#24 - Ice or Fire
We talked about how taking responsibility will make you a better athlete. What about the impact of things that happen around you? I’m sure you’ve had an experience where you’re hanging out with someone who isn’t a part of your normal friend group. Maybe they have a weird sense of humor or swear incessantly. After spending time with them you are shocked when you make an uncharacteristic joke or drop an expletive. Another great example is a normally quiet and reserved person becomes an enraged driver because of a commute full of impatient people. In both cases, the environment strikes when we least expect it and have a dramatic effect on our attitude, actions, or demeanor. What’s going on around us—the environment—can have a big impact on you as an athlete.
Although there are instances where our environment exerts a positive influence on us (think your team mates or a study group), for the most part it will be negative—unfortunately the reality of striving to improve oneself. If the environment is reinforcing a positive behavior, we wouldn’t notice because it wouldn’t be a goal of ours to improve; I don’t set a goal to relax more because my environment offers more than enough opportunities. Examples of negative reinforcement range from friends who don’t want to improve, food that’s too available, to tempting TV shows. All of these things could hold you back from reaching your goals.
Another thing you should know about the environment is that it is most powerful when we least expect it. The strongest pull the environment will exert is when we are most complacent—when you’re relaxed, having fun, tired, or in “auto-pilot.” That’s why road rage is such a common phenomenon; most of the time when it strikes the driver is tired and in “auto-pilot.” You wouldn’t imagine getting road rage during your driver’s license test because you aren’t relaxed, having fun, or in auto-pilot. The same goes for when coach is standing there—you are alert, you shut up, and are on your best behavior. In this mindset, you consciously choose your actions and the environment has little chance to alter your behavior. But what about when coach turns his back? It’s a lot harder to stay focused and ignore the people around you who aren’t trying to improve. The fact that the environment is so strong when we least expect is why it’s so difficult to improve ourselves, to advance on our goals, and be successful.
Considering that usually the environment encourages negative behavior, I want to know how to avoid being influenced. An important step to ensuring that we are not controlled by the environment is awareness; knowing that it is trying to drag us down into old habits and average behavior. Just being aware and recognizing critical moments when we are being influenced is key to being able to make adjustments and take ownership for ourselves.
In other parts of this program we will look at more you can do to be successful despite a negative environment. Check out the sections called “Improve Your Chances” “Ego Power”