It's time to go for your dreams!

What's that thing you'd love to do but scares you? Yah, that thing!  It might not seem possible, or you might start to question yourself, or you might talk yourself out if it saying: "I don't really want to anyway".

What if you put all that aside and allowed yourself to dream, as if you were dreaming for someone else who already possessed all the attributes required to fulfill on your dreams?  What then would you see as possible and see to do?

From there, the only thing to do is to get started on those actions, as if you are that person  who already possessed all the attributes required to fulfill on your dream. person.   Give it a try.  Worst case, you stay exactly where you are. Best case, your dreams come true. Start today - your dreams depend on it!

Love,

Coach Kara

With Freedom Comes Opportunity

Freedom. I've never known anything else as a proud Canadian (and I would assume that my American friends who are receiving this email would have a very similar experience). They say Freedom is a state of mind, and it definitely makes it easier to have a free mindset living in a free nation. Yet, how often do you imprison yourself with thoughts of 'I Can't!'

You have these hopes and dreams and desires, and they seem impossible so you don't even try. You settle with 'good enough' without striving for extraordinary.

Jimmy Johnson captured it perfectly when he said that “the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra”.  All it takes is you going that extra mile, pushing past that automatic instinct of 'I Can't' and just doing that something extra.

What if, if only on this Canada Day/Memorial day week, you allowed your walls to drop, and permitted yourself to dream big, what would be possible for you?  What if you chose as an experiment, if only for the rest of this week (and you can do it forever if you want) to take on being extraordinary, in how you think, act, work and play - what would then be possible?  What extra actions would you take?  What would you allow yourself to see?

In dreaming big and freeing myself up to be extraordinary, I see my company going international in the next year and helping over 10,000 athletes world-wide to push past their self-imposed barriers to realize a performance they only before imagined in their dreams.

How about you?

Happy Canada and Memorial Day Week!

Love,

Coach Kara

Feel Great Today

How do you choose to feel today? 

Personally, I woke up tired this morning - I've been working hard at my business, with my superstar athlete clients, head coaching a  balancing the household, working out . . .blahblahblah.  Isn't it all the same really? Some version of the same story?  

Life can become monotonous, your sport can become all-consuming, it can rule you. . .

But only if you let it!

What seperates us as human beings, from the rest of the animal kingdom, is our unique ability to think and reason.  Did you know a belief is just a thought that we hold onto?  It's like a cloud floating by in the sky, thoughts are just there until we catch hold of one and say: hey that cloud looks like an elephant, then bam, it becomes a belief.  Ever notice the person beside you disagree and say 'That doesn't look like an elephant, it looks like a baby!', so certain that their point of view, their belief is the right one?

There are so many different ways to look at the same experience, the same object, the same interraction, the same memory.  As a beach volleyball player, I say it's like looking through different coloured sunglasses: when it's gloomy and grey outside, I always chose a yellow lens to brighten things up.  And when it was over-bright, my automatic choice was a darker lens.  Either way, it was I who decided which lens I'd look through.

So is the same in life: Your day today could look very much the same as the day before, and everyday for that matter, unless you decide to shift it, to look at it from a different perspective, to try on different coloured sunglasses.  You could have woken up this morning feeling tired, or sad, or disappointed, or happy, or excited or whatever.  And, if you don't like how you felt, or how you feel at any moment, it is only you who can shift it.  In the world of Sport Psychology, we call this shifting of perspective 'Reframing'.

How do you feel right now? Do you want to feel that way?  If not, reframe it.  Shift your perspective to something that excites you, that freshens up your life, that makes your feel powerful.

Today I choose to feel Great!

How about you?

P.S. Join my Facebook Performance Group and get daily performance pointers.

Love,

Coach Kara

Set your Mind-set!

mind·set or mind-set (mndst) n.

1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations.
2. An inclination or a habit.

What mindset do you have towards your performance? How do different environments impact your performance? What mindset has you perform your best?

You might have certain habits of feeling and acting that pop up at the same time or in the same environments. The important thing to note is when and where this happens. It is your awareness that will first have you shift your mindset, because without it it, it's like your driving in the dark without headlights!

Once you are aware that your mindset isn't serving you, the next step is to choose how you want to feel and take actions consistent with that. Just like training any new habit, training a new mindset takes repetition and time. Be patient with yourself - the results are completely worth it!

Love,
Coach Kara

Live for something bigger . . .the key to effectiveness

Create something big that you're up to today, something that will get you to hop out of bed and to have a spring in your step all day.

Living the same sort of day one after another isn't really exciting, so we let ourselves sleep in 5min than 10min than 15min. "It's no big deal!", we say - although that 5-15min impacts how we manage our whole day, as everything in our day gets backed up, so we scramble around to get it done or we throw up our hands in frustration saying "So what!"

If we have something bigger to get up for - maybe a call we're going to have with a good friend that evening, or a coffee date with a favourite colleague, or even putting away some time to give to our favourite cause, or to pursue a passion we've been keeping under wraps, this added purpose and novelty in our day makes a huge difference in our efficiency, productivity, and desire.  If we aren't so caught up in our egos, our needs, and our wants, but instead we're engaging with and supporting other people, our life alters dramatically.

Try it today: schedule something bigger than you for today, tomorrow, and the next day.  It can be anything really, just make it something that gets you outside of your usual and out of your ego.  And, be amazed by how your morning goes tomorrow.  Yes, it might seem like you don't have the time to give, and what I promise you is that this excitment and the giving of yourself will result in more time since the extra spring in your step will have you accomplish what you need to do at a rapid pace.

Let me know how it goes!

Love,

What's your perspective?

It's all about perspective isn't it?

Take the Uncharted Path

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

How easy it is to follow the beaten path, merrily going about your life the same as the day before without much thought, effort, or expansion.  Sure, certain things bother you, sure there are things that you could do better, but to do something about it would take risk, uncertainty, and could even lead to failure! 

When presented with the opportunity to leave your own trail - where there is no path except the one you create in the moment - how often do you shy away from the opportunity for fear of risk, uncertainty, and failure?  

To take the uncharted path requires a leap of faith and it's often uncomfortable.  The same way that your muscles are sore after a new workout regime, so too is any new pattern in life uncomfortable.  It is so much easier to follow the path that you know; however, this limits you to reliving your same life and the same experiences over and over again.  The excitement goes away and the result is a certain numbness to life.  

The same is true in sport: unless you take the risk, unless you chance failure by trying something new, you are bound to make the same mistakes and become a slightly more trained version of the exact same athlete you were last year.

Yes, to "go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" can be scary and uncomfortable; however, to do so sets you up for a life of wonder and breakthrough performance.

So, where is your trail leading you today?

P.S. Join my Facebook Performance Group and get daily performance pointers...Click Here

Love,

Coach Kara