Mental preparation
In conversation with Karen Darke, MBE
Global | Video | November 2021 | 01:19
Video Details
| As an athlete and adventurer, I find that I have to really prepare well sometimes, for some of those really big challenges; and that preparation always involves some kind of visualization. I project myself into the future and imagine how I want to feel, and I imagine what kind of result I want. And I also will create anchors in my life right now; little reminders of what I’m trying to create, or what I ideally want to create. So for example, when I won a gold medal in the Rio Paralympic games in 2016, I had a concept for 3 or 4 years before that called Project Gold. I bought myself gold shoes, a gold laptop cover, a gold phone cover, had gold everywhere in my life; and I was talking about Project Gold. So it wasn’t that it came with all this confidence that I could definitely win a gold medal, but it just helped prepare me, line my mind up for the possibility that that’s what I was aiming for. And then I visualized it, every single detail. I visualized crossing the finish line, how it would feel. I just visualized every single detail of the process of going to that race; and visualization is so powerful. It engages our mind, engages our heart. That creates the emotions that we want and need, to actually imagine that it’s already happened; and in some interesting kind of way, that often creates the reality that we step into. |
Karen talks about the importance of mental preparation when you are facing a big challenge, and shares her methods.