Free Your Mind

Belief Check Time

I'm flying to Portland today for a seminar.  Walking to my seat I noticed the pilots going through there checks to ensure a safe flight.  Check, check...Going through check lists are a good thing.  There was a book a few years ago how checklists can actually improve the quality of life.

What kinds of things can we use checklists for?  How about a belief checklist?  What are you believing?

"What the mind can believe, the body can achieve."

Enter Roger Bannister.

Probably the most famous mind/body belief was the 4 minute mile.  People believed that this barrier couldn't be broken.  That man could not run this fast.  If he did, he would die.  Plenty had come close, but it just wasn't going to happen.  Man couldn't fly and he couldn't break the 4 minute mile.

Then one man named Roger Bannister believed it could.  He set out and trained for it while going through medical school.  He did break the 4 minute mile and it was a great accomplishment.  But, that wasn't the most important barrier broke that day.  He shattered a belief barrier.

Within a year, several people pushed through and broke the 4 minute mile.

Personally, I became interested in this mind/body connection when I experienced my own 4 second barrier. .  Coming out of college I was training to play football and one test that was always tested was the Pro Shuttle Drill.  I thought I was fairly quick running in the low 4.2's.  (Don't laugh and start mocking my belief! I hadn't been exposed to much and times at this point)

I went to a pro combine and watched a wide receiver run a 4.03, the fastest I'd ever heard of and he seemed disappointed.  I asked him what he thought he could run and he told me he had been timed in the mid 3.9's quite a few times.  My belief barrier was broken.  My mind was open.

I went back home and started training.  With in 2 months and my next combine I ran several times under 3.9 seconds.  In 2 months I had shaved almost .3 seconds.  My body was always capable of it.  I just needed to believe it.  Of course, I worked on technique.  But, without the belief, the willingness to put in the hard work, would never have happened.  Why try to do the impossible?

What are you believing?  What do you believe about your health?  Joints?  The back you claim has been hurt for 10 years.  Your 5k time.  Your weight.

Take an evening one day and think about what physical things you would like to accomplish.  What is your beliefs about it?  That's the first step.

Free Your Mind.