For the first time in my "racing career", I have found myself with some wonderful sponsorship. This is something that I have dreamed of having for many years. It's not so much the physical product that I am receiving, but the satisfaction of knowing that someone is supporting my efforts. The first company to believe in my was Jason at Big Ring Cycles in Golden. Jason helped me with a great bike sponsorship through QR and accessories with Louis Garneau. Then came a great local sports nutrition company in Boulder called Max Muscle. Craig David, the owner, has a dynamic approach to nutrition through education. At Max Muscle, Craig and his staff believe in educating the athlete with the tools they need to maximize their performance. Excited that I was involved with so much already, even more started to happen! My father has been in the optical world for over 30 years. Through his passion for sunglasses and the industry overall, I have developed my own appreciation for quality eyewear. I was absolutely thrilled when Native Eyewear Marketing Director Jax Mariash offered for me to be part of their athlete ambassador team. It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to wear such high quality sunglasses and it is my pleasure to be able to wear Native while training and racing. Last but certainly not least came Power Bar Team Elite. Endurance athletes know that training and racing nutrition can really add up especially when training for Iron distance events. There is nothing like a chocolate Power Gel after 4 hours on the bike-YUM!
I started asking myself recently what is different in my life now that has helped me to attract all of these things. Am I that much better of an athlete than I was a couple years ago? Am I doing something different? Well, I have improved a decent amount but not anything Jurassic. Yet I am doing something different.
I believe that we are controlled and confined to our own thoughts. If one was to believe that they could only get so far in life, that would be as far as they would go. Visualization is a technique that many athletes use before their race day performance. I have known this from my years running for the great Fayetteville-Manlius High School coach, Bill Aris. The more I have used this in my own racing and life for that matter, the more success I have had. There is no doubt that one must put the time and effort into training, however, if we can simply train the mind to believe that there will be a certain turnout on an event, the probability of it happening in reality is much more great. Without going into too much detail, we can attract what ever it is we want. If we put that positive energy into the universe, it will come to us. The opposite is true as well. If you think you wake up tomorrow morning feeling like crap and upset saying to yourself that you are going to have a bad day; then you most likely will! On the other hand, if you can affirm to yourself that you have the control and opportunity to have a great day, things will get progressively better. It may be a challenge at first but think to yourself what a good day would look like and create those images in your head.
This is not a bunch of hocus pocus as it may sound. Our mind is seen in pictures and these visuals are what makes things happen. While I use this mindset in my training, it has hugely applied to my life in general. We tend to not really work toward what we want in life many times because we believe that the mechanism or resources are not there. However, if we have 100% intention to acheive something then the resources will come. This means that if we truly put our energy into a goal, the road in which we need to get to our goal will soon follow. Thinking like this can work for sports, career, as well as one's personal life.
So I ask you this: Are you attracting what you want in your life?
