Mindset in Motion

You can think your way into a new way of acting, or act your way into a new way of thinking.

I heard someone offer this advice recently and it really resonated, especially now as I prepare to put my feet on the Great Divide Trail—a 700-mile journey through the Canadian Rockies. 

It’s going to be epic through some of the most scenic and exciting mountain landscapes in the world. That being said, it would be foolhardy not to contemplate the challenge ahead, hours maybe even days of discomfort and moments when I’ll have to push beyond what I believe I’m capable of. 

To meet that place, I plan to train.

Yes, that includes laps on a steep hill near my house carrying a fully loaded pack in the heat! Plus cross training by riding my bike and swimming in the lake. 

Physical training, while demanding, feels relatively straightforward: build mileage, carry weight, stretch, repeat. There’s a plan and a finish line.

But mental training? That’s more elusive.

That’s why, when I heard that phrase—“You can think your way into a new way of acting, or act your way into a new way of thinking”—it struck a chord. 

Sometimes we can’t wait for the right mindset to show up. Sometimes we have to step into the behavior first, and trust that the mindset will follow. Especially when things get hard.

I recently attended a class led by a hiker colleague. She calls it “Summiting Your Mind: Mastering Mental Toughness for High-Altitude Adventures.” It draws heavily on the work of James Loehr, who pioneered mental toughness training for athletes. 

The main premise is that we tend to reside in four distinct energy states:

• Relaxed-Ready. That’s when we’re most calm, focused, and efficient
• Positive-Energized: Here, we’re excited, strong, and in a state of flow. 
• Negative-Energized: But we can easily get into a state of anxiety when we feel frustrated and full of tension. 
• Negative-Fatigued: And finally this is the place none of us want to go. The dreaded “wall” when we’re exhausted, defeated, and ready to quit.

We all aim to live in the first two zones, But real life, especially on the trail, means we’ll visit all four. Sometimes in a single day. The key isn’t avoiding the tough ones. It’s learning how to move through them.

So how do we go from one state to the next and keep moving forward successfully? 

By not wallowing in how things feel and taking the next right action. 

Now I am not saying “Buck up Buttercup!” Far from it. The truth is people who are mentally tough don’t ignore difficult emotions. Instead they recognize them, learn from them, then move through them.

This is where action leads thought. When your mindset hasn’t caught up yet, behavior can pull it forward. It’s the old idea of “fake it till you make it,” but with a deeper purpose: to train the brain by showing it what’s possible.

And that kind of mental training starts now. Not in the thick of the storm, but well before. It begins with how we relate to our thoughts and emotions. Rather than getting stuck in them, we can treat them as useful data.

Fear, for instance, might be telling us to slow down, stay sharp, and pay attention. Frustration could be a sign that our expectations need adjusting and we need to give ourselves credit for how far we’ve come. 

Instead of resisting these emotions, we can respond with tools, like:

• Deep breathing. Slowing down enough to take a few relaxing breathes helps you connect with your why. Many of us can handle a tough or even boring patch when we recall the bigger picture and see things as just a small part of the whole. Practicing gratitude for our opportunities helps reset our thinking as does humor. When we can laugh at icky moments we can move ourselves more quickly back to a better mindset.
• Focusing on the next small step. Resilience doesn’t mean avoiding setbacks. It means bouncing back, quickly and deliberately. In survival training, they say, “Do the next right thing.” When things go sideways, problem-solving becomes your lifeline. So a good question to ask is. “What’s the smallest helpful action I can take right now?” 
• Reframing our self-talk. Instead of “I can’t,” we might say: “One step at a time.” “I’m strong because I trained for this.” “This is hard, but I’m still moving forward.”
• Leaning on our support system. In a Zoom meeting this morning, I asked my Great Divide Trail team-of-three what causes them to break down and what is the best thing we can do to support them when they do? Cheerleading was the number one choice. Remember your team is there for you. All you have to do is ask for help. 

Another wonderful proverb I heard recently from the Somali culture, hit the nail on the head:

Pray for water, but start walking.

Where in your life have you acted your way into a new way of thinking?

Copyright © 2025 alison young • blissful hiker