The Champion Mindset

“We Build Champions." A simple, yet powerful and defining three-worded phrase that has driven, encouraged, and empowered me for the past three years.
 
For those who have not yet met me, I am Chelsea Neeley.  I am a graduate of The Ohio State University, where I received my bachelor’s degree in Education with a focus in Pre-Physical Therapy.  I spent most of my college career “living” at the RPAC, finding and pursuing my passion as a personal trainer.  Upon graduating in May, I had no intention of being an elementary school teacher and decided I’m not quite ready for graduate school.  So, I followed my passion and decided I wanted to be better at pursuing my life purpose – to help people.  To learn and become better educated in the fitness field so that I can effectively help others improve their own lives. A long story short, I am currently an intern and also have been coaching met-con classes at The Spot Athletics since June.  Never could I have asked for better coaches to be pouring their time and knowledge into me. I am absolutely blessed and totally stoked to be part of The Spot Athletics family! Now, back to “We Build Champions.” Yes, I said three years, not three months.  “We Build Champions” also happens to be the motto for Advocare, another community I am a part of.  Yes, Advocare is a supplement company.  No, I am not and will not be pushing, talking about, or debating about supplements.  Rather, I want to share with you that Advocare has played a huge influence in my life because of the people I have met, learned from, and gathered many life lessons from as a community, and honestly, as a family.  To be clear, they are not in any way affiliated with each other, but I think it is no coincidence that I am able to be further educated by and involved with amazing opportunities at both The Spot Athletics and also with Advocare.  In addition to sharing the same mottos, I have found many similarities in the purpose, passion, mindset, and values of both families.  Now, what is one way that "We Build Champions?"  It starts with the mind.  

The mindset of a champion:

It’s the little things.Have you ever thought about how much your mentality shapes your life?  It starts with a thought.  We choose to react to that thought with an action.  Those actions shape our habits, and then those habits shape our life.  If you constantly feed off of positive, encouraging thoughts, then chances are, your life is going to be much more positive than those that have constant negativity.  I had a high school coach once tell our team to never encourage our teammates with something they shouldn’t do, rather tell them something they should do to be better.  Less “don’t” and more “do,” essentially.  This has always stuck with me, because the small word choices completely change the negative mentality into a problem solving and team strengthening mentality. 

Every mistake is a learning opportunity. In this thing called life, everyone makes mistakes.  The way you react to it, however, shapes you as a person and an athlete.  Mistakes can give us the opportunity to fix what went wrong in the first place, learn from it, and become better. If we choose not to learn and are unwilling to change, it can also hinder us, break us down, and throw us into a never-ending cycle of injury-prone, excuse-making doom.  Always choose to learn.

The difference between success and failure is in the level of commitment and determination.If you’ve ever tried to go for a max lift in the gym with any doubt in your mind, then you probably know that failure is inevitable.  “Commit to the lift,” as Nic Bronkall tells me.  If you aren’t completely committed to something that is outside of your comfort zone, your chances of succeeding are significantly less than if you’re whole-heartedly determined without a single doubt in mind.  I believe the same thing can be applied to life. To achieve any dream, goal, and to reach your own potential, it’s crucial to step outside of your comfort zone with the confidence and determination that you are unstoppable.
Commitment is also shown through persistence.  Your fitness journey will have mountains and valleys.  There will be days you are not in the mood to train. Go train anyway.  More than likely, you’ll feel much better that you did and are staying committed to yourself (unless you’re overtraining, which shouldn’t be the case when you have a good coach and are following your program).  Goals and dreams will be achieved quicker when you stay committed, and in the words of Brock Meadows, “If you believe that your success tomorrow depends on what you do today, then you will treat today differently.”
 Overall, our mind drives our body, and our body drives our life.  Being in the right mindset is a crucial step in becoming a champion. Be A Champion and let us at The Spot Athletics help you in each step of your journey.

-Coach Chelsea