The world is changing rapidly right now. Every hour we get updated information about how our lives are impacted: events on hold, races postponed, travel plans nixed, tax deadlines changing, stock market fluctuations.

So much information from so many inputs.

If we allow the constant spinning then we will find ourselves in a constant spin.

NOW more than ever is the most important time to learn the skill of managing your mind because it’s easier to stay focused, motivated and on task when we have routine to fall back on. Routine tends to create a sense of comfort. Its easier to be intentional with creating the results we want when things are going well. But when our world gets turned upside down, routine is no longer and we’re challenged to do things differently, we can either take it as an opportunity to rise or as a reason to fall.

Think about it this way…what’s happening in the world right now is just an over exaggerated version of what could happen at any given race. Stay with me here.

You could plan, prepare, have all your ducks in a row and BAM! The expected mild weather turns into snow, the swim is cancelled, bike shortened, and not enough volunteers to support aid stations. Literally everything you counted on requires a new solve.

In a race we practice controlling our controllables. Controlling those things that we can make an impact on. And now life is giving us the biggest test of the same lesson.

Here's your Cliffs Notes hint: just like we cannot control the weather at a race, we also cannot control the world and the people in it. The more we try to control the world and other people, the more we suffer emotionally.

In training we practice consistency. Consistently building resiliency in the body to withstand a high performance effort. And now life is giving us the biggest opportunity to build consistency and resiliency another way.

The consistency of the mind.

The mind will always want to jump up and down and follow the next startling news headline, unless you direct it otherwise. The news and stock market give our brains something startling to focus on because we think the longer we watch, the more informed we’ll be and the more control we will have. But that’s not true. Remember the Cliffs Notes hint: we cannot control the world (no matter how much news we watch)

What ends up happening is we allow the headlines to be the basis for what we think, feel, and how we show up in the world.

Bringing it back to training, in the same way that you deliberately choose to run intervals at a certain speed, you must deliberately decide what you want to think.

Here’s what I mean:

Without direction, you brain may think things like…

“What if my races get cancelled?” “I don’t know what to do” “Everything is out of my control”

But these thoughts are unproductive, low quality and not very useful. Because when you spend time believing these thoughts, the energy around them is confusion, doubt and worry.

Consistency of the mind means we pay attention to our thoughts vigilantly. We pay attention to how we’re responding to the inputs, news, headlines and opinions of the world. Because, left unwatched your brain will always look for the worst case scenario.

“All of my races will be cancelled.” “I have nothing to train for anymore.” “It’s all just getting worse from here.”

But take a second to feel the difference between those thoughts above and the following:

“I trust the people in charge are making the best of a difficult situation. I was just given more time to train and get stronger for my next race, whenever it may be.”

Consistency of the mind requires we pay attention to even the sneakiest little thoughts.

Notice this difference between “Why is this happening to me?” and “What is the high quality solve to keep me on track?”

As you continue to practice consistency in training, find time to also create a practice of consistency in managing your mind. If you can build the resiliency now when the world around you is in a state of panic, what might you be able to do on race day when things aren’t going perfectly?

There will be more races. Let’s all get stronger both mentally and physically before that next start line.