Adele is one of the most powerful voices around yet she told Rolling Stone magazine "I'm scared of audiences." "One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit. I've thrown up a couple of times. Once in Brussels, I projectile-vomited on someone. I just gotta bear it. But I don't like touring. I have anxiety attacks a lot."

The anxieties of performing are real. Some are able to overcome them while others continue to struggle even after years of experience. As a competitor, it is easy to look around at those around you and feel like you need to “keep up” with them. This can cause an intense amount of anxiety that is unnecessary and can cause you to underperform.

So how do you avoid this? Run like a horse with blinders on. One of the reason races horses are given blinders is to help focus. As a runner, your focus is not on other competitors. Instead your focus should be on your plan that you have used to prepare.

Don’t worry about the people behind you, to the side of you or in front of you. That is easy to say, right? Think about this, do you know how those individuals train? Maybe they have twice the amount of time you do to train. Maybe they have 4 more coaches and access to facilities you didn’t even know exist. On the other hand, maybe they are trying to keep up with the person in front of them.

Doing what you do takes a ton of front-end work. Remember how you got here. You have a plan and you are sticking with it. The people beside you may not have a plan and they may burn out in the next 2 miles but not you. You have trained for this moment; you know your objective and the only person you should be competing with… is YOU.

In sport and life many things can impact happiness and performances. Some can be controlled, some cannot. The mind is one, that with proper training, can be controlled and leveraged to be an advantage to you, not a limiter. Get your mind right! For more information, check out MIND RIGHT MULTISPORT