Perserverance

I often get asked how stick to my regime preparing to this show. For me it’s simple because I have a goal.

The first stage of achieving something is desire. You have to clearly define exactly what you want. This is what you would set as your long term goal.

Achieving a big goal has to be broken down into stages otherwise it can seem to far away and overwhelming.

Examples of my smaller goals are as follows-

• To train as hard as possible in the gym in the weeks leading up to the show
• Perform stretching, foam rolling and injury prevention exercises to help me recover as fast as possible from training
• Stick to my dietary regime.
• Sleep 6-8 hours every night

These goals can be further broken down into even more detail as needed. For example on a day I am training I would set myself a mini goal to achieve a certain number of reps with a weight, or I might set myself a goal of foam rolling my IT bands for 15 minutes today.

Leading up to the show I will add additional goals such as practice my posing and presentation. This included practicing my mandatory poses, my quarter turns and my individual posing routine.

In order to really be a successful as something you do need to develop a laser level of focus on it, just ‘giving it a go’ will only lead to failure and frustration.

When you start to develop this focus you will find that you will be surrounded by naysayers, people who will call you names and try and hold you down. These are cowardly people who feel inadequate about themselves because they have not achieved anything significant, they are too afraid to take the risk. You should try to eliminate these people from your life as much as possible.

Its important to surround yourself with positive people who will give you encouragement and feedback.

Another factor you need to consider is dealing with fear of failure. The most successful people have failed numerous times but the reason they made it in the end is because they readjusted their methods and kept trying. You shouldn’t be afraid of failure; in fact it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn. It’s not about not being afraid, but being able to handle whatever the outcome is and keep going.

Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb failed over 10,000 times before he finally created the successful invention.

Perseverance - steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.