Perception

I have written on numerous topics over the past year and while all of them have extreme meaning to me (otherwise I wouldn't have posted them) this post signifies a topic that if you can master it then I guarantee nothing can stop you.

Perception by definition is the act of cognitively understanding and making sense of a situation. It is the process of you and only you making a choice as to how you are going to act, think, speak, perform to any and all situations. Perception is 100 percent individual and we all have beliefs that lead to how big or small that perception is going to be.

Being a doctor that treats mostly athletes and a coach I have recently been getting lots of questions in regards to the mental side of training and injuries. Most of these individuals have put in the time and effort and physically are capable of achieving their goals they are just not ready mentally and don't know how to fix that. My single response is its all in how they are perceiving their race or their confidence in themselves. Most endurance athletes give up on themselves in a race instead of their body giving up on them. When times get tough we mentally tell ourselves that its OK to walk or stop even though physically you are capable of pushing forward. The perception comes down to how you view the difficulty of what you are doing.

Our cultures perception typically is when things get hard or difficult most of us typically will give up on something. We will decide that that effort is to much and the goal that we had in mind will never be achieved. If there is an obstacle in the road our perception is that its to difficult or we can't think outside the box as to what tools are needed to help success.

I try and teach my daughters daily that there is nothing in this world that they can't accomplish if they just try their best and sometimes think outside the box. A great example of this was this past week my oldest daughter and I went to the school track for a workout and on the way home there was a pretty steep hill that she immediately said there was no way she could ride her bike up. At the bottom of the hill I stopped and looked at her and told her that she should never in life say she can't do something. Her perception of the hill was it was to steep and she wasn't strong enough to ride up it. I told her that sometimes we need to asses a situation and use all the options we have available to achieve a task. So I told her to start riding and mid way up the hill when she started to slow down I gave her a push on her back for about 5 seconds which then gave her enough momentum to crest the hill. When we reached the top I asked her what she learned and she said that sometimes things seem difficult but if you ask for help or use your surroundings you can achieve anything. Through the accomplishment her perception changed from I can't to anything is possible as long as I try.

Most of the great leaders in history had the perception that they could accomplish anything. They still knew that there would be plenty of failures along the road but the failures didn't scare them away from trying. Deep down they understood that all a failure was is something that taught you how to do it better the next time. The world is out of our control but our actions and perception are within our control and only our control.

A good friend of mine has had a rough year with having to drop out of his first ironman triathlon due to being diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I think plenty of peoples perception would be crap and crap. Not this guy he took on the MM with 110 percent of his energy knowing that he was going to control everything within his control and anything outside of his control was just that outside of his control. His perception of the situation was strong and an inspiration to all his friends and family around him that no matter what card we are dealt we are in control of the response and how we will attack the next minute, day and year.

One of my favorite examples of perception is when I was a kid growing up in Chicago. In 1985 we had arguably one of the best football teams ever assembled. Two weeks before the Super Bowl that year the Chicago Bears came out with the Super Bowl Shuffle which was basically a song that the team performed saying that no one can beat us. They hadn't even played the Super Bowl yet but their perception was that they were that good that no matter the opponent they couldn't be beat. Now come at it from the opposing teams viewpoint. There had to be a little break in the confidence in the other team playing in the Super Bowl. If you are so confident in your performance I believe sometimes its the secret weapon needed to outperform your competition. Well I will let you do your research but the Super Bowl that year wasn't even close right from the start.

Bringing this to an end I ask each and everyone of you that takes the time to read my blogs that before you ever perceive something as to hard or to difficult that you take a step back and reassess the situation. Never give up on something or believe that you don't have what it takes to succeed. There is no obstacle in this world that is to strong to stop you. I also ask you to never look at a situation as negative as every situation has a positive. I know that there will be a group of people who never take this blog serious but if there is just one person out there that I can positively influence than mission accomplish. I don't wast my time with negative energy as at the end of the day my perception of negative energy is its not worth my time.

The meaning of the picture at the top other than I just love the picture is that its her bring on the world face. The face of confidence and belief that nothing can stop her from success except herself.

Make It Count!!!!!!!!