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MESSAGE #1429 EYE OF THE TIGER

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Your focus is your future.
-Oprah Winfrey

There’s something called selective focus. It happens when you buy a new car and then all of a sudden, you start seeing the same car on the road constantly. They have always been there.

How about when you meet someone new who is also at your place of work or school? Don’t you start seeing them all the time? They have always been there.

Simply put, selective focus means you get what you focus on. Success is where you look for it—it’s all around you.

Recently, I was listening to the radio while stringing a racquet and Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger from Rocky came on. I started getting motivated. Then, I started paying attention to the words.

Guess what? I found peak performance in it. Below are some of the powerful lyrics…

*Went the distance, now I’m back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory

Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

Chorus:
It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the cream of the fight
Risin’ up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watchin’ us all in the eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin’ tough, stayin’ hungry

Risin’ up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I’m not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive*

Ready to REALLY get motivated? Here’s the song. I dare you to NOT kick butt today after listening to it.

MESSAGE #1427 MENTAL TOUGHNESS IN GOLF

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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 #1423 MAGICK

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MESSAGE #1422 SUCCESS DOES NOT COME IN BOTTLES

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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!

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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 #1419 EAT LIKE A BIRD, POOP LIKE AN ELEPHANT

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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 #1418 I’M A GOLD MEDALIST!

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Another successful Special Olympics Summer Games has been completed. There was no shortage of inspiration as over 2,500 athletes participated and over 3,000 people volunteered to help make this event a great one.

My team of Brad Abouchedid, Joey Clawson, Joe Bodner, Alex Armour, Mike Capone, Laura Kasper, and Chrissy Acton gave it their all! Many of them even got medals! I enjoyed playing Unified Doubles with Joey Clawson (above) and we defended our gold medal from last year!

The focus of our athletes is having fun and giving a full effort. As a by-product, they won medals. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter, it’s how you play the game. And if you play the game with fun and the right attitude, you win more. Not the other way around.

Take the philosophy of these special athletes and start winning some medals in your own life!

Thanks for reading.

Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1416 SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES

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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 #1414 HOCUS-POCUS

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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

MESSAGE #1413 A QUOTE FROM “GAME. SET. LIFE”

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Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Work is the most fun of all. —author unknown