Mari Holden-
"What an incredible week of racing in Australia at the World Championships…. Having raced in Australia made it challenging to stay awake long enough to be able to watch the racing live…
But, it was definitely worth the effort! In the women’s races, I was so impressed by the double world champion Zoe Backstedt. She demolished the competition in both the Time trial and the road race.
The elite women’s racing was equally as exciting…The women’s winner of the tt Ellen Van Dijk was not a surprise. But the ride of the Australian Grace Brown was not expected. She was one of the early riders to go and had a very impressive time. She was on the hot seat for hours and as the athletes who were expected to podium started to finish it became obvious how good her time was. It was only Ellen Van Dijk who surpassed her time in the end. I do have to give a shout-out to Leah Thomas and Kristin Faulkner of the USA who ended up 5th and 6th. I want to talk a second about how incredible the win of Annemiek Van Vleuten was in the road race. She did not have a good ride in the time trial. I thought maybe she was paying the price for such an incredible season winning the Tour, the Giro, and the Vuelta. It’s a long season and possibly she was tired. Then there was the Team TTT race. She had a freak accident off the start ramp. I watched the crash over and over as did many cycling fans. She ended up fracturing her elbow and was questionable for starting the road race. It was obvious that she would either not start or would be in a lot of pain in the race. Ultimately, she decided to race. As the race developed it was clear she was working for Vos. She struggled on every climb which is where she normally shines. She couldn’t get out of the saddle without a lot of pain. She kept getting dropped and then fighting her way back on. She never quit trying
She got back to the group and would get right back to working for Vos. We don’t normally get a chance to see her working for a teammate and to know the kind of pain she was experiencing and still being an incredible teammate was awesome. But, that wasn’t even the best of it…When it seemed like the race was going to come down to a sprint with two of the best sprinters in the world. The small group was looking at each other and AVV was still chasing two other women. They caught just under 1k to the line and AVV automatically attacked and passed the group. The group hesitated long enough for Annemiek to win the race. It was one of the most incredible finishes I’ve ever seen in a World Championships. It also made me think about that mindset to never give up. Most people won’t be in that situation in a World Championship, but that mindset applies to all parts of life."
If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles. – Wayne Dyer
From: https://www.lifehack.org/676835/why-giving-up-is-not-an-option-and-how-to-stay-motivated
Giving up Is Not an Option! How to Not Give up and Stay Motivated
We all get them – those feelings of doubt, fear, lack of self-confidence, and lack of self-belief. Whatever it is we want to achieve in life, no matter how much we want it, there will always be times when you hit a challenging period, your motivation hits a wall and you feel like giving up.
Despite the overwhelming feeling of wanting to just give up, it’s actually the most important time not to.
Identifying the reasons why giving up seems like the best option is so important. However, there are a few human instincts that come into play here.
• Mistaking lessons for failure: Not being able to see the roadblock for the lesson it is and keep going anyway.
• The outcome is more important than the journey:
• Putting more emphasis on the result and dismissing the importance of how you’re getting to the end goal and growing along the way.
• Seeing the failure before it’s even happened:
Self-sabotaging yourself by creating the thought that it just won’t happen.
This is usually down to limiting beliefs and lack of self-belief.
• Lack of discipline: Realizing that achieving your dream won’t just fall into your lap within a few weeks but will actually take hard work and determination.
• Not adjusting to changes:
• Not embracing changes in direction, the need to tweak ideas, or finding things evolve differently from how you originally imagined it
• and taking it as a sign it’s not meant to work out, are showing you that you’re not open to changes and the natural evolution to something even more amazing.
People often say the moment they almost decided to give up was the moment just before they had a breakthrough.
Why you should think twice about giving up
The power lies with your mindset and shifting this is key to keeping up the motivation you need when the going gets tough.
This is why it’s important to realize why you shouldn’t give in and give up.
Instant success is a myth.
It is a generation of instant gratification which creates the illusion that everyone needs what they want.
People look at other successful people and assume they got overnight success but in reality, it took hard work and a lot of failing to get where they did.
Understand this is a myth. Don’t be deterred by this because actually, the journey is where the magic happens and makes your end goal ever sweeter.
People judge themselves so harshly and assume that they are just not capable if they seem to be failing at something they want.
It could simply be resolved by trying a different approach.
People are often so focused on the end goal and believe there are just one or two ways to get there.
Open up and change your perspective. Are there other ways you can do it that feel better to you?
That feeling of regret can hit you hard. What if I’d just stuck with it? I could have achieved it by now. What if I hadn’t given up, how different my life would be?
Too Overwhelmed to Achieve What You Need to Do?
While regret is the number one thing you shouldn’t waste your time doing before you quit your dream just imagine how your life could transform and where you could be
Don’t give your future self the chance to become regretful because of the one decision you make in the present moment.
You could be quitting right before your success.The toughest times are a precursor to a major breakthrough to success. Think of it as being tested just to make sure this is exactly what you want.
Decide yes, I still want this more than ever!
Keep going! It’s all about trust that it’s going to work out.Do you find yourself quitting things a lot?
By default, your habitual mindsets and thought patterns play out over and over again throughout your life if you don’t identify and change them.
Don’t think, ‘I’ll have another go in a year’s time because you are really likely to repeat exactly the same pattern again.
It’s important to sit down with yourself and identify why you have a tendency to give up.
This may feel uncomfortable and you may feel resistance to doing the process.
But once you actually work through your limiting beliefs, they can be released really quickly and help you to remove mental obstacles you didn’t know were stopping you.
Struggle does not equate to failure.We’ve been led to believe en mass that struggle is something to be ashamed of. It’s not. Never think of hard times as failures. In fact, just take failure out of your vocabulary.
Stop caring about what others think and just know and believe you are capable of getting through it and coming out the other end.
Struggle actually builds character. It’s there to serve you – to help you learn something you’ll need to use later on. Stop assuming struggle is negative but see it as a blessing on your road to great success.
How to not give up and stay motivated
The thing people tend to forget when all they want to do is give up is that failure doesn’t fix anything. Maybe for a moment, you’ll feel relief because you no longer have to face that challenge, but the satisfaction will be fleeting. When you accept that you aren’t worthy or good enough, that’s the mindset you will keep.No matter what challenge you are facing you will struggle with maintaining your optimism, dedication, and willpower because you haven’t addressed the real issue: yourself.
Right now it may seem impossible.
It may seem like this is the hardest thing you will ever go through. But remember how often your threshold changes. Here are some tips that can help you take those first steps in keeping your chin up and truly facing the difficult choices in your life:
1. Figure out what you lack
No matter what the challenge you’re facing may be, there’s a reason it’s challenging to you.
2. Be patient with yourself
It’s okay to take time to figure out the best way to proceed, but it’s not okay to walk away because it’s challenging.
3. Be proud of yourself for every small win
Have you ever noticed how a small mistake can weigh on you for days?
When we make small strides in achieving our goal(s), we never seem to give ourselves much respect.
When we fail to pat ourselves on the back for little victories, it decreases our motivation and makes it much harder to achieve big goals.
4. Remember that you aren’t the first to feel this way
Everyone faces hard decisions – be it deciding to end a relationship, changing careers, moving to a different place, or leaving friends behind. We all go through it. So don’t be afraid to reach out to your friends or family for a sounding board.
5. Know that you will grow as a person just from going through it. We build character through those hard times. The old cliche, “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger” is true.
6. Remember that you have choices
No matter how hard the challenge you’re facing may be, one of the best things you can focus on is that you have choices.
Only you can decide how you handle something and the steps you take.
Allow yourself to stay motivated by choosing to stay motivated.
Choose to see obstacles as lessons.
Ask yourself, what is this showing me? What is it bringing up for me?
Great things never come easy. Adjust your mindset, learn to deal with challenges and you’ll come out the other side a strong and successful person.
With that, We hope you jump into an incredible week!
as always,
Be Kind, Do Fearless
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