MESSAGE #1221 KEEP GOING

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With Billie Jean King at my US Open book signing

Champions keep playing until they get it right.
-BILLIE JEAN KING

I once had a student who began playing tournaments. In her first tournament, she lost first round. In the next tournament, she had the same result. And the next, and the next. For practically the first year, she didn’t get past the first round.

I told her, “This is a great way to improve, learn and develop as a player.”

She agreed with me, although she wanted better results. Well, she stuck with it and then started getting results.

She started winning some matches. She got to the 2nd round, then the 3rd and now it is rare if she doesn’t make it to at least the semifinals. She is also on her high school varsity team.

Most people give up too soon. They want immediate results. The great ones persist.

You need to hang on until you catch on.

Winning may feel good temporarily, but you learn more from losses.

The two most important questions you can ask yourself after a game/match/practice session are:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how did I play?

2. What can I do differently next time to get to a 10?

Focus on constant improvement and as a by-product, you will win more.

MESSAGE #1216 ACTION

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Today’s message is especially dedicated to all the great basketball/tennis players, coaches and parents that attended my “Mental Edge” seminar.

In my seminar today, in conjunction with the great Micah Lancaster’s basketball session, I talked about how to get the mental edge in sports and life. I shared some of the mental secrets of the world’s greatest athletes.

One of the keys I stressed was that knowing the mental secrets was not good enough–you need to APPLY them.

Information is nothing without implementation.

Everyone knows what they need to do, but most people don’t do it.

And here’s the secret…

A real champion does what they need to do, when they need to do it, whether they feel like it or not.

You don’t have to feel like a champion to act like a champion. It’s a choice, and it can begin right now.

A special thanks to Brian Klatsky for making “The Mental Edge” possible today.

MESSAGE #1206 WORRY

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Many times I work with an athlete on strategy. For example, I will tell a tennis player to come to net so he/she can finish off the point.

As a response, they often say, “But they might lob over my head!”

I tell them not to worry about it until it happens.

I know many business owners that don’t take risks because of the dreaded, “What if?”

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t prepare for these situations. You should.

The bottom line is that you need to get out of your comfort zone.

You need to take risks.

You need to what you’ve never done so you can get the results that you’ve never gotten.

Preparation…YES.

Worry…NO.

MESSAGE #1188 EMBARRASSING

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I once had a student who hated being embarrassed. During lessons and during competition, he would just drive himself crazy thinking about what people thought about how he was playing, and what they would think if he lost, or missed a shot.

Guess how he played?

Poorly!

The reason why this type of focus hurts your performance is because when you focus on external factors, you are not focusing on what is going to help you play your best game.

The way to play your best game is to focus on your strategy, your effort, your attitude. If your strategy isn’t working, make an adjustment.

The key is to NOT let anything external have any influence over you.

Is it hard?

Sure.

Is it a choice?

Definitely.

MESSAGE #1180 SKIP TO YOUR LOU

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I was teaching today and as you can imagine, I try to stay on the positive side of things. Well, as part of our warmup, I have my students skip across the court. Without fail, they smile while they are doing it. So I said, “It’s hard to do that without smiling. That means, whenever you are in a bad mood, miss a shot or someone does something mean to you, just start skipping.”

The lesson began and one of my students who made a negative comment while walking on to the court, missed a shot.

Guess what?

She said, “I’ll just skip it off.”

And she did and felt better.

And she performed better.

Can you apply this to your life?

MESSAGE #1177 CHANGE YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING

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Did you know that whatever you think about during the 30 minutes before you go to bed gets replayed in your mind 15 or more times while you’re sleeping?

What do you do right before bed?

Do you watch the news, ie, the down economy, terrorism, food recalls, shootings, etc?

Or do you cultivate gratitude for all you have in your life?

Do you think about what you have to do tomorrow and visualize it going the way you planned?

Your focus is your future.

Think about what you want to happen and don’t give energy to what you don’t.

MESSAGE #1175 MINOR THOUGHTS

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I know a minor league baseball player that pretends to get angry at the pitcher when he steps up to the plate.

In my eyes, that this is a minor league mindset.

Here’s what I think…

When you “hate” your opponent, it creates muscle tension and you don’t perform at your peak.

When sprinters train for competition, they run at about 80 percent.

Why?

Because when they run at 100 percent, their muscles constrict and they actually run slower.

Instead of “hating” your opponent, think of them as your teacher–someone who is pushing you to get better.

Have gratitude for your teacher and you will stay loose.

When you stay loose, you perform at a higher level.

Hating your opponent is a minor league attitude, and you can’t make the major leagues with a minor league attitude.

MESSAGE #1171 WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE PRESSURE’S ON?

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Well, the Yankees were losing 3-0 in Game 1 of the ALDS versus the Minnesota Twins last night and they came back to win 6-4.

“The switch kind of turns on when the postseason rolls around over here,” says Yankee Nick Swisher.

That’s a winning mindset.

Most people fold when the pressure is on.

But the great ones get turned on by the pressure.

It’s a choice.

What will you choose?

MESSAGE #1166

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In Derek Jeter’s professional debut in the minor leagues, he played a doubleheader and went 0 for 7 with five strikeouts.

He doubted himself.

But he didn’t show it. Nobody knew.

He continued to work hard and he persisted.

Challenges can make or break you.

In fact, William Arthur Ward once said, “Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.”

How do you react in challenging situations?