MESSAGE #920 FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY II…

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PART II

The other scene I really liked in “Fetch Clay, Make Man” was when Stepin Fetchit was teaching Muhammad Ali the secret anchor punch of the great Jack Johnson.

Fetchit said it started from the stomach and goes through your whole body. You reach back and use all the years of slavery and hardship and you put it all into that punch.

Don’t get me wrong, by no means am I promoting violence. It doesn’t matter if you’re boxing, playing tennis, making sales calls or taking a test.

You have to go all out. You have to make it important.

I remember a story about a grandmother that picked up a car by herself when her grandson was stuck under it. She had never lifted a weight in her life.

That’s desire. And desire wins.

“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.”
-WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD

We are like ten-speed bikes…we have gears we have never even used.

MESSAGE #919 FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, PART I

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“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.“
-MUHAMMAD ALI

Last night I saw an amazing performance at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre. It was “Fetch Clay, Make Man” by Will Power, featuring Ben Vereen.

Two scenes stuck in my mind.

The first one was when Muhammad Ali, played by Evan Parke, was visualizing his upcoming boxing match with Sonny Liston. Stepin Fetchit, played by Ben Vereen, watched as Ali visualized the win, and then said, “Very good, now let’s see how it will look when you lose.”

“I’m not going to lose,” Ali snapped.

“Are you sure about that? Jack Johnson used to visualize his losses, so that he saw all possible outcomes.”

I really like that.

Not enough athletes visualize, and the ones that do, only visualize the positive scenarios. When you visualize potential problems, many times you will overcome them when they arise.

Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow…

MESSAGE #918 SW 9

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For those of you in sales…

SW 9

Some Will.
Some Won’t.
So What?
Stop Whining.
Start Working.
Stick With it.
Someone’s Waiting.
Start Winning.
then you can Stop Working (because you love what you do).

BTW, this isn’t just for sales.

MESSAGE #917 IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED…

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If at first you don’t succeed, try a different strategy.

I just gave a lesson to a group of doubles players. The theme today was “how to play well when you’re not playing well.”

One of the worst things you can do as a tennis player is to be at 0-6, 0-5 and say, “Maybe I should try something different.”

If you’re playing doubles and the score is 0-3 or 0-4, try giving the opp0sing team a different look. Serve and stay back. Have both server and server’s partner stay back, use the “I” formation or the Australian formation.

It doesn’t matter what you try, but you need to try something different. When you use a different strategy, many times you will make your opponents change their winning game. Isn’t that a good thing?

The whole point is this: if you do what you normally do, you’re going to get what you normally get.

“Every game plan works against somebody. No game plan works against everybody.”

Try different options and see what works best for you…on and off the court.

MESSAGE #916 WHAT ARE YOU DOING BEFORE BED??

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“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours.”
-Swedish proverb

I normally sleep pretty well. My routine is to meditate and visualize as soon as I get into bed at night. I take some deep breaths, cultivate gratitude and reflect on my day. I then visualize the things that didn’t go so well and imagine that they went perfectly. I also create positive images for the next day’s events. As a result, I wake up ready to go.

Recently, I made the mistake of watching the news right before bed. They were showing footage in Haiti, and talking about violent crimes in the tri-state area.

Well guess what?

I actually had some bad dreams that night. Coincidence?

I think not.

I once taught a little girl about nine years old and during her first lesson, she kept saying, “I can’t.”

Well, she didn’t.

I pretty quickly said, the rule on my court is that you are not allowed to use the word “can’t.”

She had to stop herself a couple times, but then she started saying, “I can!” with a smile.

She ended up playing exponentially better. She even started walking more confidently.

We, as coaches, players, students, parents, teachers and friends, need to be our own inner coaches, not our own inner critics.

Homework: Tonight, before bed, instead of just crashing or watching the evening news, read a motivational book, do a little meditation, or just visualize that you are already the person you want to be.

Your mind is a powerful thing – feed it properly.

MESSAGE #915 FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING…

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Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Nikki White in Oklahoma City.

“The reason sport is attractive to many of the general public is that it’s filled with reversals. What you think may happen doesn’t happen. A champion is beaten, an unknown becomes a champion.”
-ROGER BANNISTER

The year after Roger Bannister broke the previously thought physically impossible four-minute mile, 37 runners also ran a sub-four minute mile. A year after that, three hundred runners did the same.

There are no limits. Anything is possible. Does the fastest horse always win the race?

For the first time, the New Orleans Saints are going to the Super Bowl.

For the first time, there are two quarterfinalists in the Australian Open from China.

And this is just in the past couple of days!

Michelangelo said that the problem is not that we set our sights too high and we don’t reach them, it’s that we set our sights too low and we DO reach them.

If you have a growth mindset and focus on constant improvement, the sky is the limit.

Shoot for the moon. If you miss, at least you will be among the stars.

See you in orbit…

MESSAGE #914 WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T LAUGH…

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Ed Tseng and high school tennis player, Kevin Roveda demonstrate a laughing meditation. At first they were faking their laughter, but then they started actually laughing. Even the camera woman was crying from laughter.

If you want to feel a certain way, start faking it and you will soon start feeling it.

Video blog: https://www.edtseng.com

MESSAGE #913 THE KEY TO SUCCESS…

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“It’s better to do a little a lot than a lot a little.”
-ROB GILBERT, Ph.D., and author of “Good to Great Golf” and “How to Have Fun Without Failing Out.”

What’s better…

Practicing 6 hours 1 day or 1 hour for 6 days?

Studying 6 hours on Sunday night or 1 hour every night?

Making sales calls 6 hours on 1 day or 1 hour for 5 days?

Inch by inch it’s a cinch…yard by yard it might be hard.

Homework: Do a little bit today.

MESSAGE #912 AN EXCERPT …

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From “Game. Set. Life.” page 52…

“It is in our times of decision that our destiny is shaped.”
-ANTHONY ROBBINS

Remember this formula:

E+R=O

Event + Response = Outcome

You create your destiny.

You cannot control the events in your life, but you can control your reaction to them. And that will determine your future.

Homework: Before you react to something today, count to ten in your head. This will help you to be more mindful of how you are affecting your future, and creating your destiny.

MESSAGE #911 CLICK IT FOR SUCCESS…

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“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”
-BRIAN TRACY

I recently worked with a high level athlete who used to get negative when competing. He used to yell and throw his racquet. This did not enable him to perform at a high level.

So I came up with a technique called “Click it.”

Many of us have iPods with our playlists and songs. Well, what do we do when we don’t like a song? We “click it” and change to a different song or playlist.

Sports are the same way, if we find ourselves getting negative, we need to “click it” and immediately change to a positive thought or mindset. Focus on your target, strategy and effort. When you do this, your mind cannot think about all that negative stuff.

We choose what we focus on, so next time you find yourself in a negative state, just CLICK IT!