Note - The beginning of this video is a bit hard to listen to. Feel free to forward to minute 6, which talks about making your world small.
If you think too big, it can be detrimental to your performance. There is power in making your world small and focusing on what is essential and on what is right in front of you.
Examples:
1. Sports:
When you think about winning the match, game, tournament, it doesn't help your mindset. When athletes focus on the outcome (win or loss), they typically get more tense and nervous. The best thing athletes can do is to break things down into small chunks and focus on doing the best they can in that specific moment. For example, I started performing better in tennis when I concentrated on hitting the best possible shot I could hit when the ball was on my racket. All an athlete can control is how one acts in that specific moment. If you make the best decisions and perform well at each moment of your performance, you will achieve the best result you can. Thus, focusing on the result is relatively insignificant and often detrimental to success.
2. Interview process:
The same mindset can be taken into a job interview process. One wants to get a particular job at a specific company and keeps thinking: "How can I win this interview process?" The same as with an athlete, focusing on the outcome doesn't typically help. People often get more stressed and nervous because they get focused on winning people over instead of beginning themselves and being authentic. One keeps overanalyzing different what-if scenarios and thinking ahead. The best thing one can do is focus on each interview step at a time, ensuring that one communicates clearly and accurately during each step of the process and decides to progress or withdraw (if the position is no longer a fit) once the needed data is gathered. Don't try to overthink or overanalyze. Learn what information is essential for you to know to make an accurate decision about an opportunity, ask questions, evaluate answers, and then make decisions to progress or withdrawal as you gather the needed data.
3. Workout:
An easy way to practice making your world small is during a workout. Or at least it is for me. This is especially important when you have challenging training with many reps. An example could be a workout with a descending letter of 20-1 burpees and an ascending letter of 1-40 heavy kettlebell swings. One can get easily overwhelmed when one thinks about the total amount of reps one must do. The best way to think about it is to focus on what is right in front of you, stay present, focused and grounded, and keep moving. One burpee at a time, one set at a time, one kettlebell swing at a time, one kettlebell set at a time.
4. Hiking:
This is one of the reasons I enjoy hiking, especially when you get to a high altitude such as 4,500 or 5,000 meters elevation, it becomes difficult to breathe. All you have to focus on is keeping your lungs working and doing one small step after another at a time. Just keep going! One little step after another! You will get there eventually.
Stay patient, consistent, and trust the grit by making your world small.
Food for thought:
Where can you practice making your world small?
Where can you benefit from this mindset?
😉💪
Klara