MESSAGE #1160 NERVES

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I have a feeling someone reading this has been nervous before a competition, test, lecture or asking someone out on a date.

Most people feel that being nervous is bad.

Being nervous is good. It means you are about to do something important.

Winners and losers feel the same feelings.

The greatest athletes in the world get nervous, so it’s okay if you do.

The difference is, you don’t have to ACT nervous.

I have spent time with many professional athletes and I always ask them if they get nervous.

They all say yes.

So what do they do?

They take a deep breath, tell themselves that they’ve been in this situation before and then go and kick butt.

I work one-on-one with athletes, musicians, business professionals and students and I have them do the same thing.

Why?

Because it works.

MESSAGE #1159 MO

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This is the last year of Mariano Rivera’s contract with the Yankees. Asked if he was worried about what would happen after this year and Rivera said, “Why should I worry about something that I can’t control?”

Many times we worry about winning and losing, the economy, the weather, our opponents, but we can’t control those things. So why worry about them? That’s wasted energy.

Be like Mariano and focus on the things you can control like your effort, attitude, energy and reactions.

You might not be the best closer in major league history, but you can have the same attitude and mindset as him.

MESSAGE #1158 BE LIKE RAUL IBANEZ

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I’m not a Phillies phanatic, but I like the recent quote in the Trenton Times by the Fightin’ Phils’ Raul Ibanez.

He said, “You have to keep battling. No one’s gonna feel sorry for you. You have to go out there and you gotta believe, affirming to yourself.”

Push yourself.

Coach yourself.

Believe in yourself.

Thank you Raul and thank you to the Kolbs for bringing the article to my attention.

MESSAGE #1157 YOU CAN DO IT

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Jim Abbott threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on September 4, 1993, and he won the game 4-0.

AND Jim Abbott was born without a right hand.

Imagine what YOU can do…

Your only disability is in your mind.

MESSAGE #1156 VISUALIZE LIKE THE BULLS

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“I believe that if I can take twenty or thirty minutes before each game and visualize what’s going to happen, I’ll be able to react to it without thinking, because I’ll already have seen it in my mind. When I’m lying down before the game, I can see myself making a shot or boxing out or getting a loose ball. And then when I see that come up during the game, I don’t think about it, I do it. There are no second thoughts, no hesitation. Sometimes, after the game, I’ll go, ‘Wow! I saw that! I anticipated it before it happened.”
-B.J. ARMSTRONG, Chicago Bulls

MESSAGE #1155

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You can win with 60% of your game and 100% of your brain, but never the opposite.
-author unknown

 

MESSAGE #1154 BE LIKE THE MICK

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Supposedly, Mickey Mantle once hit a weak ground ball to second base and, as usual, took off out of the batter’s box. But his spikes got stuck and he fell on to all fours and couldn’t get up. Instead of giving up and heading to the dugout, he furiously doggy-paddled to first base.

That’s giving your all, no matter what.

MESSAGE #1153 WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT ON YOUR GAME

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Cory Arbiso, New York Yankees

Once in a while I hear a great quote.

Last week I was sitting in the hallway next to the Trenton Thunder clubhouse, as I did many times this season, talking to one of the players. This time it was pitcher, Cory Arbiso.

He said a great quote that stuck with me…

“Some days you will only have 80% of your ‘stuff.’ But if you use 100% of that ‘stuff,’ you can still win.”

I really like that.

Thanks, Cory.

MESSAGE #1152 WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER

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This summer, I spent quite a bit of time at Waterfront Park, home of the Trenton Thunder, Double-A Yankees.

I interviewed players.

I took photos on the field.

I was in the clubhouse.

I was in the press box.

I became friends with season ticket holders.

I became friends with players.

I sat in the first row.

I went to the player picnic.

I saw Andy Pettitte make a rehab appearance.

I saw Brandon Laird hit for the cycle with a walk-off home run.

I saw Adam Warren break the single-game strikeout record.

I even threw out the first pitch and proposed to my girlfriend, Sarah.

I saw some amazing baseball in perfect weather, and I saw some terrible baseball in horrid weather.

It was a great season, however the Thunder came one game short of winning the championship. It was a shock and it was sad walking away from the ball park and ending the season like that.

But not as sad as the passing of a dear friend’s son.

Or as sad as people losing their jobs, or getting divorced.

Or a high school teacher taking his own life.

Things happen. We can’t control that.

We can only control our reactions to those situations.

That’s baseball.

And that’s life.

Thank you for the memories, Trenton Thunder players, fans and staff.

See you next summer.

MESSAGE #1151 A QUOTE

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Supposedly, I once said the following quote…

Excellence
is not
expected effort-
it is
extra effort.

I can’t remember saying it, or where and when, but my source is good, so I must have.

Either way, it’s true.