MESSAGE #1401 CHOKE

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Recently, cognitive science and performance expert, Sian Beilock sent me a copy of her new book, “Choke.”

People choke all the time, in sports and life. Below are some anti-choke techniques that Beilock recommends.

1. Distract yourself—Sing a song or even thinking about your pinky toe as Jack Nicklaus was rumored to do can help prevent the prefrontal cortex from regulating too closely movement that should run outside awareness.

2. Don’t slow down—Don’t give yourself too much time to think and to control your highly practiced putt, free throw, or penalty kick. Just do it.

3. Practice under stress—Practicing under the exact conditions you will face in a do-or-die situation is exactly what is needed to perform your best when the stress is on. Get used to the pressure so competition is not something you fear. Also, by understanding when pressure happens, you can create situations that will maximize the stress in your opponents.

4. Don’t dwell—Take that past performance and change how you think about it. See your failures as a chance to learn how to perform better in the future.

5. Focus on the outcome, not the mechanics—Focusing on the goal, where the ball will land in the net, helps cue your practiced motor programs to run flawlessly.

6. Find a key word—A one-word mantra (such as smooth during a golf stroke) can keep you focused on the end result rather than the step-by-step processes of performance.

7. Focus on the positive—Don’t be helpless. If you focus on the negative this can make you feel out of control and increase the likelihood that you will not work as hard to obtain future performance goals.

8. Cure the yips by changing your grip—An alteration in your performance technique reprograms the circuits you need to execute your shot, hopefully clearing your brain and body of the motor hiccup.

Thank you, Sian.

Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1400 SING A SONG…

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Have you ever heard someone sing a song and that song gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day?

Of course you have.

Top athletes use affirmations, and they work the same way. Instead of replaying a song in your head, replay a powerful statement, like…

“I am a strong, confident person who thrives under pressure.”

“I let the past and the future go, all I am focused on is the present moment.”

“If I give full effort, I am a champion, regardless of the result.”

Create an affirmation that will resonate with you, and get it stuck in your head.

Then you’ll REALLY be singing because you will begin getting winning results.

Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1398 CAN VS WILL

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Recently, I was teaching a young boy and at the end of the session, I asked him, “Did you give a full effort today?”

He responded, “Not exactly.”

“Could you have?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” he said.

Then I asked him the million dollar question…

“What if, at the beginning of the lesson, I said, ‘I’ll give you a million dollars if you give it your full effort today.’ Would you have been able to give a full effort then?”

My student enthusiastically responded, “Oh YES!”

We both laughed.

I told him that effort is a choice. It’s not a question of CAN you, it’s a question of WILL you?

Lesson learned.

Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1393 STICKK TO IT

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I know you want to be successful.

I know you want to be healthy.

I know there’s many things you want to accomplish.

So how do you do it?

Someone brought www.stickk.com to my attention recently.

Let’s say you want to workout three days a week. You can set it up on www.stickk.com so that if you DO workout three days a week, a monetary amount of your choice goes to the charity of your choice (i.e., Special Olympics).

However, if you do not reach your goal, the money goes to an anti-charity of your choice (i.e., the Boston Red Sox if you are a Yankees fan).

Does this work?

Absolutely.

See, the problem with most people is that they try to do it on their own. But when you do this, it is too easy to put it off.

When there are true (positive and negative) consequences, we tend to stick with our goals.

It’s human nature.

I have had some people ask me to help them stop smoking and I simply had them write me a check for $1,000 and if they didn’t smoke, I gave the money back to them after the designated time frame.

If they DID smoke, I would go shopping.

If you make it important enough…or painful enough, you’ll get it done.

The question is not CAN YOU?…the question is WILL YOU?

It’s a choice.

MESSAGE #1388 PRACTICE THIS

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Diogenes was an early Greek philosopher.

When asked why he begged money from a statue, Diogenes said that he was practicing disappointment.

At first this seems like a negative attitude, but I think it is brilliant.

In sports and life, there will always be disappointment.

There will always be challenges.

But we never practice what we will do when those situations arise.

Most of us react emotionally.

The key is to react intelligently.

Take some time today to think about a potential challenge that may come up, and think about what your ideal reaction would be.

If it happens, you will be prepared.

You might even enjoy the challenge.

MESSAGE #1387 HAPPINESS IN SPORTS AND LIFE

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“Happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them”
-JACKSON BROWN

Happiness in sports is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them.

Anyone can deal with playing well, but most athletes cannot deal with playing poorly. But most people don’t get it—it’s not about getting rid of problems/challenges, but how we react.

How we make adjustments.

The next time you are in a tough situation, think NOT of the situation, but HOW you are going to react.

Then just do it.

MESSAGE #1386 FAKE IT!

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Having a bad day?

Just smile for one minute and you will feel better. Most people act how they feel, but the truth is, you can act different than how you feel. Fake it ’til you FEEL it. Watch the great TED video below for more reasons to smile.

MESSAGE #1385 TWO WORDS

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Over the winter, I envisioned the image above in my mind. Last week, I took that image at the Trenton Thunder game of top Yankee prospects, Manny Banuelos and Austin Romine. And tonight, I stopped by the ball park to show it to them. They were impressed with the image and were kind enough to sign it for me.

I spoke with Austin several times last season on baseball and mental toughness (see our video interview HERE), but last night was the first time I spoke to Manny. I asked him if he had anything to say to my blog readers. He said two words:

WORK HARD.

Simple, yet powerful. See, most people want to be successful, but they don’t want to put in the work. People want to be more fit but don’t want to eat healthy. People want to make more sales but they don’t want to make phone calls.

Everybody knows what to do, but nobody does what they know.

How hard are YOU working today?