This article is written by NF guest blogger Annika McGivern.
The pursuit of high-performance is the pursuit of excellence. In equestrian sport when you picture someone striving for high-performance, you may imagine thousands of hours in the saddle honing physical skills and hundreds of hours of lessons with experts mastering the technical and tactical aspects of the discipline. You likely imagine effort, sacrifice, and the partnership with the horse. But what about the rider’s mind? Do you imagine them training their mental fitness? Your mental fitness determines how skilled you are at managing your thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and behaviours.
Today, we have the privilege of understanding more than ever before about the mental training required to reach the highest levels of equestrian sport and everyone can use that knowledge to hone their personal path to high-performance.
To sustain motivation, effort and confidence throughout the many years it takes to achieve high-performance in equestrian sport, certain characteristics such as perseverance, self-awareness, and a desire to keep learning are essential. Luckily, we all can nurture and hone these characteristics within ourselves – it all starts with understanding our beliefs. In my work as a Mental Performance Consultant, I have helped hundreds of equestrians examine and re-structure their beliefs to create more consistent results. In my personal experience as an equestrian athlete, I have seen first-hand how re-writing your beliefs can not only improve results, but also bring back confidence and the fun of competition. In this article, I will explain what a belief is, and why they are so central to high-performance.
I’ll break down several common beliefs that hold us back, and leave you with examples of high-performance beliefs that, if adopted, will positively impact your efforts for years to come.
So, to start… what is a belief?
A belief starts as an idea. If this idea is reinforced through our experiences, it will eventually become something that feels true about ourselves or about the world. For example, someone may believe that most people are kind, and another person may believe that most people are trying to take advantage of you. These two different beliefs create very different ways of thinking about, and relating to, the people around us. Beliefs, once formed, impact our thoughts and emotions daily. The fascinating thing about beliefs is we experience them as reality, and yet they are simply an idea, or a story that has come to feel true. Recognizing this allows us to become a little pickier about the ideas we give power to.
Beliefs are powerful, in part, due to an interesting effect called Confirmation Bias, which refers to the brain’s tendency to search for, prioritize, and more easily remember the information and experiences that confirm or support what we believe is true. In this way, our daily thoughts and experiences are shaped by our most deeply held beliefs. If I believe I’m not good enough as a rider, I am likely to interpret my mistakes as confirmation of that belief. I am also likely to attribute any success to luck or give the credit to other people (or my horse!).
Beliefs form the foundation for high-performance.
Beliefs are so fundamental to our habitual thinking and sense of reality that it can be strange to see them as something we can choose for ourselves. But that is exactly what we need to do reach for our fullest potential. Remember that high-performance requires us to be persistent, self-aware, and prioritize learning. Well, whether our daily thoughts and actions align with these characteristics is largely down to our beliefs.
It is possible, and common, for riders to unknowingly hold beliefs that slow down, or limit their progress. These are called Limiting Beliefs. Remember, at its core any belief is simply an idea that has come to feel true. Sometimes, we just need a little help seeing why and how these ideas are not actually true (or limiting us), and a little help discovering the ideas that support high performance striving.
Let’s look at some examples of commonly held limiting beliefs and their high-performance belief counterparts.
Common Limiting Belief #1: I’m not good enough.
I work with many riders who hold the belief that they aren’t good enough as riders, usually because they feel other people don’t believe in them, they aren’t getting good enough results, or they’re struggling more than they think they should be. Rider are likely to give up prematurely when they hold this belief.
Here’s a different idea that is central to high-performance: good enough is not determined by results, other people’s opinions, or anything else that we have no control over. Good enough is determined by something far simpler – how we choose to show up every day.
Here are three examples of principles that truly determine good enough.
- You keep showing up and giving it 100% of what you have. This is easier said than done and will have an enormous impact on our progress.
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You manage your mistakes well. Mistakes are unavoidable, and the real key to progress is to become skilled at recovering from them quickly and learning everything we can in the process.
- You stay connected to your values and purpose. Competition and other challenging endeavours are not always fun. Riders who are clear on their values and purpose can stay more focused and consistent throughout the ups and downs.
None of these things are easy to do, but they are all completely within our control. Choosing to believe that these principles are the true definition of good enough leads to the empowering high-performance belief that we are in control of being good enough.
Common Limiting Belief #2: I’ll believe in myself when…
It’s common for riders to believe that self-belief (the experience of being sure of one’s ability) will magically arrive when they’re finally successful. The problem is that they never seem to arrive at that magical moment and are therefore stuck in a never-ending cycle of self-doubt.
Here’s the high-performance idea: Self-belief is an active choice, not a passive consequence of success. Imagine if you chose to wake up every day and fiercely protect your belief in your ability to learn, grow, and succeed, regardless of what was happening in your life? This idea leads to the high-performance belief that every individual is ultimately responsible for, and in control of, their own self-belief and as such special attention should be paid to the way we speak to and about ourselves every day.
Common Limiting Belief #3: Mistakes should be avoided to protect my image
A rider who believes that making a mistake or failing in competition means they don’t have enough talent, will usually start avoiding or dreading challenging situations that put them at risk of things going wrong. This happens because the experience of mistakes and failures becomes so upsetting that they are motivated to avoid situations where they might have to face those feelings. The important thing to recognize here is that the root cause of their distress is not the mistake itself, but their belief about mistakes.
Here's the high-performance idea about mistakes: Mistakes are unavoidable and essential to growth. Mistakes are not to be feared or avoided, but rather managed to the best of our ability. This idea leads to the high-performance belief that the goal is to manage all mistakes well by recovering quickly from them and learning everything possible before moving forward.
An important related idea here is this: I will never be done learning, and the pursuit of continuing learning in the key to my success. High performers never want to be done learning, and therefore never stop pushing into the discomfort of developing new skills and making mistakes.
Let’s summarize the high-performance beliefs covered in this article.
- Good enough is determined by the daily actions you have control over.
- Every individual is ultimately responsible for, and in control of, their own self-belief.
- Mistakes are essential to progress. Manage all mistakes well by recovering quickly from them and learning everything possible before moving forward.
I encourage you to start playing with these high-performance ideas. Try them out and experience the shift in your thinking and emotions for yourself. When you apply these ideas consistently, you’ll see a shift in the way you see yourself and the process of striving for high-performance. You’ll notice a boost in your confidence, consistency, self-awareness, and desire to learn. When you create high performance beliefs, conformation bias begins to work in your favor, and you are able to see your progress more clearly. With time, these ideas will start to feel true and become your new foundation for high-performance striving.
If you'd like to learn more about how to support your mental game, check out our our Masterclass with Dr. Jenny Susser.
About the Author:
Annika is a Mental Performance Consultant who works with Equestrians to build confidence and develop key mental skills to support competence and progress in the saddle. Having grown up as a Three-Day Eventer in British Columbia, Canada, Annika worked internationally in eventing and show jumping after graduating high-school as a groom, rider, and coach in Ireland, Australia and America. During her riding career she encountered Sport Psychology and was fascinated by the impact it had on success in horse sport and so, after completing her Equine Canada Competition Coach certification, Annika returned to school to study psychology. Today, with an MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Annika works with riders and other athletes to understand and build mental fitness for sport and performance. Her philosophy of practice is grounded in the science-backed tools and methods of performance psychology, and theoretical frameworks such as Cognitive Behavioural Coaching, Positive Psychology, and Solution Focused Coaching. Annika is a professional member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association. Find out more at www.annikamcgivern.com or on instagram: @annikamcgivern.performance.
