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Learning To Believe In Yourself

By Fiona Max for DyeStat

As a younger team, the Summit boys are beginning to realize their potential. This fall, they have made a clear effort to align their training with their season ambitions.

I was on a run last Sunday with one of the sophomore boys who has played a big role in the growth of the team. We were going over some of the week’s best memes, when out of nowhere, he hit me with a big question:

“How do you learn to believe in yourself rather than just saying that you believe in yourself?”

I was surprised by the certainty in which I answered.  

When you truly believe in yourself, you recognize it through your actions. Believing in yourself does not mean you have to jump out of bed in the morning like a woman in a Jimmy Dean Breakfast commercial. In fact, setting the alarm clock 10 minutes earlier to roll or stretch or do core often feels like the antithesis of a Jimmy Dean morning. 

“Believing in yourself” does not always look cute – even if the sequined shirt you bought from Target in 2008 might make you think it.

Real belief comes from creating habits that allow you to believe in yourself come race day. 

There are some advantages to viewing belief as an action: as I mentioned above, actions become habits. Belief is a skill you can practice and obtain. It is not a mindset some are predisposed to having and others are not. It is a system of values you create for yourself. On days when saying you believe in yourself feels like a lie, you can fall back on the habits that communicate the same idea. 

So what can you do to practice belief? 

Learn to replace the word “Recovery” with the word “Believe.” That means every time you go to bed on time, you are allowing your body to “believe” more. Every time you make yourself a healthy meal, you are giving yourself the necessary tools to “believe.” When you make time to stretch after a workout, you are teaching your muscles to “believe.”

Of course, I don’t want to sugar-coat the process of creating and sticking to good habits. There are days when even the most simple habits feel like a slog (i.e. showering – or is that just me??). 

On those days, imagine what your biggest fan would say to you. It is important to imagine someone who knows you personally and supports you through thick and thin. Some days your fan might encourage you to push to the top of the hill to see the other side. Other days your fan may tell you to go easier on yourself or take a break. 

Regardless of who you are or what you’ve accomplished, there will be days where believing in yourself is simply about faking it ‘til you make it. Any of the Nike Elite Camp attendees can speak to this. 

“The most crucial step in achieving greatness is believing you can do it. If you workout, sleep like, eat like, and talk like an elite athlete, you are halfway there already,” Corner Canyon UT senior Easton Allred explained.

After transferring high schools and facing ineligibility issues, Allred had no choice but to run Junior Varsity for his junior year cross country season. Despite having missed out on a competitive racing season, Allred raced to a top-five finish at NXN last December. Belief in the process could not have been more crucial for Allred. 

If your own habits begin to feel like a slog, then clearly it is time to reassess. What is the point of habits if they keep you from believing in yourself?

Despite battling multiple stress fractures, senior Lexy Halladay of Mountain View ID still manages to be one of the fastest girls in the country. At times, consistency of habit was the only constant she could turn to as a way to believe. 

“Belief in one’s self can be really hard. Every time I have had to get on the bike or replace my long run with a 90 minute elliptical session all I can think about is how much I would rather be running. But by doing those day to day things that may be time consuming or less desirable, this shows one’s self belief and desire to fight through the hard times,” Halladay said.

Of course, positive self talk is important to success. There is a lot to be said about telling yourself something so many times it becomes a part of you; When it comes to truly believing in yourself however, actions speak louder than words.