Change Your Mental Model To Enhance Your Productivity

A lesson from athletics

I always admire runners, long-distance ones in particular.

I remember when I tried to run for only a mile for a charitable cause. After the first few hundred meters, my lungs were on fire.

I'm pretty sure I saw my life flash before my eyes, and it mainly involved me lying on a couch.

My brain spent the last few metres negotiating with my legs: 'Just one more step.’ 😀

Before your body gets used to a running rhythm, it rebels against it. You don’t want to run anymore because it’s just difficult and outside your comfort zone.

That’s the same inner monologue, I figure, Sir Roger Bannister had when he completed the 4-minute mile.

In fact, Roger believed he was dead after collapsing at the finish line.

"Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead," wrote John Bryant, recounting Roger’s feelings after finishing the mile after 4 minutes.

For decades, runners from every corner of the world had tried to break the 4-minute mile. Everyone came up short.

Paavo Nurmi, a Finnish athlete, completed it at 4:10:4 in 1923.

Jack Lovelock, in 1933, set the record for the mile at 4:07.6.

Sweden's Gunder Hagg ran the mile in 4:01.4 in 1945.

The chase was truly on from 1923 to 1945. Each athlete reduced the time for running the mile until it remained stagnant.

For 9 years, the record remained above 4 minutes, last set by Hagg at 4:01 in 1945.

Why were athletes not overcoming this barrier?

What was happening?

Limiting Mental Models and Why You Need to Break them to Achieve the Impossible

“For years milers had been striving against the clock, but the elusive four minutes had always beaten them…

It had become as much a psychological barrier as a physical one. And like an unconquerable mountain, the closer it was approached, the more daunting it seemed.” John Bryant noted.

The reason why no athlete was overcoming this barrier was the mindset.

Coaches believed that specific conditions had to be available to ensure an individual broke the 4-minute barrier.

I read of the precise conditions set by coaches:

• It would have to be in perfect weather — 68 degrees and no wind.

• On a particular kind of track — hard, dry clay —

• and in front of a huge, boisterous crowd urging the runner on to his best-ever performance.

However, here came Bannister in 1954, who broke the 4-minute barrier on a cold day, on a wet track, at a small meet in Oxford, England, before a crowd of just a few thousand people.

Bannister overcame the self-limiting mindset promoted by coaches and opted to train alone.

His priority was the mental model.

"The mental approach is all-important because the strength and power of the mind are without limit." Roger said.

He would visualize the race step by step, see the finish line, and hear the crowd in his mind.

As he approached the 50th anniversary of his feat, Roger viewed it as "a symbol of attempting a challenge in the physical world of something hitherto thought impossible. I'd like to see it as a metaphor not only for sport, but for life and seeking challenges."

After Bannister accomplished the 4-minute mile, different athletes also began achieving it.

Just 46 days after Bannister’s feat, John Landy, an Australian runner, broke the barrier again, with a time of 3 minutes 58 seconds.

Over the last half century, more than a thousand runners have conquered a barrier that had once been considered hopelessly out of reach.

Later in 2019, Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya broke the 42km distance record in 1:59:40, proving that what was considered impossible could be done.

What does this mean?

You are only limited by your mental models.

No athlete broke the record of the 4-minute mile because it was unheard of.

Sometimes, you read about the success of others online and sigh. “That’s not me. I could never possibly do that!”

“Earn $1000 from writing online? Impossible?”

However, if you were to adopt Bannister’s ideology and change your mental model, you could begin seeing positive changes in your life.

For example, you could become a best-selling author if you began making the right changes today.

The conditions are perfect. You can self-publish on Amazon Kindle and earn a living alongside your 9-5.

Earning online was my biggest self-imposed belief that I had to break before I began seeing positive results.

I could read about people who earned $1000, $5000, or $10000 by simply writing online and helping others with what they knew.

Luckily, I stumbled upon mentors who were willing to show the way. I was also ready to invest in myself and purchased a course.

This helped me avoid pitfalls that limited my earning capacities.

You could overcome your self-limiting beliefs with a writing course on how you can earn your first $1000 on Medium.

Simply click here.

Or you could start selling digital products.

Invest in yourself to overcome your barriers.

Simply click here to start.

You could also join a writer’s club to ensure your writing is never ignored.

This way, you could sell your own digital products.

Simply click here to start.

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As you venture into your new field, also take time to learn the secrets of productivity from our short e-books.

You can learn how to get things done (e.g. writing online) with this short e-book. Watch its contents here.

Or learn unconventional pathways of productivity to get things done. Watch its contents here.

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This week, in your work or personal life, overcome the self-limiting barriers that hinder your potential.

If people around you have always labelled it impossible to be done, be the Bannister and challenge this way of thinking.

Adopt working systems and really win in life.

One thing is certain: you need to invest in yourself.

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That's it for now.

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