Living Life As An Athlete
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
I have been a world class athlete for many years. As I transitioned to the “real world” and became a successful entrepreneur and a life coach, I noticed many traits that were present in both my careers as an athlete and as a business woman. Some of these traits were imperative for me to achieve my goals.
Focus, discipline, hard work, integrity, passion for what I am doing, confidence and commitment are some of the attributes that allowed me to realize my dreams. While these are all good qualities to have, the main reason why I was able to achieve my goals was/is my mindset. “It’s all up here” it’s not just a saying; it is a reality. We are who we think we are! This mindset will lead us to take actions that will help us step into our power and become the person we want to be.
The attributes I mentioned are also found in many people that we know and admire that have achieved positions of leadership in the world. We all have the potential to develop these qualities. It’s within our reach. We simply need to decide to change our mindset and go for it. What does that mean? It means that we need to become clear about what you love, define a goal and design an action plan to achieve it. It means to be open to recruit help if necessary, create a support system that will encourage us to move forward and to have compassion for ourselves during the process.
Most of the people I come across have been trying really hard to live a fulfilling life. A number of them have the right intentions and the wrong mindset. This week I want to invite you to play with the notion of “what if’s…”. What if I have all the resources I think I need to succeed, what if I could make a living doing exactly what I love and help people in the process, what if I had the clarity to know what I really want, what if… Write down your answers in your journal or in a piece of paper. What feelings come up for you? Play with it. See how you feel when you allow yourself to be open minded and creative. This exercise will give you a taste of what it feels like to have a different mindset; one that will actually help you move forward and become a great success!
With energy,
Ana
Our response to a ringing phone is one of the few things in life over which we have total control and decision making authority. There are answering machines and voicemail that can do this job for us when we need it. Yet, many times we don’t seem to realize that. If the phone rings, some of us feel that we must stop whatever it is that we are doing and answer it.
1. Start from where you are and take one step at the time. Be gentle with yourself. A tool I like to use with my clients is to ask them to always have a picture of themselves as a child around their office or in their bedroom. The picture reminds them that we still have that child inside of ourselves. We would not say things to a child that would diminish their fragile selves. Think about that before you call yourself less than wonderful things.
It has been said that our ultimate concern in life is to avoid pain and to gain pleasure. I respectfully disagree with this affirmation. My opinion is that our main concern is neither to gain pleasure nor to avoid pain but rather to discover a meaning to our lives. How do we find meaning to our lives? Great question…
Living from the heart means that you choose a life and a lifestyle that are true for you. You make important decisions because they resonate with your heart and with your own values, and not necessarily with those of others. You trust your own instincts more than the pressures from advertising or the expectations of society, family and friends. Living from the heart is about trusting the quiet voice within you that emerges when you quiet down enough to listen.