It is inside you, the voice of motivation. Honestly, earlier I never understood why people say all these words. I remember my mentor kept saying talk to yourself, say positive things to yourself. I used to wonder why I do that without sounding crazy. I was afraid if someone saw me doing that they would think I am gone crazy. That was my perception until the last day of my graduation. After seeing me graduate with just above average percentage of marks, with a waggish smile walking towards me, my father mumbled with a hush tone “Congratulations! you are now independent.” I didn’t really understand the context then but when the pocket money was cut, I was alarmed. There was this strange angst in me giving sleepless nights. My mother broke the ice and said- “Son, it is time for you to get settled and take responsibilities of your own.”
Okay, now the angst was sprinting at top speed. I felt the floor beneath me shake vigorously.
We all live in this comfortable zone where we are blinded by cocoons of comfort. Only when we are pushed out of it, we realise how real magical and real life is.
My mind started to play all sorts of games with me. My defence mechanism insisted constantly to fall back into the known comfort zone rather than rummage in the unknown. Although I was ranked No 1 in the state, I was far from achieving the dream of winning an All India Tournament. In an attempt to support myself and my career, I started my coaching stint as a part time coach. This gave me a cushion to take my first step towards responsibility.
I was anxious to know what could be the reason for ANGST? How did the feeling come? Unknowingly I settled to a thought process that no matter what my family comes to rescue if I was about to fall. Taking risks was not fun anymore. Whenever I would think about this situation a rare fear would kick in. Through Introspection I realised there is something inside me which is trying to protect me. A voice within me which is defining my capabilities. I started understanding this better and slowly worked towards breaking the boundaries.
At the start of every day I would decide to practice to extend my courage towards breaking yesterday’s comfort zone. It’s only practice, and practice. After taking some psychology tips from my mentor, I started to compartmentalize my thoughts by focusing only on coaching other kids and then training on my own as a player. A practice of conscious positive decisioning. This helped me to seperate my job and my practise sessions without overlapping thoughts that would confuse and stress me out. 3 years later I won the All India Championship in 2012. All in all, if you figure out who you are from inside and work towards reshaping or being a better you, you are on the right track towards achieving your goals.
Your toughest competitor is YESTERDAY’S YOU.
To know more about realizing our own competitor and fighting against it, drop me a message or a query and I will assist you in your perseverance.