The magic of self-belief…

Over the years I’ve written about a host of important personal topics including mindset and self-belief.  I’m a big believer that these two things often separate those of us that are successful in what we pursue and those that are not.

Earlier this week I was relating a personal story of mine to Judy as I felt she was going through a dip in self-belief is approaching a significant event in her life, but more about that later.

Cast your mind back to when i first began my writing journey in preparation for my hike across the rugged Kokoda Track of Papua New Guinea in November 2011.

As you know the Kokoda track is set through the Owen Stanley mountain range. There were many difficulties, but certainly the most daunting was that we were going to be hiking from sea-level to over 2150 metres (7,000 feet) and everything in-between on our 8-day hike with a 25kg pack.

Now, couple this with dense, dark and thick jungle terrain, precipitous trails along the edges of cliffs, fording mountain streams, acclimatizing to high altitudes with often slippery trails and you have a sense of what I was facing.

So, indeed I needed to be prepared.  In fact, I needed to be the fittest I’d ever been to think about taking on this challenge.

In preparation for this epic hike across some of the most isolated and inhospitable landscapes on earth I had been training for six months.  I had enlisted a boxing coach (Horace) who I was training with three mornings per week for an hour, plus walking every day for extended periods plus a 25km hike on the weekend with a 25kg backpack.

As my departure from Canada approached, I felt ready to tackle whatever the Kokoda track could throw at me…   Famous last words – right!.

After my 24-hour flight to Melbourne, my best mate Craig picked me up from the airport as I was staying with him overnight before we both left for Papua New Guinea.

A short sleep as our wakeup call was 3:30 am to catch the bus back to the Melbourne airport, but I was able to snooze on the subsequent flights to Brisbane and then on to Port Moresby.

When I got off the flight from Brisbane, I noticed that my Achilles was sore and a little swollen, but I put it down to flying for over 30 hours, so didn’t think much of it.

As the night progressed through our briefing and dinner the pain in my ankle became more intense, but I brushed it off and thought that it would be okay in the morning.

When I woke up, it hadn’t improved but I felt confident that it would be okay once I started hiking.

After our 30-minute flight in an old cargo plane over the mountains to the northern side of the Owen Stanleys we were deposited at a grass airstrip with the mountains rising high above us.  We hiked a short distance into the village of Kokoda before having a quick lunch.

We set out toward our first overnight stop which was only 5 kms south up on a ridgeline overlooking the airstrip.   Should be a good way to ease into the hike and what was ahead of us.

I think it was about this time that my ankle decided not to play and by now had begun to seize up.  I was putting on a brave face, but Craig could tell I was in some pain.

As we began trekking out of the village up the track, flanked by rubber plantations it became painfully obvious that I was in a bit of trouble.

Upon reflection, it wasn’t actually my ankle that was the problem.  Nope, it was my lack of confidence in my ability to tackle this challenge. I was having a crisis of self-belief!

As with all isolated hikes, our guide had placed one of his trusted team to be the last in the column and so he kept me company as I hobbled along using my hike poles to take of the strain off my ankle.   I can imagine he must have been incredulous that someone so obviously out of his depth in terms of his fitness was even here attempting this epic hike.

It didn’t bode well for me to make it past day one at this point.  Finally arriving at the village of Deniki about 30 minutes after the last person in our group.

I was completely demoralized…   After all my preparation, here I was physically struggling to make it to the first village.

During my walk from Kokoda to Deniki, as I watched the group disappear into the distance, I began talking to myself.

What came to me was that I had to convince my mind that I was prepared for this and could easily handle the rigours of this hike after what I’d trained myself for.  My crisis of confidence was in the form of my lack of self-belief in that I could do this.

After dinner I climbed into my tent and wrote in my journal about the mental challenges that I was facing but affirmed my confidence in my ability to complete this hike.

Given that I was still tired I slept reasonably well.

I had set my alarm for 4:30 am which became my routine for the entire trip as it gave me time to prepare both physically and mentally each day.  I tended to hot-spots on my feet and began a ritual of positive self-talk.  This 30-minute daily pep talk to myself eased my stress, but more importantly build my self-confidence.

I knew I was fully prepared for the challenge ahead of me… I just had to believe that I could do it.

Day two dawned and miraculously the swelling in my Achilles was much better.  With my confidence buoyed I was finally ready and able to take on the infamous Kokoda track.

I truly believe that my mind was the major culprit in my challenges on that first day, I just had to have the self-belief and confidence in my ability to do it.

And with that, other than a bout of gastro on day seven I was feeling great.  With each passing day my body adjusted to the steep inclines and irrepressible climate to the point I felt euphoric for much of the days I was on the track.

Such an incredible turn around.

This was my story to Judy as she is approaching her first modelling agency photoshoot later in the week.  She had woken up with a swollen eye and feeling pretty crappy, I could tell her self-confidence was down and so I relayed my story from Kokoda.

I also reassured her that she was totally ready for this new chapter of her life and that she was well prepared to make it a huge success.

Being there to support and boost her self-belief and confidence leading into this photoshoot helped her get over the mental hurdle, and with that her eye miraculously returned to normal prior to the shoot…

Our minds and mindset are both our number one strength and weakness.

Until next week.

Ciao!