The Sports Mastermind
The Sports Mastermind is the premier sports psychology podcast. We break down and lay out step-by-step instructions teaching you how to implement the fundamentals of sports psychology. Each segment focuses on breaking down a specific element in 10 minutes or less.The content is relevant for young athletes all the way to the pros. The mental development of athletes applies to all sports, genders, levels and abilities. We break down complicated topics into easy to digest and implement segments. Internationally recognized expert Laura Ratto combines her experiences as a former professional athlete with her experience in the domestic and international sports industry to help athletes reach their full potential and optimize performance. She utilizes her Master’s Degree and CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) to develop programs for Olympic training centers, college curriculum and published works to help individuals in their quest to excel at every level. Laura Ratto teaches at several colleges including Cyamaca, Southwestern, and USK where she developed curriculum for an emphasis in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology for Kinesiology majors.
The Sports Mastermind
E41: What Is Your Purpose? Finding Your Ikigai - Maccabi Series Closing Thoughts
What is your purpose? Finding your ikigai - Maccabi Series Closing Thoughts
What is your Purpose - Maccabi Series and Closing thoughts
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Former NFL player and WWE wrestler Bill Goldberg walked onto the stage of opening ceremonies in front of 1500 athletes at the Del Mar Racetrack and started his speech off script because he couldn’t find his spot in the notes. I must admit, it was not what I expected from the opening speaker. He started it with “everyone has a story”. His dream was to play in the NFL and he succeeded. Then he moved on to wrestling because he needed a job. He found his purpose and he found it in wrestling? Not wrestling, but standing up to stereotypes. He breaks the stereotype and poses the question to everyone at opening ceremonies - What is your purpose?
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What is purpose? The dictionary defines purpose as “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. Personal sense of purpose is less of a specific end goal and more of an ongoing impact on the world large or small
Purpose is your own personal why and is different for every person. Purpose gives you stability and a sense of direction IN Japan, this idea is known as Ikigai - the concept of following your joy.
What is Ikigai (ee-key-guy)?
Ikigai is “Reason for being”
‘IKI’ - means life and ‘GAI’ describes value or worth
In Japan ikigai is your life purpose or Bliss. In Western culture it is used to find your dream career. For Sports, we will use it to help us figure out how to look at what we are doing, why we are doing it, and help us to find our purpose. Ikigai looks at four concepts when figuring out what you want to do.
1. what you love
2. what you're good at
3. what you can be paid for
4. what the world needs.
Ikigai or purpose helps you to look forward to the future even if things are not good at the moment.
- The first thing to do is to find your Ikigai In sports:
What you love. Do you love your sport? Are you more excited to go to practice than to leave? Do you think about your sport even when you are not playing it?
What you are good at. Do you excel at your sport? Are you one of the best or are you working toward that goal? Do you want to play at the highest level?
What the world needs. Will your sport still exist in the future? Is it in high demand? This component can be difficult to look at thru a sports lens. Another way to look at this component is: How can you use your sports experience and skill to help solve a social, economic, or environmental problem? For example, professional athletes that start scholarships or host community service projects.
What can you be paid for. Can you make a living off of your sport? Can you make a living off of a component of your sport. There are a very small number of professional athletes in the world relative to the number of athletes that WANTED or TRIED to compete at that level. However, there are many people that WORK in the sports industry (such as the front office, or logistics, or marketing) and continue to PLAY their sport.
If you answered YES to all four of these topics, then your sport can be your Ikigai - or purpose. But what if you did not? Let’s say that you answered yes to two of them - what you love and what you are good at.
What you Love + Good at = Passion
Good at + Paid for = Profession
Paid for + world needs = vocation
World needs + what you love = Mission
The balance between Passion, profession, vocation and Mission are all parts of a whole and are important in determining who we are and who we are going to be. For the parts that you answered no to, ask yourself why? Why did you answer no to that part? How can you change that no to a yes? What part of the situation needs to be different?
The next step is to brainstorm how to find your Ikigai, or purpose. What does your ideal day look like? How does it start? What are you doing? What are you wearing? Who do you interact with? How do you feel? How does it end? Be sure to write down what you are visualizing.
Now that you have an idea of what you want, the next step is to learn more about it. You can do this by hiring a coach, finding a mentor, taking classes, and studying to become an expert in what you want. One thing to remember is that even though you may not LOVE every aspect of it, you are willing to do the things that you need to to be successful. For example, you may love training for your sport, but the sprints to get you in cardiovascular shape may not be your favorite. But you know they are worth it as a means to achieve your goals.
The final thing to do is to develop a plan to implement your Ikigai.
How to find purpose in your life
- Develop a growth mindset and create small goals
- A growth mindset is
- A growth mindset can help you to embrace challenges, accept feedback, and get past failure
- Create a personal vision statement and plan out how you are going to achieve it
- A personal vision statement is
- A personal vision statement can help you manage stress and work toward your goals
- Explore your passions and interests to help you determine your purpose.
- Break down the small goals into things that you can do weekly and daily.
- Spend time with people who inspire you and create a support system. Jim Rohn, motivational speaker, said “you are the average of the five people you spend time with”. Think about the five people that you spend the most time with. Are they positive? Driven? Inspirational? Do they possess the qualities that you have or want to have?
- Test it out and make revisions as you go.
To Review, The Focus four for what is your purpose - finding your Ikigai are:
- The first thing to do is to find your Ikigai In sports - What do you love, what are you good at, what does the world need, and what can you be paid for
- The next step is to brainstorm how to find your Ikigai, or purpose. You can start by visualizing your ideal day and writing it down.
- The next step is to learn more about it through coaching, mentorship and study.
- The final thing to do is to develop a plan to implement your Ikigai. Have a growth mindset, create goals, have a plan, test it out and spend time with people who inspire you.
Do you know what your purpose is? What is one thing that you are going to take some time to focus on to help you find your Ikigai?. For assistance with practice or additional tools, contact me at RattoConsulting.com. If you or your coaches or organization are interested in hosting a workshop or virtual seminar on this or any other sports psychology or performance optimizing topic, please email me at Laura@RattoConsulting.com. I also wanted to wish congratulations to all of the winners of the Maccabi games.
“I’ve learned it’s important not to limit yourself. You can do whatever you really love to do, no matter what it is.” ~ Ryan Gosling
