The Bed Head Chronicles

Today, I want to talk about what you do when you’re not feeling that you have the kind of energy or ability on any given day to accomplish what you set out to do.  Or to be able to do something to the best of your ability.

Say, for example, you’re in the midst of a project, or in the midst of a workout, or in the midst of a race and you’re just not feeling good.

You don’t feel like you have to kind of energy that you wish you had.  You don’t feel like you got that kind of strength that you wish you had.

If we focus on what we don’t have, it’s going to feel worse and worse.

If you focus on what you do have and focus on doing the best that you can with what you have on that day, you’re going to find that you get out of yourself way more than you can ever imagine feeling the way that you’re feeling.

For example, my athletes – they may be racing and maybe they’re feeling absolutely awful.  But what if – what if they were feeling awful because they were going faster than they’ve ever gone before?  And the thing is that in those moments, no matter what, instead of focusing on what you wish you had and don’t have, focus on what you do have.

Focus on the fact that you have the heart and the soul and the determination, and I have, you know, the ability to give everything I have in this moment.

Focus on what you want to create and you want to achieve, not on what you don’t want to have happen.

Instead of saying “Oh, my God, I hope I don’t fail.” Or “Oh, my God, I hope I don’t do an awful job”, say “I’m going to focus on doing the best job that I can”

In every single moment, I’m going to focus on being the best me that I can in every moment.

Focus on the things that you have control over– your effort, your attitude, your heart, your soul – don’t focus on what you don’t have control of or what everyone else around you is doing.  What everyone else around you is achieving.  Focus on you, and only you, and doing the best that you can in every single moment.

And that will create not only a joyful experience but one where you truly can perform to your potential.

Think about it – how many times have you been with a loved one, whether it’s a friend, your husband or your wife, or your child, and you’re with them but you’re thinking about 10 million different things that you need to do.  Or what you have to do in the office or what you forgot to do earlier. When that happens, you’re only kind of half there with the person that you love and half in your head about all the things you need to get done.

Now, I’ll never forget – I was in Kona, Hawaii for the world championships and I went to a yoga class.  Now, I’m not flexible, I don’t have great balance. But, I’m in this yoga class and they were having us do a tree pose while I’m thinking about when I’m going to talk to my athletes and what I’m going to say to them pre-race and give to them their pep talk.

I’m thinking about all of these things and I’m just losing my balance every second, and I can’t hold the pose. And I thought to myself what if I just laser focus right now on doing exactly what I need to do to hold this tree pose. And I started focusing on what I needed to do to hold that pose and be balanced and feel centred.  I held this perfect yoga pose and I felt like this true yogi

I realized in that moment that we are most powerful when we are fully present in each and every moment.  Fully focus on what we are doing in that moment. We can perform at much higher levels. We can give so much more of ourselves and our energy.  We can create so much more when we’re fully present. Don’t miss out on your own power by allowing yourself to be in 10 different places all at once.  

be present.

At night time, having 10 minutes being totally present with your loved one is so much more powerful, and so much more beneficial and joyful for everyone than giving an hour sitting on your phone and thinking about other things.

So, do yourself a favor and step up to your utmost potential by being fully present no matter where you are, what you are doing, who you are with. Be there one million percent, and see your world change truly. It’s awesome, guys.  

Give it a try. Try that yoga pose and see how that works for you. All right. Have a great day.

Failure!

This word sparks anxiety, dread, fear and sadness. But what if failure was absolutely essential to any path to success?

Do you learn more from your perfect beautiful victories? or do you learn more from when you fall short of what you hoped to achieve?

I know for me I have learned more from my disappointments and my failures. Those failures showed me what I was missing, what I need to do more of and what got in my way.

Failure and disappointment are absolutely necessary in order to learn and to grow. That is what allows us to make the progress necessary to achieve our ultimate goals.

So embrace failure, be willing to fail and use it as an opportunity to learn. I’m either winning or I’m learning. Period.

How can we possibly know what we are capable of if we are not trying to do things that we don’t think we can do every single day. And if you are doing that then you are bound to be disappointed every once in a while. But there is no path to success that is perfectly paved. There are going to be potholes, there are going to be detours and cracks in the road. Embrace them, it’s an opportunity to grow and an opportunity to learn.

Believe in YOU, believe in your dreams, be willing to take risks and learn from every time you fall short of what you dreamed of doing.

It’s through our greatest struggles that we stumble upon our greatest strengths.

So be willing to fail, be brave and be you!