MESSAGE #1428 A MESSAGE FROM VINCE LOMBARDI
Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
-Vince Lombardi
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MESSAGE #1427 MENTAL TOUGHNESS IN GOLF
The greatest golfers in the world have a pre-shot routine.
The worst golfers in the world don’t.
A pre-shot routine may include taking a deep breath, visualizing, and just doing it (trusting your shot).
A routine also helps you focus less on what’s going on around you, and more on what’s going on inside you. Think of yourself as being a hurricane—on the outside, things are out of control, but on the inside (the eye of the hurricane), things are calm and in control.
Pre-shot routines also create consistency. And consistency in routines equate to consistency in your game.
This principle applies to school and the business world too. A consistent routine gets you consistent results.
And no routine is still a routine.
What is YOUR routine?
MESSAGE #1424 BOUNCE BACK ABILITY
Someone once said that success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom.
We all have failed at something, whether it be in sports, sales or school. It’s not the failure that stops us, it’s what we do with that failure that stops us. We can be irritated, or we can be intrigued.
We learn most from failure. The most successful people fail the most.
Henry Ford once said that failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”—Michael Jordan
Be like Mike today.
MESSAGE #1422 SUCCESS DOES NOT COME IN BOTTLES
Affirmations are powerful.
Limiting beliefs are weak.
This morning, while I was working out, I dropped down for some pushups. The average person can do 20 pushups. When I was in serious training years ago, I would perform pushups with a 15-pound plate on my back, so that when I would do regular pushups, I could do 60 almost effortlessly.
It’s been a while since I have done pushups, and an even longer time since I have done them with a 15-pound plate on my back, but I was warmed up and optimistic.
I dropped down, and was able to do 20 pretty easily and at 30, I began to feel it and thought that I couldn’t do anymore. I wanted to stop.
But I didn’t.
I pushed through the feeling of “I can’t do anymore” and then reached 40. And then 50. I had to really reach down and push to get to 60, and I did.
How many times have you been at the gym, at work or at school and thought, “I can’t do this” or “I can’t do that” and then you stop? It’s happened to all of us.
The secret is that you can act differently than how you feel.
Push through it.
Say “No, thank you” to your limiting belief.
Muhammad Ali said, “Suffer now and spend the rest of your life as a champion.”
Now, doing 60 pushups probably does not qualify me as a champion, but that’s not the point.
It’s the principle. I am training myself to act differently than how I feel.
That’s what champions do.
Why would you condition yourself to give up?
Why would you tell yourself you can’t do something?
What if you asked yourself a more powerful question, like, “HOW can I do it?”
If you remember nothing else from this blog entry, remember this…
Success doesn’t come in bottles, it comes in “CANS.”
You can do it.
Leave your comments below.
Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077
MESSAGE #1421 I DIDN’T KNOW!
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Debra Wachspress.
This morning I ran into Debra Wachspress, Director of Community Engagement at the Boys and Girls Club of Trenton at the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting. I had never met her in person, but we had exchanged emails as I prepared to speak at the Boys and Girls Club last month. At the end of the Princeton Chamber meeting, Debra came up to me and said, “I have to tell you something. Prior to your speaking at The Boys and Girls Club, I was on your website and watched some of your videos. Now, because of you, I exercise every night!”
Wow, that motivated ME! I didn’t even know she has been on my website!
Now, because Debra has been working out consistently for the past three weeks, it is actually harder for her NOT to exercise than it is for TO exercise.
It is now a habit.
Here’s another way to look at it…
It’s better to do a little, A LOT than it is to do A LOT, a little.
If you know the goal you want to attain, make it important enough and you will stick with it.
Thank you for the motivation, Debra!
MESSAGE #1420 A MESSAGE FROM A PARALYMPIAN
You can change your life. You don’t wait for someone else to do it for you.
—Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, 11-time gold medal paralympian
MESSAGE #1419 EAT LIKE A BIRD, POOP LIKE AN ELEPHANT
I’m reading a great book right now by one of my favorite authors, “Rules for Revolutionaries” by Guy Kawasaki.
In this book, Kawasaki talks about a concept elegantly named, “eat like a bird, poop like an elephant.”
Most people have it wrong, Kawasaki says, referring to the fact that when someone says you eat like a bird, you don’t eat much. But the truth is, compared to their body weight, birds DO eat a lot. A hummingbird, for example eats about 50% of its body weight in one day.
Poop like an elephant. This one needs no explanation, elephants have about 165 pounds of poop a day.
How does this apply to sports and life?
Eat like a bird—take in a lot of information about your sport, business or major in school. Read, watch videos, talk to experts, etc. The more you know, the better off you will be (as long as you take action).
Poop like an elephant—disperse the information you acquire. Share with your teammates, co-workers and fellow students. If you do this, everybody wins (and you are forced to learn even more).
And while we are on the topic of animals, do what the title of Brian Tracy’s book says…
Eat That Frog!
This means, do the thing that you don’t feel like doing first! Make the important thing the important thing.
You may KNOW that you should eat like a bird and take in as much knowledge as you can…but that doesn’t mean you WILL.
You may KNOW that you should poop like an elephant and spread your knowledge to others…but that doesn’t mean you WILL.
A true champion does what he needs to do, when he needs to do it, whether he feels like it or not.
MESSAGE #1416 SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES
Today was Day 1 of the Special Olympics Summer Games 2011 here in New Jersey. It was a great day full of inspiration. In fact, the Special Olympics motto is “Inspire Greatness” and these special athletes certainly do that. During the tennis matches today, I heard a couple special athletes talking to each other…
“Did you win?” one athlete asked.
“No, but I did my best,” was the optimistic response.
Wow, I think all of us coaches, athletes and parents can learn from these amazing athletes.
Here’s another quote from the Special Olympics…
“Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
Stay tuned, tonight I will be at Opening Ceremonies for some more inspiration.
MESSAGE #1415 PEAK PERFORMANCE PRINCIPLES
ED TSENG’S
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26 PRINCIPLES FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE
1. Focusing on the past and the future is weak; focusing on the present moment is powerful.
2. Focus on things you can control and forget about things you cannot control (controllable: effort; uncontrollable: results).
3. Exceed expectations.
4. Be a team player.
5. Set process or performance goals, instead of outcome goals.
6. The most successful people fail the most—learn from your setbacks.
7. Pressure is created by YOU, don’t worry about external forces.
8. Your only competitor is YOURSELF.
9. Trust your stuff—you can’t think and perform at the same time.
10. BREATHE.
11. Be a teacher and a student—you can learn from all people and situations.
12. Repeat affirmations to yourself, e.g., “I am in total control and perform my best when it means the most.”
13. Accept negative thoughts and then let them go—you can choose what you focus on.
14. Use this relaxation technique anytime you need it—breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, exhale for 8 seconds. Repeat up to three times.
15. Cultivate gratitude.
16. Write down any past achievements, big or small, and read them before a performance to pump yourself up.
17. Learn from/ask/interview people who are successful at doing what you want to do.
18. Be yourself. Love yourself. Accept yourself.
19. Strive for constant learning (growth mindset).
20. Use the 15-minute rule when you don’t feel like doing something—do it for 15 minutes, then you can stop (but you won’t).
21. Anybody can perform well on “good” days, the great ones perform well even on “bad” days (You can act differently than how you feel).
22. It’s not the situation, but your reactions that matter.
23. Do what you love, help others, change the world.
24. Work harder than anybody else (Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard).
25. Act as if it were impossible to fail.
26. If you don’t quit, you can’t fail.
MESSAGE #1414 HOCUS-POCUS
It’s not about hocus-pocus, it’s all about focus-focus.
I may not know you, but I know something about you—you want to be great at something. How do I know this? Because you’re reading this blog. It doesn’t matter what you want to be great at, it could be sports, business, school, a musical instrument, or cooking. The strategy is the same.
Most people think success has to do with magic. They think that “one day” success will come to them. But the truth is, it’s not hocus-pocus, it’s focus-focus.
What are you focusing on?
You might have a great idea, but a great idea is nothing if you don’t take action.
Here’s a secret formula: K – A = 0 (Knowledge minus Action equals Nothing).
You probably know what to do, but you are not doing what you know.
1. Take a piece of paper, an index card, post-it note, anything to write on.
2. Write down one goal you would like to attain today, e.g. practice, workout, make 10 sales calls, send your best client a free gift.
3. Then write down exactly where, when and how you are going to do it.
4. Just do it.
5. Remember, motivation is not a feeling, it’s an action.
Thanks for reading.
Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077