Why Do I Feel Great When I Win and Terrible When I Lose?

Trusting the Waiting Period: Faithfulness in the Unseen

Overcoming Outcome-Based Anxiety: A Devotional with Ronnie Baker

In this episode, Olympic sprinter and Christian mentor Ronnie Baker discusses dealing with outcome-based anxiety. Through personal stories of setbacks and challenges, including injuries and missed opportunities, Ronnie illustrates the struggle athletes face when tying their self-worth to performance results. He emphasizes the importance of faith, highlighting Proverbs 3:5-6, and offers practical steps for overcoming fear and trusting God's plan. Ronnie's devotional encourages athletes to find peace in faith rather than outcomes and to view setbacks as opportunities for personal growth and spiritual development.

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Transcript

Ronnie Baker 0:17

Do you ever feel like you did everything right and still came up short? I'm gonna let you know that I've been in the same boat. So let's get into it. I am Ronnie Baker, your favorite Olympic sprinter and Christian mentor discipling you on how to navigate your faith in your sport. in today's devotional, we're gonna talk about how you can get rid of outcome-based anxiety. So you're feeling like you did everything right and you're still coming up short. That is a hard place to be. You go all in, you work with everything you've got. You plan, you prepare, you show up, and when the moment comes, it just doesn't happen. I've been in this place so many times in my career, just this year in 2025, I had run a complete indoor season. and I was feeling very confident. It's the first time I had to run and won a race in over four years. So I had a really big drought in my career and I was getting back to clicking off these times, winning these races, making some good money as well. But had the fastest time going into this World Indoor Championship. The first one I had been in since 2018, over seven years. Okay. Everything was going right. I was running, I was winning. God was protecting me through these races cause I didn't always feel the best. And I remember getting to the World Indoor Championships. I'd won every single race leading up until the final and in the final 10 meters. Before I was gonna cross the line and finish and get a medal. I strained my left hamstring. So I've been in those places. How about being at the NCAA level for four years, being one of the top runners and never making an NCAA a hundred meter final. How about being one of the top ranked runners in 2017 trying to make your first outdoor world team and straining your hamstring in the first round? On the first day I've had those races and in the silence afterwards, those thoughts just start to flood in. They hit so heavy and you ask yourself, did I miss it? Was all this work even worth it? Why would God let this happen to me? Why is this happening to me again? After seven years of hard work, I'm finally in the place where I've dreamed of being, and I strain my hamstring. I get an injury yet again in the last race of the season, the most important one. And those questions, they don't just mess with your mood. They mess with your mind. They mess with your life. So let's talk about what's really going on inside of you. What's going on underneath the surface? What most athletes experience in moments like these is a psychological pattern called outcome based anxiety. It is basically when your brain starts tying your internal peace to an external result. The subconscious message becomes this, if I don't win, I don't belong. If I fall short, God didn't hear my prayers. God doesn't care about me. If I fall short, the world will think blank of me. If I don't win this race, how will my legacy be defined? These are all things that used to run through my mind and here's the dangerous part about it. When your identity gets attached to outcomes, every race feels like a test of who you are. Not just your ability, but your value. When every race is a test of who you are and not just your ability, that causes constant tension in your mind, your nervous system, the thing that allows you to sprint at a high level, to run at a high level. It's in survival mode. You're no longer competing. You're defending your worth. Now, do you guys see where that can be a problem? You're not just trying to compete and beat your opponent. You're literally defending your worth. That can cause a lot of issues that can cause you to perform in a way that you don't want to. It can cause you to perform in a way that is trying to validate who you are instead of just showcasing the work that you've put in. But let me tell you this, Faith rewires that entire equation. Let's talk about scripture. Proverbs three, five through six says, trust in Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. that phrase, lean not to your own understanding. Is a direct challenge to how most of us process pain, injuries, loss and setback. The brain's default message is, if it didn't go how I expected, then it must not be good. If it didn't go how I expected, God must have not answered my prayers, but here's God's perspective. You don't have to understand it to grow from it. You just have to trust me through it. Wow, isn't that powerful? You just have to trust God through it. You see, God's not just trying to help you win races. As a matter of fact, that's not his goal at all. What he's helping you do is he's actually shaping you to win battles of belief. A lot of the setbacks that I've had in my career, I can look back at them and realize that God was using them to shape me into a better man, to shape me into a better husband, to shape me into a better son, a better father, a better brother, a better friend. I can tell you that I've had lots of injuries in my career. I haven't won as much as I thought I would. I'm not in a place where I. Thought I would be at this point in my career, I quite frankly thought I'd be the best ever to run, the fastest ever to run, have world records, have medals, but that hasn't happened for me. Boar realized is that God used every single one of those moments to grow me. He used every single one of those moments to bring about my purification, my sanctification, and ultimately to tie me and bring me back to him, back to the heart of God. So what I wanna tell you is the scoreboard that you're watching isn't always the scoreboard that God's working on. there was a time I had trained harder than ever. I've talked about it. I've trained hard. My whole career, been doing this for nine years as a professional. I was healthy, I was locked in, I was focused. I talked to you guys about that. This was it. This was my time. But when the race came again, you guys heard my story. I didn't even finish healthy the night in the hotel room. I didn't just feel disappointed, I felt confused, but then I remembered, this in my quiet time. I just felt the spirit say, you trusted me with this race. You trusted me with this season now, trust me with this result. And that shifted everything for me, and I hope that it's shifting your perspective too, because it showed me that faith isn't just about how you prepare, it's about how you respond when the outcome doesn't match the effort. How do you respond when the outcome doesn't match the effort? That's what true faith really means. It's saying, God, I put in the work, but even if I get injured, even if I don't win. I'm still gonna trust you. I'm still gonna believe that's true Faith, True faith really gets tested when you're in the setback. When you're in the injury, when you take the L, that's where true faith shines through, and ultimately it's the only way that you can grow. So rejoice when you face trials of many kinds. This is what the word says because it produces perseverance. so here's your spiritual challenge. Let's apply this to our lives right now. Step one, acknowledge the fear. Ask yourself, what am I afraid of? What am I afraid will happen if I don't win? Write that down, get it out of your head and onto some paper What am I afraid will happen if I don't win? Alright, step number two, release the outcome under that fear, right? God, this outcome is yours and I surrender it. Step three, anchor that in truth. Memorize. Proverbs three, five through six. Every time anxiety rises, repeat it out loud. I trust in the Lord with all my heart. I don't have to understand this. I will not lean to my own understanding. All right, let me pray for you, father God. I've been holding this scoreboard in my own hands, but it's not mine to carry. I give you the results, the wins, the losses, the confusion, the missed expectations, which will happen. Teach me to find peace in you, not in outcomes. I trust you with the path that you have me on. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You don't have to understand everything, guys. Remember to trust God in anything and everything and let him write the story and the scoreboard because he is the perfect author. So guys, if this encouraged you today, share it. Please share it with another athlete who needs to hear this. And if you're still trying to figure out how to balance faith in sport, I'm gonna let you know you are not alone. Keep showing up, keep trusting God. And remember, defeat is optional when your hope is in him. I'm Ronnie Baker and I'll see you in the next one.