MESSAGE #991 A PEAK PERFORMANCE PRINCIPLE: HOW TO CREATE GREATNESS

Today’s message is especially dedicated to Manon Bollegraf in the Netherlands, Ash Kulkarni in New York City, Candice Carlin in Philadelphia and Kimberly Slater in Cherry Hill, NJ. Happy Birthday to you all!

 

Before you set foot onto the tennis court next time, ask yourself this question…

Am I going to let how I play determine my attitude, or am I going to let my attitude determine how I play?

Think about it – most people react to how they play, but the great ones CREATE how they want to play; it’s a choice.

Act as if it were impossible to fail.

 

For those of you going to the Caesars Tennis Classic in Atlantic City today, look for me in the press box. I will be taking photographs and shooting videos. Find me and you win a prize.

MESSAGE #990 MENTAL TOUGHNESS: BE COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE

Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Diane Stevenson in the UK.

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. -NEALE DONALD WALSCH

Admit it, you like to be comfortable. But if you’re comfortable, you’re not growing.

When I give mental toughness coaching sessions, I have people perform mental cross-training. For example, I had a college tennis player sing happy birthday to me at the top of his voice, in a crowded restaurant. He didn’t feel like it but did it anyway and felt great afterwards. And I do it in my own life, as well. Six hours after I solved my first Sudoku puzzle, I competed in the National Sudoku Championships (Beginner level).

The more you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, the more comfortable you will be when they arise.

Sports are mostly mental, but when was the last time you worked on that aspect of your game?

Homework: For the next week, do one thing each day that puts you out of your comfort zone.

MESSAGE #986 THE WORD CAN’T CAN’T HELP YOU

On a daily basis, in and out of the sports world, I hear people using the word “can’t.”

“I can’t hit a serve.”

“I can’t find a job.”

“I can’t get this math problem.”

But you’re lying to yourself. You CAN.

And if you think you can’t, then what if I offered you a million dollars to do it, could you? I’m sure you’d find a way.

I have had many students say the word “can’t” during lessons and I tell them that the only time you can say that word in a sentence is when you add the word “yet” at the end of it.

“I can’t hit a serve…yet.”

“I can’t find a job…yet.”

“I can’t get this math problem…yet.”

That’s a totally different mindset isn’t it? That’s what the winners think like. And it’s a choice.

Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #980 MOTIVATION

I feel that I am one of the most motivated people I know, but someone once said, “Motivation is like taking a shower – it feels good and it’s refreshing ,but you have to take a new one every dayp.”

Success is not doing something once, but doing something consistently.

I have a book in my library called, “Motivating Quotes For Motivated People.” Here are a couple of my favorites…

He who would leap high must take a long run. -DANISH PROVERB

Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events not of words. Trust movement. -ALFRED ADLER

Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. -PLATO

Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success. -JOYCE BROTHERS

You will be a winner when you realize that failure is only a state of mind. -AUTHOR UNKNOWN

MESSAGE #979 YOUR IQ…

 

Your “I Can” is more important than your “IQ.”

“I can’t hit a serve.”

“I can’t make any money.”

“I can’t stay positive.”

“I can’t stop smoking.”

Success does not come in bottles, it comes in “cans.”

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. -BUDDHA

MESSAGE #977

“What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.” -OPRAH WINFREY

 

MESSAGE #972 INTERVIEW WITH A RISING STAR…

In this video blog, Ed interviews rising baseball star, Mike DeJesus of the New Jersey Jackals.

MESSAGE #971 TIGER BACK ON TRACK…

Well, so far, my prediction is coming true – Tiger Woods is returning to the golf world and showing the world (and himself) how to learn from mistakes. If he stays clean and kicks some major butt, my prediction will have been right on the money.

In his first interviews since the incident Tiger said…

“You strip away the denial, the rationalization and you come to the truth,” he said, “and the truth is very painful at times, and to stare at yourself and look at the person you’ve become, you become disgusted.”

I said from the beginning that Tiger just needs to speak from the heart but many people told me, “That’s not Tiger.” The quote above seems pretty honest to me.

And regarding not knowing his schedule after The Masters, Woods commented…

“That to me is a little bit bothersome, too, in a sense that I don’t like not knowing what to do. But what I know I have to do is become a better person, and that begins with going to more treatment.”

Tiger knows what he needs to do, and he’s doing it. And soon he will be getting it done on the golf course too.

No mistakes are bad if you learn from them.

Go get ’em, Tiger.

MESSAGE #963 THE WAY OF LIFE

A man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and the strong will fall.
The soft and the weak will overcome.
-LAO TZU