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MESSAGE #1183 HOW SOFT IS YOUR PILLOW?

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“The softest pillow is a clear conscience.”
-JOHN WOODEN

I want to give you a test. It’s called the pillow test.

Tonight, when you put your head on the pillow, see which of the following you say to yourself…

“I’m glad I did.”

OR

“I wish I had.”

See, one of the mental toughness secrets of the greatest athletes in history is this…

THEY GO ALL OUT.

Or, as I always say, “It’s better to go all-out and lose than it is to hold back and win. Because when you hold back, you are training yourself to hold back.”

As you go through your day, you will have many decisions to make, and the only thing you should consider is this…

“Am I going to go all-out or am I going to hold back?”

Let me know how you do on the test.

Leave your comments below and thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #1182 THE BEST PITCHER DOESN’T WIN

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So tonight I’m heading up to the Bronx for Game 3 of the ALCS, Yankees versus the Rangers.

Andy Pettitte versus Cliff Lee.

Cliff Lee is a great pitcher. He is 6-0 in postseason play. Everyone is expecting the Yankees to lose.

One thing that I know, is that NOTHING is a guarantee in sports (and life).

The best pitcher (or team for that matter) doesn’t win.

The pitcher (or team) that PLAYS best wins.

Records don’t matter. Reputations don’t matter.

As a matter of fact, Derek Jeter said, “Reputation doesn’t win games. You still have to go out there and pitch.”

It’s all about who performs better on that day.

It all starts at 8:07pm tonight.

MESSAGE #1181 DON’T DO THIS!

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Every day I see athletes playing it safe.

This is the wrong strategy.

Now, don’t get me wrong because there is a time to be safe, but for the most part it is better to go all-out than it is to hold back.

Jimmy Johnson once said, “Really it comes down to your philosophy. Do you want to play it safe and be good or do you want to take a chance and be great?”

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 #1179 PRACTICE MAKES IMPERFECT

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“Practice makes imperfect. People practice until they ‘think’ they know it. The key is to remain a learner.”
-ELLEN LANGER, Ph.D, Harvard

In conversations I’ve had with Dr. Langer, we spoke about how when practicing, athletes need to be mindful. Don’t just practice in perfect conditions, practice in realistic conditions, i.e., in tennis, practice hitting balls with different pace, spin, and depth coming at you. Practice in sun and wind and extreme cold and heat. Practice with people better than you. Practice with people worse than you.

Notice what is happening, make adjustments.

Rarely will conditions be perfect, so why practice that way?

MESSAGE #1178 GO FOR IT!

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There are two types of people in the world…

Those who take action.

And those who don’t.

As I work on my forthcoming book, “The Pinstripe Principles: Why The Yankees Are So Mentally Tough (and how you can be too),” I am reaching out to people that I never thought I would ever talk to.

Yesterday, I interviewed Babe Ruth’s daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens. Last night I was chatting with Yogi Berra’s wife, Carmen.

Jorge Posada has already agreed to speak with me after the season is over.

I also spoke with John Zieman at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum and he already wants me to do a book signing next season.

And this is just the beginning.

But what does this have to do with you?

You have to take action.

You can’t just talk about writing a book, or taking up the guitar, or eating better, or studying, or practicing.

Anyone can talk about what they’re going to do.

But the successful people DO what they’re going to do.

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 #1174 HOW TO BE A QUITTER

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“Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up.”
-NANCY LOPEZ