What energy do you need to carry to thrive?
In my observation people carry different energy when they compete that seems to help them do well. I can’t quite find mine just yet.
Without naming specific people, a few different kinds of ‘energy’ I have noticed at competitions are as follows:
Panic/frenzy – the person that is perpetually late, has the wrong equipment or is rushing;
Jovial/unfocused – the person that is talking about all things not associated with the class they are about to go in, seemingly not taking things seriously enough;
Hyper-focused/sharp – this person is hard on everyone and everything around them. Often yelling, angry, unhappy with anybody’s efforts;
Nervous – this person is completely dependent on the people around them to say if they are ready to go, what jump they need next. They often have a shaky warm up and yet often go in and have a brilliant round;
Uber confident/calm – this is the rarest of the people I see. They are cool and collected. Tell the people around them calmly what they need, every jump looks well planned out and they are always calmly at the gate on time but not too early.
I think all of these people are the way they are to some extent to get ‘mentally prepared’, and I have tried on a few of them for size. Of course we all want to be the last one, but in reality we can’t all embody that and guarantee the best outcome for ourselves. Some people are driven by the chaos of rushing. Others feed off the energy of people supporting them and that gives them confidence.
I guess this is also something that we should consider when we are picking a coach or the support people that help us get to the ring.
Who are you?
