Mindset is everything.

I suppose this is an open reflection of the last few days I spent in Germany at the European Championships. What have I learnt that could help you?

Self-confidence

I truly believe that pretty much anything is possible if you put your mind to it. In May last year I took up Kettlebell Sport aged 44. At that time, if you’d told me that in a years’ time I would win a gold medal at the European Championships, I would never have believed you.

One of the major challenges that I have had to overcome is self-confidence. I know I’m not alone in this. When training gets hard, I get tired and I start to doubt my ability to perform. My brain goes into self-preservation mode and tells my body to stop working so hard. Instead of giving into the doubt, I tell myself that it’s normal to feel tired. I tell myself that if I don’t feel tired, I’m not working hard enough. I tell myself that I’m strong, I can do this and I will do this. I block out all negativity and doubt. This was my mantra in the run up to 1.30pm on Saturday afternoon. I was nervous, but not too nervous. I didn’t allow the adrenaline to overpower me, instead I used it to focus.

The weight of expectation

Until recently, the expectations that I had of myself were often unreasonable. When I didn’t achieve everything, I would beat myself up and tell myself that I’m not good enough. I used to focus on what I hadn’t achieved and forget about what I had achieved. I’m sure I’m not alone in this either.

On Saturday, I exceeded my expectations in the first lift and I achieved 102 reps in Jerk. 70 minutes later, the second lift was Snatch and I managed 117 reps in just over 6 minutes. The ‘old me’ would have only focused on the fact that I didn’t achieve 10 minutes in Snatch. The old me would have been annoyed that I wasn’t ‘good enough’ to do 10 minutes.

Thankfully, I see things differently now. I’m over the moon with my performance and even more determined to improve on yesterdays’ results in my next competition. I know I’ll get there, because I now believe in myself, my expectations of myself are more reasonable and I can focus on what I have done, not what I haven’t.

Is it time you started believing in yourself too?

If you need any specific advice or help, or if there’s a subject you’d like to know more about, email or message me and I’ll be more than happy to help.

Best wishes,

Charlotte