9 Mental Hacks for Crushing Doubt and Internalizing Your Greatness
Internalization Practices to Fuel your Greatness, Defeat Doubt, Own Your Moment, and Come ALIVE
This is part 3 of the fall series, Come ALIVE and Stay ALIVE: 5 Simple Practices (Activate, Listen, Internalize, Visualize, & Execute) to help you start strong and stay focused for life. Subscribe now to receive these free principles delivered to your inbox every Monday morning.
In our journey to Come ALIVE, we’ve spent time activating our greatness by appreciating our opportunities with gratitude and listening with love for receiving our opportunities to be great. Now, our next practice is to internalize our intention eliminate doubt.
What is it that you intend to accomplish in your next venture? Who do you plan on becoming? What are the intentions of your mission? When preparing for a big game, meet, test, or event, you must revisit your intentions. In education we like to ask, “What is your why?” Why are you doing what you’re doing? Once you identify and internalize your intentions, you will take positive steps toward the foundations of your activation and listening journey to Come ALIVE.
Internalization is the process of accepting a belief about yourself so much that it becomes a part of your identity and character. So, once you internalize the positive beliefs of your intentions and capabilities, you’ll experience new confidence levels.
I observed this positive experience with our track and field athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We had many different athletes in different mental, physical, and emotional states the year we finally won the district after coming close several years prior. Some athletes suffered from anxiety and uncertainty. Another athlete was coming off of a broken clavicle in a freak relay accident the year before. Other athletes simply did not believe in themselves, even though they trained incredibly hard.
However, once we started implementing positive internalization practices (like the ones I will share below), the athletes realized and appreciated the possibilities that lay before them. They went on to secure back-to-back district championships and an Area Championship with several Regional finalists and a couple of State qualifiers (in Texas high school track and field, all of these are big-time achievements).
Just like those athletes I coached during COVID-19, you, too, can eliminate doubt, and overcome fear, anxiety, and psychological ailments that plague you from seizing your opportunities. But it doesn’t come by striving toward the outcome. It starts with internalizing your intention.
Unfortunately, many athletes internalize the wrong things about themselves and their capabilities, namely lies, fear, and doubt. The result is disappointment, failed expectations, and regrets.
Internalization is the process of accepting a belief about yourself so much that it becomes a part of your identity and character.
I can tell almost immediately how the athletes I coach will perform or compete before a competition based on their internalization practices.
They’ll verbally internalize negative things about themselves or their environment with built-in excuses (“It’s hot out here. I have a headache. I’m so nervous.”).
They’ll wear a look of exasperation and doubt, internalizing and meditating on negative thoughts.
Their bodies tighten up as they stop breathing. And they cross their arms — a classic sign of fear to protect the most vulnerable part of the human body.
But you don’t have to internalize negative thoughts and behaviors. You can fight against them with positive internalization practices to help you Come ALIVE. But first, it’s helpful to understand why you’re feeling the way you do.
After activating by appreciating and listening with love, most of us let our minds wander to places of nonexistence—the past and the future. These nonexistent factors hypnotize us into internalizing distracting or hurtful things about ourselves instead of leaning into who we are and who we are becoming.
As you read this, understand, as it pertains to this exact moment, that the past doesn’t exist, and neither does the future (at least until we figure out quantum mechanics and time travel). The consequences of the past are real, and we anticipate the future; however, the past and the future are nonexistent entities that don’t have to control our performance, strategies, and fun in competition. We’re set up for failure if we internalize past mistakes or anticipate future failures.
You can’t physically feel the past or the future, but you can feel what it feels like to touch something right now, see something, and hear something. Suppose we can take these elements when anxious about an upcoming event or resent a recent mistake. In that case, we can find happiness, appreciation—or even joy—in competing with ourselves and overcoming our fears.
So, here are some simple internalization practices I’ve shared with some of my past track and field teams that helped them dominate their fears and collectively win and complete their mission.
Touch.
Rub your knuckles into your sternum/chest. This simple practice reawakens and recenters your body.
Rub your hands together. Sweaty palms are a good sign. It means you are hydrated, and your body is ready to do some serious sweating for the competition.
Blow into your hands.
Rub your stomach. Instead of folding your arms, rub your stomach. This can reassure and soothe the buildup of anxiousness.
Rub your legs. Get feeling back into your legs. Have you ever wondered why sprinters smack their legs before a race? They are awakening the nerves and muscles in their legs!
Be big. Place your hands on your hips and stand tall, maybe even on your toes!
Rub/touch the track/mat/court etc. Let your body connect with your environment. It’s an excellent way to be present in the moment.
Hear.
Box breathing. Listen to yourself breathe in through your nose for 6 seconds, hold for 3, and breathe out slowly for 6 seconds. (See if you can hear your heartbeat.)
Tell yourself verbally (yes, out loud):
I am here.
I am prepared.
I am capable.
I am bigger than this moment.
I am competing in (say, your event).
Listen to/sing/rap to yourself (out loud) and listen to your favorite song that makes you feel competitive and happy.
Everyone is different, and you may have a different approach to your events that better work for you. Maybe you can utilize a combination of internalization practices to help you. For example, as you box breathe you tell yourself “I am capable, I am prepared, etc.” as you exhale. Find whatever works for you. Whatever you do just make it count.