I have a feeling someone reading this wants to win more. Here’s how you do it…
Look at the letters of “WIN”…
What’s Important Now.
When you are competing, giving a presentation, or taking a test, focus on what is important. Focus on what will help you win. This is not the time to focus on the results. You can’t control results anyway.
So what’s important now?
Your effort, your attitude, and your reactions.
Give a full effort and trust your game.
That’s it.
Suppose you are playing a tennis match and the score is tied. Your opponent hits you a weak shot and you…hit the ball into the bottom of the net.
How do you react?
If you’re like most people, you will either, let out a sigh of frustration, say something like, “How can you miss that?!?” or perhaps even hit your racquet on the ground.
Do these reactions help you or hurt you?
They hurt you, of course. Plus, you will give your opponent increased confidence to “finish you off.”
Here’s a better response for next time:
1. Transfer the racquet into your opposite hand.
2. Immediately turn away from the net.
3. Walk confidently.
4. Take a long, deep breath.
5. Think about how you can make an adjustment next time.
6. Say an affirmation to yourself like, “That shot is in the past—I can’t control the past. Let it go and focus on this point.”
7. Move your feet like a boxer, and get ready for the next point.
8. Think about your strategy for the next point.
9. Trust your game.
10. Just play.
The greatest athletes in history have something in common, and that is, they are able to let go of past. You can too, it’s a choice.
Thanks for reading.
JUST RELEASED! How to be Unstoppable—A Mental Skills Workbook by Ed Tseng. If you are an athlete, coach, parent or just someone who wants to be more mentally tough at work or in life, pick one up today! In a few weeks, Ed will be introducing the workbook to some Yankee players down in Spring Training. Email for team discounts, otherwise order above under PRODUCTS.
If you want to become successful (which I know you do because you’re reading this blog), cut these three words out of your vocabulary.
CAN’T
NEVER
IMPOSSIBLE
You CAN’T win if you use the word CAN’T.
You will NEVER succeed if you use the word NEVER.
It will be IMPOSSIBLE to reach your goals if you use the word IMPOSSIBLE.
Homework: Today, use words and phrases that will motivate you, not words and phrases that will de-motivate you.
Confidence is one of the keys to success. There are many sources of confidence, such as hard work, body language, past achievements, etc.
Try giving yourself a steady diet of positive thoughts and affirmations, throughout your day, and especially during competition. You get what you focus on, but unfortunately, most people focus on the negative, or what they don’t want to happen.
Here are some sample affirmations:
“I am a confident athlete who goes all-out, whether I feel like it or not, and inspires others to do the same.”
“When the pressure is greatest, I love competition the most.”
Your affirmations:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
A fellow coach recently told me a story. When he was younger, he faced a young phenom seven times. Going into his final match, his record was 6-0 against this young player. In their final match, however, this coach was losing 2-5 in the third set. It was then that he approached this young phenom and said, “Listen, I’m telling you right now that I’m going to beat you and this will be the last time we face each other.”
You know what?
He DID come back and win, and it WAS the last time they played each other.
Yes, this coach got into his opponent’s head, but his opponent let him.
Do you want someone else to control your mind, or do you want to control your mind?
Pitchers and catchers have already reported to spring training camp and position players report in a couple of days. Baseball is in the air again, and players are getting ready for their upcoming season. Some are trying to get in shape and others are trying to make an impression.
At the professional level, everyone has the physical skills, but part of what sets the minor league players and the major league players apart, is the mental side.
I know some baseball players in the Yankees organization who will be trying to make an impression down in Tampa this spring. You know who you are, and if you’re reading this, here’s my advice to you:
1. Go all-out—Be the most energetic player on the field. If you hustle on and off the field, not only will the coaches notice, you will actually FEEL more energetic and your performance will increase.
2. Ignore that little voice inside your head—There will be times that your inner voice will speak negatively to you. That’s normal. But you don’t have to believe that voice. Accept it, let it go, and act like the most confident player on the field.
3. Just do it—The great philosopher, Yogi Berra said, “A full mind is an empty bat. You can’t think and hit at the same time.” Trust your game and all the hard work you’ve put in.
4. Visualize—The more you visualize how you want to perform, the more likely you will perform at a high level. Most athletes leave their performance to chance—something YOU don’t want to do.
5. Focus on the process—Don’t worry about results, you can’t control that. Worry, instead about the things you can control, like your effort, your attitude, your energy level and your reactions to situations. When you do this, you will get better results. Oh, and have fun!
That’s it. See you in Tampa on March 9th.
One of my favorite sayings is:
“Doubt your doubts.”
We all have a little negative voice inside our heads that shows up every once in a while (more often for some people).
Recently, I was coaching some tennis players and I introduced topspin to them. Before they even hit one ball, one of the players said, “Oh, I can’t do that.”
I was in shock.
This was a grown woman and she was counting herself out before she even started.
Fortunately, I was able to help her re-frame her negative voice and she actually performed quite well, but it could have been ugly. This type of limiting attitude is quite common, but we can choose to believe it, or doubt it.
Choose wisely.
Thanks for reading.
William James is known as the father of American psychology. He once said:
“Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.”
I call this mental cross-training.
There will always be things you dislike doing–laundry, homework, making sales calls, practicing, or eating healthy, for instance. But what if we didn’t feel like doing these things and did them anyway? How would that make us feel? I would guess that it would make us feel pretty good; it would make us feel proud. That would give us confidence. And it would give us momentum. That’s part of mental toughness.
Winners do what losers don’t feel like doing.
In other words…
You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Begin today.
Recently, I put this quote on my facebook wall:
”Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.” -LAO TZU
It was very well-received, but what does it mean?
As an athlete, we have many potential external distractions. Common ones include: spectators, coaches, parents, friends, weather, fans, media, etc.
If we care what everyone thinks, we will be their prisoner and will not be able to perform to our potential.
These external distractions are out of our control.
We should not worry about things that are out of our control.
Instead, we need to focus on the things we can control, and all of those things are within us. That is where the true power is.
Inside.
Control yourself and you can control your destiny.
Let others control you and your destiny is in their hands.
“Never hurry when it counts.”
-JOANNE CARNER
When things are not going your way, time goes by very quickly.
When things are going your way, time goes by very slowly.
The greatest athletes in the world slow the game down to their speed.
How do they do it?
1. They focus on taking deep diaphragmatic breaths.
2. They focus on playing one point at a time.
3. They focus on the process, not the result.
4. They focus on things they can control.
5. They focus on having fun.
And you can do the same.