By Tim Sheeper

Are you looking for a peak performance?
Are you looking to break through a personal barrier?
Are you trying to achieve your full athletic potential?

If you can answer yes to any of the above questions, but have had difficulty in the past fulfilling your expectations.  Or, if you have achieved your goals in the past and want to make certain that you can continue to do it long term… then you need to monitor your heart.

I am talking about monitoring your heart from an emotional standpoint, not from a physiological perspective that has become so commonplace in the past several decades.

What I mean by monitoring your heart, is to take the time and become very introspective and ask yourself some important and thought provoking questions.  Ask yourself:

1.       Why am I doing my sport?
2.      What do I get from my sport?
3.      What gives me the most satisfaction from my sport?
4.      How would I like to have the sport affect my life long term?
5.      How does my sport play into the lives of my loved ones?

The reason it is vital to ask yourself these questions is to really understand your true and authentic motives for exercising and devoting your time and attention to your sport?

The only way to get the most performance out of yourself is if you have a clean, clear path, where everything aligns and everyone in your support system understands your motives, dreams and desires.

Once you have a better understanding of yourself and you know what you want you can begin to bring your heart (your emotions) into your planning and preparation. Harnessing your emotional powers will elevate your physical performance and your overall enjoyment in your sport.

After asking yourself the above questions, and understanding your own motives, then do the following:

1.       Develop your direction:  What drives you?  Do what excites you.  Once a clear goal is planted in your mind it should motivate you for months on end.  Do not always follow the direction you have gone before.  You do not have to do what people have expected from you previously.  Do something that gets caught in your mind and won’t leave you.  Follow a path that excites you just dreaming about it.  Is it a short power event or a multi-day ultra endurance challenge?
2.       Select a race:  Make a commitment.  Put a race or event on your calendar so that you can channel the power of your heart and emotions.  The event should never be picked just because it “fits” into your schedule, or because a friend or team mate is doing it.  This event has to be something that just the thought of brightens your mood or excites your senses or motivates you into action.  It has to be something that you have initiated.
3.      Devise a training plan-Put together a plan that will get you out of bed every morning.  Make the plan unconventional, and then put full belief into it that it will prepare you for your upcoming endeavor.  The belief should come from the heart.
4.      Race Day-attack it:  While competing in your event, “go into yourself” and you will end up getting more physical performance out of your body and more emotional enjoyment from the experience.

If your heart is involved in the entire process you will have more self-satisfaction at the completion of the event from all standpoints and from all points of measurement.

Team Sheeper