My name is Mihael Žgank and I am an Olympic judo athlete.
In 2017 I won a silver medal at the World Championships while representing my home nation of Slovenia. Shortly after the biggest success of my sports career to date, I received an offer to compete on behalf of the Turkish national team in the lead up to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
I accepted the offer and decided to move to Turkey.
The year I made my move to Turkey was not an easy one. After not being able to compete during the period of negotiations required for the change in nationality, I was unable to win a single medal and did not manage to prove myself as yet to my new adopted nation.
The reality hit that I was no longer at home
I felt like I was alone in a huge country without any knowledge or experience.
Doubt started creeping in, and I was unsure whether I had made the right choice to switch nations or not. This doubt started to affect my sleep with frequent panic attacks at night making me feel like I was losing control of my mind.
The anxiety was mainly caused
Because I felt like I was not fulfilling the reason for my move and had failed to bring Turkey the results that they financed my change of nationality for. This all led me to viewing Judo as a burden rather than the sport that I used to love.
I decided it was time I take necessary actions
After two years of failing to reach the podium, I decided it was time I take necessary actions to ensure that the path I was on did not remain the same. I started by reading books, searching for mentors that could help me, and following highly accomplished people on social media.
I started visualizing future success
One of the activities I came across during my research was visualization meditation. I started visualizing future success and the man that I wanted to become. For this visualization to really work, I was required to keep myself in a calm-meditative state.
I realized that I was not even capable of sitting in silence
At first, I realized that I was not even capable of sitting in silence with my own thoughts for five minutes. I started to understand how much I had to work on this if I was to successfully manage to visualize my success.
I have been meditating daily
Since this visualization journey started, I have been meditating daily and it has changed my life as a professional athlete as well as a human being.
The most vital improvement
That I felt from this visualization, was that I became more present. I was able to live in the moment and not concern myself with my past, or the potential obstacles that would await me in my future.
I won the European Championships
After a few months, I won the European Championships, my first major title for the Turkish National Team. I continued medalling in the international judo events that followed and managed to successfully qualify for the Tokyo Olympics Games, where I would eventually place 5th.
I still meditate daily
Till today, I still meditate daily, either in the morning right after breakfast or in the evening. I have adopted different methods of meditation that usually take between 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the particular day.