Achieving a Mile-18 Mindset

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"When you change your mindset, you change your world." - Mile-18 Moments

I developed a framework of ten characteristics that help humans like you possess a Mile-18 Mindset. It consists of strategies that I use during those times in my personal and professional life when I come face-to-face with my Mile-18 moments, when my physical meets my mental, and what I do to overcome, to finish my race, and to achieve what I determine as success for myself in that very moment. I have come to learn how to “embrace the suck” of life, keep mentally and physically focused on my journey, so that at the end of any particular situation or challenge I face, I can confidently say to myself, I have done everything I mentally and physically could do to win my race, reach my finish line, achieve the life I so desire to have. By possessing a Mile-18 Mindset...you can become anyone you want to be, and much more! 

Vision and Perception are two of the most important characteristics of possessing a Mile-18 Mindset and why I put them as number one. Your vision and perception of a challenging moment, ultimately determines whether or not you reach your finish line or not. It comes down to this. You have two choices any time you are faced with a challenge…do you see it as something that you can’t overcome, you can’t achieve, you can’t win? Or, do you perceive it in a positive and healthy way, seeing it as just the price of admission for this thing called life. You view and perceive this moment in time as just another opportunity to overcome a challenge, solve a problem, fix a relationship, become even more of a better human being than you are today, and reach your finish line! Possessing the awareness and understanding that pain, loss, frustration, anxiety, those daily challenges you face, and the “suck of life” are going to happen and an immediate mindset that tells you you have the confidence, courage, and strength to make it through. It’s about seeing yourself are strong enough to see through the noise, the clouds, the pain, the people beating you down, that you actually visualize your way out. 

Despite how challenging the situation you face is, despite how much it hurts, how confused you may feel, how not fair you think this moment in time is, you commit to yourself to overcome it, despite what it will take. You commit to yourself to achieve a better life, a better marriage, you commit to overcoming your alcoholism, that weight loss you seek…you commit to overcoming those daily challenges at work. Why? Because you want to! 

It’s a true understanding and acceptance of who you are as a person and the strengths and weaknesses you possess. It’s accepting your failures as opportunities to become a better human, parent, husband, coworker, or boss, and not giving in to those failures and those people around you who are telling you to quit or give up. It’s about maximizing your strengths, but also accepting and simultaneously being self-aware of your weaknesses. Vulnerability is about anticipating the negative noise that will come your way, while simultaneously understanding what it is and even worse, who it’s coming from. 

Have faith….in something. Within the context of a Mile-18 Mindset, faith equates to many things. It’s about possessing faith in a process, faith in your ability to succeed, faith in the ability to overcome, faith in your friends, faith in your boss, faith in your family, faith in your co-workers, faith in knowing that all of your hard work towards crossing your finish line is actually going to end up in success. Faith is waking up today, tomorrow, knowing that it’s going to be an awesome day. It’s believing in something healthy and productive to drive your everyday faith to achieve your outcomes, reaching that finish line. Faith is coming face to face with your very own Mile-18 Moment and wholeheartedly believing that at that very moment, you possess everything you need to accomplish what you set yourself out to do or that human you want to become. It’s that faith you absolutely have in yourself that will lead you towards success, your finish line, regardless of how hard or challenging it may seem. A positive, internal faith mindset will get you there every single time.

How often have your visualized your finish line, but have no idea of how to get there. Mapping is all about taking the intentional time to develop what I call, your very own “training plan for your life.” It’s about taking the time to physically “map out” your play book and "game plan" of intentional and purposeful actions, those steps you are going to take in order to overcome the challenge that you are facing. It’s thinking “systematically” about those intentional and purposeful steps you need to take in order to achieve the success, that finish line you seek. 

It’s often said, “little actions over time create big results.” This is the essence of “Consistency” within the Mile-18 Mindset. When you commit to accomplishing those little things on a daily basis, they will ultimately get you to where you want to be tomorrow. Consistency is all about keeping the finish line in sight, and doing what matters over and over again, so that each day, you are getting closer and closer to that end goal, that race of life you so desperately seek to get the most out of. 

One of my favorite humanistic qualities and one that I live my life by every day. 

When thinking about the Mile-18 Mindset framework, humility is one that immediately came to mind that has made a significant impact for good in my life and one that can absolutely have the same impact in your life, if you let it. Humility is all about letting yourself accept the fact that you still have a lot to learn in life regardless of how many books you read, how many degrees you have, how many podcasts or Ted Talks you listen to. It’s becoming self-aware that as humans, we are all equals to each other, and we are not necessarily better than anyone else or anything on a day to day basis. There are always things that we will encounter in life that, if we set our ego’s aside, will continue to humble us from time to time. When I think about humility in the framework of the Mile-18 Mindset, it’s about being self-aware enough to know that at any given moment, such as a Mile-18 Moment, that life will hand you a curve ball, you will get kicked in the stomach from time to time. And when it happens, possessing a Mile-18 Mindset will get you through it every single time! 

You may think you have all the answers, or that you can achieve your finish line on your own, but in reality, you can’t. You need people in your life to lean in to, to latch on to as your mentors, your coaches, those people who will tell and teach you how it is, without any filters. When becoming “Coachable,” you need to put yourself in a position to accept their coaching, accepting those hard truths that you may not want to hear, but are a necessity for you to reach out finish lines. 

With humility….comes adaptation! I love this. These two attributes go hand in hand and that’s why I put them back to back. Having a Mile-18 Mindset requires to you adapt to the suck of life and career during those times when you become humbled and kicked in the stomach by a challenge, a defeat, a boss, a friend, a co-worker. You basically have two choices when you are experiencing the suck of life. That is, you can let the suck defeat you, you can give up, throw in the towel, which ultimately turns into coming face-to-face the constant regret you will feel for not overcoming and not pushing yourself farther. Or…you can adapt to what you are facing, at any given moment, and shift your mindset to solutions on what you need to do to adapt to the suck, the pain, the defeat you are feeling, and start to adapt and reshape, reframe, rework all of what is wanting to crush you at that very moment in time.  

Own your journey and just go! Just keeping moving forward and let nothing hold you back. Despite the odds against you or the obstacles you will face to overcome the suck of life and career, take personal ownership over what you are about to embark on, your racecourse of life and career, and just go! Know this, you have everything you need at this very moment to “just go.” You possess the strength to just go! You possess the courage to just go! You possess the confidence to just go! So what are you waiting for…own it and go!