One Strength to Overcome Mental Hurdles on the Road of Dreams
How does an elite cyclist stay focused within the chaos he is in?
In his wife’s words:
“… He just keeps training.”
Justin Rossi, is an ex bike racer and a time trial specialist, from Nevada - USA. He become second in the National Time Trial Championships at Jul 4 2014, and decided to have another go in 2015. Luckily for us, Trainer Road decided to document his process.
Camera lens take us through a journey with Justin for a season; at home & on the road. He explains his experience as he dedicated himself to perform at his best at one race.
Giving some essential tips to be the best; Rossi talks about his training, equipment and nutrition in detail. The sacrifice he made and his reason for competing at the highest level. The way he describes the sport of cycling, is so simple yet so beautiful.
“Cycling is hugely mental. You just have to be incredibly mentally tough. You gotta be able to handle the downs, the crashes, the bad days, the bad performances. And you gotta be able to get up and do it again the next day.”
When it comes down to something we love & we are passionate about, the only limit of our level of mastery is ourselves. So whether it’s a sport we admire, business we want to be a part of or a class we want to conquer; we have to apply our whole being to it. After the most important decision of our life, here is the one strength we must acquire.
“Doing things without thinking. Knowing every single step, even the smallest ones, are the signs of dreams becoming closer to us.”
Nike is currently worth around $35 billion. Why do you think they have the “Just Do It” as a slogan for the last 32 years?
The mastermind behind the first commercial at 1988, Dan Wieden, explained it in an interview:
“I was trying to write something that would tie it up, so it could speak to women who had just started walking to get in shape, to people who were world-class athletes — and it had the same kind of connection with them.”
The extraordinary attribute behind “Just doing it” is that it applies to everyone and every condition.
Showing up is an another way to describe this phenomena. Saeed Mirfattah expresses this with “The difference between people who want to do something and those who actually do, those who develop mastery and those who don’t, is the showing up” in his article.
The difference between doing nothing vs. small consistent effort, needs no explanation with this image.
But how do we keep doing it without getting distracted or demoralized?
By knowing it’s a part of the process. Feeling of uncertainty & fear is normal while chasing a big dream. Being turned down over and over again with your idea. Remembering that, rejection is an evidence that you are pushing your limits.
So when the next time you are struggling to improve at something you value and thinking about taking the easy way; remind yourself this chart.
Now, I’m not going to spoil the end of the story “The Chase” for you. You can go ahead and watch the documentary and take away something completely different than my thoughts.
All we have to do is to “believe that what we do today matters”.
Persevere.
Thank you for the inspiration Justin.
