Mental Game

Tonight I received a call from my TNT mentor, who phoned to introduce herself and talk a little bit about the training program. At the end of the call she asked if I had any questions. For the next two minutes I was pretty candid about my concerns about keeping pace with the other, more in-shape, runners. She did her best to reassure me that the TNT coaches/mentors/teammates/staff will all be there to support me and that everything will be just fine.

After I hung up the phone, it hit me. As a businesswoman, I can be focused, determined, and tough. Some of my best deals, negotiations, and profits have come out of situations that seemed the most impossible. Tell me something is “impossible” in business and I turn on my A-game. My competitive side not only emerges, it dominates.

For me, running the marathon still seems very impossible. Don’t get me wrong, I really want to run the marathon. Yet, instead of feeling the “impossible-ness” of the marathon as a call to action and a chance to bring a focused A-game, I am still scared by it.

What became so clear to me is that the only difference between the “impossible” that turns me into a competitor, and the “impossible” that makes me shrink to invisibility, is confidence. It makes sense that I have some concerns about my ability to run or do anything athletic because I am painfully inexperienced in this area.

So in addition to training my physical muscles to complete this marathon, I plan to bring my mental game to training too. By the time I get to Paris, I’m expecting that my athletic-confidence-muscles will be bulging from all sides.

Until next time,
Lisa