I’m Dr. Brad, a double-boarded sports medicine physician and peak performance coach. I help driven & successful professionals achieve greater levels of success AND fulfillment so they can live the best version of themselves.
Today I am going to discuss the five things that you’ve got to believe in, so that you can take things to a higher level to increase your results, to achieve your goals, in order to just live that elite performance lifestyle we’ve talked about.
Let’s review, because last week we talked about performance, and we talked about beliefs and how they are highly correlated. And so, when we talk about the definition of performance, performance is simply a result based measurement of the strength of your mindset and belief. I’ll say that again. Performance is a result based measurement. So it’s the results that you can actually see, the tangible stuff, of the strength of your mind, and belief. So that means if you have a stronger mind, you’ll be able to perform more, and you’ll be able to see those tangible results.
Now the second thing we want to review is the fact that you become what you believe. The way new beliefs are created; if you become what you believe, and you want to become something different, you have to start to believe something different. That means you have to start putting new things into the brain. New beliefs into the brain that will eventually allow it to come to fruition. If you remember we talked about this last week, the mind is like a muscle. If you think about a muscle, the only way a muscle grows is by putting in repetitions. Repetitions of work. It’s got to get the right input, and it’s got to get the proper nutrition. So for that muscle to perform, for that muscle to be efficient and proficient, for that muscle to have strength, it’s got to put in reps.
For us, the strength of our belief is going to be based on how many reps do we put in, of putting input into our brains such as affirmations, being around environments that foster and cultivate beliefs that will stick and that will serve us the best way possible. So you have to work that muscle. You have to constantly be exercising your mind, and exercising putting input into your brain on a constant basis. It’s a practice just like working out is a practice. But it’s the exercising of your mind that’s going to allow you to be able to get the beliefs.
But what should you believe in? What should we focus our beliefs on? There are five things we’re going to talk about today that are huge, and you’ll see when this comes all together it’s going to make great sense. So the first thing that you have to believe in is your ability. You have to believe that you are able to be able to do whatever it is that you’re going to do. Believing that your capable also means believing that you have everything you need to start the project, habit, etc. So, for example, this is the belief that I can. These are the beliefs that you want to put into the brain. I can do this. I can lose weight. I can start that business. I can get that promotion. I can; I can, I can. Here’s what the belief of ability builds. It builds confidence, and it builds the confidence that you’re looking to be able to say, “You know what, I can do this.”
Believe in your ability.
One of the best affirmations that I use to be able to allow me to have confidence that I can is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now mind you, the reason that gives me so much confidence is that it’s not just based on me. It’s based on God’s strength working through me. That right there gives me a ton of confidence. So the first piece of advice is to use that as an affirmation. I believe I’m strengthened by Christ. I can do all things by Christ who strengthens me. That gives you confidence. The second thing that you need to believe in is you have to believe in the possibility. You have to believe it’s possible. If you think whatever you’re going after is impossible, then it’s going to be tough to accomplish that very thing. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
Believe its attainable.
So you have to believe it’s attainable. This is different than I can. For example, years ago when people were running the mile. The fastest mile that was ran was a little more than five minutes. People thought it was impossible to run under a five-minute mile. People thought that you would have a heart attack or that you would die if you ran a four-minute mile. Once it happened, it expanded the possibility, right? So if you don’t think it’s possible, it’s not going to happen. You have to believe in the possibility. Here’s what the belief in possibility does. It allows you to dream; it builds that dream muscle. For a lot of us, we’ve lost the ability to be able to dream. You’ve got to be able to dream about the possibilities that are in store for you.
Believe in the reality of ‘it’.
The third thing that you have to believe in is you have to believe in the reality. Specifically, you have to believe in the reality for you. You’ve got to believe that what you’re going for is real, and will be realized by you. As a matter of fact, one way to think about this is to believe that it’s already happened. That it’s just a matter of time. You know the end of the play. You know the end of the movie already. It’s just got to play out. That reality is what you MUST believe in. Believe that your reality for what you’re going for is eventual. IT’S EVENTUAL! The belief in your future reality builds faith! And faith is going to be needed to be able to hit that next level. Faith is going to be needed to accomplish that goal. It builds faith.
Believe in the Process.
The fourth thing that you have to believe in is you have to believe in the process. You hear this all the time, trust the process. Here’s the process you have to believe: You have to believe in the process of improvement and the process of correction. Because here’s the reality…you must first take action, recognize the mistakes, and then tweak them. You have to correct the mistakes. You have to course correct. You’ve got to put it out there and then fix it a little bit. But what you put out there first, you have to understand it’s not going to be the perfect product. It’s not supposed to be. People are always talking about having a problem of perfection, but they haven’t taken action. There’s no way to have a perfectionism, without first being imperfect. You have to be imperfect and then practice perfecting it, first.
If you run into an obstacle, it’s not over. It’s simply a challenge that you’ve been presented with in order to get better and improve. This understanding helps to give the confidence to take action because you realize it doesn’t have to be perfect when you first get started. You can start imperfect to eventually correct and adjust to get closer to perfection. But you will make mistakes, and that’s ok…it’s part of the process!
Believe that it is worth it.
The fifth thing that you’ve got to believe in is that it’s worth it. That whatever you’re doing is worth it. If we’re talking about going after your purpose, it’s worth it. If we’re talking about hitting a level you’ve never been at before, on a project that has just been calling you, it is worth it. It is worth getting uncomfortable. It is worth waking up early in the morning. It is worth the sweat. It is worth the fatigue. It is worth getting uncomfortable. It’s worth it. If you don’t believe it’s worth it, you won’t grind. So you’ve got to believe it’s worth it. Here’s what the belief in the fact that it’s worth does, it builds, and it builds grit. You’ve got to have grit in order to grow.
Let’s summarize the five things that you’ve got to believe in.
- You’ve got to believe in your ability, the ability to do it.
- You’ve got to believe in the possibility that you’re going to do it.
- You’ve got to believe in the reality of it. That it is just a matter of time, it’s eventual.
- You’ve got to believe in the process of improvement and correction.
- You’ve got to believe it’s worth it.
