Hey Reader
I want to tell you about one of my 1:1 clients, lets call her "Sandy".
Hands down, she's one of the greatest female pro road cyclists of her time.
Except, for most of her life, Sandy didn't see herself that way...
She had an incredibly harsh inner critic.
A loud, nit-picky voice in her own head that rarely let her enjoy or feel proud of her achievements.
Most people would put her old mentality down to just being a 'dedicated and disciplined athlete'... they'd even go as far to say 'that's what makes her great'.
But I don't buy that.
Having that kind of voice in your head is like having a really shiddy coach yelling at you from the sidelines, constantly critiquing everything you do...
Imagine someone blasting "YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH" in your ear, on repeat, every time you try your best.
Imagine having someone by your side who is meant to be helping you grow... who never praises the good stuff, yet always points out your weaknesses.
For anyone, that kind of constant criticism eats away at your self belief, and slowly makes you hate what you once loved.
The irony is, that most athletes are exactly like Sandy, they're just not aware of it.
Most athletes are harbouring their negative self talk like it's 'normal'. Some are even carrying it around like a badge of honour.
"I'm so hard on myself" has become something we're so used to hearing, that we don't even flinch.
But imagine you overheard someone else talking to your best friend the way you speak to yourself. You'd immediately jump in and say "hey, don't speak to them like that"
Then you'd turn to your bestie and make sure they KNOW "you're fkn amazing, don't listen to what that meany-head has got to say. They're just projecting all their own sh*t onto you. Don't absorb it, it's got nothing to do with you. You're incredible"
Except, in this case... all that sh*t is unfortunately yours.
The self doubt
The fear of failure
Comparison to everyone else
the body image stuff that gets louder every year
the stuff that kid once said in primary school that still makes your gut sink today
the pressure to perform
the worry about what everyone else thinks
the fear that, if you don't win NOW, you'll never get there
And if you don't get there, that means all this was for NOTHING,
All because you just weren't good enough
You walk around scared to celebrate the small wins, and even more hesitant to fully relish in the big ones. So much so, that you're always moving onto the next thing, the next race, the next training session, the next thing you're 'not good enough at' yet.
And this keeps you trapped in a constant loop of trying to prove yourself.
To you, and to the world.
This loop doesn't make you stronger, or faster, or better...
It robs you of your true, untapped potential.
You can't truly believe in yourself, because you never give yourself TIME to.
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And if you can't truly believe in yourself, you can't TRULY access peak performance, because a part of you is always holding back, even if you don't know it.
The really crazy part is...
You're SO WRAPPED UP in making sure you're improving, progressing, moving forward... that you forget to remember how fkn epic you are RIGHT NOW... and as a result, you CAP your potential.
Sandy realised this was exactly what was happening.
She could FEEL in herself, that she had more to give, but that her inner world was the number one thing getting in her way...
So she did the thing most athletes don't have the self awareness or the courage to do.
She decided to fire her inner critic
That shiddy coach with nothing good to say. Their time was up.
Adios, cya later.
That was when my DMs pinged with a msg from Sandy after a few weeks back n forth-ing: “I just booked a session with you before I could chicken out.”
Here's what going all in on your mental game looked like for Sandy:
we started with unpacking the biggest mental blocks that sabotaged her potential
then, got to work dissecting the limiting beliefs + negative thought patterns that followed her like a dark cloud
then we focused on re-writing her inner story: how she saw herself, how she spoke to herself, what she believed was possible.
we worked on healing her inner child, reprogramming the subconscious, & fully rebuilding her inner world
and finally, we re-shaped her default patterns from that constant criticism, to learning self compassion, self trust, and unshakeable self belief.
Over time, we started to see the real Sandy come to the surface.
She told me later:
“Underneath it all… I knew it didn’t have to be that way and I was limiting myself. But I needed help seeing and believing that I could be who I wanted to be and help myself get out.”
The ripple effects were massive:
Peak performance doesn’t come from punishment.
It comes from unlocking your greatest potential, through releasing and rewiring the mental limits you have placed on yourself.
Her words say it best...
“I used to think that maybe it’s not possible to really get out of my own way and change the way my brain is so conditioned to think and behave. But really with practice and awareness it is possible to not be so suffocated by my own beliefs”
“I feel confident, I’m not scared to feel any emotion that might come up for me - particularly joy! I don’t feel scared to feel joyful anymore. I love life and I love the sport I do now more than ever.”
Sandy's breakthrough didn’t happen by accident.. it happened because she actively chose to take a leap outside of her comfort zone, and do the inner work.
It's not an easy choice to make... to finally address the stuff you'd rather shove under the rug, and just keep pushing on. But it is the choice that changes the game entirely. Because once you build an inner world that actually aligns with your physical potential, that's when you have breakthrough performances.
If you’re ready to fire your inner critic, I have 4 x 1:1 coaching spots open this month. Once they're gone, they're gone. Hit the button below to secure your free discovery call.
Keep shining bright ✨
x
Shannon