Internal Pageant Preparation - The Real Secret to Winning the Crown

Last week I discussed the importance of having a mental strategy when competing for a pageant. Today I want to talk about building emotional strength, why it's important and how it will help you succeed in your upcoming pageant, but also in your life. Some of you may have experienced those certain girls who just lose it backstage when things don't go the way they planned. Maybe they are upset about their interview or that they didn't place in the Top 15... I am going to tell you right now, do NOT be a hot mess backstage. It not only makes you look bad and a sore loser, but how is it really helping you, your performance and your overall experience? The truth is, it isn't. In fact, it's just going to hurt you. An emotionally fit person will stop at nothing to find solutions for whatever difficulties arise while maintaining a forward struggle. The not so emotionally strong person will become fragmented when faced with the pressures and challenges of life but th...

Every great athlete and competitor will attest to the importance of training mentally, in addition to physically, in order to achieve success. I’m sure you have even experienced a situation where you’ve had to tap into your mental toughness in order to gain the concentration and motivation to complete a workout, a competition or race. Winning and doing well in a pageant requires the same set of skills.   The mental strength needed to successfully compete for a pageant isn’t just needed for that particular weekend either, you also need it while training before the pageant and even afterward . The stress of practicing, getting sponsors, finishing your paperwork, finding the perfect wardrobe and every other detail you need to organize will require mental toughness. If the pageant preparation itself overwhelms you, then you can guess pageant weekend experience will be no different. Create A Mental Strategy This is why you need a mental strategy. Every pageant wi...

There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. When you decide to sign-up for a pageant, you are first often motivated by an external factor: Winning the title and crown. There’s nothing wrong with this as motivation, it’s a common one among all contestants. But to have the mental, emotional and spiritual strength to overcome the many obstacles, stresses and disappointments when preparing for a pageant, you need to find your internal, or intrinsic, motivation. This is what will keep you motivated and help you maintain a positive mindset. What’s your reason? What is the real reason for why you want to win this title? Maybe you feel like you need to prove something – to yourself, to others, but in order to be seen as a titleholder, you must move beyond just wanting to win the crown to prove something. Your reason is something internally that fires you up. Something you are passionate about and it usually stems from a personal experience. This t...

Previously I wrote about how to use affirmation and visualization techniques to help you envision yourself as the next titleholder. Last week I wrote about the difference between goals and desires . While winning a pageant cannot be a goal because of the fact that you have no control over the outcome, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t goals you need to set in order for you to become closer to winning. Today we will cover goal-setting for pageants.   Based on your level of experience, what you want to get out of the pageant and the certain areas of competition you have, your goals will differ. It is important to first establish the personal goals you want to achieve for the pageant. Do you want to build your interview skills, increase your overall self-confidence or improve your public speaking ability? Write them all down. You will also have specific goals for each phase of competition. Some of your goals may have more measurable aspects to them and others may...

" You have complete control over the outcome of your goals. The same is not true about your desires." Carolina Reyes While competing for Miss International, I had the privilege to hear Eddie Peterson   give a great keynote speech during our dinner. One of the important things that I carried with me was the difference between goals and desires. Knowing this key differentiator should highly impact the way you view and prepare for pageants. A goal is something we have complete control over. We have the power to initiate, work toward and ultimately determine whether we will reach the goal or not. When it comes to goals, if you put your mind to it and persevere, you can and will achieve the goal you set. No question.     This is the very reason why winning a pageant cannot be a goal. Winning a pageant is not a goal, it’s a desire. The difference is the outcome of any pageant is completely out of your hands and onto the judges. You can believe in yourse...

"The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in the mind." Henry David Thoreau   The first and biggest obstacle to overcome to win the crown, and achieve any goal you set for yourself in life, is to have the full faith and belief that this is something that you can and WILL achieve. The best way to help with this is through using visualization, along with the affirmation technique that I talked about in the previous post.   Everything that we see in the world around us started as an idea or a thought. Possibilities are only limited to our thinking. Through visualization and imagination, the impossible becomes possible. The power is in our minds and the possibilities are endless. The first step to the process of visualization is to find a quiet place. Clear and quiet your mind and then let your imagination go to work. Try to take 5-10 minutes a day to envision yourself winning the crown and being the titleholder. Th...

“Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.” – Napoleon Hill An affirmation is: Something declared to be true; a positive statement or judgment. Affirmation, along with visualization (I will talk about that at another time), are strong and powerful techniques to help build belief in yourself and your ability to achieve a goal, or in your case, a pageant.  Post your affirmation ! When you repeat a word, phrase or sentence to yourself over and over again, you are affirming yourself. But here is the trick. Anyone can repeat words over and over to themselves, but how you say it - the tone and style with which you speak it - is the most important. Your brain will not believe you to be the next "Miss Minnesota " if you say it with no confidence, with your eyes down at the ground and a monotone, boring voice. Bring life to those words! Say them with conviction, happiness and excitement and even...