Who the hell do you think you are?

Stepping into the cage last week to have a crack at some squats, which at the loaded weight was one that left me humbled in July, caused a pretty powerful jump in heart rate and my mind to recall the horrible "crushed into the earth by metal" feeling I was hoping to avoid.
Enter: the power of visualization.  Or maybe not.  Now, I've read tons of blurbs, books, articles on the subject and I know the experts say to visualize yourself in 3rd person, as if you are watching yourself in a movie, performing the task at hand.  Do it in such a manner that you can feel the sensory input.  The more details imagined, the higher the rate of probability your outcome will match your vision.  But seriously, who wants to stand around imagining the smell of iron and the wicked hurt of a 3x5 done at 95% when you could walk up to a bar and huff the 45's right in front of you and then feel the real deal?  I think its definitely a valid approach for success in lifting and in life for some people.  Hell, I might use it someday for something.  But the singular driving force of progress more than anything in most of my lifting/CrossFitting career has been linked to one thing:  that white-hot raging fire inside.
It's not something I'm going to be able to narrow down into a definition, either, so I suppose pontificating an entire blog on it was a poor choice, but I will give it a shot.  Here are 3 examples of what I use to blister my brain with power before tackling something.  Maybe they'll work for you, maybe not.  This blog is free.
#1:  I internalize the thought, "I will sacrifice my body for this cause and place the emphasis on my mind."  In other words, long before it starts to be an issue I will get over the fact that my elbows tendinous tissue is ripping out of place because Muscle-up reps #70-75 aren't going as planned.  I get over the fact that I just saw a chunk of skin go flying off from somewhere in the middle of my heaviest power clean of all time.  It doesn't matter.  Why do I train?  To stress the body AND the mind.  I read somewhere the mind cannot differentiate between mental and physical stressors.  For those looking to take a nugget away from this here it is: Your body is not what is holding you back.  Larger stressors, larger adaptations.   Don't believe me? Then read this:  Train the Mind for Increased Strength by Tommy Suggs  and this: “Are you hurt or are you injured?”
#2:  Watch Predator or Terminator 2 once a month at minimum.   If you are looking for an explanation you are beyond help.  Try this instead: DO NOT CLICK IF YOU VALUE THE LEVEL OF YOUR TESTOSTERONE
#3:  The Perfect Way to Brew French Press Coffee.  Replace "coffee" with espresso beans.  Drink and repeat 3x before 6 am.
Simple.  Keep your head in it, raise your Test levels, and fire up the kettle.

The squats were heavy and I made quite a sound driving out of the hole on each effort, but they didn't beat me that day.  Moving forward...

Somebody hasn't had there coffee yet.