008: How to Mindset Prep for Competitions with Alison Scudds

Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation between CrossFit Athlete Alison Scudds, and myself.

Alison is another brilliant example of an athlete who on one hand has all the mindset advantages handed down to her - supportive environment, parents who taught her to push hard whilst being kind to herself, supportive yet encouraging community - yet has chosen to work on her mentality because she’s seen that nature isn’t comprehensive. Nurture matters too.

The central theme of this conversation is how to learn the ability to drop expectations and focus on the effort we put in.

Most of us have been wrongly taught to solely value the outcome of our actions, and not the actions themselves, nor the character skills displayed in undertaking them.

Yet it’s those character skills that made the outcome possible.

If we exclusively focus on the outcome, we can do everything right along the way and not get the reward. This feels like a failure, when in fact, you did everything in your control.

What this does is breed discontent with yourself or the world.

Or, you could achieve precisely what you set out to achieve but with a God-awful plan. The nature of positive reinforcement means you will keep repeating this plan to no success.

In a world that says never take your eyes off the prize, it takes courage to say “hey, no. I’m focusing on the process”.

It feels strange that by taking our focus off the outcome, and valuing the effort we put in more highly, we get to have the cake and eat it too.

We are happier, more content, and more motivated, and we’re more likely to achieve the goal we originally set out in pursuit of.

In the words of William Irvine, my goal is mettle, not medals.

Alongside all this, Alison and I also discuss

• Putting the fun back into training, despite it being tough

• Leaning into your strengths as an athlete instead of being like everyone else

• The basic tools athletes can use to optimise their mental state

• And preparing effectively for competition

Alongside this episode, we’ll also be releasing a partner episode, The Debrief, where Mindset Rx’d Head Coach Rachel and myself help you apply the lessons within this podcast to your training and wider life. We’ll also be pulling out the key ideas you may have missed, and discussing how you can use this conversation, and the wisdom within it, to train your mindset and become a limitless athlete.