Alice Dearing Knows Fighting Through Mental Barriers is a Key to Success
This exclusive interview with Alice Dearing was conducted by Chris Tompkins of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
In this third part of a three-part series with Olympian Alice Dearing, the British star discusses fighting through mental barriers and fighting one’s way to success. Dearing also touches on the topic of resilience and how it is important to maintain self belief and put forth effort in the pursuit of goals.
Q: Drawing on your personal highs and lows, what internal mental barriers most often prevent talented individuals from fulfilling their potential?
Alice Dearing: “Yeah, so, um, again speaking candidly—for me, this was self-belief and, um, self-doubt. And the idea that, like, I really had to find a lot of courage in myself to know that I was good enough to do what I was doing.
“And truthfully, I don’t think that fully came to me at the end, in that sense. Um, there’s still more that I was like, “If I’d only just believed in myself a bit more, maybe I could have…”
“And that was one thing that, when I finished my swimming career, I didn’t want to have—was too many regrets. Of course, there’ll be little things where you’re like, “I wish that race had gone better, I wish this, I wish that.”
“But I didn’t want to finish my swimming career and think, “I wish I’d tried harder at this point,” or like, something like this. Because it just goes by so fast, and I was well aware of that. Like, growing up, the years keep ticking by and all of a sudden, you’re a senior athlete or you’re one of the oldest on the team. And it just happens so quickly.
“So, um, I think it’s one of those things where you have to be aware that your time is precious and you don’t have that much of it. So, you need to take as much energy that you can muster and put it into it as you can—if that makes sense—without, like, obviously draining yourself or burning out or something like that.
“But yeah, for me it was self-belief. And, um, in the moments where I swam my best was when my self-belief and confidence was the highest. So, when I qualified for the Olympic Games, I stood on the start line.
“As terrified as I was, I remember feeling like a sense of calm over me and just knowing that I’d done the work. I’d put in the effort in training, everything had gone well, I was fit, I was healthy.
“I just needed to get in and show what I can do and give the best performance I could. And it obviously went my way—it went really well. I qualified for the Olympic Games. And then at the Olympics, it just didn’t work out for me—really unfortunate about that, but that’s just how sport goes sometimes.
“So, um, yeah, I think a lot of… I’ve seen so many amazing athletes who are incredibly talented and hardworking but have not been able to get over their self-doubts.
“And nine times out of ten, when you’re talking to someone who puts in the work and has the capabilities to go further, they just won’t believe in themselves. And you can see it. You can see it written across their face.
“And I think this can be especially true for businesses in the sense of—you need to be able to back yourself. Like, if you’re not backing yourself, how are your employees going to potentially be backing that?
“How is someone who wants to give you a loan going to be backing you? So, um, having confidence and trusting in your ability to execute and to perform, I think, is a key thing which athletes and businesses both have to navigate.”
Q: Based on your career challenges—from funding setbacks to injury—how has your understanding of true resilience evolved over time?
Alice Dearing: “So, I think my story personally has taught me about resilience—that anybody can have resilience. I really do believe that.
“Because I didn’t think I was a resilient person—truly. Like, the things that I’ve bounced back from—like being kicked out of that training squad, being dropped off of funding, um, falling out of love with the sport, coming back into it, injury, all these things—I never thought I had that in me.
“But I think sometimes, if you want something enough, you can go and find it and take it. And, um, sometimes it doesn’t work out for you. But my mentality and approach to it always was—at least I’ll go try.
“Let’s go try. Let’s give it a go. If it doesn’t work out—hey, at least I’ve tried. Like, I won’t be sat here thinking, “What if? Why didn’t I do that?” And I think that’s a big part of resilience in my personal way—just getting in, giving it a go. Sometimes things fail.
“Have your support network—I think that’s a real, real key thing. Whether that’s inside of the business/sport or outside of it, um, it’s really important to have those people to be able to, like, pick you up but also keep you grounded at the same time.
“And know that there are other things to life which you can explore and find yourself in. So, resilience has, um—I think resilience found me. I don’t think I found it, if that makes sense.
“Like, it kind of brought me to a place where, as an athlete, if I wanted to swim, I didn’t have a choice. And I’m really happy that I managed to come to a place where it’s kind of a key part of who I am.
“I call myself stubborn, and I’m grateful of, like, that energy and that attitude that I have, because it’s left me in an amazing place and given me the best opportunities in life.”
This exclusive interview with Alice Dearing was conducted by Chris Tompkins of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
