START YOUR WEEK LIKE A BOXING CHAMPION

Els Kolster
Jun 14, 2018
4 min read

When the start of the week feels like a sparring session

Imagine, it’s a Monday morning, you wrap your hands and start to do some shadow boxing to warm up. After your warm up, it's time to put your gloves, mouth and head gear on. You make your way into the ring. Standing in your corner, looking around, inspecting the ring and the space you have to fight in. Your opponent shows up standing in the opposite corner. The tension is building up and your heart beats faster of not knowing what is going to happen next. The bell rings you make your way to the middle to meet your opponent, you touch gloves….

If your life/work is not moving in the direction you would like it to, then your Mondays probably feel like a sparring session, not far off from what I described earlier. For me, Mondays are the beginning of another chapter of work/life balance. It excites me to think about how many new people I meet, connect and collaborate with. There are always new opportunities, ideas for growth and true expansion of my business.

Let’s try and understand the sparring session, turn your Mondays (or any weekdays) into something more exciting. Let’s tackle it upfront because whether you like it or not Monday is coming again every seven days.

WHEN YOU STEP INTO THE RING

Trust your process, your performance‘Train hard, fight easy’ is a common quote used in boxing. When you have trained and worked hard on your performance then you will need to trust this and let any anxiety or fear, of what might happen, go. The outcome is something you can’t control but you can control your performance.

WHEN YOU MEET YOUR OPPONENT IN THE RING

The importance of your stance, presence Your presence reflects back in the ring. If you trust your performance and don’t feel anxiety or fear, you feel much more calm, you can stand tall and feel confident like a real champion. As your opponent reads your body language, your foundation, (your stance) in the ring makes a difference during the fight. It’s up to you how you show up at work on a Monday morning and approach situations. It’s your ‘energy’ and presence that has an impact on your peers.

DURING THE FIGHT

Your perspective - How do you approach your challenge? When you are in the ring the space you have to fight in is between 4.9 and 6.1 meters. It’s you and the opponent in that small space. What do you do? How do you view your challenge? Every fighter has a different approach and different strength. The only difference is that a really good professional fighter will view their opponent first before throwing any punches. How do they move in the ring? What do I need to do to find that opportunity to win. You have 12 rounds to go so being in the attack mode in the first round will exhaust you and you will feel defeated. The emphasis here is all about seeing the big picture. If Monday is a struggle, where does the struggle lay and when does it happen? How are you going to defeat this and make your Monday a ‘motivation’ day and help you keep going all week.

OWN THE RING

You are the creator of your own winnings / achievementsIn the end it’s all about you… how you own the ring, the fight. Fighters who have the strongest mind to win, dominate the fight and owns the ring are most likely to win. How do you corner a challenge while maintaining the distance with your opponent to view the big picture. Boxing is 80% mental, 20% physical and 0% aggression.

YOUR COACH

Finally, there’s a coach in your cornerIn boxing everyone has a coach in their corner. To give you encouragement, motivation and final advice to push forward in the fight. They are key to your achievements and the ones that look from outside of the ring, to help you broaden your perspective from a 2 to 3 dimensional. Coaches are the ones that will help you to bring the best out of you. They see a champion in you way before you even see it yourself. Find your coach, find that person, friend, colleague or family member, that inspires and motivates you. To push through your Mondays and help you to feel and be a champ at the end of the week.

SOMETIMES YOU WIN, SOMETIMES YOU LEARN

'Fall down 7 stand up 8' Is another common quote used in boxing. Being a champ doesn't mean you always need to win. It's about getting back up again and learn how to be even better. It's a personal development and an opportunity to grow. In boxing defeat is declared not when you fall, is when you refuse to stand up again.