This past week as we were working through our workouts in the pool in both the Gold and the Prep group I heard this language come out of some of you, WHAT IF I CAN’T? Think about that for a second. I read and article recently by Oliver Leroy and so what I will attempt to do here is paraphrase what he was trying to get across for our purposes. Think about this You are asked by a group of friends to go hang out but immediately you respond by saying, I can’t I have to go to practice. Instead of looking at this situation in the concept of “I Have To” and understanding that you don’t have to go to practice and work hard and that this is something that “You Get To Do”, your training will not only get better but you will also have more fun doing it.
Whatever you’re doing daily the language that you use can have a direct impact on your mindset in all your activities. When you use the phrase I have to it, it has the connotation that a bit of effort will be involved that is going to cause a bit of unpleasantness .“I have to do my homework. I have to go to bed early tonight. I have to walk the dog. I have to eat dinner. I have to go to practice. I have to work harder. I have to swim faster today. I have to win the race. I have to be more motivated. When you have to do something, it’s clear you don’t want to do it.” Wait before you respond, think about it You like that dog, you love swimming and hanging out with your buddies and listening to me, okay maybe not that last part so much. The language that you use and I hear often tells a whole different story. The language that I hear causes unpleasantness and stress that has a direct relationship on your effort and motivation. It makes things harder then they have to be. When you have to the "context is clear, you don’t want to do it."
Listen we know that swimming and for that matter any sport that you participate in can be hard and get’s harder at every level. There are always things in any sport that athletes do not want to do day to day. Going to morning practice, giving up a weekend for a long meet, attending finals to support your teammates/friends even though your not swimming. But oh, how you do love it and always have since you first jumped in as a little girl/boy and had that glorious first swim and smell of chlorine. Sometimes the way we talk to ourselves we unintentionally make the situation harder than it has to be.
This language becomes so normal in your every day thought process that it starts to “pepper down into how you talk to yourself in swimming.” Using the words “I have to” is is being forced to do the thing you love working hard and swimming fast. We've talked before about mental toughness and taking control of the language you use and the way you talk to yourself. We talked about word replacements when talking to ourselves and I want you to stop and think about the possibilities if instead of saying I have to, you change one simple word and say “I get to.” That one little word change not only takes away unnecessary stress but also opens doors and creates a lot of opportunities and makes things a little more interesting.
Not everybody is given the opportunity to do something that they love to do, and what I would like to do is challenge you to change your mindset.
- “I get to do this sport"
- “I get to challenge myself daily"
- “I get to see what I am made of"
- “I get to swim fast today"
- I get to bond with my teammates
I get to will remind you that you could be " somewhere else doing something else, but no you Choose to be here in this moment taking things to the limits.” Saying I get to reminds you how lucky you are to be able to have a pool you can use and participate in a sport you love that allows you to step up and race. No one is making you do this. Don’t fight the voices between your ears, remember who you are, and how strong you are. Take everything you have and do something with it. It starts with believing in yourself and changing your mindset with the language you use.
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