The Ultra Mindset

I recently finished, The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion’s 8 Core Principles for Success in Business, Sports, and Life by Travis Macy and John Hanc.

I love running, and I really like to run far. I related well to the ideas put forth in this book. Much of endurance athletics is mental more than physical, and this mental strength and confidence translates into many other parts of life.

Here are the overall ideas discussed in the book:

1) It's all good mental training

Find the value in everything you do, regardless of how monotonous it might be.

Commit to finishing

Use techniques like:

• Cognitive rephrasing
• Reappraisal
• Reflection

Make yourself uncomfortable

2) Be a wannabe

"80% of success is showing up"

Fixed vs growth mindset - Develop a Growth Mindset and resist the lure of a Fixed Mindset

Surround yourself with people who you aspire to be like and people who are achieving goals you want to achieve.

Open yourself up to opportunities to become inspired.

3) Find your carrot

Motivation gets things done - find your motivators for long-term success.

Identify your intrinsic motivators and see how you can use extrinsic motivation to get you there (through the boring parts)

• Intrinsic motivation comes from within
  • Performing a task because it’s personally rewarding to you
  • Useful for tasks that leave you fulfilled
• Extrinsic motivation comes from outside
  • Completing a task or exhibiting a behavior because of outside causes such as avoiding punishment or receiving a reward
  • Useful for tasks that are unpleasant, monotonous, boring

Keep showing up

4) Have an ego and use it until it's time to out your ego aside

Believe in yourself, but be willing to ask for help.

Confidence is key and you should grow your confidence.

On the other hand, overconfidence can be as bad as not having confidence.

"Keep yourself in check and learn to differentiate between mental roadblocks and physical roadblocks. Believe in your abilities, trust in your training, and stay mentally sharp – but don’t overdo it."

5) Think about your thinking: What and Why

Think about your goals in Why terms when you want to [get energized, stay motivated, or avoid temptation].

Think about your goals in What terms when you're dealing with [something difficult, unfamiliar, or anything that takes a long time to learn].

In different contexts of your life:

• List situations needing what thinking - detail oriented tasks
• List situations needing why thinking - common, boring, and drawn out tasks

6) The 4:30 am rule

Anything is possible when you have no other choice.

When the time comes around, Follow through on the commitment

Remove the option of quitting through commitment

"Ask yourself what are you committed to and what will it take to follow through on that commitment."

Live moderate extremism!

7) Write your story

Look your story in the eye and recognize it as it is. [Just a story]

• Write out the negative story
• Recognize it is just a story
• Write positive alternatives
• Turn one or more of the positive alternatives into a mantra
• Do what you can to prove the negative story isn't true
• Repeat

Stories matter

8) Never quit, unless you should quit

Don't quit because you're afraid of doing something you really want to do.

Do quit if you're on a less than ideal course, and you're afraid of what will happen if you change directions.

Evaluate your fears

1. Write, "I want to [goal to do]"
2. Then:
   1. List the fears keeping you doing what you want to do
   2. Write out, "I'm afraid to do this because..."
   3. Create a new story for each response (Rephrase)
3. Does the new story align with your life goals? If so, don't quit. Otherwise, quit!

How you feel is much less important than what you do.

No one knows how you feel inside but you. Be the person you want others to think you are.

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