Is Your Mind For You Or Against You?

Our minds are far more powerful than most of us realize. This can be a help or a hindrance, depending on the situation. During a recent workout, I misread my notes and added twice the amount of weight I meant to when preparing a machine for an exercise. I didn’t realize it right away and completed the full set with the extra weight, only thinking that I must be tired since it felt harder than usual. When I realized my error, I was shocked. I had thought the originally intended amount of weight was already a difficult amount, so I hadn’t planned to increase it. Then, I repped a full set at double that weight with little added difficulty.

This is when I realized how our own minds can become a hindrance to progress and growth. When we tell ourselves that we cannot do something, we often believe it and subconsciously block our ability to do the thing.

Thankfully, this works in both directions. I can’t count the number of times I have been on a run, bone tired with sore muscles, convinced I couldn’t take another step. Then, somehow, I push through my weariness and run an extra mile or make it up yet another steep hill.

David Goggins - the legendary athlete, former Navy Seal, author, and motivational speaker – has a theory to describe this concept of mental blockage. He equates our minds to the speed-restricting governor of a car in something he calls the “forty percent rule”. The idea is that most people are only ever operating at about forty percent of their true physical and mental capacity; like a car, their minds have a “governor” that tells them they are maxed out when they reach forty percent of their true capability.

Most people stop when they reach this perceived limit, feeling tired and sore and like they can’t possibly push any harder. Yet, according to Goggins’ theory, we actually have sixty percent more capacity that can be tapped into. As Goggins explains in this video, consistently challenging our mental governors and pushing past the struggles we feel at forty percent actually serves to increase our capacity. Suddenly, that governor is shifted to fifty percent, or sixty, instead.

My Challenge to You

This week, spend some time not thinking. Get out of your head, away from your doubts. Instead of talking yourself out of something before you even get started, take the first step and see how far you can make it. When you feel absolutely spent after a hard workout, push yourself to go just a tad bit further. Run that extra mile, lift that weight one rep past failure, get outside your comfort zone. You may just surprise yourself with how easily that extra mile or heavier weight feels next time you give it a go.