What Motivates You – The Thrill of Victory or the Fear of Failure
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TOP RACER & A CHAMPION IS MENTAL OUTLOOK & APPROACH
Through my 28 years of working with athletes from various sporting backgrounds: BMX, Running, Triathlon, Motocross, Mountain Biking, Supercross, Wakeboarding and many more, there is one significant difference between a highly talented athlete and a world champion : the attitude & approach applied to daily workouts and high profile competitions (amateur or professional level). Below are the steps necessary to adjust your perspective from a talented racer to champion.
Step 1: Establish your Goals & Objectives
Completing the MotoE Goal Profile is the first step to maximizing the productivity in your daily training efforts. This form has been specifically designed to help you understand where you are currently (mentally & physically) and where you want to be within the next 3, 6 and 12 months (in all aspects of your program).
Please note that goals and objectives are designed to be changed and edited; however, when you adjust your goal or objectives, this may require more time to make the revised goal a reality. For example if you want to build more muscle, it may require you going back to a base building program to prepare the tendons and ligaments for the load levels that you must subject your body to in order to develop more muscle (and burn fat).
If you would like a FREE copy of MotoE’s Goals & Objectives worksheet, please email me directly.
Step 2: Identify & Eliminate Physical Limiters
At MotoE, we have created a specific set of assessments to determine the strength, endurance & lactate tolerance of the rider. The greatest progress a rider can make in a program is to train the specific weaknesses associated with the characteristics of a race. Ironically, racers tend to stray away from what they don’t like (and as a result, are not good at). For example, if you are not physically strong, you probably don’t like strength training and in turn, don’t spend much time in the gym. If you are not able to maintain your speed late in the race, you lack an aerobic base and probably don’t like doing the long aerobic workouts. On the other side of the coin, if you lack early race speed and you are working on it regularly, the workouts that you are doing are not yielding the physiological changes you desire: early race speed. If this is the case, you are training incorrectly.
With all of our MotoE Performance Programs, we test riders (physical and mental) to quantify the process of eliminating anything that is holding you back as a rider from reaching your full potential. If you don’t measure, you have no idea if your efforts are yielding the results you desire.
If you would like a FREE copy of MotoE’s Assessment protocols & How to Evaluate your results, please email me directly
Step 3: Identify What Motivates you: The Thrill of Victory or the Fear of Failure
As humans, there are two motivating variables in our lives: pleasure and fear. No matter what category you can think about, all of your decisions are motivated by these two emotions.
Fear: being motivated by fear causes your mind and body to “react” to variables in hopes of accomplishing your goals; this mindset is counterproductive when attempting to reach your full potential. The reason for this is because your focus is on the elements of failure. Here are some examples of fear based thinking:
– I hope I get the holeshot
– Maybe I can go fast for the entire race
– I hope I can clear that big double on the back section of the track
Pleasure: being motivated by pleasure (i.e. winning) causes your mind and body to “prepare” with the variables necessary to create the desired performance results. Stop and read that last line again. This concept is the EXACT difference between a talented athlete and a champion – the champion understands that every aspect of success has to be identified, tested, evaluated, trained or improved on, and then re-evaluated to ensure that progress is being achieved. The process of being the best never ends. At MotoE, we have a mindset that we want for all of our riders: “Be ready for everything and surprised by nothing”.
Let’s take a look at the same three comments mentioned above in a different perspective:
– When I get the holeshot, I am going to take this line heading into the next section of the track
– Because I have tested my endurance (both on and off of the track); I am looking forward to my 20 minute moto
– By improving my speed into and out of that right hand turn is going to allow me to clear that big double on the back section of the track
Within MotoE’s Mental Development Program, we help racers create a Strategy of Success which overrides their Fear of Failure. The development of this mindset is one of the key ingredients to creating a champion.
Once the racer is focusing on the Strategy of Success, the racer can mentally prepared for what comes as a result of implementing a strategy. For example, if you practice your starts and develop a successful strategy for consistently getting the holeshot, you are now able to focus on the mental aspects of leading a race.
Racers want to be at the front of the pack, but are rarely prepared to handle leading a race. This is because most racers spend the majority of time working their way to the front – being the one doing the chasing verses being the rider out front. Being a leader requires a completely different mindset and approach before it becomes a normal part of your program. Literally, being a champion is something that has to be learned, practiced and implemented on a regular basis. This is why at MotoE we say, “Champions are built from the inside out”.
Step 4: Putting It All Together
Take a few minutes and think about the process of becoming a champion:
– Identify your goals & objectives
– Test & evaluate to identify your physical & mental limiters
– Develop (or have developed for you) a complete training program (one that improves your strength, endurance, speed, flexibility, nutrition, hydration, mental, etc.) that will maximize your training efforts
– Train at the correct intensity & duration levels to eliminate your physical (and mental) limiters & move you closer to your personal goals & objectives
– Repeat indefinitely
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, if you have any questions about your current program or would like MotoE to create a customized mental, nutrition and performance program for your racing program, please email me directly.