Believe

All accomplishments start with a belief. A thought that it would be really cool to _____.  From there it's just a matter of trusting yourself and taking a step forward.

I recently decided to do the 100 mile Hallucination run in 2016. Over the years, I have dreamed about participating in Badwater or the Hawaii Ultraman to test my limits. However, they never seemed realistic because they required multiple prerequisites to even enter their lottery systems. Fortunately, I had the pleasure of speaking to a few athletes that have finished a local 100 mile race. It rekindled my passion for the challenge and helped me to see it as a real possibility.

In 2006, I finished my first IM and was overcome with a profound sense of accomplishment.  Life became easier. Achieving that goal shifted my overall mentality from one of hope to anticipated success. Challenges once deemed impossible now seem doable and within reach.

The same phenomena occurred after Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes. Soon after, several other top runners were also breaking the four-minute mark. Prior to Bannister's achievement, the four-minute barrier was unthinkable. When one believes, possibilities morph into inevitabilities.

No one will ever accomplish everything they set out to do. Which is actually a good thing because it teaches us to be gracious in defeat, resilient, and an example for others. When we witnessing others bounce back from defeat, it helps us realize that not achieving a goal is something everyone can confront and overcome. Michael Phelps failed to win 8 gold medals in 2004. He bounced back and accomplished the goal in 2008. I wonder how many people saw his accomplishment and found the necessary encouragement to initiate actions towards their own dreams. I know I did.

Can You Be Successful?
Yes. Some of us may have never learned or may have simply forgotten the process. Others may have lost their confidence to succeed. Fortunately, it is an easy skill that anyone can learn to master. It's simply a mater of patience and moving one foot forward. It is the completion of specific tasks within an overall plan. If you want to run a 5k or marathon, don't focus on the future race. Divert your attention to the present moment.  Focus on your 3 mile run today or if that's too overwhelming, focus on tying your shoes. When fear or doubt present themselves, make the steps smaller.  Focus on pulling the sheets back, focus on dressing, or focus on opening the front door. Success is a skill that, when practiced diligently, becomes second nature. It will consistently produce outcomes, creating a productive, vital, and passionate life. It all starts and grows with smalls step.

Success Is Possible
Can you imagine someone saying to his wife 'Hey, honey, I'm going to go to bed early tonight so I'll have plenty of energy to go out and fail tomorrow.' Countless people reenact this 'failure mentality' day after day in their lives. Many people, if not most, have more confidence in their capacity to fail than to succeed. Accept this moment and take a small step.  Don't expect to be a great artist if you haven't practiced.  Don't expect to be a fast runner if you haven't trained. Don't expect to be fluent in Spanish if you're not repeatedly using Duolingo.

Recognize that you are already a success and are doing the best you can at any given moment.  This is the most vital resource available. It will break the hidden chains of shame and help us become the best we can be. Believing in ourselves enables us to build and capitalize on our current skills. Do you believe?

Confidence and Fatigue

There is a phenomenal podcast on IMtalk with Dr Timothy Noakes discussing confidence and fatigue. He postulates that the brain functions as a central governor over the body to determine pain and fatigue. It's similar to Psychologist's Richard Lazarus Theory of Emotion, in that thoughts precede emotions and physiology. This is in contrast to the assumption that fatigued is due to physiological factors such as VO2max. Dr Noakes believes the brain anticipates what will happen in the future and tries to prevent biological harm. The key step is in the anticipation/expectation of the future. Confident athletes are going to anticipate more positive outcomes and keep the brain from worrying. Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall is convinced this is the reason for the success of Ethiopian and Kenyan runners. They expect to win and they don't worry about what is "physically" possible. Likewise, in emergency situations humans have accomplished some amazing feats because they were focused on what needed to be done rather than what was possible.

Doubt is thereby the poison that causes fatigue. In the 1989 Ironman, Dave Scott and Mark Allen were running side by side feeling strong and capable. With 3 miles to go, Allen opened up a gap and Dave stumbled. Doubt crept in and Dave was hit with a rush of pain. One minute he was fine, the next he could barely walk.  I experience the same phenomena every time I squat. When I am confident the weight seems light, but when I worry the weight seems heavy. In a meta analysis, confidence was the most consistent factor distinguishing differences between highly successful and less successful athletes (Vealey, 2005).

Confidence is also a great way to compensate for under-training.  I am a huge fan of slightly under-training to prevent injury, burn out, and maintain consistency. If an athletes gets to the starting line fresh and injury free, they at least have a chance. All too often people fill up their free time with more volume or intensity, which either helps a few percentage points or leads to injury. Spending more time on mental skills will help infinitely more and impart zero physiological damage.

The following are sources of Self-Efficacy according to renowned psychologist Albert Bandura:

Performance Accomplishments.  Past accomplishments help build confidence.  Refresh your mind of those accomplishments. In addition, create small realistic weekly challenges that allow for success. Lower the basketball hoop. Break a complicated task into manageable steps. Do Yasso 800s to predict your marathon time.

Vicarious Experiences. Watch someone model a behavior to see what is possible. No one ran a sub 4 minute mile until Roger Bannister. Then 46 days later another athlete broke the barrier with many more soon to follow. On a personal level, I saw a second tier female pro triathlete run a 3:19 marathon during an Ironman and it helped me realize I could do that.  A little chauvinistic, but it helped.

Verbal Persuasion.  Words from friends, coaches, or even self-persuasion builds confidence. Use a mantra, such as "Strong", to encourage yourself or say uplifting words to a friend. Likewise, having a Growth Mindset, by focusing on effort and not innate ability, turns situations into learning opportunities vs. failures. No one is born fully developed. No one does well in calculus on the first day. View yourself as a work in progress. You are beautifully created and there is nothing you can do to add or subtract from your intrinsic value.

Imaginal Experiences.  Use your imagination to visualize success, overcoming obstacles, or different sections of an event.  Revisit my previous blog on visualization for more suggestions.

Physiological States.  How do you interpret physiological states? Does a fast heart beat or shallow breathing mean you will not perform well. OR is it a sign you're ready to race and the body is sending blood to your muscles. Act confidently by keeping your head high, smile, and stand tall. People often think their emotions dictate their behavior. We're happy therefore we smile, however the opposite is also true. Our actions can affect our physiology and our emotions. Try smiling and see how it makes you feel.

Emotional States.  Happy athletes are more likely to be confident. Therefore do something fun or relaxing each day. Go for a walk, have a glass of wine, or call a friend. Another option is to practice Gratitude. Think of 3 things that went well each day and examine why. It will shift your mind from focusing on the negative to focusing on the positive. Focusing on the present moment can also help us be happy. By letting go of the past or worries about the future, all problems disappear. We can either do certain things right NOW or we can't. Become comfortable with the unknown and reframe it as waiting for a pleasant surprise. At the end of the day everything brings some amount of positive gain. In addition, accept your thoughts as just electrical impulses in your brain. Acknowledge that your thoughts are not facts and you cannot control them. Learn to observe them as harmless opinions. Judgement, of yourself and others, disappears when you see your thoughts as just opinions. They are not facts AND you do not have to act on them.

Confidence

      My swimming career was marked by instant success.  I was a big fish in a small pond and I really enjoyed it.  Peopled praised me and made me feel special.  As the years progressed, I become more and more focused on receiving that praise.  I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best.  At some point along the line, I started having weird tingling sensations before races.  It caused me to be hesitant with my starts and thus handicapped my races.  I never realized what was happening until my mid twenties when I read an article about anxiety.

      In the end, I think it made me a much more humble person, but it was extremely frustrating at the time.  The more I read, the more I realize I was not alone.  Even the great cyclist, Eddy Merckx, had confidence issues early in his career on mountain stages.  In a recent interview, the great Olympic distance triathlete Simon Lessing said it took him 10 years to become confident in his run.  In his book Eleven Rings, Phil Jackson spoke of confidence issues with several professional basketball players.  One player went so far as to ask other players not to throw it to him when he was outside the paint.  These are professional basketball players, yet they are still afraid.

      During my psychology internship at the Lindner Center of HOPE, I had the opportunity to work with Charles Brady, Ph.D. on Anxiety and Exposure Response Prevention Therapy.  He was a big proponent of taking small deliberate steps to overcome one's fear.  He would say, when in doubt make the challenge easier.  He wanted clients to feel a sense of accomplishment and progress.

      The book Stop Obsessing was another good resource. It is a very clear and practical guide for understanding obsessions with specific strategies to manage one's anxiety.  The biggest trick anxiety plays is convincing us it is real.  Our mind distorts reality causing us to make false assumptions.  In truth, the mind is only part of who we are.  Our thoughts are just thoughts, they are not facts.  Learn to acknowledge/accept those thoughts and you will be set free.

The following are Strategies for enhancing one's confidence and shrinking Anxiety's power:

• Acting confidently
• Try standing, putting your hands on your hips, or speaking in a deep voice to increase confidence.
• Thinking confidently
• Repeat a mantra such as "Strong and Capable" to feel confident.
• Imagery
• Imagine yourself being successful.
• Being in good physical condition
• Improving one's physical condition improves confidence.
• Planned exposure
• Purposely and progressively place yourself in feared situations.
• Postponement 
• Put off worrying or engaging in a behavior for a specific amount of time.  Try waiting 3 to 15 minutes.   Do not postpone indefinitely as it will cause you to focus on the issue.
• Acceptance 
• Acknowledge the current reality.  It is what it is.  Trying to avoid or get ride of anxiety will only make it worse.
• Awkwardize 
• Do the behavior in a fun or awkward way.
• Ritual Tax
• Tax yourself every time you engage in a specific behavior. 
• Rationing 
• Limit the number of times you allow yourself to engage in specific behaviors
• Emotional Competition 
• Anger, sexual arousal, & humor cannot coexist w/ anxiety.
• Write or speak your fears
• Write or speak your fears over and over until they become meaningless. 
• Sing about fears
• Create a funny song to sing about your feared situation.
• Gratitude
• Each night find three things from your day that made it enjoyable. 

      Start small and commit to a specific behavior for 1-3 weeks then reassess.  If you were successful, continue the new behavior.  If you were not successful, make the commitment more realistic.  Too often people believe they need to make drastic changes and it inhibits them from even starting.  Other times, people start off too aggressive, too large, and fail to maintain their commitments.  Start small and grow your confidence.  Through greater self-confidence one can enhance positive emotions, facilitate concentration, set more challenging goals, increase effort, and cope better with adversity.