Who will you be 10 months from now?
Truly investing: paying money to work with a mindfulness coach - to help with my anxiety playing in Poland, so I could begin reframing my loses, failures and my experiences towards growth. Two years ago, I began investing in another personal coach - a much BIGGER financial commitment (it scared me) It was almost half of my monthly salary.
The exercise was to write a letter to my present self (10 months from now) and to get clear on my grandest version of myself.. to not hold anything back - how great could that version be! From there, my coach and I began to reverse engineer my vision and we began to work more intentionally and purposeful in alignment towards that self. It's the same exercise I have the noezybuckets athletes and the private clients I work with write. The athletes I work with get very clear and very specific on this grandest version of themself, what they achieved, the teams they made, how well they did, individual awards, the routines and habits they committed to, the sacrifices they made to ensure they were prioritizing their goals and if all that work was worth it. To finish the letter, they describe their new goals, aspirations and vision for themselves going into the next year.
It's the best feeling to hear and see them read to me - their vision and belief of their grandest version, while listing all the routines/habits they've committed and the sacrifices they've made on their quest. To evolve, I believe we must first get clear on our goals - it's not necessarily a finish line, it's more of a compass. Regardless of where we are in our journey, we will all have "bad games" dark days and doubts that will seemingly anchor us to port - but with this compass, we can begin our journey with confidence.
One of the things in the letter I wrote, was I wanted to be the best libero in Poland.
Last year I was 2nd best receiving libero
The year before I was 5th best
Maybe I'll finish 1st this year, maybe I won't.
It's not necessarily my ranking that dictates my definition of success, rather, it's the intention, purpose and my ability to reframe the circumstances and situations I find myself in when things don't go my way that will define it. My goal is to work, live and embody the characteristics of the best receiver, every single day. You can access this consciousness too. Only your belief system is holding you back, I know this.. because I held myself back as well. If you want to get clear on your vision of your grandest self and begin crafting the intentional work that will get you there faster - DM me "allin" and me and my team will see if you're ready to work with me 1v1. I'm ALL IN on myself and the next generation of ballers - If I can do it, so can you.
If you would like to know more about the 1v1 partnership with me, email me at dustinwatten@gmail.com and my team and I will get back to if you or your favorite athlete meets the criteria.
Want to read the letter I wrote to myself 2 years ago? Read below
These last 10 months have been amazing as I have not only committed to and grown my daily routine but I have gotten outside my comfort zone to share my message of mindfulness to so many people throughout the world. By making sure the first 90 minutes of the day are spent meditating and writing, I’ve been able to start each day with a clear and intentional mind, soaking myself in the philosophy and mindfulness that I find so beneficial in life. Committing to an early morning schedule of meditating for a hour and writing for 30 minutes has been tough in the past but by being disciplined and getting great sleep, I’ve been able to wake up with a surplus of energy and a decisive plan on what I wanted to write about from the night before.
By writing about philosophy, stoicism, mindfulness and how these topics can benefit the modern day athlete, I’ve been able to feel more confident in my ability to vocalize what I’ve felt on the court and speak to audiences around the USA. Not only has this benefitted athlete around the USA but by committing to my hour morning meditation and writing upon waking, I’ve given myself the gift of mindfulness and strength to deal with the inevitable struggles in training and in games – navigating these challenges with poise and confidence – leading my best season of my career and earning best Libero in the Plus-Liga. My huge year in Poland, translated into an immense confidence as I returned to Team USA, training at even a higher level and traveling with the team in VNL, where I started some games but mostly came into games as a defensive libero, making big plays to help the team win a gold medal in the Final 6 in Italy.
A lot of my success in Poland and with Team USA can be linked to the work I’ve done with my visualization coach and with this success and knowledge, I toured around California speaking about the benefits to different schools and teams. After returning to the USA and leading up to our official training block, I’ve traveled throughout southern California speaking to teams, schools and being guests on different podcasts, sharing my journey of becoming plant based, pursuing mindfulness and the benefits of working with intention on and off the court. After a couple of speeches to schools and youth teams, I was hired by USA Volleyball to speak at their HP camps for $5,000, the first paying job of the summer but not the last, as I spoke several more times to USA affiliated events. During my time in Poland, I began to build my brand, NO EZY BUCKETS – speaking about the grit and resilience which is in every athlete’s power to seek different edges outside the court, mostly through mindfulness practices such as journaling and to look at failures welcoming as their biggest gifts and teachers.
I released my first journal with my PR manager and it was bought by the NCAA. It was first used in a trial run by the University of Tennessee but the trial run went so well, that they increased the test schools by 1,000. We are currently, formulating the 2nd edition of the journal and will be selling them to the public as well. Before I returned to Poland, I made a quick tour around 10 NCAA Schools speaking about the journal, mindfulness, intention and how all student athletes can use journaling as an edge to be a little better than they were yesterday. Each of these speaking gigs earned me $2,000. Back in Poland with my team and I am still enjoying the rush of training, competing and improving. On my free time, I am writing much more in longer formats for my blog. When I return to the USA, my focus will be on touring more campus’ to speak about the journal and I will be making trips around the country speaking about Stoicism and how it has related to me through sports and to others in business and how they can be more productive with how they relate their focus.
Problems
Imposter syndrome
Repetition
Clarity on end game
Where do I even start