Bravery & Fear; You are what you believe, you are the words you use!

I AM
I CAN
Four simple words that can be so unbelievably powerful or incredibly devastating.
“ Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble” - Yehuda Berg
Our inner head trash can be one of the most shattering parts of our performance and we often sabotage ourselves before we even start. In the book ‘The Brave Athlete’ by Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson, they speak of the three brains we have; your ancient chip brain keeps you alive, your modern professor brain that navigates the civilized world and your computer brain that accesses your memories and runs your habits (good and bad). They fight for control all the time and that when bad things happen; you get crazy nervous before a race, you choke under pressure, you quit when the going gets tough, you make dumb mistakes, you worry about how you look.
What if you could stop the thoughts and feelings you don’t want? What if you could feel confident, suffer like a hero and handle any stress? You can.
You can train your brain, you can train you thoughts and you can train the words that you are speaking when it comes to your everyday life and your sporting performance.
Standing on the side of the lake getting ready to race a half Ironman I took a few minutes of quiet time and the words going through my head were
I AM STRONG
I AM CONFIDENT
I AM DETERMINED I AM FIERCE
I CAN SWIM with the faster group I CAN BIKE HARD
I CAN SUFFER and be alright
My inner head trash was non- existent. I was loose and confident leading into the race. This mentality freed me up to tackle what the day had planned. I am able to better handle obstacles as they come at me and control all the parts of the day that I am able to control.
My control comes from my ability to transform into my alter-ego...which to this day still remains nameless but exists! Todd Herman, creator of the 90 day year, talks about amplifying your strengths with an alter ego as a means to get out of your own way. In critical moments that could potentially be great opportunities for growth and expansion many of us are not prepared to take advantage of those opportunities because we lack the tools and skills necessary to execute when we need it most. I have

taught myself that when the swim cap goes on the alter ego comes out and I rise to the level of my training and I rise to occasion that the day presents.
So...next time you are faced with an obstacle or an opportunity what will your I AM I CAN words be? 

Brad Kahn
Athlete, myofascial release specialist, strength and conditioning coach, author.