September: A chance to refocus and renergise

At the heart of everything I do and all that I am, there are four key things that I rely upon.

Drive, energy, motivation and my values.

Moving into the next chapter of 2015, my biggest challenge is to focus on these, to feed and nurture them and ensure they are the foundation to my life everyday.

I am incredibly grateful for all the opportunities that come my way but I’m finding it increasingly hard to protect myself from the demands on my energy, drive and motivation. My values are always present in my mind and they are a choice to adhere to or not. However, my energy, drive and motivation can get battered from all sides and I have found myself in a place where I don’t have the reserves I need.

Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe
Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe

Protect the fire within

To me, this doesn’t make sense. There’s no point in doing things if ultimately they are going to lead me to a position that affects my ability to deliver, my enjoyment in life, or, and this one is really important, affect me. By me, I mean that little place inside me that fuels and fires everything.

Coming into the Autumn, I have had enough warning signs to take heed and as I refocus myself I am listening very carefully to what’s going on inside my head and my heart. I find the signs are always there if we look out for them, but often we don’t listen and that’s when things can go wrong.

A perfect time for change

With the turn of September 1st and the change in seasons, there’s a feeling everywhere of refocusing and getting back to business. I feel quite excited about this change because it’s a chance to address whatever needs work and a refocus before the end of the year.

Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe
Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe

Drive to improve

A key element throughout everything I do whether it’s sport, work or life related, is development and performance. Looking at how I can physically and mentally prepare and execute better in the challenges I set myself and projects I take on.

I want to be the best possible version of myself so that I can achieve things that make me feel good, be happy in life and give to others whether they are my family and friends or people I connect with through my activities, blogging and social media.

Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe
Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe

Partnering with K2

For the last year I’ve been an ambassador for K2. They help people in the workplace think, prepare and perform like elite athletes. The K2 coaches deliver training to businesses and individuals using the principles they’ve learnt from elite sport.

They have been instrumental in helping me this last 12 months and been right by my side in working through some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced. I had indepth conversations with K2’s coaches and pulling together information I read in The Performance Room we created videos and blogs to share my experiences and insights with you around these challenges:

  1. Learning how to maintain and maximise energy flow in everyday life
  2. Decision making in the thick of it
  3. Mentally preparing for big challenges
  4. Harnessing mental preparation to get a PB on the Vertical KM and run 100km in an ultramarathon
  5. Embracing change

(Click on links to view the content)

As our partnership progressed I’ve learnt more about high performance and the mindest around it. My relationship with K2 has developed to form a solid foundation in all that I do as being able to call on their expertise and talk with them when I really want to excel at something, I’m struggling to make sense of the next step in my journey, or indeed, when I want to dig deep into the mindset of performance, has been invaluable.

Correcting the course

My goal for the last chapter of 2015 is to focus on the personal and professional relationships that are important to me, as I believe they are the source of happiness, love and fulfillment.

Everyday is a chance to correct the course we’re on, it’s up to us whether we take it and what we make of it.

Keep joining me on this journey, big love to you all!

Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe
Challenge Sophie - Sophie Radcliffe

If you are interested in improving your performance, I'd love you to hook up with K2. Check out their work here:

PlanetK2.com

Twitter.com/planetk2