Building a Mindset of Endurance
As we enter a new year, it’s important to determine your mindset for the coming year
It was almost two o’clock in the morning and I had been running since 6 a.m. the day before.
Usually in these crazy runs, this is the point where my brain shuts down and I need somebody to steer me in the correct direction.
This race, however, didn’t turn out that way.
Instead, I found myself deep in my thoughts and most of them weren’t healthy enough to see me through to my goal.
At that moment, I felt something rise within me that was until that point, greatly untapped.
It was like I was looking into a deep pool of water, something like one of those deep caverns where you have no clue where the bottom is.
As I gazed into this pool of water, I suddenly realized that what I was looking at was the pool of endurance I had built up over the last couple of years running ultra-marathons.
I’m a middle of the pack, front of the middle of the pack runner so this isn’t a pool that will see me grace a podium any time soon.
However, this pool is deep and I realized during this particular run that the deeper you build the mindset of endurance, the greater capacity to tap into that endurance when you need it most.
This was the moment I realized that I had built something of far greater worth than anything I could ever have built simply because this endurance is what is going to get me through the rest of this great race we call LIFE.
Developing the Mindset of Endurance
There is a really old Forbes article that doesn’t fit on any webpage, but the thoughts contained in this article will help propel you to develop a mindset of endurance.
Inside the Endurance Athlete’s Mind provides seven micro tips that give a glimpse into an endurance athlete’s mind.
The incredible thing about these wise nuggets is that anybody can apply these in life and find themselves soaring with the eagles instead of pecking with the turkeys.
These seven tips are:
- Seek a greater challenge and constantly explore your mental and physical limits.
- Focus on finding the energy to just get through the next steps.
- Don’t compromise on your training.
- Compete against a crowd of one, yourself.
- Push yourself to the point of failure, then take one more step.
- Embrace being uncomfortable and the process of overcoming pain.
- Always find a way to finish.
I won’t tell you there is any secret in developing these seven characteristics in your life.
Developing the mindset of endurance takes only one special ingredient: Discipline.
Discipline May Just Be the Secret Sauce to a Mindset of Endurance
“Mastering the Endurance Mindset has been, without a doubt, one of the most challenging skills to learn through my expeditions, and one that still requires discipline now, especially when I’m out of practice.”
When that first sentence from Cal Major’s article, Mastering the Endurance Mindset, first crossed my path, I knew I had found a gem.
Cal Major could have answered the question, “How do you just keep going?” a million ways.
Instead, he answered it with the one sentence that will change how we all should approach the mindset of endurance, “…one that still requires discipline now,…”
Why discipline?
“Discipline is the gel that binds together all aspects of a successful athlete. Consistency will get you some of the way, but it’s fed by a ‘get it done’ mentality.”
This wisdom came from PB&J Coaching’s article, Discipline is King.
Discipline is the ability to stick to a training plan even when life gets in the way.
Discipline is the key to discovering what nutrition and hydration work best for your body instead of just swallowing the most popular gel out there today.
Discipline enables you to stick to a pace early in a race or long run, and save your legs for a kick in the last twenty-five miles.
Discipline is what will propel you to be able to achieve great things.
How do I develop discipline?
Consider a little snippet of an article I read, Discipline Produces Endurance.
“Discipline is thrown out the window when I am striving to do life in my own strength.”
I love this little discussion because it takes the act of discipline out of my hands and my strength. When I realize that discipline is a good thing, endurance is a step away and within my grasp.
I rarely make promises, but I’m going to promise you one thing here if you made it this far.
A mindset of endurance will propel you far in life and might be the one thing that will make you indomitable in 2024.