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You might have heard of mindset, but what does it mean for you?
Mindset is quite a broad topic and the term has been thrown around quite a bit, particularly over the past year or so. You might have heard people talking about how wonderful their lives are thanks to their 'new & improved' mindset. So you might be wondering why everyone hasn't already jumped on this bandwagon. You might also be thinking that you want to know more about what it means for you!
Let's start right at the beginning then. What is mindset? Our mindset is determined by a set of thoughts and beliefs that we have gathered throughout our lives. Those thoughts and beliefs lead us to certain behaviours and decision-making processes. Our beliefs are largely held on a subconscious level, so if someone asked you to write a list of every belief you hold, it would be impossible! Sometimes, we hold onto beliefs that are formed from an insignificant event. Perhaps someone once told you that they had a nasty fall at a drop fence. Now every time you think of a drop fence, you think 'what if I fall off?' - it's a tad more complex than that, but it gives you an idea.
Mindset for equestrians often comes down to confidence. Most issues that my clients come to me with, end up boiling down to confidence, even if they don't actually realise they lack confidence! Some of the time for riders, the area where they struggle has nothing to even do with horses themselves but presents itself as an 'issue' in their riding. Some of the most common things I come across are; overwhelming nerves, fear of judgment from others, lack of self-belief and beating themselves up when something doesn't go to plan. It can also manifest itself in feeling really unorganised, like too many plates are spinning or lacking motivation.
As a part of Evergreen Coaching, I've worked with riders who want to take their professional riding career to the next level, as well as those who simply want to be able to ask for canter without being terrified or be able to go on a hack and enjoy their horse again without sickening nerves or general horse fear. No rider is exempt from the effects of mindset, some are just better able to handle it, whether they realise they're handling it or not - but understanding horse behaviour and horse psychology can always help to soothe those nerves!
Once you have the tools to work on your mindset, you can start to 'fix' the issue that was presenting itself to you e.g. feeling sick with nerves. Not only this, but you will also find that there are secondary benefits such as improved performance, feeling much happier whilst riding, noticing that things don't go wrong for you as much, having better 'luck' among many other benefits.
As a mindset coach, I work with clients either on a 1-2-1 basis or through one of my online courses. I am a certified NLP practitioner and life coach as well as being an experienced rider and horsewoman. I hold both Undergraduate and Master’s degrees which both relate to this subject and I absolutely love research. This means that I am always pushing myself to learn new things and better understand topics. I famously ask ‘why?’ a lot, so if I don’t understand something such as ‘why our brains work the way they do’, I’ll research it.