Each December as the calendar gets ready to flip from one year to the next people spend time in reflection of the year past and in contemplation the year ahead. Many will make New Year’s resolutions and while they are made with the best of intentions, a mere 8% will actually see success.
This year as you contemplate the coming year and set goals for the 2015 show season, consider committing to changing your mindset. In order to change your results you must first change your mindset. Like it or not, our standards are set by our thought patterns.
Habitual behavior is created by repeated thought patterns. Concentrating on what not to do actually strengthens the behavior we are trying to prevent. Learning to change non-productive thought patterns is the key to successfully implementing goals. This year, if you want to see different results from your resolutions, consider these tips from the experts and get the most out of your 2105 show season:
- Set realistic, specific goals that focus on the process. Do not set broad goals – everyone who shows wants to win. Set goals that relate to your specific ride. For instance this year you are going to master the two-point. The first thing you do is to find an expert in this field and set up lessons to learn how to improve this skillset. That will put you on the path to success in the show ring.
- Focus on new thought patterns. Concentrate your thinking process on new language. Your thoughts reflect your beliefs and are the mechanism to forming a new habit. Your actions are the best indicators of your thoughts. They are reflective responses to learned thought patterns. Replace negative thought patterns such as, “I will never have a leg like…” with positive thoughts, “as my leg gets stronger, I am a more complete rider” or “my partnership with my horse is improved with each ride”. Limiting thought patterns mislead your energy, mentally and physically. It is up to you to consciously change your subconscious thoughts and replace unproductive habitual thinking with positive productive thought patterns.
- Take small steps that work toward accomplishing your goal. Break down each resolution into the smallest tasks. Think baby steps. Find a trainer and take lessons to improve your two-point position. Practice the new techniques three times a week. Return to lessons monthly/weekly for additional technical training. Go to the horse show to test your progress. Break down each resolution into the steps that you must take to actually reach the goal.
- Work with a buddy system. Not only is it more fun to work with another individual such as a trainer, riding buddy or instructor, but working with another person keeps you accountable. In a lesson situation, you never quit riding before the instructor tells you to. Including someone else in your plans for 2015 will keep you on the right track. Should you get derailed or have a bad horse show, your buddy will make sure you get to your next lesson and carry on.
- Keep resolutions a year long process. Each day take small steps toward accomplishing your goal. Even if it is just to think positively about the steps you are taking to reach your goal, do something. Remember the rider you want to emulate? While sitting in a chair imagine that you are that rider and raise yourself to sit with the precise posture you need to be in the winner’s circle. Push your heels down as if they were in stirrups. Then when you get back in the saddle repeat the position.
- Help others. It may sound like an oxymoron, but helping others is the best way to help your self. When you help someone else, it cements the very techniques that you are trying to learn in your own mind. You automatically speak in positive terms reiterating the words, ideas and techniques in positive declarations. By helping a friend learn the two-point, you develop a better understanding of the fundamentals needed to properly accomplish the skillset. If you were having a hard time accomplishing a specific task, describing it to another rider can help you to better understand what is necessary to achieve the proper positioning.
- Recognize accomplishments along the way. Don’t wait for a goal to be achieved to celebrate. Appreciate the baby steps as you take them and reward yourself accordingly. Practice the positions and skills your instructor showed you during your lesson. Acknowledge your progress along the way. Everyone needs positive boosts. And recognizing accomplishments, no matter how small, is an important step in changing unproductive thought patterns.
- Keep things in perspective. Lighten up and don’t take yourself so seriously. Not to say your goals are not important but keeping things in perspective means that you enjoy each step along the way. You must enjoy the process for the process – for yourself, not someone else. Your life will not be miraculously changed by the accomplishment of one goal or another. Have fun, enjoy the ride; take the lesson for what it is and you will move the needle closer to your goal.
Most of all do not get discouraged. When I quit smoking the best advice I received was from the American Heart Association. It stated very clearly that when you fall off the wagon you do not abandon your goal.
Instead, you dust off your pants and get back on that horse. No matter how many times it takes to get it done, you keep trying until you succeed. If you slip up, have a hearty laugh at yourself then get back on and try again.
Take charge of your thoughts and take charge of your results and make 2015 be the best year of your riding career yet . Have fun and enjoy the ride.
About Stephanie Lynn: Professional Horseman Stephanie Lynn coached her first AQHA World Champion in 1988. She has since coached, trained and shown World, Congress and Honor Roll horses across disciplines. She is a judge for AQHA, NSBA and APHA and has judged World Championship shows for each association. Most recently, Stephanie is the author of The Good Rider Series and A Lifetime Affair: Lessons Learned Living My Passion. The Good Rider Series is a library of resource material that is both practical and applicable in the barn and show ring for riders. Stephanie can always be reached through her website: http://www.stephanielynn.net to answer your questions, schedule a clinic or lesson.
