How to Live In Alignment From A Pro-Athlete's Perspective

How to Live In Alignment From A Pro-Athlete's Perspective

READ TIME: 8 MINS

Introduction

The word alignment is defined by the Oxford Languages as an "arrangement in a straight line, or in correct or appropriate relative positions".

When your life is in alignment everything lines up for you. It feels like every aspect of life is exactly how you want it to be.

Here are five tips from a professional athlete to help you live in alignment.

What Are Your Beliefs?

How has alignment really impacted your life?

"I think alignment's everything. It's like we all have this core value system and we all have these beliefs in our head, whether we're cognitively aware of them or not" says pro skateboarder Bever Fleming.

Fleming is a skateboarding icon, world traveler, speaker, and self declared Life Liver.

"Align your actions with your beliefs. So [think] what are my beliefs as a person? [Ask] Are our our daily actions incongruence with what those beliefs are?"

"If not, then we're out of alignment, not going to be able to have traction on our lives."

"It's the same thing as like a train track. A distraction, takes the traction off of our life. And if the tractions taken off a train, it's going to be derailed and caused devastation."

"So in our lives, if we're distracted, we're taking that traction off of our lives. We're going to be putting on ourselves in a place where we have to really clean up a massive mess.

"Whereas if we can stay on traction in alignment, we're going to be able to just have a flow and get to our destination at a at a comfy cozy like speed and acceleration."

Align Your Actions With Your Beliefs

How hard is it to stay in alignment with what you believe?

"That's where the execution comes in. It's like, OK, am I going to execute? You have to ask yourself, one of the biggest keys in my book that I think is the most powerful is when you're thinking about what your dream is."

"Ask yourself what kind of person is capable of achieving that dream more? How would they speak to other people? What were their daily habits, their morning routine? What would that look like? And then start to develop yourself into that person and see what happens."

"It's like if you're sowing into a [skateboarding] trick and you're trying to figure it out, eventually, if you don't give up, you will reap that harvest of putting that trick down and doing something that pushes you. And there's just so much joy that comes from that."

"There's a chance you might get hurt. You have to accept that the fear of what could happen, and then you have to put a belief system in yourself, like, OK, well, I know that I've pushed myself before and I've been able to pull something off."

Prepare Yourself For Opportunities & Opportunities Present Themselves To You

"I started competing as I was getting into high school at the national level and doing really well at these contests, going down to Florida, going out to California. And I was like, man, if I'm doing this well and I'm living in a place where there's not really that big of a skate industry or culture. I want to see what can happen if I chase it out there."

During his senior year of highschool Fleming joined Woodward Action Sports Camp in Tehachapi, Ca. At the time, they had an online academic program where he could also skate and train throughout the day.

"That was where I was really able to develop my craft, really sharpen my skills. And I always had this principle that I learned there, if you prepare yourself for opportunities, opportunities to present themselves to you."

Fleming couldn't have been more right.

One random weekend Travis Pastrana, professional motorsports competitor/stunt performer/and gold medalist, saw Fleming skate for the first time.

Any fan of action sports knows the name TRAVIS PASTRANA. Pastrana and his friends started the company Nitro Circus which has exploded over the past two decades.

They've produced hit television shows and movies worldwide, established a live touring phenomenon that continues to travel across multiple continents each year, and created a world-renowned action sports competition.

"He invited me pretty much on the spot to where I didn't know what I was going to do. I remember was coming out of high school and I'm like, all right, I'm not quite ready to compete at the pro level."

"Not even a week later was when I met him. On my 18th birthday, I was on a flight to Australia to go perform at my first Nitro Circus show."

LIVE: Learn Inquire Visualize Execute

What does living in alignment actually look like?

For every single person, it's going to be different. It's going to be different for you and your businesses and your valuable and the things that you like to do in your day in and day out.

"I actually broke down the word LIVE into an acronym. It's; Learn Inquire Visualize Execute."

"Learning is such a vital thing we have. I want to continue to grow. I want to continue to expand. I want to continue to take territory. I need to keep learning. I need to keep living."

"Taking it a step deeper is to inquire, really ask yourself those deep questions of why is it that I do what I do, what's my purpose in life? What is really what's the significance that I'm here to make?

"Then visualize. It's like you see this trick in your mind and you've got an idea of what that looks like. And then, OK, how can I get that visualization so pure that now I can execute that visualization? And so that's what the acronym breaks into, is learn and visualize and execute. And those are the principles that I really put into practice."

Take Care of Your Mind

"We've got to take care of this thing," says Fleming as he points to his head.

What are we feeding our mind with? Are we feeding it with things that are good, things that are encouraging, uplifting?"

"There's so much fear that's out there.... it's distracting us and taking us away from what we could create with the faith that we have, that life could be.

"I think that's where we have to.... be vulnerable and be real with ourselves... got to be first vulnerable enough to own it and internalize it."



"There's are going to be days that you're sad. There's going to be days that you're physically and mentally fatigued.

"You've got to figure out how to realign yourself and have that awareness and be cognizant of that. It really comes back to, you know, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." And we lose a lack of knowledge within ourselves when we're not thinking about, OK, what am I really feeling right now?

"What are my emotions, not letting our emotions dictate us, but giving them the respect they deserve and using the circumstances that happened like maybe it be a lost family member, maybe it be a disappointment and a job, a bad showing at a contest."

"Give it the the respect it deserves and then move forward from there."

Conclusion

Life is such a gift in such a beautiful opportunity to turn it into something beautiful. And it's all through that lens and perspective of how we choose to see it

"There's always something new to learn. It's really not a sport that you're ever going to master. It's like even if you're the best guy on the mega ramp, you still might not do a trick down a stair set or a handrail."

"It's one of those things that requires a lot of patience."

"There's no destination. I think we as humans are designed to continue to grow. We're not designed to ever get to a place where we are complete."

"I think the other thing I loved about skateboarding is there's no right or wrong way to do it. You don't have people telling you, oh, you can't skate like that."

Click here to check out Fleming's book LIVE where he discusses his powerful steps to live in alignment.

Also check out his interview below with gr@titude founder Daniel Hack.

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