I have been away for over 40 days now playing water polo all over the world. Being away for so much time has been challenging, I have played 3 different tournaments and went to a practice trip in Serbia. As any other athlete, I have faced many problems though out the trip. I was lucky because I started Reading Mindset, a book that guided me though some of my problems.
I have to mention that I didn’t have a lot of time to read this book since being in a world cup is a tough job that needs all of your concentration as an athlete but I did relate this book to my sport so I could take the most out of it.
In our life we have two options: we can be afraid or gain skills; we can be a winner or be a loser. Those are the two types of mindsets that humans face: the fixed and growth mindsets. I recall that I have faced both of these mindsets through my trip.
To begin with, the fixed mindsets state that every situation is evaluated blocking effort. This means that the FM has interfering thoughts and generally have inferior learning. For example: If things gets too challenging people with the FM lose interest. This is common in my team, based on the Peruvian culture. I realise that many of my team mates have talent and play well but when they meet a team that historically has been better than us, such as Brazil or Croatia, their FM blocks their ability and skills and they lose before the game even starts.
To make it easier to understand: For a FM: “Success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself.” For a Growth Mindset: “it is about stretching yourself to learn something new, developing yourself”. I see myself in both of these quotes. When I started playing water polo I wanted to prove everyone that I was the best. I wanted to score, to defend well and only cared about me and not about my team. As years went by (I have been playing this sport for 5 years now) I realized how my GM has taken over and even though I still want to be the best, I don’t have to prove it to anyone. I know that with time, practice, reflecting and accepting my errors I will get closer to my goal.
“The GM is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate though your effort”
It is difficult to accept that we didn’t reach our goal in the World Cup. We lost all of our games and it’s hard to accept that. I know that I played well but water polo is a team sport where my team is like a second family. We all follow the same passion. In the book there’s a quote that made me realise this: “The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the Growth Mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their life.”
That’s why I know that we could have done better, much better; but as my coach would say: “we played well, but the other team played better, they made less errors than we did and that gave them the victory”. This is why we have the ability to reflect as a group and by our self and make our weaknesses become our strengths, to convert and setbacks into future successes.
I do realise that the FM is still in me even though I consider myself to have the GM. I was talking with my sports psychologist and she always tells me the same thing: “you will be better once you accept everything that we tell you and not complain, even if you are right”. In other words, I play in a position that’s tough, I have to organise both the defence and the attack and guard the 2m offense players, which are generally huge. It’s a difficult task. Sometimes I rely too much on my mates and forget about my actual job and when something that wasn’t supposed to happen, like a goal or an exclusion happens, I blame my team mates; WRONG! But then, my motivation, my effort, my hard work at all times, makes me smarter and helps me learn making me open minded and letting my tension fly out of my body letting me learn and grow.
Even though I failed, I learned more than ever, I got experience; I learned techniques, moves and realised that I have to train even harder. I know that good teachers surround me, great parents, great people and they will not let me fail but most importantly; I will not let me fail.
I have to mention that I didn’t have a lot of time to read this book since being in a world cup is a tough job that needs all of your concentration as an athlete but I did relate this book to my sport so I could take the most out of it.
In our life we have two options: we can be afraid or gain skills; we can be a winner or be a loser. Those are the two types of mindsets that humans face: the fixed and growth mindsets. I recall that I have faced both of these mindsets through my trip.
To begin with, the fixed mindsets state that every situation is evaluated blocking effort. This means that the FM has interfering thoughts and generally have inferior learning. For example: If things gets too challenging people with the FM lose interest. This is common in my team, based on the Peruvian culture. I realise that many of my team mates have talent and play well but when they meet a team that historically has been better than us, such as Brazil or Croatia, their FM blocks their ability and skills and they lose before the game even starts.
To make it easier to understand: For a FM: “Success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself.” For a Growth Mindset: “it is about stretching yourself to learn something new, developing yourself”. I see myself in both of these quotes. When I started playing water polo I wanted to prove everyone that I was the best. I wanted to score, to defend well and only cared about me and not about my team. As years went by (I have been playing this sport for 5 years now) I realized how my GM has taken over and even though I still want to be the best, I don’t have to prove it to anyone. I know that with time, practice, reflecting and accepting my errors I will get closer to my goal.
“The GM is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate though your effort”
It is difficult to accept that we didn’t reach our goal in the World Cup. We lost all of our games and it’s hard to accept that. I know that I played well but water polo is a team sport where my team is like a second family. We all follow the same passion. In the book there’s a quote that made me realise this: “The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the Growth Mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their life.”
That’s why I know that we could have done better, much better; but as my coach would say: “we played well, but the other team played better, they made less errors than we did and that gave them the victory”. This is why we have the ability to reflect as a group and by our self and make our weaknesses become our strengths, to convert and setbacks into future successes.
I do realise that the FM is still in me even though I consider myself to have the GM. I was talking with my sports psychologist and she always tells me the same thing: “you will be better once you accept everything that we tell you and not complain, even if you are right”. In other words, I play in a position that’s tough, I have to organise both the defence and the attack and guard the 2m offense players, which are generally huge. It’s a difficult task. Sometimes I rely too much on my mates and forget about my actual job and when something that wasn’t supposed to happen, like a goal or an exclusion happens, I blame my team mates; WRONG! But then, my motivation, my effort, my hard work at all times, makes me smarter and helps me learn making me open minded and letting my tension fly out of my body letting me learn and grow.
Even though I failed, I learned more than ever, I got experience; I learned techniques, moves and realised that I have to train even harder. I know that good teachers surround me, great parents, great people and they will not let me fail but most importantly; I will not let me fail.