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1-Page Summary of Mind Gym
Overview
As long-distance runners know, it’s not just about being physically fit. Sure, you need to be in shape, but your mind is equally important. When you’re nearing the end of a race and your body can’t go on anymore, it’s your mental toughness that will push you over the finish line.
A well-trained mind is important, not just for running long distances. It will help you succeed in life. The author provides some tips to keep your mind healthy and strong. You’ll learn what your most important muscle is (even if it’s not the one you think), why SMART goals are effective, and how 90% is better than 100%.
Big Idea #1: Top physical performance is impossible without a well-trained mind.
We’ve all heard the famous Nike slogan, “Just do it.” However, sometimes we don’t act on this advice. Why? It’s because of negative thinking.
We’re often impacted by our thoughts in ways we don’t want. For example, if you tell yourself not to hit the water while playing golf, it will probably happen anyway because your body was focused on it too. To avoid this problem, keep your thoughts simple and focus on what you want instead of all the things you fear may happen.
Thought alone can’t help us succeed. We need to combine thought with action, or else we’ll never reach our full potential. One study of three groups of basketball players showed this by comparing them to each other.
In a study, three groups of people were asked to practice free throws. The first group practiced for an hour straight, the second visualized practicing their free throws for an hour straight, and the third did both for 30 minutes each. When they got to actually try out in real life, the third group performed much better than the others had.
Most of us know how to train our bodies. But, few people know what to do when it comes to training their brains. Like our bodies, our minds have strengths and weaknesses that should be identified in order for us to improve them.
The Japanese concept of kaizen refers to constant daily improvement. You can apply this idea to yourself by learning new things every day and improving your skills without stressing too much about the final outcome.
Big Idea #2: See yourself as a winner to become one.
Do you consider yourself a winner or a loser? You might not think of yourself as a winner right now, but if you really want to be successful, it’s time to change that. If you think of yourself as a winner, it will make success more likely for you.
Self-consistency theory explains that the way we think about ourselves impacts our actions. For example, a person with a negative self-image will struggle to achieve top performances because they see themselves as losers.
If you’re not the best at something, and want to be better, set some goals. These goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic </spa
n>and time bound. For example, if you want to run a marathon this year (which is very achievable), your goal could be running two miles in the first week of January (time bound), three miles in the second week of January (time bound) and so on until you can run 13 miles every week by December 31st.
By contrast, if you decided your goal was to complete a half marathon as quickly as possible, your training would collapse. Why? Your goal wasn’t realistic and demotivating. On the other hand, if you set a specific goal of running every day for 6 months in order to complete a half marathon at the end of that time frame, you’d be lucky to make it there by then end of the year. Why? Your initial goal wasn’t specific enough so that progress could be measured along the way.
