Get out of Your Head and into Your Mind: The Missing Piece to Winning at Barrel Racing Secrets the Pros Don’t Tell You

By S. W. Johnson

Barrel racers, do you have a burning desire to be at the top of your game? Do you want success so bad you can taste it? Are you tired of wondering why it’s so hard to make it? Are you done with making excuses and ready to do what it takes? You’ve trained so hard, what’s left? In this book, find the secret to becoming a winning barrel racer. Top athletes and sports psychologists know that winning is as much mental as physical. Here is your road map to winning through mental toughness. Unleash the champion in you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Apr 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781504396998

S. W. Johnson

Shelly was born into a horse legacy spanning generations. She grew up riding before she could walk. Her family bred and raised a small herd of horses. Thanks to the knowledge and skilled horsemanship of her father, she was always mounted on a great horse. She competed in the 4-H horse program throughout childhood as well as the National High School Rodeo Association. Shelly is a member of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association and is an active competitor in the Wilderness Circuit. She is a long-time horse breeder and trainer competing in futurities with her young horses as well as open jackpot barrel racing competitions. Her father, Lyman Watkins, was a great horseman and horse trainer with an intuitive understanding of horse behavior and what needed to be done to fix problems. He often successfully took on horses that other trainers had sent away, having advised their owners to send them for dog food because they were untrainable. Lyman miraculously turned them into reliable and useful mounts. Together with her older brother Dale, he developed and patented the Cloverleaf Bitless Bridle ®, and its training and use system which is laid out in the book Secrets That Tame the Wild Ones© authored by L. Dale Watkins. Although her father and brother have passed, their legacy lives on in Shelly’s skill and knowledge that was taught to her by these great horsemen. She uses the Cloverleaf Bitless Bridle® system in her training program. Another of her older brothers, Tom Watkins, still custom manufactures a limited number of the bridles. Shelly has overcome several serious and debilitating accidents. She was told on more than one occasion she would likely never ride again and would certainly never compete at a pro level again. Shelly’s mentally tough strategies brought her back from the depth of despair, and devastating injuries to once again compete as a professional. Shelly holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing Science from the University of Utah, a Masters of Nursing Science degree from Grand Canyon University and is a certified Sports Hypnotist. She taught as an adjunct nursing professor at Mohave Community College and has spent more than 20 years caring for patients in the fields of geriatrics, hospice, and oncology. Her nursing work with cancer patients has given her great insight into the healing power of the mind. She has incorporated eastern healing techniques that utilize the powerful mind-body connection in her nursing and personal practices. She has studied and practiced intentional creation and manifestation for more than 25 years and has been a personal witness to miraculous events brought about by the power of belief Says Shelly, “Horses hold a profound healing power for me. I have taught and helped many students gain insights into themselves by looking at how their beliefs are manifested through their horses and how changing and strengthening those beliefs through the development of mental skills changes their horse’s response. I want to help people, especially women, to become strong. Our equine partners reflect us, so we know where to begin the work.” Her book Get out of Your Head and Into Your Mind is the first volume in ‘The Mentally Tough Barrel Racer’ series.

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Copyright © 2018 S. W. Johnson.

Author Photo: WT Bruce Photos

Cover Photo: Off Topic Photography

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-9670-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-9671-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-9699-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018901240

Balboa Press rev. date:  04/09/2018

Dedication

To all the great teachers that have influenced my mind and my reality.

To barrel racers everywhere that never give up.

Contents

Chapter 1     Becoming Mentally Tough

Chapter 2     The Will (Or Will Not)

Chapter 3     Intentional Creation

Chapter 4     Embracing The Present Moment

Chapter 5     Become Humble To Become Powerful

Chapter 6     Creating Your Own Miracles

Chapter 7     Your Metamorphosis

Chapter 8     Does Your Mind Matter

Chapter 9     Self-Image

Chapter 10   Changing The Self-Image

Chapter 11   Reality…Is It Real

Chapter 12   Skill Building – Break It Down For Confidence

Chapter 13   Giving It Your All — How Much Is Too Much

Chapter 14   Overcoming The Past – Preparing For The Future

Chapter 15   Practice Vs Competition

Chapter 16   Is It Luck? Creating Opportunity

Chapter 17   Avoiding Energy Vampires

Chapter 18   Attention/Intention

Chapter 19   What About Goals

Chapter 20   The Feeling Place

Chapter 21   Accepting Responsibility

Chapter 22   Knowledge – Your Superpower

Chapter 23   The Problem With Knowing Stuff

Chapter 24   Paradigms – What Are They

Chapter 25   Change Your Paradigm – Change Your Results

Chapter 26   Summary

Introduction

By Shelly Johnson

I have always known that the mental aspect of competition was important. I looked at winning as a learned skill, just as the activity or sport you are competing in is a learned skill.

Many participants in various sports like the sport but rarely win. They show up at all the local events, and they participate. They love the idea that they can say, Oh, yes, I am a… (fill in the blank: dog handler, barrel racer, runner, shooter, archer), etc. They don’t seem to mind not winning as long as they can identify themselves [to others] with the sport. Their motivation is external.

Then there are competitors that love the sport and want to win. They practice and practice but wins are rare to never. They constantly seek advice from friends immediately before or after their performance, trying the latest gimmick, equipment, or fad hoping to get closer to a win. They are often frustrated and tearful after yet another disappointing performance. The occasional placement high enough to hear their name called among the winners keeps them coming back, especially in sports that have divisional or ranked formats.

Then there are competitors that consistently place high on the leaderboard. It doesn’t seem to matter if they make mistakes here and there, they always fall just right to retain a place among the top five or ten. Of course, that leaves us with the tiny percentage who always seem to take the top spot with few exceptions.

Knowing what winning feels like is essential. It creates an expectation that the subconscious strives to meet. Imagining how winning feels is a good motivator. It drives us to practice, read, take lessons, improve our understanding and skill level, and ask questions. But when the win doesn’t’ come after all that, it can shoot the self-confidence down. It leads us to constantly berate ourselves. The mental beating we carry out serves to lower the self-image, keeping us in that subconscious state of, I’m just not good enough.

In the act of self-preservation, the ego comes charging to the rescue, and we blame. We have to. No one can long withstand the mental anguish of not good enough. Unfortunately, it is blame that turns us into victims and ultimately renders us defenseless. As we become more and more focused on the environment in which we find ourselves, those external circumstances weaken us.

We are constantly distracted from the inward journey of learning and progressing. Mental toughness is accomplished by changing our response to any situation from an environmental based response to a process based response.

It is vital that we are open to understanding basic concepts about how the unconscious brain works to make us who we are. ‘Who we are’ on the unconscious level, makes it ‘like us’ to respond in a certain way.

To become mentally tough, we must learn processes to recognize and change our unconscious perception of what is currently ‘us’ right now, to what we would like it to be. As we make this change, we will be able to react and respond to our environment in a consistent and predictable manner. The results we desire will become duplicable.

We cannot always control the environment or circumstances in which we compete. What we can control, is the way we respond. The way we respond can be learned as a process. Processes have steps to build skill. Skill is ultimately developed by repetition. Greatness is a skill that is constantly observed and practiced with laser focus on increasingly subtle modifications in process. These final modifications are imperceptible to everyone but the performer.

Greatness is fueled by a burning desire to know, to understand the process and then do it without fear.

What stands between good, better, best, and great? Secrets. Secrets that are only available once we let go of old perceptions and begin to ask the right questions. Secrets that are only understood as we grow and change. Secrets that reveal themselves as we become.

It is time to stop watching and believing the re-run of that same old movie playing in your head. It’s time to un-know what you think you know, time to stop reacting to outside pressure and expectations. You have the most powerful resource in the universe. You have greatness within you. It is time to get out of your head and into your mind.

1

Becoming Mentally Tough

Believing that the circumstances around him are stronger than the power within him, a man is defeated before the race is run. -Raymond Holliwell

What is mental toughness? How do we achieve it? Mental toughness is the process whereby we attain the ability to focus on the thoughts we desire rather than becoming distracted by events in our environment that we cannot control. Sound impossible? Well, fear not. Mental toughness is a skill, and like any skill, it can be developed.

When we think about developing a new physical skill, most of us understand that we are not going to be proficient at that skill immediately. Say you want to play the piano; you schedule a lesson and begin learning how to play. You wouldn’t expect to be able to play a piece by Chopin within a few weeks of your first lesson.

We all have an understanding of the way physical skills are developed. We learn the basics, we practice the basics, and we become proficient at the basics. Once we have the basics mastered, we begin adding additional aspects slowly until we are able to perform advanced skills easily. Eventually, we don’t have to think about every little muscle movement required to produce our intended outcomes.

Once subconscious action easily follows intention we have achieved muscle memory. We can then play a complex piece of music. Through focused practice, we develop confidence in our ability to place our fingers where they need to be to play the music. But, does having this skill allow us to perform flawlessly in front of an audience? Does the audience itself affect performance? Would we confidently play a sophisticated piece for a high school music class and yet struggle with the same arrangement before an audience of the world’s top musicians?

Why is it so easy for some to perform flawlessly in any environment and so difficult for others? People who learn to play the piano attain varying levels of accomplishment. Some will play simple pieces for their own enjoyment. Some will play in social situations such as an accompanist to vocalists in schools or churches. Some may play keyboards in a band. Only a few will move to the elite level of a concert pianist. What is the difference in these levels of accomplishment? Quite simply, it is passion. This passion will ultimately drive the amount of practice and sacrifice required to reach the highest level of ability. Passion will motivate the student to conquer obstacles to achieve the highest goal. Passion will encourage the pursuit of knowledge to obtain the skills needed to perform at the elite level.

The thing most people don’t consider when conceptualizing top athletes are the mental skills that were developed along with the physical abilities that allow them to be at the top. They have not just accomplished a task; they have attained a different state of being from the average person with a casual interest.

So, if mental toughness is a skill, necessary to perform at the peak of our abilities, where do we go to learn how to get better at it? Countless books describe the physical training, equipment, and horse power needed for a barrel racer to perform at the top, but few, if any, address developing and managing mental skills to enhance barrel racing performance at the highest level. Many athletes have the physical skills, equipment, and means to be among the elite but fail to perform at the best of their abilities under pressure. Why? Performance anxiety has prematurely stunted or halted the careers of many athletes. When their heads get in the way of their minds, the result is frustration and self-defeating behaviors.

In this book, I will refer to your head in the context of the analytical, black and white process we typically use to judge things as good or bad according to a set of acquired beliefs such as winning is a good thing and losing is a bad thing. Therefore, if I win I am good, if I lose, I am bad. Conversely, I will use the term mind to denote the effortless unconscious flow of action that does not require analysis to perform. An example would be