As I near the end of my doctorate in Sport and Exercise Psychology and begin to look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead, I decided it may be worth sharing some of the key lessons that I have learned along the way.
The first and perhaps hardest lesson I have learned is about honesty.
We think of honesty as being pure and simple. But honesty is about more than just telling the truth. Being honest often means doing the hard thing. Having that difficult conversation. And whilst being honest with others is important, what can be even more challenging is being honest with ourselves.
How often do you have that difficult conversation with yourself? Do you ever stop to think why did I behave that way? What purpose did that really serve? Did I really give my all today?
As athletes, coaches and sport psychologists it is important that we purposefully spend time looking inward, being honest with ourselves and asking the difficult questions.
We have to be able to acknowledge and own our mistakes, recognise when our biases may be playing a part and have those difficult conversations. These are the hard acts of honesty that will help us to better understand ourselves and all that we can achieve.
“Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying” - Fred Rogers
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