Believe You Can, Then You Will

There's a saying that I always liked:

"Whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right."

Successful people have an unshakable belief that they can and will achieve their goals. They look at road blocks along the way as problems that just need to be solved. The cool thing is having a mental edge can be taught. There was a study by Dr. Biasiotto that really shows how psychology can affect performance. He split this group of basketball players into three groups. Group one practiced shooting free throws for an hour a day. Group two visualized themselves making the free throws. Group three did nothing. After 30 days they were asked to compete with each other and shot real free throws. What's interesting is that group two was the most successful.

Group two, in this case, had seen the desired outcome in their head over and over again. Now we're obviously not condoning being lazy and not practicing your craft. Martial arts takes a lot of physical practice but the mental side is more important. What can we learn from the study?

1. Positive visualization is a powerful tool. Many elite athletes use it and you can too. 
2. Our thoughts control our actions. You need to get negative and disempowering thoughts out of your head asap. 
3. Confidence breeds success. Confidence comes from the mind telling us that we can do it. 

The best martial artists have an unshakable confidence in themselves and this translates into other aspects of life. Having confidence in interpersonal relationships makes for a much more enjoyable experience for all people involved. Having confidence can get you that promotion at work. We all know the person who is perceived as confident many times gets the job over the better technician. It's great to be able to punch and kick but what martial arts really does is give us the mental edge to succeed. The cool thing is you have instructors who are willing to help you get there. Use us as a guide and we can help you get over any mental barriers you may be facing.