MESSAGE #1066
If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.
-HERSCHEL WALKER
Posts
MESSAGE #1065 WHO ARE YOU?
How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.
-LOU HOLTZ
Do you play to get a lot of trophies?
Do you work to make a lot of money?
Do you study to get a lot of A’s?
Don’t get me wrong, trophies, money and A’s are desirable things to have, but they should not be the ultimate goal.
I think that what really matters is what kind of person you become.
Trophies, money and A’s will not last forever. But your character will.
Training yourself to go all-out, striving for constant improvement and enjoying the process is success to me.
What do you think?
MESSAGE #1064 THAT LITTLE VOICE INSIDE YOUR HEAD
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Shari Koretsky.
Tennis players need to expand on their positive thoughts and cut down on their negative thoughts.
I have worked with some of the top juniors in the country and one thing I have noticed is that they all have good strokes. When they are playing well, they look like future champions. But when things start going wrong, most of these elite athletes get negative, VERY negative. They yell at themselves, smash their racquets against the ground and have terrible body language.
They have this voice inside their head. We all do. And if you’re asking yourself, “Do I have a voice inside my head?”…that’s the voice I’m talking about.
The key is to make that voice positive. Pump yourself up or make adjustments if you’re not getting the results you want.
Focus on what you want to happen. Focus on being your own coach. And focus on attitude and effort.
I am currently working with several high-level athletes on their mental toughness and they are all improving. A few of them have even gotten compliments from other parents, coaches and umpires on their improved attitudes.
For the most part, we create our lives. We choose how we react to certain situations.
But the question is, will we choose to be positive or negative?
Leave your comments below…
MESSAGE #1063 I’m NOT Teaching Tennis Today
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Nic Cecan.
Summer Tennis Camp 2010 officially begins today.
Though numbers are down, I am very excited.
I’m sure there will be some new faces, which will bring new opportunities.
I look at every session as a way to positively affect our youth. It’s life lessons through tennis. Sure, the campers will improve their tennis game, but more importantly, they will learn confidence, teamwork, how to perform under pressure, focus and much more.
Honestly, I don’t look at Tennis Camp as a way of making money, or getting a nice tan. I look at it as contribution.
Helping others become healthier, mentally and physically.
Teaching them that effort and attitude are more important than results and materialistic objects.
Making the world a better place.
What if everyone on the planet had this mentality?
MESSAGE #1061 HOW TO FAIL LESS…
I have a feeling that someone reading this has been disappointed before – unhappy with results in sports, sales or school.
Perhaps you tried to do something but failed, like ask someone out on a date.
Here’s how you can get different results…
Either change your perception of the situation or change your approach.
Let me explain.
Say you are playing tennis and you keep hitting the ball into the net. You may start to think that you stink and are not a good tennis player.
Changing your perception would be: even though you are hitting many balls into the net, you are still a good player, still in control and will make adjustments.
You can also change your approach. This would be aiming higher over the net next time.
When you change your perception and/or change your approach, you get different results.
That’s the bottom-line.
MESSAGE #1059 A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Eric Tecce.
Goethe once said, “Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is; treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”
Think about how you treat yourself.
Think about how you treat others.
Many years ago, at a school in England, there was a computer glitch. It classified a class of gifted students as below average and it classified a class of below average students as gifted.
Five months later, the error was found.
But the most amazing discovery was after they tested the students.
The gifted students (who were classified as below average) had significantly lower IQ scores.
The below average students (who were classified as gifted) had significantly higher IQ scores.
Interesting.
What does this mean?
As an athlete, coach, teacher or parent, we should always assume that greatness is attainable.
Because it is.
Remember Henry Ford…
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way, you’re right.”
MESSAGE #1058 WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Rich Benvin in Denver, CO.
Success is often determined by our verbage.
Have you ever used any of the following?
“I can’t do it.”
“I have to win this match.”
“If only I had more more money.”
These are limiting beliefs.
Try the following, instead…
“I can’t do it yet.”
“I want to win this match.”
“I am grateful for the money I have and I am confident that more is on the way.”
That’s a different mindset – a winning mindset. And anyone can have one.
MESSAGE #1057 PAIN MANAGEMENT
I recently received an email from a psychology student at UCLA asking, what is your favorite “pain management” technique that you would share with a marathon runner to help get through “the wall”?
As a runner, pain is part of the process and as long as you are not risking injury, you have to push through it.
Too often, our mind gives up before our body.
In yoga, when you feel you cannot hold a pose any longer, the secret is to shift your focus to another body part, your breathing or anything besides the fact that you cannot hold it any longer. Once you fight through that pain, it becomes easier. Running (and life) is the same way.
If you don’t feel like working out anymore, or if you don’t feel like making more sales calls, or you don’t feel like studying anymore…FIGHT THROUGH IT.
And remember…
Don’t Quit. Can’t Fail.
MESSAGE #1056 JUST DO IT
I’ve seen many amazing things in sports, but on May 26, 2010, I experienced the most amazing thing…well, almost.
I was selected to interview a player at the Mrs. G’s Very Important Blogger event at the New York Yankees Double-A affiliate, Trenton Thunder game. Little did I know, it turned out to be one of the Yankees’ top prospects, Brandon Laird.
We had a great conversation before the game in the hallway, next to the clubhouse, underneath the stadium. To checkout highlights and a video, click HERE. Laird then proceeded to hit for the cycle (single, double, triple, home run), with a walk-off home run with two outs, to win the game. It was only the second time someone hit for the cycle in franchise history. The reason why it was “almost” the most amazing thing I have experienced in sports was because I left when the game was still tied, 5-5. (I know, shame on me).
Well, this past Saturday night, amidst a whirlwind Special Olympics Summer Games weekend, I headed back over to the stadium, on, ironically, Special Olympics night. I again spent some time with Laird before the game.
When we were talking back on 5/26, I asked him what his best home run he ever hit was, and he said it was in a playoff game in high school.
The first thing Brandon said to me this past Saturday night was, “Remember last time you asked me what my best home run was? It was the night we spoke, when I hit for the cycle.”
We had another great conversation about success and mental toughness. He talk about his new routine and I asked the million-dollar question…
“What do you do when you don’t feel like doing your routine?”
“I just suck it up and do it anyway.”
Great answer, Brandon. And notice he used the “J” word…just.
In any great performance, they “just do it.”
When I asked Laird how he hit for the cycle, he said, “I worked my way to a hitter’s count and just got a good pitch to hit.”
Laird went on to become Eastern League Player of the Week and then Eastern League Player of the Month. It is amazing to see such an amazing athlete, but the thing I like most about Brandon Laird is not his athletic ability. The thing I like most about him is that he is a great person who has great character. He’s already in the Major Leagues, if you ask me.
Watch the video below for part of our conversation…
MESSAGE #1052 50 THINGS TO DO (ASAP)
Want to reach peak performance?
Then do these 50 things ASAP:
1. Meditate
2. Be a builder-upper not breaker-downer
3. Eat vegetarian (as much as you can)
4. Drink more water
5. Write a gratitude letter
6. Write down 5 things you want to accomplish by the end of the year (then do whatever it takes)
7. Talk less, do more
8. Complain less
9. Compliment more
10. Make the important thing the important thing
11. Cultivate gratitude every day
12. Play with your dog
13. Catch someone doing something right
14. Switch from coffee to green tea
15. Buy someone special a gift…just because
16. Smile
17. Laugh
18. Just do it, whether you feel like it or not
19. Be a leader
20. Be a teacher
21. Be a student
22. Strive for constant improvement
23. Go all out, every day
24. Don’t get irritated, get intrigued
25. Give more than you get
26. Be yourself
27. Fail forward
28. Sleep less
29. Exercise first thing in the morning
30. Call Success Hotline 973.743.4690
31. Do something that scares you
32. Read more
33. Watch TV less
34. Learn in the car (audio books)
35. Practice yoga
36. Focus on the process not the product
37. Don’t be well-rounded; be sharp-edged
38. Listen, really listen
39. Be mindful
40. Slow down when you’re in a rush
41. Relax when the pressure’s on
42. Breathe deeply
43. Stay in the present moment
44. Do a little bit extra
45. Act as if it were impossible to fail
46. Dress to impress
47. Be the change you wish to see in the world
48. Get a mentor
49. Be a mentor
50. Leave a legacy