Upgrade Your Mindset (2 Tips)

​In this episode, I share two simple mindset tips that can make a dramatic difference in your performance and mental state when training and hiking.

In this episode, I share two simple mindset tips that can make a dramatic difference in your performance and mental state when training and hiking.

This week, we are looking for hikers to join our signature program, The Online Summit Program.

If you have a big adventure in your sights this year, or you want to get on top of an ache or pain that is holding back your hiking, or you want to be in the best position for your regular hiking for 2025, I would love to chat with you.

To find out more, email [email protected] with the words "let's chat".

From there, we can find a time to hop on a call together, where we can get to know each other; we can chat about your goals and situation and see if and how one of our options may be right for you.

==

Episode Transcript:

​[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode,

[0:03] we are talking through two tips to upgrade your mindset when training for hiking. Now, this is the last of our mini series where we've been covering two tips a day on how to upgrade different areas of your training and of your hiking. Now, today we are talking about mindset, which is often neglected, often overlooked, that it's such a massive component for both your training as well as your time actually out on the trail. So tip number one on the mindset side of things, and I've talked about this in previous episodes, but it's such a powerful thing, is come up with a positive mantra. Now, this may sound a little bit hippy-dippy, but bear with me. What I mean by this is come up with a simple, positive phrase, which when things get tough, whether it's in your training, whether it's in your hiking, that you can just repeat in your head again and again and again and again to get you through. This may sound a little bit funny but i promise you it is so so so powerful to give you an example of this is my positive mantra is i am strong i am powerful i am unstoppable when i get myself into a position where i'm like doing training and i'm trying to work hard and i'm like oh my gosh i'm so so so tired i start getting negative in my head i start beating myself up i start wanting to stop. I start repeating that in my head.

[1:28] I say it again and again and again and again. It pulls me away from those negative thoughts. It gets me focused and it gives me a little bit of uplift and a push. I do the same thing when I'm hiking. If I'm on a section where I'm like, oh, when will this end? I've had so much, like I've just had enough. Again, I repeat this over and over and over and over. It pulls me out of that negative spiral and it's so, so, so powerful. So have a think about this, a simple positive statement, which means something to you. You don't have to use what I use. All of those words, they themselves have layers and layers of layers of meaning that mean personally.

[2:05] You want to think about something which means something to you, something that's personal to you. You don't have to share it with anyone. You don't have to say it out loud, but just repeat it in your head. And the beauty of this type of strategy is the more you use it, the more powerful it becomes. The first time you use it, it may not do a huge amount. The second time you use it, it may not do a huge amount, but if you can practice it and fall back on it and rely on it and use it again and again and again, it's like a snowball. It gets more and more and more momentum.

[2:36] And in the end, it can be really powerful. So if you've never thought about this, jot down a few after this episode, a few simple positive statements, which mean something for you. It may change and develop and grow over time. But what I just said has been probably like the 10th generation of positive mantras that I've used in the past. But now I finally developed into something and I'm like, yeah, that is super powerful for me.

[3:00] So that's number one. Number two mindset tip for today is identify what scares you. This is typically for hikers who maybe have a big trip, a big hike, maybe a big expedition that's coming up, which is a bit of a stretch of your capabilities. And quite often what we do is when we're thinking about something that's coming up and it's going to be a challenge, there's probably 20, 30 different things that we need to get ready for. There's the distance, there's the pack weight, there's maybe the altitude, maybe the speed, there's dealing with group dynamics, there's using drop toilets, there's this and that and camping and all this. There's probably like 20 or 30 different things we kind of need to get ready for. Of all of those things, you may be 100% comfortable with all of them. Happy days. If that's you, great. But if you've got a little bit of nerves about your upcoming hike, if you've got a little bit of anxiety about your upcoming hike, one thing we can often do is there's certain things that are stressing us out, but we just ignore them. We don't think about it. We think like, oh, that's going to be worrisome. And then we just bounce off it and we just think about something else.

[4:08] What I recommend is if you are a little bit nervous before something coming up, whether it's a day hike, whether it's an overnight hike, whether it's a big expedition, whatever it may be, really sit down and write down exactly what you were nervous about. Not just like, oh, I'm worried it's going to be tough, write down, I'm worried about the uphills. I'm worried about carrying a pack all day. I'm worried about sleeping in a tent. I'm worried about the hot weather. I'm worried about having to talk to people all day. I'm worried about whatever.

[4:38] List them all out, identify them. That act in itself of just shining a light on these things in itself can be really powerful. And not doing anything else beyond that and actually identifying those things and acknowledging them, that can be really, really useful. But then you want to take it a step further. And once you've actually identified what scares you, then you want to think about, okay, what can I do to make this a little bit more manageable? What can I do to actually maybe try this out before a hike, before my expedition. So let's go through the list. We said, I'm worried about uphills. Okay. Maybe I'm going to train some of those in my training. I'm worried about the pack weight. Well, I'm going to make sure that I'm doing plenty of load of pack walking. I'm built up to that pack weight in my training hikes. I'm worried about the speed. Okay. Well, let's think about what speed I need to do and start building up to that in our training. I'm worried about sleeping in a tent. Well, maybe get your tent, set it up in your living room and do a couple of nights in that and just feel how it feels. Or maybe go on some camping trips and literally no hiking involved. Your car's there if you need to leave, but just practice it out. I'm worried about going out and being in a social group all day. And that's not funny. People worry about that. For me, I struggle with that these days.

[5:54] And if that is a worry for you, then maybe book yourself on a couple of community hikes, find some meetup groups or whatever it may be, where you literally have to spend four or five or six hours with a group of strangers. See how you go with that. Identify what scares you, and then just have a look at what you can do to expose yourself to that, maybe once or twice before you go.

[6:13] So useful. So with that being said, that's probably enough on that. Two mindset tips to put into action. Number one, come up with that positive mantra, put it into action, start practicing it number two identify what scares you shine a light on them write them down and then come up with some simple things you can do to expose yourself about those may sound simple but it'll make a big big big difference so with that being said that's the end of this week's mini series by now you now have 10 simple quick actionable tips which you can put into action which can make a big difference to your training and your hiking a lot of the stuff i've mentioned today, I've talked about in the podcast before. A lot of the stuff I've talked about in these episodes are very, very simple, but they are effective.

[7:03] And I really encourage you to put them into action. Now, the last thing I'll sort of say today, as I've said at the end of each of these episodes, is this week I am doing a big push for my signature training program, the online summit program. Now, specifically, I'm looking for hikers who want to get fit, strong, and resilient so they can conquer every adventure. Now, if that sounds like you and you're interested in finding if and how one of our training programs may be able to help you, your hiking, and your particular goals, I would love to chat with you. If you want to find out a little bit more and have a chat about it all, what I'd like you to do is email me at rowan at summitstrength.com.au just with the words, let's chat. From there, we can find a time to hop on a call, get to know each other, chat through things in detail, find out exactly what you're looking for, where you're at, where you're looking to go. And from there, I can talk you through all the details of our training programs, how they look, how they run, how they play out. And we can ultimately just see if and how one of them may be right for you. So if you do want to find out a little bit more, email me at rowan at summitstrength.com.au and we can have a chat from there. So with that being said, that is the end of this mini series. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope you get a bit out of it. And I really, really, really do hope some of the listeners can put this into action because I promise you it will make a big, big difference. So with that being said, thank you for listening. Hope you've enjoyed this mini series and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.