TUES: Watch Your Language

We’re constantly telling ourselves a story about…ourselves, in which we’re the narrator, protagonist, and antagonist. All day long, in our own heads, we are either negatively reinforcing or positively reinforcing. There is no neutral. Characters are always either moving forward and incurring setbacks, and we are no different.

Whether or not the outcome of your story is a positive or negative one depends entirely upon the feedforward mechanism we give ourselves. A feedforward mechanism is one that controls performance input, not output, and in this case it’s the language and words that we choose of ourselves all day.

When we tell ourselves that we are unable, our story is hard wired to have unnecessary obstacles in place that we’ve self-imposed. It’s like that scene in the Matrix where Neo fights the hundreds of Mr. Smiths after meeting with The Oracle. We’ve placed our main character in a room with nearly insurmountable odds. However, if the story we tell ourselves makes us able, all of the sudden we’ve become John Wick.

These internal stories not only affect our outcomes, but they affect our interactions and the outcomes of those around us.

I find myself especially mindful of this as I coach and manage the stress of the day leading up to my weekly block.

For example, if I am stressed about a given work scenario and I’ve created a negative narrative of the situation in my head, when I get to be around people later I am likely to use negative feedforward mechanisms. I will say “I don’t want you guys to” rather than “I’d like you guys to”. I will subconsciously focus my dialogue around all the wrong things to avoid rather than the right things to focus. This output has the opposite intended effect nearly every single time. I have planted a seed in your brain of what not to do, and the very first thing you will likely do is just what I’ve asked you not to.

It’s why race care drivers never focus on the wall, otherwise that’s exactly where they’ll drive.

So, as a single person I have the ability to affect my own outcomes (internal) and your outcomes (external). We all do, and it’s powerful stuff. If we want to get better at following through on big goals, or just believing in ourselves enough to create smaller versions, we need to be penning the correct story of ourselves. Not void of struggle, just belief that obstacles aren’t there to destroy us.

If we want to get better at helping others do the same, we need to create positive feedforward control, not negative.

You are either antagonist or protagonist. Every day. Choose wisely.

-Dave

Tuesday, 1.16.18

First, for 21 Minutes. Complete as many rounds as possible while prioritizing technique.
6 OH Landmine Squats
6/s Renegade Row
6/s MB Russian Twists
6 Bench Jump Overs
12 Calorie Row
80m Run
—
Then, with a Partner.
A: 10 Lateral Over the Plate Burpees
B: Rest
(x6 Min)