After a previous blog on ‘natural talent’ I had emails rolling in from all over the globe really resonating with the message I put out there and I’m really thankful to everyone who has shared and spread the blogs to so many different countries!
In one of the emails someone started to dive a bit deeper into the natural talent myth and asked me a very powerful question which forced me to want to share the answer in a little more detail with you all.
Do you have students/racers who learn better than others, do some take instruction and put it into practice easier than others?
The answer could be kept short and sweet with a simple yes! But learning really has little to do with being labelled smart or clever, some of my best students sometimes struggle with school!As you can imagine there is a lot more to the story or else I wouldn’t be writing this at this moment.
Any success that has ever taken place with any of my students/clients has come from a place where they were wanting so bad to change their results or outcome that they were almost desperate to try something new. At the same time there have been occasions where what I’ve taught simply hasn’t sunk in or it has temporarily but the desire to perform and persist in new techniques and mindsets doesn’t over power the old habits or they can’t see the benefit of certain changes!
So whats the one determining factor for lasting change for the better?
Think about this one! when you want to lose weight, when you want to earn more money, when you want to change careers, what is it that drives the action to finally do something about it?
EMOTION!
It is scientific fact that us humans are both logical and emotional beings and logic comes from our frontal lobe (human part of the brain, conscious thought) and our emotion comes from our limbic part of the brain (animal/chimp, instincts)we know logically what we need to do and we also know logically what isn’t good for us but there is a problem with logic and that human part of the brain in that the limbic system producing our emotions is 5 times stronger! so emotion always overrides logic unless you can get the 2 working together.
It is also a well-known fact that we retain information in the brain better when we are emotional about it and our emotion is driving us or we have a true interest in the subject. This is why we remember a lot of the bad things that have happened and been said to us, because we had an emotional response to it! (parents beware this is why your kids take in that 1 negative comment/outburst over all the compliments you give) likewise when you watch that inspirational movie you can’t help but memorize that moment because the inspiration/story sparked an emotional response.
You may wonder where the hell I’m going with all this but bear with me!
Now anytime you want to make a change, in your health, your performance, your overall results, you have to first have an awareness and then get it in to the emotion to back up the logic that you keep telling yourself, you have to sometimes hit rock bottom and become emotional about your results that you just have to change and take inspired action, there’s just no way you want to continue on the same path and I would say that 80% of the people I work with are desperate for a change, they have a problem that needs fixing and they will do anything to fix it!
I would say that the remaining percentage of my clients are the younger kids who are just starting out and learning from scratch which is a slightly different scenario but often they don’t want to listen, they are there because parents want them to be safe and learn correctly from the beginning, however, they do become a lot more alert and wanting to learn once they hit those moments of frustration in competition and that’s why I always say that even on a bad day there is a lot of good that can come from it (meaning building desire).
As I look back over some of the riders who I have trained there has almost been this up and down yoyo effect where they initially come to me wanting to fix a problem (why else would they hire me?) then we work and fix it then they have some success and they stop working on the pieces that brought them that improvement! They slip back to old habits a little then we need to do more work or they try a different trainer and the cycle goes round and round each time with the change and action being sparked by poor results and frustration.
“Your results are an expression of your level of awareness” Bob Proctor
So how can you implement a lasting change?Self awareness and taking personal responsibility is the only way to make a lasting change. Being coachable and dropping the ego, thinking you know better will only lead to incompetence and I believe that in the humbling moments of defeat or failure we can really open up to the change and different ways of thinking.
So in conclusion and going back to the original question!
Those who learn less effectively tend to sometimes:
Think they know it all
Blame others for their results
Have a fear (the mind can’t take in new info in a stressed state)
Having limiting beliefs
Have a poor self-image
Dwell on mistakes
Want instant gratification and results
Do not like sacrifice
Talk too much and miss the message or lesson
The ones who learn more effectively have the following qualities:
Being open to new ideas
Have fun and a passion or true interest for the subject/sport
Desire to make a change and improve
Wanting to take responsibility for their actions (being accountable)
Willing to trade X for Y (sacrifice)
Having a self-awareness of what they are doing (monitoring results,thoughts and habits)
Having good self-discipline
Practice purposefully
Love asking questions
They listen
They are persistent
It is important to know which strengths you have and I hope that this may highlight an area or two that could be improved and make you a better student. If you really want to improve and get the results you desire, you CAN make it happen!
Thanks again for reading and please remember to share and subscribe!
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