guessing that's the desire you have for the kids in your care. Unfortunately, turning that desire into reality is easier said than done.
The truth is, there are talented athletes everywhere - including I bet wherever you are, and maybe people who come to mind right now - who never come close to reaching their potential. You might hear them described as “their own worst enemy.” If they developed the right mindset, they’d be hard for anyone to beat. Instead, no one else has to beat them because they literally end up beating themselves. They never become the athletes they’re capable of becoming because they never develop the ability to win the battle within their own minds.
I’m excited about the release of a new Champions 101 training course for athletes that’s aimed at addressing this battle happening in our minds, and what it takes to fight it and win it. It’s one of many new courses we’ll be rolling out to our partners for the year ahead, but I decided this message was too important not to share with you here today. If you’re an athlete who’s struggling to win the battle within, or if you’re a parent, a coach, or an athletic director who recognizes that your kids don't have the mindset they need, I hope this free resource can provide a gameplan for success moving forward. Here are a few of the key takeaways from the training course, which is linked at the bottom of this page:
*Becoming your best as an athlete requires you to build more than just your body (get bigger, faster, and stronger) and your sport-specific skill (shooting, passing, kicking, blocking, etc.). It also requires you to build a strong and healthy mindset.
*We don’t have control over the thoughts we think. Need proof? The average person has about 70,000 thoughts a day. Have you stopped and intentionally thought 70,000 thoughts today? Of course not. Thoughts are constantly coming and going. Besides, who would ever choose a negative, unhealthy, or unproductive thought?
*While we don’t have control over the thoughts we think, we do have control over how much energy and attention and authority we give the thoughts we think. That's the fight we're required to fight and win.
*Each one of us has two voices supplying our thoughts and battling for control and supremacy in our minds: our inner loser and our inner champion. It’s important for us to recognize the fighting strategy for each of these competitors.
*Our inner loser doesn’t fight fair. It’s always the first one to the fight and always the loudest and most convincing voice we hear. It’s a master manipulator. It'll say whatever it has to - true or not - to get us to settle for less than our best.
*Finding and following the voice of our inner champion usually requires us to press pause and to move past our initial impulse. There we’ll find the quiet, confident voice of truth that clarifies what winning requires us to do - and who winning requires us to be - when our moments of testing arrive.
*We win the battle within through training and practice. The more we learn to recognize and diminish the voice of our inner loser, the less influence it has over our mindset and our decisions. The more we embolden and empower the voice of our inner champion, the stronger and better we become.
*How we think affects what we choose to do, and what we choose to do affects how we perform and ultimately who we become, as athletes and as people.
If this message could help you or an athlete you know, click or share the links below to watch the full training session. You can even download the study guide for the course here.
Chapter 1: Win the Battle Within - Introduction
Chapter 2: Win the Battle Within - Recognition
Chapter 3: Win the Battle Within - Development
Chapter 4: Win the Battle Within - Separation
Chapter 5: Win the Battle Within - Conclusion
Thanks for being a part of my Friday newsletter team. Wherever it is you're working to win, I hope this weekly message challenges and encourages you to keep learning the lessons and building the skills that your very best requires you to possess. That starts by building a strong and healthy mindset that drives your perspective and your performance, by strengthening and empowering the voice of your inner champion, and by winning the battle within.
*Want access to all the Champions 101 virtual training courses? Click to learn more about the training we offer for athletes, coaches, and sports parents.