Posts

MESSAGE #1641 TOP 5 WAYS TO PLAY IN THE ZONE ALMOST INSTANTLY

/0 Comments/in /by

In the Yankee Stadium bleachers with Jeff Nelson, a 4-time World Series Champion

I recently spent some time with the former Yankee great, Jeff Nelson at Yankee Stadium. We were at an event for Cystic Fibrosis and participated in the famous roll call with bleacher creature, Bald Vinny, Yankee writer, Jon Lane, and my friend Fred Weiland, among others.

What did I learn from “Nellie”?

1. He was always confident.
2. He was always nervous.
3. He treated both feelings the same way.

Nelson said that he was always confident, but there are so many factors in sports so you never know what’s going to happen. He also said that being nervous is normal. And he didn’t think too much about either one. That leads me to my Top 5 Ways to Play in the Zone Almost Instantly.

1. Understand that feelings (both positive and negative) are random.
2. Understand that feelings (both positive and negative) are neutral.
3. Understand that feelings come and go.
4. Understand that feelings come from your own thoughts.
5. Understand that if you don’t take your thoughts and feelings so seriously, you will play in the zone more consistently.

Notice my Top 5 has no technique, routine or ritual? There’s no how-to. All you need is UNDERSTANDING. The reason why is because when you are in a slump and you look to a technique, it will not work. It will just begin to make you think more. And when you think more, you perform less. The zone is a state of no thought (at least you don’t realize you are thinking), so why would you do the opposite when things are not going your way?

I don’t know either.

Let me end with a quote from another famous Yankee…

“You can’t think and hit at the same time. A full mind is an empty bat.”
—Yogi Berra

MESSAGE #1640 HOPE WEEK

/0 Comments/in /by

Well, it’s officially HOPE Week, my favorite week of the entire baseball season. The above photograph is of myself and the great Mariano Rivera at HOPE Week 2011. For an entire week, the Yankees honor a person or organization that could use their help. HOPE is an acronym for Helping Others Persevere and Excel. Every season, Yankee players volunteer their time and after helping out, most players agree that they benefitted more than the recipient.

But the Yankees don’t know the secret…yet.

Recently, I taught a class at Whole Food Princeton’s Wellness Club entitled, “The Art of Happiness: Mental Wellness 101.” I told the class that one of the things that makes me happy is to make others happy. The truth is, when I do something nice for someone else, my thoughts and feelings change to ones of compassion, love, and gratitude so it’s not the act, but the thoughts. The same will happen for the Yankees this week.

This week, I also will be donating my time and educating people on how peak performance occurs on the inside (thoughts), not the outside (strategy). Volunteering and helping others is great, but remember it’s your new thoughts that change your feelings, not the kind act itself.

In fact, let’s try a little experiment this week. Wherever you are in the world, I challenge you to do an act of kindness every day this week. I have donated my time with the Special Olympics, Boys and Girls Club of Trenton, Mercer County Juvenile Detention Center, United States Tennis Association, and other great organizations, but this week I’m going to step up my game as well. Your contribution this week could be complimenting a stranger on the street, helping someone with their stroller up the steps, or reading to the blind. As you do these things, see if you notice a change in your thoughts and/or feelings. You may or you may not, depending on your state of mind at the moment. But that’s not the point. Do good things because you want to, not because of how you think they may make you feel.

I will be posting updates this week on this site, as well as on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I would love to hear your random acts of kindness as well. Leave your comments below or on the social media mentioned above.

Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #1638 HOW TO GET OUT OF YOUR OWN HEAD…

/0 Comments/in /by

Martina Navratilova is a former World No. 1 female tennis player. In fact, Billie Jean King said Navratilova is the “greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who’s ever lived.”

I played some doubles with Martina when she was getting ready to make her comeback back in 2000. I vividly remember the first time I hit with her. She and I were warming up and I quickly began thinking, “I’m hitting with a living legend…” I was nervous and my strokes and body were extremely tight.

Fortunately, I quickly thought, “She’s just another tennis player. Have fun.” And I did exactly that and played quite well.

Here’s what happened:

1. I was having nervous thoughts which created nervous feelings.
2. My nervous feelings created my tight strokes and behavior.
3. My thoughts changed and quickly my strokes and body became more loose.

Here’s what you should understand:

1. Feelings are not created by external events, e.g., line calls, spectators, comments or Martina Navratilova.
2. Feelings are created 100% by your own thoughts (often without you even realizing that you are thinking).
3. When you are experiencing negative feelings, you don’t have to “do” anything about them. All it takes is the UNDERSTANDING that your thoughts create your feelings (you are the thinker) and if you don’t take them so seriously, your mindset will naturally rise back up.
4. With this understanding, your mind will clear and you will increase your chances of having a peak performance.

Thoughts?

Leave your comments below.

For a free 10-minute phone, Skype or FaceTime consultation on the mental game in sports, academics, business, or life, email: .

Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #1637 MY NEWEST FACEBOOK FRIEND

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

One of the traits successful people share is their desire for constant learning. When you have a growth mindset like that, the sky is the limit and anything is possible.

Well, my newest Facebook friend is almost in the sky, she’s 6 foot 11.5 inches tall. Her name is Marvadene “Bubbles” Anderson. I first met Bubbles after her first high school basketball game back in 2009 when she was ONLY 6 foot 10.5 inches tall. A wonderful young lady who has a growth mindset. Enjoy the video of us below and take notice how her goals were to learn as much as she could.

MESSAGE #1636 LIFE IS A MARATHON…

/0 Comments/in /by

Today is the 116th Boston Marathon. A 26.2 mile physical, mental and spiritual test for over 26,000 runners. And today is going to be a hot one.

Tom Fleming is a marathon runner and he actually was runner-up at in the Boston Marathon two times. When he was at his peak, Fleming would run between 150 and 175 miles a week. An amazing feat in itself. Somebody once asked him, “Do you ever NOT feel like running?”

“EVERY DAY I don’t feel like running…until I start running,” responded Fleming.

Now you may not be a marathon runner, but I can guarantee that at some point today, there will be something you don’t “feel like” doing, whether it’s working out, cleaning the house, practicing or studying. You may not be able to run 175 miles a week like Tom Fleming, but you can certainly have the same attitude as him—-do it whether you feel like it or not.

It’s a choice.

Here’s another great quote by Fleming:

Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.

Good luck today to all the marathoners…and good luck to YOU.

Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon; take it one step at a time.

Thanks for reading.

Ed Tseng
Peak Performance Coach
Pro of the Year USTA 2005
Author of “Game. Set. Life.”
Keynote Speaker

609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1635 FINAL FOUR, FINAL THOUGHTS…

/0 Comments/in /by

Tomorrow, college basketball really heats up…the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio State and Kansas will be competing to see who will get to the final round.

I have have been a consultant for some Final Four teams and if I were to give a talk to the teams right before they played tomorrow night, I would give them this bit of advice…

At some point during the game tomorrow night, you will have a negative thought in your head.

“What if we lose this game?”

“What if I miss this foul shot?”

“I can’t handle this pressure!”

Well, let me explain how your mind works…

Your feelings of nervousness, lack of confidence or anger cannot hurt your performance…unless you let them. Your feelings come from your thoughts, not from an external source like a game, the crowd or even the referees.

Feelings and thoughts are neutral (and random). It’s normal to have negative thoughts pop up in your head, but you have the choice of which ones to focus on.

If you were enjoying a movie at the theater and a random thought about what you were going to eat after the movie popped into your head, wouldn’t you just dismiss that random thought and focus back on the movie? Of course you would.

You can also dismiss any negative thoughts on the court in the same way, even if you’re on national television.

We can’t control what thoughts pop up in our heads, but we can choose which ones to focus on.

If I am in New York City waiting for the C train, but the A train, the B train and the D train keep arriving, I cannot control that. But I can control which train I get on.

Your thoughts are the same way.

In other words…

Don’t take your thoughts so seriously.

It’s not what’s happening around you. It’s not what’s happening to you. What really matters is what’s happening INSIDE you.

Good luck in the Final Four and if you’re an accountant in Boston, Massachusetts or a musician in San Francisco, this applies to you too. We can all improve our performance by mastering the mental game.

Thanks for reading.

Ed Tseng
Peak Performance Coach
Pro of the Year USTA 2005
Author of “Game. Set. Life.”
Keynote Speaker

609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1634 HAPPY PI DAY!

/0 Comments/in /by


Today is Pi Day (3.14).

Today is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so the whole Princeton area is going insane. There are pi fights, pi eating contests, all sorts of mental olympics and even a geekiest geek contest!

Since Princeton is going “insane” on Pi Day, I want you to go through your day thinking about one of my favorite Einstein quotes…I know I will especially if I drive by his house on Mercer Street today.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Do you keep doing the same thing?

Are you complaining about your results?

Then change what you’re doing on the field, in the classroom, in your relationships and at the office.

To get what we have never gotten, we must do what we have never done.

Happy Pi Day.

Ed Tseng
Peak Performance Coach
Pro of the Year USTA 2005
Author of “Game. Set. Life.”
Keynote Speaker

609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1633 IT’S NATIONAL PROCRASTINATION WEEK!

/0 Comments/in /by

Well, it’s National Procrastination Week, and I’m all for it.

In fact, I want you to make EVERY week, Procrastination Week. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you to procrastinate practicing, paying your bills, cleaning your house or any of that sort of thing.

Actually, there’s only one thing that I want you to procrastinate.

I want you to procrastinate procrastination.

Put off putting things off.

Do you know the five words why most people fail?

I DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.

Feelings are just feelings, you don’t have to act on every one of them. The most successful people in the world do what they need to do, when they need to do it, whether they feel like it or not.

Don’t train yourself to be lazy or hold back.

Train yourself to give a full effort.

I have lazy feelings all the time, but I rarely have lazy actions.

The other day I was working with a young gymnast and she said to me, “When I walked into the gym today, I felt very tired, but then I just acted like I had high energy and then I became energized!”

Effort was a choice for this young gymnast, and effort is a choice for you.

So as everyone else is celebrating National Procrastination Week, I challenge you to procrastinate procrastination. And when next week rolls around and everyone else is playing catch-up, you will be hitting the ground with your feet running.

Ed Tseng
Mental Conditioning Coach
Pro of the Year USTA 2005
Author of “Game. Set. Life.”

609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1632 LEAP YEAR

/0 Comments/in /by

Well, it’s February 29th on this Leap Year, so I feel it only appropriate to tell you one of my favorite riddles…

Three frogs were sitting on a log.
Two frogs decided to leap off.
How many frogs were left?

Answer: Three. Just because the two frogs DECIDED to leap off, doesn’t mean that they actually did.

Just because YOU decide to eat healthier, practice more, or quit smoking, doesn’t mean you actually will.

Can you? Absolutely.

Will you? That’s up to you.

How about this for a Leap Year’s Resolution: Don’t be a frog.

MESSAGE #1630 PERSISTENCE

/0 Comments/in /by

Recently, I was watching the press conference for Yankee catcher, Jorge Posada’s retirement from baseball. As Jorge spoke, reflected on his career and answered questions from the media, I couldn’t help but think about a story I once heard about the young Posada in Puerto Rico.

When Jorge was just starting out in baseball, Jorge Sr. insisted that Jorge become a switch-hitter, but Jorge hated batting left-handed.

“He cried and he cried, and he cried, because in the game he would strike out, and strike out, and strike out,” his father said.

In fact, in his first 17 left-handed at-bats, the young Jorge struck out each time.

Then, in his 18th at-bat Jorge hit a home run. After he rounded the bases, the proud young Jorge said, “Oh father, thank you. Thank you, father.”

The greatest athletes in the world know that persistence pays off.

Are you willing to put off what you want now for what you want most?