Ahh, the start of a new year… Do you know anyone right now who is not looking to make tracks with good habits and progress towards goals? January is always a popular month for launching new life plans and visions. But how many of us have motivation that lasts into February and beyond?
In feeding our addiction this month for tools and practices to maintain inspiration and commitment, we came across a great strategy from a story in the January issue of Runners’ World Magazine: developing a personal mantra to carry yourself through challenging moments.
The word “mantra” comes from Sanskrit and means “instrument for thinking.” The key is to construct an instrument that speaks to what bolsters YOU. According to sports psychologists, effective mantras should:
1. Address what you want to feel, not the adversity you are trying to overcome
2. Be short, positive, instructive and full of action words
The article focuses on elite athletes who use mantras to help themselves stay calm and confident so they can deliver top performance. We are far from elite athletes and are not even runners, but we believe their idea can be extended and used for any dimension of growth or development we might pursue. For example, one strategy that even goes beyond saying words in your head is to assign feelings you want to have to colors and then wear a multi-colored talisman of some sort to remind you of your desired feelings. So red might be listen, blue might be speak up, and white might be trust, and you wear a patriotic flag pin into your next board meeting!
Do you have simple sayings you use to get yourself focused or boost your confidence in challenging situations? Can you think of a mantra that might work for you?
In our next post, we will present a tool for crafting a mantra of your own and share any we hear from you that help us feel calm and motivated to deliver our A game!
