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Willpower is definitely something I need to work on. I tend to make a lot of excuses or find a way around things. I definitely agree that a lot of physical challenges are largely mental. Track is a great example. Unless you're injured, all it takes to go a little faster is telling yourself you can. Excuses are so prominent in the sport, but my youth track coach always said success is 80% mental, which I believe. Being at top shape and ability requires a good mindset throughout the season of practice and preparation, and success in competition requires focusing on yourself, not letting other competitors get to your head, and convincing yourself all it takes to go a little faster is to decide to go a little faster.

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During swim season, Brenner put me in the 500 free. Why you might ask? Because it`s Brenner. Anyways, 20 laps seemed impossible to me. During the swim, I talked to myself in my head and gave myself some motivation. I do not think I could have finished it if I hadn`t motivated myself like that.

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I tend to find myself struggling with willpower. Recently, I have been trying to improve on this idea of strengthening my mind, rather than my body. I have previously used this "mind over matter" technique when running or diving. Running is NOT FUN for me, but if I keep consistent and positive, then it gets less and less painful. In diving, if I do not stay calm and completely confident in myself, bad things happen.

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Although I do not think of it as willpower at the time, I am sure I use it in many situations. In gymnastics if your head is not in the game that day or you think you are going to fall, there is a good chance you will. Half of the sport is a mind game. When I did gymnastics I always held myself back from doing awesome skills that I was physical capable of doing. Because of how cautious I was, I held myself back and I regret that every day. During conditioning I had to keep pushing myself to get stronger so I can do the skills I wanted to.

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Last track season I had shin splints for probably about half of the season. At districts, my last meet of the season, I was running the 800. I was supposed to place in it and medal, but my shin pains were so bad I was limping as I was racing. I wanted to quit. I did not think that I could finish, but I did.\\

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Although this can apply to more than just sports, I find that if my mind is strong while I'm running, I will be able to get through it or go farther or faster. This also helps me when I have a lot of homework that I don't want to do, especially calc. By telling myself to just get through one problem, and then the next, and then the next, I am able to finish all my homework even though I don't want to.

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AP world history last year was probably the most rigorous class I have taken in high school. I was unsure of even doing it at first, but I ended up going through with it to improve my writing skills. It basically took over my entire life, and I had absolutely no free time ever. There were tests every day, and always several pending assignments that consumed all of my free time.

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Thanks for sharing this video with us today, Lydia. Like the women in the video, I often use my mental attitude to overcome physical challenges. This weekend I am running a half marathon and know that there will be many moments when it will feel impossible to take another step. Much like the runner in the video, I will think I cannot go on, but knowing I have accomplished this before gives me a mental advantage.

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I think this saying is very important to remember. If you have the wrong mindset, it can be very challenging to overcome your struggles and fears. For me, I try to use willpower to overcome different challenges in my life, physical or not. As an example, during the school week it can be very hard to keep going because by the end of the week I am exhausted. However, I always try to find something to look forward to and this helps a lot.

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All of last season I used willpower to overcome many obstacles. During preseason, I pushed myself when I felt tired, like the women in the video, to make myself better and stronger. Then, it paid off when we played Northern, Maddie Hughes got hurt and we went into overtime. I pushed through and scored the game winning goal for the team. Lastly, I pushed myself, and my team, going into the state tournament to do better than we ever have before. And it worked. Although we didn't make it to the championship, we made it to the semifinals, and I couldn't have been sadder, but prouder, of my team.

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Every day I use willpower to just get myself out of bed and get myself through the week. I am not a morning person and I have no motivation to go to school each day, so when I wake up, I say to myself "three more days", "two more days" and then finally, "one more day". With the amounts of homework I get and the little amount of time I get to sleep, it is just really hard for me to be motivated. Sometimes, my willpower is not strong enough, and I definitely need to work on it, but in this case, it is really helpful and it gets me through each week.

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A popular saying is mind over matter. What does this saying mean? Google defines it as the use of willpower to overcome physical problems. It can be hard to feel like you need to give up, but often times the problem is not your body, it's your mind. This not only applies to sports, but also everyday life, whenever things get hard. So, my question is, what is something that you thought you couldn't overcome, but did by using willpower instead of physical strength?

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Nike Women - Better For It - Inner Thoughts