Tag: mental performance

The Transition Game: Week 12

Welcome back!

Communication, that’s a word that has caused me an unbelievable amount of grief. Although it’s not so much the word as it is my lack of skills and numerous bad habits. Conditioning from unhealthy cultures, trauma from relationships, depression, and lack of education are a few of the contributing factors to my struggles with communication. What did my lack of skills and bad habits bring me? Wasted opportunities, low self-esteem, and a whole lot of trouble. That isn’t a pattern I’d like to continue, so I was excited to dive into this section of the program.

I knew I had issues with my communication, it was made abundantly clear in romantic relationships. However, once I began to pull on that string, I realized how much it had impacted other areas of my life without me even noticing. I never communicated with my coaches, it was only ever “yes coach!” no matter how much I disagreed. I can only imagine where I would be if I had practiced better communication skills and been able to find a better understanding with my coaches. I never spoke my mind with coaches or told them where I thought I fit. I had a coach that we didn’t agree with as a team, we were frustrated as hell and jealous of the other teams in our association. Some guys spoke their mind and sat on the bench, I chose to “smile and nod”, never say anything besides “yes coach”, even though I never listened or did anything that the coach asked of me, I played a ridiculous amount of minutes that year and was named a captain. All of which further reinforced some poor communication habits.

Something that struck me was the lesson on arguments, “You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it, and if you win it you’ve lost some respect.” I have never been one to argue, nonetheless, I had never viewed arguments from that perspective. It is 100% true. I have been on both sides of it many times. I’ll bet that you have too. Unfortunately, in my struggles since graduation, it has happened much more frequently. Excited to get back to my old self (with many improvements of course) would be an understatement. Of course, the listening portion of this section caught me red-handed. I have a few terrible listening habits. I’m always thinking about what I’m going to say next instead of giving my full attention. If someone is talking about something I don’t find interesting, I’ll be daydreaming in about 10 seconds. I’d go on but, I already sound like a horrible human being. These are some of the things I have been practicing a lot. I’m happy with my progress, I’m much more patient with my communication and it’s paying off. This will be another section I revisit frequently.

Esty

Road to Beijing 2020: An Athlete’s Story – Who Are You?

Who Am I?

Who are you?

This week I took a look inside my mind to find myself. Who am I, what do I stand for and believe in? Self-image is a very important piece of the puzzle to having a positive mindset and self-confidence. How we see ourselves and how others see us… well for those who have been following along, you probably already know it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of us. What matters is how you see yourself and that you believe it.

All my life I dreamt about being a world cup downhill ski racer. For as long as I can remember, my dad (Glenn) would bring home VHS recordings of all the World Cup races that season. I would watch the famous Kitzbühel downhill over and over, thinking “one day I’ll stand on the world cup podium, just like them”… Forwarding through the years, more and more outside influences had me questioning myself and my abilities.

“You’re too small” was one of many criticizing remarks I received, along with…

“You’re too old “

“You aren’t strong enough to be a Downhiller” 

My personal favourite – “You are Glenn’s son, you should be winning by a bigger margin” 

The list goes on and on, unfortunately, I have experienced this throughout my career. Lucky for me I learned at a young age to believe in me, both my parents gave me this gift. Whenever I was really struggling with something, I was always reassured and given the choice to think for myself. Was I wrong sometimes, and got injured or failed… of course. But that is growth, I will proudly say I would not be who I am without experiencing failure or enduring such hardship. I am very grateful to have learned this when I did.

Society is tough and judgemental. I have to admit, I’ve opened up Instagram a few times and became jealous of others. Comparing myself to others and then putting them down in hopes to make myself feel better or lift myself up. I am willing to bet many of you have also done something similar. Casting a shadow on another… or throwing shade as the kids say nowadays, doesn’t brighten us. 

In last week’s section, we talked about attitude and how others are not in control of our attitudes. We are solely in control of how we feel about everything. The same theory applies here with self-belief. 

Others can have a huge impact on you, criticizing who you are, what you’re capable of and believe in. Talking you out of dreams or ideas and putting pressure on you hoping you will fail. Yes, it is very hard to block these outside influences, but at the end of it, you choose your thoughts so you can choose what to believe.

I say believe in you! and encourage others, Smile, be kind and enjoy life.

If you have a chance this week, check out the movie “Cool Runnings”. This film is filled with lots of great reminders to always believe in ourselves and stay true to who we are. 

Finding The Line – Roles

So, after completing the Roles chapter, I have had an a-ha moment or two. I’ve learned that what I struggle with most is allowing my ego to control my perspective. I have allowed it my whole life. I’ve been able to breeze through life, getting every advantage and leg up possible, but my ego has continuously told me it’s not good enough, that I deserve more. As a result, I have never fulfilled a role well. I’ve been dropped from teams, fired from jobs and only now am I realizing it was all my own doing.

I genuinely connected with the quote “The Happiness we want to experience in life is denied because of how we feel about our role in it.” This could not be truer for my life experience. My whole life I’ve been a square peg in a round hole. I’ve never felt like I belonged, and I’ve never felt happy. As a kid, I used sports to escape my anxiety and troubles at home. When that coping mechanism took on a life of its own as I grew older, I used alcohol and drugs to further deal with my anxiety and negative perception of the roles that I was in.

Now, as an “accomplished” adult with a family, career, et al, I am realizing that my ego is still running the show. The booze and drugs are gone, but the unhappiness and discontent remain. Purely stemming from my ego and my resentment towards the roles I play in life.

The Roles Chapter was ground-breaking for me because it is allowing me to pigeonhole the source of my unhappiness; my ego.

Road to Beijing 2022: An Athlete’s Story – Attitude

Attitude

The Blame Game 

What is the cause of the results you get in life? 

That’s a great question, isn’t it? Many of us try to rationalize or make excuses to justify certain outcomes, especially the negative ones😏 … I myself have pointed the finger at others and made excuses when I didn’t get the results I wanted or needed. Throughout my life and career as a professional ski racer, I always thought others were the cause of many mistakes and poor performances, blaming friends and even family members for negativity. 

Attitude – Arguably one of the hardest sections of the course, but also the most rewarding and enlightening. Learning about your attitude and our perception of it is very interesting. Our attitudes have great impacts on all of our experiences, and although you may think other’s attitudes affect yours, they don’t. We are free to think and decide our own thoughts. Those thoughts create feelings, feelings manifest into action – our attitudes.

During my career, there have been many times I struggled to stay positive and have a good attitude. Always being ridiculed for everything day in and day out. This of course created so much confusion, doubt and anger towards the world. My effort was there, I want to feel better and be happier but I can’t… everyone and things are against me. Little did I know it was my attitude creating this negativity and I was letting other’s attitudes affect my own… Spiralling.

Completing the attitude course gave me the tools and the understanding of how to use our biggest asset, our minds. Learning how the mind works, putting it to use and benefiting from it. Applying some small changes I instantly felt the weight and tightness lift from my shoulders. All of a sudden I had a smile on my face. For years many have tried to help me and I just wouldn’t listen or open my mind to see the destruction I was causing. 

We all have misfortunes in life, and they can cause a lot of pain or anger. I myself have a few trigger words or subjects when brought up in conversation my attitude changes, and not for the better. 

“Now why would they bring that up?!” 

Then the blame game… “I missed my par putt because…” 

Out comes the poor attitude, down in the dumps because so ‘n so said something that made me angry, causing me to miss my 3 footer for par, resulting in a three putt Bogey and losing the match. Grumpy, with a bad attitude, sucking the fun out of the great time we were all having. #funsponge 

Well, I chose to be angry about the comment which started it all. Taking my focus away from what I was doing, resulting in a poor performance. Of course, I don’t want to admit I have control over this so I blame the missed putt on someone else. Since it was someone else’s fault, now I’m angry with them and give them a bad attitude. This is your fault I’m in a bad mood.  

This time I’ll try it another way… 

Example – slow drivers 

Driving used to be so stressful for me, but since I started thinking differently I’m enjoying my road trips and don’t get nearly as tired or stressed. 

“Why are you going so slow!?” 

Usually, I would let myself get worked up, tailgate and speed past them dangerously. As if they are purposely trying to inconvenience me. Instead, I try thinking from their perspective. This is the speed I feel comfortable and safe at. No problem, I’ll keep that safe distance and pass when it’s safe if I even pass at all. The end result of arrival time might be the difference of seconds, but the change in attitude and happiness is huge. 

Give it a try – next time you feel yourself getting angry, or upset with something take a moment and think why? 

Road To Beijing 2022: An Athletes Story – Roles

Roles

We all play many roles every day in life, some we choose, others are chosen for us. Amongst the other roles, I’m currently playing I have decided to pursue my goal of becoming a Three-Time Winter Olympian, competing in the 2022 Beijing Olympic winter games.

What does this entail?

Well, no two roles are the same, but we can apply specific skills, tricks or tools to play this new role as best to our ability. I have found it is helpful to identify what are my weaknesses or tendencies that will create hurdles or challenges for me in this new role. No doubt I am taking on a lot with this role so I need to be aware of what problems might occur when I get run down and overworked.

Unwanted advice – I can feel personally attacked when others give me unsolicited advice or coaching. In my head, I’m thinking “pfft you have no idea how hard this is”… “I’m doing my best who are you to give me advice” (That’s my ego kicking in) Check your ego at the door, Ben. If you are so good and know everything why are you racing independently?

Procrastination – In one shape or form I believe we all procrastinate, I tend to give in to my tiredness and push things. Being conscious of this, using my day planner and holding myself accountable is how I will stay on target.

Communication – The old saying is “ communication is key “ when I get low my communication can suffer and then Ben is MIA. Two-way communication is important, responding and letting others know you’ve received and understood their messages in a timely manner.

Of course, learning from past challenges and mistakes is a part of progression but confidence and self-belief are another. What are the strengths I possess that will benefit me in this Role?

Mental Strength and Endurance – Developed through many struggles, losses and pain, my mental strength and ability to endure unforgiving circumstances is a great asset. Although extremely difficult life lessons to experience, I am very grateful and proud I’ve been able to use these in an empowering way to better myself.

Experience – Having competed at two Winter Olympic Games, four World Championships and achieved a World Cup Podium I know first hand the level of professionalism needed to compete at the elite level.

Athleticism – Knowing my limits, and constantly pushing. Many have described my racing style as fearless. As much as I wish this were true, it’s not. Fear is present during every race and training I attempt or complete. Over years of pushing my boundaries, I have developed a strong athletic base and ability that I am immensely confident in.

By Identifying my strengths and weaknesses I allow myself to imagine what might be asked of me in this role, the challenges I could face when asked and how to be successful when the challenges present themselves.

Your best can always be better, it only gets better by trying your best… never stop trying.

Finding The Line

So, I guess I’ll start with why I’m taking the Success Strategies Program. Before the pandemic, my career motivation has been dismal at best. I’ve been in the same role at work for five years now. I feel drastically underused and underappreciated. Work is too easy and provides little to no challenge for me. Instead of being grateful for my cushy job, I feel burdened and guilty. I feel like I am not doing enough, I’m not contributing enough, I could be doing more, etc. I’m the former star player who is now on the 4th line just collecting a paycheque.      

The boredom has caused me to lose focus. I sleep in, miss meetings, don’t cold call. I am often distracted by social media, women, Amazon, you name it. I envy the younger guys that I meet out in the trade. They are motivated and hungry. They have that fire I used to have.  

The pandemic has only exacerbated these feelings. I work less and now, thanks to Covid, have a full-blown excuse for it. Instead of admitting to my shortcomings, now I get to chalk it up to Covid.  

I sought out Bob because I want ownership back of my life. I want to feel like I am in control again. Like I am the master of my destiny. I have sat on the successes of yesterday too long and I want that fire back. I want my motivation back to go out and live to the fullest. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.  

– Trevor, Success Strategies for Men Client

The Transition Game: Week 11

Welcome back!

 

 

I have been doing a lot of work with my goal setting and now since completing the imagination section of my workbook, I’m seeing how much the sections tie together. It’s exciting, but I find it intimidating too, I know I’ll have to use everything I have learned thus far to get to the places I imagine myself in the future. I have been a bit run down and unmotivated again lately but I know a lot of that comes from letting some of my new habits slide as well as some uncertainty in my life. Even just getting back to practicing gratitude daily, just writing down three things I’m grateful for once a day has a huge impact on my mindset. Another realization I have had is that I still need to lean into my support system more, with all the great people around me it’s ridiculous to try and do everything on my own and then be frustrated when I get lost.

 

 

One of the first things asked of me in this section was to imagine my ideal life in 5 years.

Here’s what I have so far:

  • Making $100,000 per year
  • Ton’s of freedom/flexibility, never missing out on family or friends because of work
  • house with a yard
  • steady job/jobs that I enjoy
  • Two dogs
  • home gym
  • I’m in great shape with healthy and consistent routines
  • love myself and feel pride in where I am and who I am
  • Consistently eating time into my hobbies (dirtbikes/motorcycles, working out, guns, beer league, etc.)
  • I’d like to be living in Cochrane or Canmore and working at the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary

 

Looking at what I wrote made me realize that I need to focus and set goals around discovering what path I might like to walk in order to get to that place, from firefighting, personal training, marketing, working at the Wolfdog Sanctuary, or who knows what else! I need to bite this off in small chunks and just chip away until I’m there. Staying positive and grateful is going to be a sizeable challenge but I know it’ll make the journey immensely more enjoyable and rewarding. 

 

 

Another exercise in this section that helped settle me down and feel less stressed was answering these four questions:

  1. What is your dream? “To be free”
  2. What holds you back from pursuing your dream? “My fears and doubts”
  3. How can you grow the optimism and courage to make your dream become a reality? “Practice! Practice everything in this book consistently, practice positive self-talk and gratitude, envision my dream every day, and use those SMART goals!”
  4. What will your life look like when your dream is achieved? “Peaceful and bright, fulfilling and free”

 

The pictures in my head created by this little exercise lift a weight off my shoulders and provide extra motivation to get to that place I see so clearly in my mind. It’s little things like this I need to do a better job of remembering when things get hard. I have always had a great imagination and I used to let it guide me a lot more, time to get back to that.

 

 

Write you next week,

 

 

Esty

Road To Beijing 2022: An Athletes Story

Have you ever witnessed someone go through an incredible transformation? You watch as they accomplish a goal or overcome all odds and you think to yourself… “how the heck did they do that?!?!”

Hi, my name is Benjamin Thomsen, a two-time Canadian winter Olympian aiming for my 3rd winter games this coming winter. As you are probably aware, becoming an Olympian multiple times doesn’t happen with luck. Correct, the odds are slim to none, but so are the odds of being born (about 1 in 400 trillion) and you have overcome those odds so what stops you from becoming your greatest? In my opinion, odds are just numbers and history shows humans overcome and beat the odds consistently. Yes, living in such a competitive environment these days it’s very hard not to get caught up in the numbers, but I am here to show you, we all have the tools and skills to beat the odds.

Competing on the world stage is a big challenge in itself, but last year seemed to be a lot more difficult than before. Returning home after such a difficult and unsuccessful season had me down. The world is so strange and constantly changing every day.

I have so many questions, I imagine so do a lot of you. The kicker is none of us have experienced something quite like this before. So how does one succeed?

Life right now can be so overwhelming, many of us are thinking about where to begin. These thoughts are followed by overwhelming stress and a craving for a much-needed break, but given the current global state, this isn’t always possible.

So what do I do!?!?

Last winter my competition season was very tough, to say the least. Alpine Canada dropped me from the team, forcing me to fully fund and organize my team independently. Covid-19 stripped away many training hours, days and funding. Not to mention the confusing and challenging travel restrictions. Finally, I wrapped up my competition season at the beginning of February by partially tearing both my left ACL and Patella tendon over 50%.

Sure, I could retire and make an income, I wouldn’t have to deal with the stress and complications that is competition. I’ve had a tremendous professional career over the last 10 years. I’ve competed at two Winter Olympic Games, achieved a World Cup podium in 2012 and have multiple national titles… But I have my drive, passion and love for my sport, body and life again. I’m very excited for what the future holds and continue practicing my newly acquired skills. 

I’ve made my decision to continue my career and defined my role.

“Three-Time Olympian” 

Join me alongside I Got Mind over the next 10 weeks as I complete the success strategies courses that have enabled me to be my best in all roles of life. Having completed the course in the fall of 2021, I am psyched to have this opportunity again to learn more and improve my skills while sharing them with you.

– Ben

The Transition Game: Week 9

Welcome back!

I just completed the workbook section titled “A Goal is the Goal: Determining your Direction”. I was excited for this section as I have recognized my lack of direction and goals since hanging up my skates and the issues it has caused me. The times in my life when I had goals, direction, and a plan are the times I felt the happiest, I often felt invincible. I haven’t had much of any of that in the past year and as you can guess, I have been miserable and never felt weaker. The book asks a couple of questions to get you thinking before eventually leading you to create your bucket list. 

Here is what I have so far:

  • A long motorcycle trip with friends (W)
  • Complete the Lava Man with my buddy Tupps (W)
  • Get the sleeve tattoo I have been talking about for years (W)
  • Build a small house in the forest (W)
  • Travel (Iceland, Europe, Canada) (D)
  • More hikes and adventures with Mando (my puppy) (D)
  • Always have two rescued dogs for the rest of my life (starting when I have a yard) (W)
  • Live comfortably while working minimally (D)
  • Learn Muay Thai (D)
  • Dirtbike again (D)
  • Own small gun collection and practice consistently (D)
  • Own a Dodge Challenger Hellcat (W)

I look forward to what my facilitator has to say about my bucket list so far especially, the “D’s and W’s” or Desires and Wants. The next step after writing my list was placing either a D or a W after each item to help focus my attention. This allows me to start building an action plan for those items labelled with a D for desire. Once I finished labelling my list I was tasked with sharing it with someone I trust and they had to ask me why I labelled items as desires. I was able to clearly explain why they were desires and the person I shared with was incredibly supportive and excited for me. I felt on top of the world after writing it all out and sharing it. Being as competitive and willful as I am it helps to share things like this, goals, aspirations, and dreams. Once I tell someone I am going to do something it is easier for me to find a way to make it happen than it is to back down.

This has been a really interesting section for me, I haven’t really thought about anything like this since finishing school and hockey. Even before, my list was only: get a scholarship, play pro, have a family. Sitting down and really thinking about what I want to do with my life after going through all these changes was refreshing, revitalizing, and energizing. My next step is to start setting out five things I can do every day that will get me closer to the desires I listed. Looking at my desires, my five things for today could be: 1) Message Muay Thai trainer about prices/availability 2) spend 10 min online gun shopping 3) spend 10 min looking at hikes/adventures to go on with Mando and choose a weekend 4) Ask Dad if he would want to split costs of a Dirtbike and keep it at our acreage 5) Spend 20 min looking at travel costs and options for bringing Mando along.

I’m nervous but excited to share this list with you because now I can’t back down! 

Write you next week,

Esty

The Transition Game: Week 8

Welcome back!

What have I been up to since I last wrote? I took some time to go back through all the work I have done and revisit some things while taking a couple of weeks off. I have been back training hard in my good buddy’s garage gym which has been a blessing. My shoulder is feeling great and I’m feeling stronger both mentally and physically every day. I need to be mindful of being sucked into only relying on training to regulate myself and ensure that I don’t let my newer habits slip as I dive back into an old favourite. I have completed the online portion of the “Who Are You?” course, surprise surprise, it was a real wake-up call just like every other lesson thus far.

The first thing that struck me was a clip from the movie “The Replacements” where one of the characters describes his fear of “quicksand” not actual quicksand, the kind of quicksand related to performance. The game starts, everything is going well, then you make a mistake, and then another, and another, you start to freeze, another mistake, another, next thing you know, you are sitting on the bench and your coach is ripping into you. Quicksand is something I struggled with my whole career because I have always been self-critical, the smallest mistakes eat away at me, I begin to focus on them, I start “gripping my stick too tight” and making decisions I usually wouldn’t make. The result is a terrible performance.

The times I knew exactly who I was and what my job was I thrived and stayed out of the quicksand quickly becoming known for my consistent performances. The times I didn’t, I became known for the exact opposite. Long have I struggled with self-doubt, the earliest times I can recall were at elementary school age with math and my messy handwriting and in my first year of Football. These doubts became my reality as I was focused on them, I struggled with math all through school, my writing is still terrible, and I barely played that year. The difference with Football being, I worked my ass off to gain confidence, skill, and knowledge of Football and became a key part of the defence and leader each season after. I created an identity for myself as a hardworking, fearless, and aggressive player regardless of sport. From age 12 – 20 this identity never wavered and my confidence was at all-time highs, it showed in my performance and I was rewarded as I climbed the ranks each year.

Where I struggle to form an identity now, is in my work career, relationships, and life after sport. All areas where I have been disappointed in my performance. On top of refining what I had written in my workbook the online section asked me to create a visual of who I am, I used the free version of Canva so some of the images aren’t the best for what I was going for but it gives me a much clearer image in my mind of who I am/who I want to be. Take a look at the bottom of the page!

To clarify these images represent to me the identity I have been working to solidify which is that “I am protective, willing, and animal lover, creative, sensitive, social, unique, disciplined, intense, compassionate, and mechanical.”

One part I love about this section is the “a little bit more” 4 words that can change your life. I only ever really practiced that concept in the gym, making sure I did more reps than anyone else, or an extra 5LBs. Branching out and applying it to the rest of my life has been challenging and will take some getting used to. When I do, I feel fantastic, a little more cleaning, a little more weight, a little more water, a little more time organizing, a little more time researching. It all adds up and I need to remember that applies to more than the weight room.

I can’t wait to move on to the “Goals” section of my workbook after another great session with my facilitator and find some more direction.

Write you next week,

Esty