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?”
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?
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.
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.
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.
“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
Today’s message is especially dedicated to all the great coaches that attended the MSC Coaches Clinic featuring basketball coaches from Rutgers, Villanova, St. Joe’s, Robert Morris and Temple.
Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.
-GEORGE HALAS
Have you ever heard anyone say…
“I wish I would have partied more.”
“I wish I would have held back.”
“I wish I would have slacked off more.”
Of course not. You see, in sports and life, it is better to go all out than it is to hold back.
So the next time you don’t “feel like” doing what you need to do, whether it’s practicing, studying or cleaning the house, just do it anyway. And do it well. If you do, you’re better than most everyone else.
And guess what type of results you will get?
Fifty-four years ago today, Don Larsen threw the first and only perfect game in World Series history.
Larsen didn’t even know he was going to start the game until he arrived at the ballpark.
Yankees manager, Frank Crosetti put a baseball in Larsen’s shoe, which meant that he was pitching.
Larsen gulped and said to himself, “Don’t mess this up.”
He was nervous, but he went out there and pitched the game of his life, 27 up, 27 down, to catcher Yogi Berra.
During his career, Larsen was only about average, but on this day in 1956, he was perfect.
Larsen says, “If you work hard enough, I believe everybody’s entitled to one good day.”
Work hard everybody.
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?