Do you feel that you’re stuck at a crossroad on your CrossFit journey? Unable
to advance that particular skill you’ve been craving to conquer for months or
even years? Finding it hard to up the ante? Desperate to get out of a rut
you’ve found yourself in with your training? Training all day, every day but not
quite hitting your goals? Found yourself repeating the same mistakes, or just
doing the same thing, over and over again? Do you yourself getting beaten up
and squashed by limiting, negative self-talk? Or do you simply want to work
toward harnessing the best version of yourself but not quite sure how? If any
of these scenarios are sounding a little familiar, let me ask you one more
question… when was the last time you checked your mindset?
As an athlete you can train until the world ends, have the latest and greatest
CrossFit training gadgets, the best coach on the planet and be the strongest
in your box, but you could also be missing the most crucial weapon in your
CrossFit arsenal that may well be the one thing truly holding you back.
That weapon is a growth mindset, and it could be the difference between
realising your fullest potential or staying stuck in the vortex of safety and
mediocrity, in and outside the box.
Growth what?
Growth Mindset is a term coined by American Professor of Psychology, Carol
Dweck. Through her extensive studies of thousands of children’s behaviours,
she ascertained that mindset is a self-perception we hold about ourselves. For
example, in the case of children, she noticed that many believed they were
either intelligent or unintelligent, skilled or unskilled, and lacked the knowledge
and understanding that they could grow their intelligence or skills through
effort, persistence and their responses to failure.
Dweck’s work led her to differentiate between fixed mindset and growth
mindset. Fixed mindset, she believed, was when people thought their
intelligence or talents were fixed traits, unchangeable and unable to be
developed further. Whereas a growth mindset was where people saw that the
most basic of abilities were a starting point, malleable attributes that could be
developed through hard work.
While Dweck’s research began with children, and has been adopted in the
education sphere worldwide, growth mindset is not limited to young people.
As adults, our neuroplasticity may not be the same as when we were children,
but we still have the capability to grow our brains and our skills. The attributes
of growth mindset can be seen everywhere, all around us. It’s visible in the
everyday people we meet and exampled in people who have achieved
greatness at professional levels.
In the world of CrossFit, we only need to take a look at the attributes of the
Regional and Games-level athletes to see great examples of people who
adopt a growth mindset. Look at the story of Alea Helmick, who made attempt
after attempt, year after year, to qualify for the Games at Regionals. It
woud’ve been easy for her to give up after a while, but she didn’t and in 2016
she finally made it to Carson. There are so many stories like hers.
But you don’t need to be a professional athlete to adopt this mindset, nor do
you need to have aspirations to become a professional athlete. Harnessing
your mindset from wherever you are and with whatever your personal desires
are, can change your life, both in and outside of the box. So let’s take a look
at the traits of growth and fixed mindset and what they look like inside our
boxes.
Mat Fraser - Photo courtesy of the CrossFit Games Facebook Page 2017. Mat Fraser was second in his rookie year of 2014 and again in 2015. After his 2015 season, he didn't want to be second again. He spent time specifically working his weaknesses like short-distance running to make sure that 2016 would see him on top of the podium
How do you see yourself?
Do you prance around the box with a loud or secret belief that you’re the
fastest, strongest and best athlete there and let that belief prevent you from
growing further? Do you shy away in the box and think you’re the weakest,
slowest or worst athlete there and let that belief hinder you from getting
better? Whether you think you’re the fastest, strongest and best or the
slowest, weakest and worst, you’re probably holding on to a fixed mindset.
Ego can be just as limiting as lack of self-confidence.
There’s nothing wrong with confidence and knowing our strengths, or realising
what our weaknesses are, but the key to having a growth mindset is how we
let this knowledge, mindset and belief impact our performance in the box.
One of the key attributes of growth mindset is the realisation that we all have
different starting points and that no matter where we are on the spectrum of
skill level, we can grow and develop if we challenge ourselves and go to our
own places of discomfort, put in effort and dedication and work on both our
strengths and weaknesses. CrossFit is a naturally competitive sport, but
comparing yourself to someone else whose journey may be unlike yours,
whose backstory could be entirely polar opposite to yours and whose goals
may be nowhere near the same as yours, is only going to lead you to a
deflating dead end.
So instead of looking at yourself as the fastest, strongest and best, or the
weakest, slowest and worst, next time those thoughts cross your mind,
reframe them. Instead, think about: where am I at on my journey and where
do I need to go to next?
Tia-Clair Toomey - Photo courtesy of the CrossFit Games Facebook Page 2017. Tia-Clair Toomey is another athlete familiar with second place after finishing second in her rookie year of 2015 and again in 2016. In the CrossFit Game's documentary, Tia-Clair admitted that she lacked self-belief and many people believed this is what lost her the Games win in 2016. But 2017 was an entirely different Tia. She had worked solidly on her mindset, and her fierce approach saw her stand on top of the podium.
What conversations do you have with yourself?
This one is inseparable from the way we perceive ourselves. In fact, how we
see ourselves will govern the conversations we have with ourselves.
How many times have you checked in to Wodify, seen your weakest
movements in the strength, gymnastics or WOD and walked into the box
already defeated? How many times have you continually failed at something
in the box and let the thought, I’m never going to get this, consume you? Or
how many times have you looked around at other athletes in your box and
heard that tiny voice say: You’re never going to be like them? Probably a lot.
But the conversations we have with ourselves are one of the most powerful
growth mindset attributes we can possess. One of the biggest and most
powerful discussions that came from the research into mindsets was this (and
read this one out loud and let it soak in): THE POWER OF YET.
What would happen if we just changed some of those dialogues in our head?
What would happen if instead of walking into the gym defeated or telling
yourself you suck or convincing yourself that you’ll never get your first pull up
or muscle up or handstand push up or that you’ll never squat, deadlift or press
as much as those people, we change that to say: “I don’t have this YET, but if
I keep working on it I will.”
Instead of being consumed by negative thought, we may just be consumed by
the power of yet and start to pour our energy into the work required to get
where we want to be and enjoy the process.
How much effort do you actually put in?
It doesn’t matter how far into your CrossFit journey you are or what level you
are at, we all have movements that are our strengths and ones that are our
weaknesses. Of course, it’s important to continue to push our strengths along,
but putting all of our eggs into one strong basket isn’t going to make us better
at CrossFit (nor will this mentality help us succeed in any other area of life
either). CrossFit is a multifaceted sport that requires us to put just as much, if
not more, effort into the things we are not good at as we do with the things we
are good at.
One of the most important attributes of people with a growth mindset is that
they don’t shy away from doing the hard work that is required to get better at
something (especially things that may not come naturally to them). People
with a growth mindset understand that with effort, persistence and dedication,
anything can be achieved. They are also not afraid to fail, over and over
again, until they get something right and see failure as a challenge to rise to.
Putting effort into growing our weaknesses can be a vulnerable task. It means
first that we let go of any ego and acknowledge and identify what our
weaknesses are. We must not see lesser of ourselves, or others too, for the
presence of those weaknesses. Then we must work on them. There is so
much brain research on the topic of how we learn things that we could write a
whole other article just on that. But in short, every time we work on those
things we are trying to learn, our brain strengthens itself over time as you
learn that skill. Every time we work on that skill, we are forming connections
between our neurons, and the more connections that are formed the more we
learn and retain information.
So if you want those DUs, handstand push ups, muscle ups or whatever it is
you’ve dreamed of snaring…. If you want it bad enough, work for it. Put effort
into it. Consistently. Every day if you can. Your brain doesn’t need to be
overloaded. Short and sharp, distributed practice sessions with your utmost
effort will do the trick.
Ricky Garard- Photo courtesy of the CrossFit Games Facebook Page 2017. After winning the Cyclocross event at the 2017 CrossFit Games, Ricky Garard revealed that he had visualised winning; a classic trait of Growth Mindset.
But while you’re doing that, remember what your coach said…
Before we move on from effort, it’s important to mention this one critical thing.
Without this one thing, no matter how much time you commit or how
dedicated you are, all of your efforts could be wasted.
The most critical thing you can do before, during and after you pour your effort
into learning a new skill in the box is to seek feedback from your coach. That’s
right, they are there for a reason. They talk to you and give you advice for a
reason, but the question is… how well do you take on board their feedback?
No one can grow without feedback. It’s like a lifeline to success in any of life’s
domains. Your ability to seek feedback and take it on board will be your
greatest weapon. Don’t see it as criticism, see it as a growth point; a key
ingredient you need to be a better version of yourself.
Which is why feedback and effort go hand in hand. Who wants to waste their
time working on the wrong work? When you’re going in for a new skill, ask
your coach for their advice and pointers. But most importantly, act on their
feedback. And when you’ve tried, if you failed, ask for more feedback and
then put that into place.
Failure is like effort in that way. It’s great to make mistakes. If you make
mistakes it means that you are taking risks and being brave. It shows you’re
prepared to find a new pathway. But if you keep making the same mistakes,
over and over again, that means you’re not learning from them or processing
the feedback.
Will you rise to the challenge?
For people with a growth mindset, rising to challenges is constitutional. They
inherently know that doing the same things all the time, even when you’re
good at them, is a place where comfort grows, not necessarily you. In fact,
people with a growth mindset will seek challenges at every given opportunity.
They’ll find them in the darkest of places, push any fear to the side and take
them on, regularly pushing themselves outside of their comfort zone.
Which is what you should be doing too, if you want to grow.
There can be a lot to fear in CrossFit. It’s a sport that has a way of dredging
up your deepest, darkest fears in the weirdest of places and moments. We
are constantly pushing, hauling and pulling our bodies and heavy things and
that can be both exhilarating and scary. Sometimes there’s that doubt, too,
where we aren’t quite yet sure what our bodies are capable of, and so we
stick to the same things – the same movements, the same weights, the same
pace, all of the time. Going to that dark place, that scary place, that place so
far removed from what we know and what we are comfortable with, can be a
truly icky experience. So icky, that avoiding it seems like the best and safest
option.
But our growth is on the other side of that.
Brent Fikowski- Photo courtesy of the CrossFit Games Facebook Page 2017. This quote by Canadian athlete, and second place finished in the 2017 Games, is illustrative of a Growth Mindset. Instead of focusing in on what other people are doing, or concentrating too much on Mat Fraser being Mat Fraser, he zooms in on his own game.
And when you rise to the challenge, are you willing to make friends with
failure?
One of the reasons why people with a growth mindset inherently seek to
challenge themselves is because they’re not afraid to fail and make mistakes.
That doesn’t mean they’re not scared, it just means they see failure in a
different light, and like many of the other attributes of growth mindset, they
see failure and mistakes as learning and growth points. Failure takes us out of
our comfort zone. It humbles us and helps us see exactly what we need to
work on. Failure is not catastrophic. It’s not a sign that we aren’t good enough,
or that we’ll never get there. Remember, the POWER OF YET.
Failure can mean many things and take on many masks in CrossFit. It can
mean missing a lift after we’ve attempted a new weight, trying a new move
and not quite getting it, or adding on a little more weight in a WOD or having a
go at a movement we tend to avoid at the sacrifice of a faster score. It can
mean stripping back the weights to improve our technique, and it can look like
scaling back when we have to and not being able to tick that RX box on
Wodify. It also means trying things that we may be fearful of.
All of these things can be diminishing. But whatever it looks like, and whatever
it is, imagine how much more powerful failure would be if we saw it as a
lesson on our road to be where we want to be?
Value the process.
Like our sport of CrossFit, harnessing a growth mindset is something we need
to work at. Just like our growth, it is not something that happens overnight.
We all know what it is like… on some days, those good ones, we could be
growth mindset gurus, while on other days – the worse ones – we might be
that fixed mindset person in the corner beating up on ourselves. That’s
normal. But the more we learn to shift from fixed mindset to growth mindset,
the more we will flourish. Not just in the box, but outside of it too.
But it’s a process not a destination. It’s changing those conversations with
ourselves whenever we see that negativity rising. It’s reinforcing the POWER
OF YET every time we are feeling like we are not where we want to be. It’s
being a little braver and more determined every time we walk into the box,
even just a smidgen. It’s showing up and putting in the work and challenging
ourselves. It’s working on the good, the bad and the ugly. And most of all, it’s
valuing the journey, because that’s another thing people with a growth
mindset do… they value the process.