How A Vision Board Helped Me Get 10 Medals At The Age Of 47

My name is Stacy Wig, IFBB Fitness Pro Competitor, CEO of Wig Athletics and Trifitness Challenge Medalist.  I decided to compete in Trifitness World Challenge at the age of 47 with a plethora of challenges: I live with several herniated discs in my back, arthritic knees, and damage to my right knee beyond arthritis. I have also suffered from anxiety my entire life but have created strategies to overcome it.

I competed as a gymnast and cheerleader in my youth and as an IFBB Fitness Pro as an adult. After a series of injuries and surgeries, I competed in Figure and Women’s Physique as a pro but nothing felt more right than the idea of competing in Trifitness Challenge which incorporates a Physique and Grace component, a Fitness Routine, two obstacle courses, and Fitness Skills to include bench press, box jumps, and shuttle run.

I decided that this was the competition that fit my love of sport and was going to give this world challenge everything that I had. I started doing gymnastics again. I practiced my fitness skills 2 to 3 days a week. I dieted to compete well in the physique and grace competition. I continued intense strength training with obstacle course practice.

Did I have pain? YES. Did I have doubt at times? YES. Did I fear failure? YES!

So, how did I motivate myself to carry on, day in and day out?

SEE ALSO: 4 Steps To Create More Joy In Your Life

Where to Harness Motivation

Internal motivation doesn’t come find you. You don’t just wake up with it one day. You find it through the vision of realizing your dream AND performing the daily discipline that you know MUST happen to succeed in reaching your goal. My first step was to decide what my goal was. I wanted to win each of the 5 events and the overall title in my age group and a top ten placing overall regardless of age, worldwide. My second step was to create that THING that reminded me of my vision daily through the ups and downs of my journey.

That THING was a vision board, which can be big or small. My board was big because I needed BIG motivation! I combined photos of people catapulting over obstacles, doing box jumps, and sprinting. I added photos of when I looked my best on stage, of my beautiful suit, and of medals. Then I added photos of my friends who motivate me and my Trifitness crew. I finished my vision board with the words that inspire me. Every single time I experienced pain, had self-doubt, felt too tired to do the training necessary that day, or wanted to eat cookies instead of chicken, I spent one minute looking at my vision board and one minute closing my eyes and envisioning the perfect run on the course, a graceful posing routine, friends cheering me on all around and standing on the podium having medals placed over my head while I breathed it all in deeply. My anxiety would disappear and at times I had a spurt of energy.

My vision board is what helped me do the third step which is wake up before 4 am and do the training, stick to the nutrition plan, practice the routine, and take time to pose. This strategy can be used for all career or personal goals and for all ages. You can even make it a family affair! So what happened at the 2017 Trifitness World Challenge? I won all five events and the overall title in my age group AND placed 10th overall, gaining medals for a total of ten times!

So what are you waiting for? What’s YOUR vision? Remember: Vision + Discipline = Motivation!