Two Deep Breaths and Belief

Two Deep Breaths and Belief

Do you believe?

Some people believe in magic, some in God, some in ghosts. Some believe this is the year their team will win the Super Bowl. Some people believe this is the week they’ll win the lottery.

But that’s not what I’m talking about.

I want to know if you believe in yourself.

After 5 years as a personal trainer I can tell you that many people don’t believe in themselves. They begin a lot of sentences like this….

“I can’t…”

I can’t lose weight.
I can’t find time to workout.
I can’t jog.

This may be you. This may be someone you know.

As a trainer it is my job to get the most out of my client’s potential. The best way to do this is to make them BELIEVE in themselves. The process can be slow.

Some people think they “can’t do pushups.” We give them a version of a pushup they can do. Some people think they “can’t walk briskly for 10 minutes.” We get them to walk for 11 minutes, then 12, then 15. Some people think they “can’t lift a 10 lb dumbbell” because “Jillian only has me use 3 lb weights on her DVD.” Then we have them pick up 5 lb dumbbells, then 8, then 10, etc.

Why don’t they believe in themselves? They don’t believe because they’ve never tried it before or they tried it once and failed. So how do you begin to believe?

The first step is TAKE TWO DEEP BREATHS. Really, this works. Breathing can help you calm down, clear your head, and refocus on what you need to do.

If you are ready to start minute 11 of your walk and you are tired and think you can’t go on, stop and take two deep breaths and continue.

Two weekends ago a group of 8 of my boot campers did a 5K Mud Run. The run was over a hilly course and featured 8 obstacles including scaling a 5 foot wall, climbing over an 8 foot high cargo net and Army crawling through several deep mud pits.

Before the event I heard…

“I can’t run 5k.”
“I can’t scale that wall.”
“I can’t trudge through the mud.”

Yet every one of us tried. Every one of us finished. And most of us are ready to do another one.

Every one of us knew it would be tough but with two deep breaths and a belief that we could do it we finished. Now all of the sudden “I can’t” is replaced with “I did.”