Why Forgetting Your Headphones is Good For You
*This piece is written for athletes and exercisers but can be applied to all folks who over-rely on headphones to get their work done and go through their routines.
If you go to the gym with any type of regularity you have forgotten your headphones at least once. What do you do when you’ve left them at home or in your other bag?
I’ve seen and heard of athletes and exercisers who can’t handle the fact that they don’t have their headphones. They become angry, frustrated, or upset. Their emotions take over. Some might decide that their workout is now ruined. Some think they can’t even workout without them, turn around, and go home.
What do you decide to do?
Are you the athlete who lets your emotions run wild? You might decide that your workout is completely ruined and maybe even let that ruin your entire day. If that happens, then you’ve let your emotions control the situation.
It’s frustrating when things don’t go to plan. When you have a killer workout planned and the perfect playlist to go with it but no way to listen to it is annoying. It can feel like you can’t have a good workout since you’re off your routine. You are entitled to those feelings; they are real and should be expressed.
However, the frustration, anger, or sadness should not determine or control how well you do your workout. The emotions should not provide a lame excuse for you to go home, have a terrible workout, or have a poor attitude.
Carefully designed plans are interrupted. Life does not always go the way you want it to. While in the grand scheme forgotten headphones are insignificant, your reactions and decisions represent something much larger. You build and break life-changing habits in these small moments. How you do the little things will be how you do the big things. Do not blow off opportunities to build positive habits.
Instead, use it as an opportunity to build mental toughness.
Mental toughness, grit, determination, will power, and discipline are all exercised and developed when the situation is not ideal. You build these skills when you make the more difficult decision. It’s easy to let your emotions take over. It’s easy for you to get upset and make rash decisions. It’s difficult to make the most of your current situation.
In this case, it’s understanding that you forgot your headphones but not allowing it to determine your effort, your mindset, and your attitude about attacking your workout.
In order to truly build greater mental strength, you need to understand why you “need” the music in the first place. What is so important about having your headphones? Many people say it’s to keep their energy up. Others say it’s to stay focused and not get distracted by others.
Develop Mental Skills
If you “need” your headphones to keep your energy up, then forgetting them is an awesome opportunity to build energy management skills. You get to find other ways to get ready for big lifts. Work on positive self-talk to get your mind ready. You get to tweak your routine so that you don’t have to rely on anything but yourself to get to work done. You get to use self-awareness to truly understand how your mind and body are feeling moment-to-moment allowing for you to appropriately adjust.
If you “need” your headphones to stay focused, then you now have the chance to build better concentration habits. Relying on music takes away from your ability to place your attention where it needs to be in the moment. Shifting your attention appropriately is a skill, and skills can be developed. You can build greater mental strength by intentionally focusing on your workout. When you get distracted, you quickly realize it and shift back to your workout. With time and practice, you will become more skilled at shifting your attention and have greater focus on your workout.
Take on the opportunities right in front of you. Forgotten headphones allows for you to work a little harder to keep your routine, intensity, and mindset. The next day you can bring your headphones and go back to your regularly scheduled programming. I encourage you to continue to test yourself and “forget” your headphones every once in a while.
Thanks for reading! I am a Certified Mental Performance Coach. I currently have a few select spots open for coaching. Set up a free 15 minute phone consultation with me by sending me a message here!
