Whether You Think You Can or You Think You Can’t, You’re Right
When I was in my mid twenties I joined a coed softball team. I had played fast pitch on the high school girls team, and at our first and only practice for the coed team, I went out and played like I had in high school and had a great time. (Yeah, it was the next day that was the problem, but that’s another story)
My team had asked me if I had ever played third base. Well, I hadn’t as I was a center fielder in school. They decided I should play third anyway since I was willing to give it a shot. At the first game I found I really liked playing third base and my new team was pleased to keep me there.
It wasn’t until about half way through the first season that I realized third base on a coed team was not a typical “girl” position. I found this out from watching the teams we were playing against. Most every one had a male on third. It had never occurred to me that I could not catch, field, and throw well enough to play that position with men on the team.
I believed I could catch a fly, or stop a grounder and be able to throw the runner out at first, if any of the guys hit a ball at me. And that’s the point. It wasn’t until I questioned my position that I got nervous and made errors. I had to remind myself that I had been perfectly capable of playing there before my realization.
Your beliefs can affect those around you too. Typically on a coed team they put the weakest girl as catcher and a guy as pitcher, so that the guy can cover home to help out. I recall a time that first season when the bases were loaded and the ball was a line drive right to me. I tagged my bag as the runner ran for home. In a fraction of a second I saw our girl was in position, standing on home plate with her glove in position in front of her.
Our eyes met, she knew I knew she was ready and was going to give her the ball. She saw no hesitation in my movement and when I threw the ball straight down the base line right past the runners ear directly into her glove, she held on to it and it was a sweet double play. Later she thanked me for throwing to her, but all I could tell her was there was no doubt in my mind that she would catch the ball, and it was the play to make.
The mind is extremely powerful. The beliefs that I had in my own ability showed up in my reality. When I believed I was the best person on that team for the position of third base, my contribution to the team was much greater than it was when I questioned if I should be there. And it took a reaffirmation of my belief to re-ground my ability to perform there.
Limiting beliefs can touch all of us. It’s recognizing them, and then what we do with them once we recognize them, that will make a difference in our life. What limiting beliefs do you hold about yourself? If you realize you have limiting beliefs about yourself that are holding you back, what would happen if you believed differently? What will you do to change your belief?
(Banner by @son-of-satire)
Photos from https://www.pexels.com
@aboutyourbiz, excellent post... and I totally agree that your mindset totally has the ability to influence what happens in your life. And even though I'll sometimes confess that "overly optimistic" people tend to annoy me, truth remains that things often seem to turn out their way, simply because it never occurs to them that any other possibility even exists.
I could have written this comment! I totally agree and get the overly optimistic statement. Thanks for commenting
Mindset is Everything
I'm certain I still have limiting beliefs of some things but I couldn't tell you what they are. LOL My family and I have been through a lot of hardships and we've made it through because I had the firm belief that we were all right and that we would make it through. Sacrifices needed to be made to former comforts but we were still housed with food in our belly. In my head things could have been much worse so I was thankful for my blessings. And we are stronger for it. :)
I think we all can have them at different times for different reasons. Recognizing them us half the battle.
In your situation you knew, that meant you didn't have limiting beliefs about that and your results showed it.
I tell my students this ALL of the time. I hear "I can't" or "it's impossible" way too frequently. This is one of my favorite quotes. I had a senior this year who just had his mind made up he wasn't going to graduate, even though it was SO within his reach. We kept having this conversation over and over. He disappeared the two weeks leading up to graduation giving up. I started to call him. And kept calling him. He finally showed up and pulled it off just in time. He couldn't see past his belief that he could never make it. I could see that it was completely possible. So amazing how our thoughts can hold us back or push us forward.
Wow that's awesome you called him. So many today just let it go. I'm also glad he made it. Hopefully that will help him make it through things in his future.
We need to start asking the question "how can I" verses making the statement I can't. It does something in our brain to help us see things differently.
inspiring... thank you @aboutyourbiz
Glad you liked it, thanks
Good job. Glad you're here. ;)
😄😇😄
Thank you so much
You're more than welcome. ;)
Congrats for the reactions, you shouldn't have stopped playing at all. This story deserves much more attention! Well done @aboutyourbiz !
Let me at least add the #challenge30days tag here so @dragosroua can notice you and consider voting for you.
Thank you, for the feedback and the promotion. Sounds like another challenge to look in to, after I finish the one I'm in. Don't need to be biting off too much :)
Thanks again
You are more than welcome @aboutyourbiz :)
You could have written a lot more, but keeping it shorter definitely was great!
I find myself finally realizing this occurs to me while playing volleyball. Thanks for shedding light on the topic
Haha glad you liked it. I wrote a paper in a college history class one time that was about 1/2 inch or around 3-4 sentences short of the assignment page requirement. I had hit every point I needed to and felt like if I added anything to meet the page requirement it would be wordy and not add anything to the paper.
The teacher gave me an A, but also commented that my paper was not quite long enough. while he admitted that I had said everything that needed to be said and couldn't tell me what I could have added. lol
I love that you share that story that's really awesome. I'm also happy that you had a very reasonable teacher And graded accordingly to her/his best judgment
Yes he was young and pretty cool. I had to look up the word pithy to fully understand his comment to me because that's what he called my paper.
I don't know what means either I shall look it up too
It's a good day when you learn a new word!
Sometimes we overthink things...sometimes we should just do them and not think so much about it :)
Yep, sometimes let our gut do the thinking