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Many researchers report that people who strongly identify with sports teams have higher self-esteem than people who are not sports fans.
Here’s the real fun part: testosterone levels increase with wins and decrease with losses in fans as well as athletes!
I remember one of my business friends, Stefan, author of “Gobi Runner”, asking if he was the only one whose self esteem was tied to his performance.
It seems not!
But hold on there, sunshine, are we really going to allow a win or a loss of any kind to identify who we are???
In “Think and Grow Rich” Napoleon Hill says (and I paraphrase) that the most difficult work we will do is maintaining a steadfast attitude towards our goal regardless of the perceived results or circumstances. It’s so true. When wins are plentiful we’re on a high. Conversely when the going is tough, it’s tough to stay on that high and keep going. It’s hard work to stay the course mentally.
Aha! We are in control of our thoughts.
As obvious as that might seem it’s huge! It is ridiculously difficult to maintain a positive attitude, vision and esteem when life throws curve balls. We naturally get excited when we win and low when we lose but controlling our perspective is a choice. Allowing our circumstances to affect our identity means we’re giving away our power.
Watch a toddler take their first steps. When they don’t succeed – and they don’t many times – unaffected, they get up and go at it again. They don’t allow circumstances – falls – to control their intention to stand up and move forward.
I’m with Bobby: “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play the ball where it lies.” Bobby Jones
I’ve got the power……..