Why You Need An Athlete Mindset for High Achievement #526

It's something that I thought was relative or relatable only for athletes , but I've recognized , having interviewed Hundreds of men from all different areas of their life , that the ones who are really succeeding , the ones who are really leading by example , have this mindset .

So by the end of this , you will be clear on that . I'll give you the framework .

So if you are driving along I you may want to pause this one or come back to this one A bit later so you can actually start writing this down because , as we know , you can listen to as much information as possible , but if you want implementing it , it's going to do you no good , right .

It's really important to take time To implement what you learn , and I learned that and I was sharing a story on last week's episode how I stopped going to personal development events obviously we had co vid , but After that as well , because I've been to so many events and so many different coaching programs and listen to so many podcasts , but I hadn't really

implemented a lot of the things that I was learning . So I set the goal and the intention that I wouldn't go back to another event until I had started implementing that .

And what it helped me do by going through the frameworks that I had learned and the skills that I wanted to develop was I started seeing progress , and the progress gave me feedback right around the specific things that I needed to learn . I think that is a very important tip . Let's dive into it . So what is an athlete's mindset ?

Firstly , let's define it as the mental preparedness that helps athletes or individuals train , face opponents , and let's just look at that as challenges in life and perform at their best , which is something we all want to do .

So when I speak to a lot of people who are wanting to improve their health , I believe that regardless of whether you're an athlete or you're a weekend warrior or you're someone who works in the corporate world , you should still have an athlete mindset In two ways .

The second way is way I mentioned at the beginning , but the first way is also Athletes are generally the healthiest and fittest people on the planet . So if you believe you're an athlete , if you think like an athlete , you're generally going to do what they do . So when you go to eat a certain food , you'll go with the most athletic version of myself do that .

It'll help you decide when you need to go to sleep . So your recovery is on point and that's why I believe it's really important . But let's get into it . So , firstly , what it's gonna allow you to do by developing this mindset . Firstly , it's gonna allow you to create rewards .

It's such an important thing , within a mindset and working towards creating something , to have ways to reward yourself . So , for example , one of your things might be getting up early .

I'm a big believer in getting up early because I know that if I get up before everyone else , I can get what needs to be done before the chaos of the day and sometimes things run away on you . So by getting up early , I have a way to reward myself . The first thing is is I get to do things that I enjoy doing .

So I get to have a coffee and just chill out , not be , I guess , stressed by emails or text messages , and I get that downtime .

The reward I get from doing that consistently , getting up and having me time , is it allows me to be a better husband , it allows me to perform better at work and it allows me to perform better in my training life , because I get the important things done well , okay .

So find a way to reward yourself and to create rewards when you're developing that , because you know , when you've got that athlete mindset , if you don't get to put to test or if you don't get some feedback or reward for the work that you're doing , you can lose motivation .

Right , it might be a championship game or playing for a final , like most teams do every year . What's your final ? That's what you need to think about . The second thing is establishing those milestones . So a milestone could be in 12 months you wanna earn $100,000 .

And way to break that down over the quarter could be you want , by quarter one you've got over $25,000, . Quarter two , $50,000 , quarter three , $75,000 . And you create those milestones so that you know whether you're on track or whether you're not , and when you hit those .

It's a good way to motivate yourself and if you've fallen behind , it allows you to refine your process to catch up to where you need it to be . The third one is it allows you to maintain your wellness . An extremely important part athlete mindset understands that if you just train all day , your muscles are gonna break down .

You're not gonna be able to perform at your best . Not only do you need to train . The most important part is the recovery . So an athlete mindset allows you to know that you can't just work all the time . You have to have the yin and yang approach . So how are you putting that into your life ? Fourth , it allows you to practice consistently . Why ?

Well , as point four , point three , just said , it allows you to maintain wellness , so you stay on top of how your body is feeling , you mindful of when you need to stretch , when you need to ease off a little bit , and it also helps you , I guess , put your output . You know one thing that I learned when I was training for CrossFit .

When I first started , I was hitting all those hero wads and those hard workouts 100% , seven days a week , and I wondered why I was getting injured and my nervous system was fried constantly because I wasn't understanding this idea of energy balance .

If you were to assume that every week you had full battery , a training week that you use that , and every day you had X amount to consume to spend before you got to recharge over the weekend or whenever your training day is all your weekend , that's where you need to go .

Which of the things that I'm doing this week need the most of my energy or are gonna take the most of my energy , and how can I conserve it for the other things that are important to me ? So an example a lot of people in corporate burn themselves out , run themselves ragged working . Then they get home and their fuse is short .

They snap at their family and their relationships grow apart and they don't have any hobbies outside of that . So when you understand energy balance , or if you're an individual who knows you can get more energy from how you eat and recover , you can perform better at work and you can perform better in the home life and those other areas .

The fifth one is it allows you to train harder . When you're recovering well , you have more energy to expend every day .

So the people who believe you need to have eight hours sleep a week a week wouldn't that be good A night , probably a little bit more switched onto it than the individuals who are in that hustle culture where they're trying to survive a five hours , which is what I was trying to do , and you can get away with it for a while , but long term and there's a

lot of science around this from cognitive functions so focus , memory , mood that is impacted by your lack of sleep and , obviously , your recovery , physically and mentally as well . So think about that , the better you recover . And when you have that athlete mindset to go , okay , today my output was X . I need to bring that back , and I personally use a whoop .

I think it's a great tool . I know there are aura rings as well that can help you see your expenditure throughout the day and it can give you a recommended recovery so that you can sort of stay on track with that , not burn yourself out . It's definitely a worthwhile tool to get on top of .

So , just to recap , this is what the athlete mindset allows you to do and allows you to create rewards , establish milestones , maintain wellness , practice consistently and train harder . Now let's go to the tips to achieve this athlete mindset . No one gets the outcomes that they want by themselves .

I used to think and there's a saying where it's like if you want to go far , go as a team , if you want to go fast , go alone , or whatever that one is and I used to be like I want to go fast , so go alone . But you realize pretty quickly you can only go so far alone before you need leverage . You can't be an expert in everything .

You can't master everything , so that's why you need help . So an example in the home life , for example , could be the individual who knows they've got a family , they want to have a social life , but they also want to have the financial means . You could create leverage by having a double income family , so both parties are working .

Secondly , what that can enable you to do is afford babysitters , afford things that you can invest into the relationship . The second way you can look at it with leverage is from a training aspect .

I understand fitness and I still have a coach because I don't want to have to think about programming , and I know I need the accountability to get what I need done . So that's where you're creating leverage and teamwork becomes important , because you need to have a number of people working towards a common goal .

And the first tip there , which is where I was going with that , ties into celebrating teamwork , understanding that everyone has a role and if they're doing their role , you've got to celebrate that , because without that would you have been able to achieve what you needed to do .

So I would encourage you , based off what you want from your life , what you have an idea of what you're working towards , what you're getting up every day to achieve . Who do you need on your team ? What roles do you need to play , and are people aware of that ?

Are you celebrating those people for helping you achieve what you want to achieve , or you're just Expecting that they should help you ? That's something to think about . Point two , with tips to achieve is you develop routine . We are creatures of habit . If you don't believe me , think about the last time you tried to change anything and how hard it was .

You know for the individual who decides that they want to get up early , they want to start getting or joining that 5 am Club . The first day you do it , I guarantee you probably hit snooze or you want to hit snooze .

And Every day it becomes more and more challenging until it becomes a habit or until it becomes part of your routine , and that's because we are creatures of habit . So if the habits that you have , all the routines that you have right now , you need to ask yourself are they going to deliver the life that you want or the results that you want ?

And it's very simple it's either a yes or a no . If it's a no , you need to change them . But what do you need to change them to , and that's where , once again , we need to start thinking about what are going to deliver the best results .

This is , once again , why having a team to support you and to point out your blind spots is so helpful , because you can fast-track that success . It's the reason why I'm a massive advocate for having having coaches To give

you that feedback . So think about the routines that you have and , once again , don't try and overhaul your whole routine . It's very hard to do that . Once again , because we like change . Just choose one thing Right and generally choose the one thing that if you were to do that , it's going to set you up for success .

So , going back to the 5 am Are most people want to implement morning routines and do a lot of stuff before they head out the door . But if you can't get up at the time , you're suggesting you should get up . It pushes everything back .

So , rather than focusing on , you want to read , you want to spend time with the kids , you want to get a workout in before work . Really , just focus in on developing that habit of getting up at X time . Once you've got that , then you can move on to the next habit . Okay , so that's . That was point to develop routine .

Thirdly is honing your mental strength right . That's going to help you develop athletes mindset . The Michael Jordan's , the Kobe Bryant's , lebron James's , even probably any top athlete that you can think of , has an incredible mindset . They have incredible mental strength . When the pressures on , they're the ones who are stepping up to take that game winning shot .

They're the ones who are taken up to take the game winning free kick Because they understand that they can handle pressure . They've been in those situations . But the only way you can improve your or hone in on your mental strength one is through practice but is seeking out adversity .

It's why , for our Academy , one of our frameworks , that we have a framework that we Move men through . But point number six , our five story on that framework , is doing something hard and that is controlled adversity .

So if you can Learn to seek out controlled adversity which if you feel it's too much you can wind it back , but you're in control of the variables you can start getting used to those uncomfortable situations so that when that game-winning shot comes to you , or whatever that looks like in your life , you're prepared for it right .

You've been there , you've understood the pressure , you understand all the external Variables coming through and you know how you want to respond to that . So that's why honing in mental strength is a really important one , the one that I think is highly underutilized into today's society . I believe a lot of people have gone soft .

So , looking at that , controlled adversity is one . Fourth this is no brainer I don't need to explain this one to you guys but practice , practice , practice . The more you do things , the more feedback you're going to get , the better you get at that specific thing . All right , it's the reason why the best guitarists are the way out of the best .

Basketball is all that , because I've just had more time practicing . People don't like failure , which is why they don't practice enough . Number five Set attainable goals . There's no point Saying you're gonna go . This is what I did . It wasn't attainable at the time , but it definitely got me moving . But in 2014 , I set a goal to earn a million dollars .

I'd never run a business in my life . I was a terrible communicator , I had a lot of things working against me , but I was very , very Excited and enthusiastic about making a million dollars . I had set myself up for success , and I guess the people around me hate because no one said hey , dude , have you thought about x , y and z ?

I Still went for it , but I felt very much short . So make sure you're setting these attainable goals and how you can work out what an attainable goal is . You know we teach this in the academy , but just look out where you're at and where you want to get to , and break that down into milestones .

And speak to people who have the results that you want and See what it took for them to get that and see if it fits in with your plan , because when you decide to you want to achieve or excel in something else , you have to make sacrifices in other areas of your life , and people don't consider that , which is why it creates so much Conflict in other areas

of their life . Point six take action . You got to do it . You can have this analysis by paralysis or you can continue to get ready , to get ready , but if you are not taking action , it doesn't matter . You can have the prettiest plan on paper , but you got to start doing things . So then , my top six tips to achieve that athletic mindset or athlete mindset .

Firstly , celebrate teamwork . You're part of something bigger than yourself . Secondly , develop routine . Thirdly , home mental strength . Fourth , practice , practice , practice . Fifth Sett attainable goals . Six you got to take action . We're about to wrap it up , guys , so thanks for bearing with me .

This last one will help you give yourself some actionable Steps for that mindset traits , or some traits of those high achievers there that you can adopt as well . The first one talk to yourself . We all do so . Let's go a little bit further , but talk to yourself in an empowered manner .

So how would you need to think about or talk to yourself if you were already achieving X goal ?

So one thing my mom taught me when I was younger , we used to practice thing , this thing called brain gym , and I was a state and a national champion runner and I believe how I got there obviously aside from the training was mom used to make his Practices brain gym , where we would visualize or I'd visualize , my race From start , from the moment the gun went

off , to how I would run . And , funnily enough , I ran every race the exact same way , because when I was visualizing it I was thinking okay , how am I going to be feeling at this point ? What would I do if someone tried to push me here ? How am I going to mentally get myself through this ?

So then , when I was running , I was like Comfortable here , I've been here and that ties back into that tip . To achieve , around that honing , that mental strength , you can visualize a lot of stuff . There's a lot of great data around that . So think about how you talk to yourself and you can .

You know you can't control that first thought you have , but you can control the next one . So if the first thought you have isn't empowering or isn't what you need to think or how you need to talk to yourself to get that outcome , what do you need to follow that up with ? This is what you need to think about , because an athlete does that .

There are people who break down when they miss that shot and they beat themselves up , but there are people who go okay , that's unfortunate , I wish I'd done better , but here's how I'm going to do better and they are proactive about it . You need to think are you being proactive or reactive with your life ?

The second part of those traits , or the second trait , is see it and be it , which is , I guess , the visualization I talked about . Thirdly is find a purpose . We can create purpose and people talk about purpose all the time . For some people it's getting out of a rut . For others , it's reigniting their relationship . For others , it's earning money For others .

Once you achieve , I guess , some of those fundamental ones , you can then start creating a purpose bigger than yourself . As I mentioned a moment ago , my original purpose in 2014 was to earn a million dollars . My purpose now is much bigger than myself , and it's more about the community and those of you who listen to this podcast . Fourth is be gritty .

You've got to have grit . You've got to understand that , in order to achieve anything , it's going to suck .

There are going to be so many days that you don't feel like getting up , because you might be facing debt , you may have a bad review , you may be injured , but it's those who get up and go again who get the results that most people want , but most people quit . Fifth is be obsessed with the process . You've got to enjoy it . It's boring .

Once again , the same fundamental things have stood the test of time . You can jump on social media and hear these new ideas or concept around how to achieve something , but if you break it down , it's the same fundamental things how you lose weight , how you make money , how you have a great relationship .

They're all fundamental frameworks and if you want those frameworks , we have them in the academy as well . And the last one is owning it owning your mindset , being proud of who you are and what you want to achieve ultimately . Think about it like this I used to think having fun was going out and getting as drunk as humanly possible .

What I believe to be enjoyable now , what is enjoyable to me now is completely different . You know a complete 180 . And in the beginning I thought I was weird because I liked exercising and like being active over what I used to enjoy . But what I recognized was that I needed to own what I enjoy doing , because the right people will then come into your life .

It doesn't matter if you like different things . Everyone's entitled to enjoy what they want to enjoy , but when you can own what you enjoy , you're setting yourself up for a better life .

So just to recap the three point I guess key points , areas and I gave you frameworks for those areas to achieve an athlete mindset and a mindset that will allow you to be extremely successful , and I know a lot of CEOs and professional athletes and wealthy individuals adopt this mindset because I know it works . This is the recap .

We spoke about what an athlete mindset would allow you to do . We spoke about , or I gave you some tips on how you can achieve that , and I gave you some specific traits of an athlete mindset .

Okay , so just to recap , so that if you've caught this at the end and you've just pulled up and you want to write these down , here's what I would do , but we've also got this in the academy , so what it allows you to do . Number one create rewards . Secondly , establish milestone . Thirdly , maintain wellness . Fourth practice consistently .

Fifth , train harder how you can achieve the mindset . Firstly , celebrate teamwork . Secondly , develop routine . Thirdly , hone mental strength . Fourth practice . Fifth , set attainable and tangible goals . Sixth is take action on that , and some of the key traits are this Talk to yourself first , see it and be it . So .

Visualization Find your purpose , depending on what phase of your life you're in is going to be , I guess , whether it's more focused on you or it's bigger than yourself . Fourth is be gritty . Fifth , get obsessed with the process . And sixth , own it . So that is the framework . You can get that in the Academy . I'll have that drawn up in there .

So just a reminder , guys , as we are getting to the tail end of 2023 , we are going to kick off 2024 with an absolute bang . So for those who have looked at our Academy , you can check it out at themanthatcanprojectcom .

There's a whole heap of information around who it's for , how it works and the outcomes that you can get , and there are so many testimonials from men and members of our program and how it's transforming their lives . But here's the kicker Doing a price increase as of January .

The reason being is we want to invest more in the community , being able to put on better events , have better systems , just so we can continue improving this experience and developing this incredible community which we have . So if you want to get in at the current rate , which is currently $200 a month , it's now going up to $295 a month as of January 2024 .

So you can apply in the link . Thank you guys for tuning in and , as always , do something today to be better for tomorrow . My name is Lachlan Stewart and thank you for listening .