“There
isn’t a person anywhere who isn’t capable of doing
more than he thinks he can.”
Henry Ford
DR. G’S COMMENTS: What do you expect from yourself? What do
you think is possible? What “unbreakable” limits
are you placing on yourself as an excuse for not going for it? Henry
Ford is absolutely right. You can always do more than you think. You
can always do better than your best. Limits and handicaps are placed in
your life for you to overcome them. They are not put there as a reason
to whine. Our world is a never ending testimony how in every impossible
resides a “possible.” Question your limiting
beliefs. Challenge them through personal action. Train yourself on a
daily basis to get in the habit of trying to do the impossible. Go
directly after your “I can’ts.” Do not
give in to them. Do not let your “I
can’ts” define who you are and what you can do.
Your “I can’ts” and
“I’ll never’s” are terrible
liars and you don’t want to listen to them! As an athlete and
a person you are always limited by what you believe is possible.
Temporarily suspend your limiting beliefs and go after it anyways. And
if you fall on your face, get your butt back up and try it again, and
again and again if necessary. You can always do more than you think you
can. ALWAYS!
……..
DON'T THINK, JUST PLAY
To perform to your best you have to put yourself on automatic,
trust your skills and training, and let your performance happen.
Thinking too much, before and during your performances will only tend
to gum up the works. Keep your focus away from your thoughts and on the
game and exactly what you are doing. Thinking too much will distract
you from the task at hand and slow you down in every way. Thinking
about what you should do, have to do, better do, or what will happen if
you don't is a big NO NO performance-wise! Keep your head in the
performance. When you notice that little voice in your head chattering
away, tell it, "Thanks for sharing!" and immediately bring your focus
back to what you're doing. Don't think, just react! Don't think just
feel! Don't think, just trust yourself!
……..
“Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness.”
The Buddha
R. G’S COMMENTS:
Think of your goals in your sport. Think of how important it is for you
to win that championship. Think about how badly you want to make the
starting line-up or get that college scholarship. Use your goals to
motivate you to train and then, when it counts the most and the heat of
competition is turned up high, LET THEM GO. Success in athletics and
life is a paradox. You will play that great game, win the title, score
all those points, pitch the perfect game ONLY when you LET GO of the
desire to do so while you are engaged in the performance. One of the
biggest mistakes made by coaches and athletes is being too wedded to
your outcome goals as you go into and during that all important
performance. When it counts the most, you must LET GO of outcome and
trust yourself. You must trust your training, trust your hard work,
trust your muscle memory and relax, letting the game, match or race
come to you. This is the only way that you can be successful and this
is the only way that you’ll ultimately be happy. Holding on
to the importance of this performance and dwelling on all
that’s at stake and how badly you need to win will only k ill
your joy, rob you of your courage and steal your heart in the process.
When you LET GO of winning, it will come and find you. When you LET GO
of going 3 for 4, your reward will be to go 4 for 4. When you LET GO of
impressing the coach, only then will he notice you. To reach your
goals, you must first let go of them when you perform.
……
- DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF -
Ever wonder why you continually doubt yourself and
struggle with low self-confidence? The reason comes down to one simple
verb: "COMPARE." When you compare yourself with other athletes you set
yourself up
to feel badly about yourself and fail. Why? Because most of the time
when you compare, you will over-inflate the other person's strengths,
minimize or ignore their weaknesses while over-inflating your
weaknesses and minimizing or ignoring your strengths. Not exactly a
good formula for building self-confidence! Comparison is a losing game
because you'll always manage to
find someone better than you. Instead, keep your focus on YOU. Measure
yourself against yourself. Sure, there's a benefit to seeing someone
much better than you perform and modeling yourself after them. They may
have a certain style, skills or technique that you'd like to
emulate. This is the only positive way to focus on someone else. This
isn't comparison. Comparison
usually involves a negative appraisal of yourself in relation to
others. Stay away from it! Comparison is hazardous to your
self-confidence and performance health.
……
“The only real stupidity is that of a closed mind.”
Dr. G
I recently returned from doing
a day long program for a basketball team in the Midwest. That next
Monday the coach was sent an anonymous letter stating that because he
had hired a sports psychology consultant to come in and work with the
team, he should be removed from the program. Here Ye, Here Ye! The
Neanderthal among us has spoken! As an athlete and a person, the only
thing that can terribly cripple you in your life is having this kind of
closed-minded stupidity. A closed mind will hold you back as an
athlete. It will prevent you from trying new techniques and training
regimes. It will dramatically limit your accomplishments. It will make
you act far less intelligent than you are. What you don’t
understand is NOT wrong! What you don’t understand is NOT
bad. What you don’t understand is simply what you
DON’T UNDERSTAND! Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t
just sit there and mindlessly flap your lips passing judgment about
what you don’t understand. Do something about it! Open your
eyes. Open your ears. Open your mind. Try new things. Push your
envelope. Get some courage in your life. Step outside of your tiny
comfort zone. The worst that will happen when you do is
you’ll be smarter and more successful.
……
- SEEK OUT TOUGHER COMPETITION -
Want to dramatically improve
your game? Want to raise your training to the next level? The secret to
both is very simple. Go find better athletes than yourself to practice
with and compete against. While it's always fun and comforting to be
the best, fastest or strongest, it won't help you improve as quickly in
the long run. What will propel your training forward and improve your
motivation is to continually challenge yourself by going up against
tougher and tougher competition. Your competition will always push you
harder than you can do yourself. Your competition will always challenge
you more than you can yourself. If you continually pit yourself against
creampuffs, soon you will develop a cream filled center. That is you
will fall apart under pressure. Instead, go out and hunt down stronger
training partners. You may not like losing and being outperformed in
the beginning, but you will like what this kind of bigger challenge
will do for your overall development as an athlete.
……
Definition: “Shodan” - First degree black belt.
Shodan means beginner or beginning.
DR. G’S COMMENTS: In
Okinawan karate the student who passes his/her test for Shodan or first
degree black belt is considered to be ready to finally begin his
training. It doesn’t matter that the process leading to
Shodan may have been five or more hard years of training. In
traditional Okinawan karate, once you get your black belt you are NOT
Mr. Studley J Studley, you are NOT “The MAN!” You
are NOT God’s gift to creation. You are considered to be
nothing more than a beginner and finally in a position to really take
advantage of your training. What does th is Okinawan philosophy have to
teach you about excellence in your sport? The attitude that
you’re always a beginner no matter how good you are, that you
always have things to learn will take you very far in your sport. It
will help you become a champion. It will help you reach your potential.
Because you can always do better than your best, there will always be
newer and better things to learn and try that will help you get there.
The over-confident athlete who thinks he has arrived, who thinks he has
gotten as good as he needs to be, the athlete who stops working on his
game is seriously deluding himself. If you think you’ve got
it all, if you think you have all the answers, if you think that you no
longer have anything more to learn, then step aside and watch
carefully. Very soon you will begin to see a lot of
“beginners” passing you by!
……
- YOUR OPPONENT IS NOT THE ENEMY -
Too many athletes mistakenly
view the competition as the "enemy." As a consequence, they somehow get
it in their head that they have to hate this person or team. Your
opponent is NOT the enemy. He/she is your partner. The better they are,
the more opportunity you will have to play to your
potential. Think about it. How inspired do you get when you
have to face a much weaker opponent? You DON'T! In fact, it's really
tough to play well against inferior competition. Getting caught up in
angry feelings about an opponent will most often distract you from the
correct focus, tighten you up too much and get you performing badly.
Don't waste your energy getting angry with an opponent so you can get
"up" for the game. 99 out of 100 times this strategy will backfire and
mentally take you out of the contest.
……
“Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, money takes
wings. Those who cheer you today may curse you tomorrow. The only thing
that endures is character.”
DR. G’s COMMENTS: I
can’t tell you who said this yet because the quote is too
good to spoil by acknowledging the author. He did great things in his
athletic career and his words, uttered years after he achieves his
gridiron fame are right on and eerily prophetic. The success that you
achieve on the field is always fleeting. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Sometimes in an instant you can go from hero to goat. Just ask Bill
Buckner or Chuck Knoblauch. The sports media and viewing public are
fickle, fair weather fans. They love you when you’re doing
well and vilify you when you’re not. If you listen to even a
quarter of what is said about you and your abilities by others you will
be badly misled. The only enduring thing, the only thing of value is
who you are as a person and how you conduct yourself on a day to day
basis in your life. Your time in sports will always be limited. You
will not be an athlete forever. You will, however, be a person of
character for the remainder of your days. The important question that
remains of course is what kind of character? When you look at all that
this particular person achieved, his amazing athletic feats as an NFL
halfback, his career in acting and as a sports broadcaster, then you
will know just how true his long ago uttered words are: “The
only thing that endures is character.” So what character do
you conjure up when you hear the name…O. J. SIMPSON?
……
“No building is better than its structural foundation, and no
man (woman) is better than his (her) mental foundation. When I prepared
my original Success Pyramid years ago, I put industriousness and
enthusiasm as the two cornerstones with LOYALTY right in the middle of
the pyramid – Loyalty to yourself and to all those dependent
upon you.”
he Legendary NCAA Basketball
Coach and ”Wizard of Westwood,” John Wooden. From
The Edge – by Howard Ferguson
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
Loyalty is not a word that we see displayed very much in professional
sports. Apparently our high visibility role models seem to only
understand the part about loyalty to “you.” They
don’t get the “loyalty to all those dependent upon
you” piece. Unfortunately this “me- first
culture” seems to have trickled down from pro athletes to
much of sports in general at almost every level that it’s
played. Young athletes are more concerned with their playing time and
stats than what’s best for their teammates and the team in
general. Their parents (quite naturally) only have eyes for their son
or daughter, often ignoring the team’ s mission and
disagreeing with their child’s role as assigned by the coach.
Parents will even covertly or directly encourage their
child’s disloyalty to teammates. Coaches, for their part tend
to get too caught up in winning and, as a consequence, will say and do
disloyal things to their young charges. Coach Wooden wasn’t
successful for all those years, with all those athletes because he was
incredibly lucky. He was successful because he genuinely understood
what the important ingredients were that went into winning. He was a
Hall of Fame Coach because he knew how very important loyalty was as a
behavior that you modeled and one that you demanded from your players.
Today’s sports world could stand to re-learn a very old
fashioned lesson. Winners are loyal and loyalty makes a winner.
……
“There are too many false things in the world, and I
don’t want to be a part of them. If you say what you think,
you’re called cocky or conceited. But if you have an
objective in life, you shouldn’t be afraid to stand up and
say it. In the second grade, they asked us what we wanted to be. I said
I wanted to be a ball player and they laughed. In the eighth grade,
they asked the same question, and I said a ball player and they laughed
a little more. By the eleventh grade, no one was laughing.”
Johnny Bench, Hall of Fame
Catcher. From The Edge – by Howard Ferguson
DR. G’S COMMENTS: If
you have a dream in your heart, a secret desire that you wish to
achieve, then listen to yourself and go after it! No one can tell you
what you can or can’t do. No one really knows
what’s in your heart. No one really knows what
you’re capable of. Do not listen to the experts! Do not
listen to the critics. What the “experts” and
critics know are simply their own limitations, not yours!
Don’t ever let anyone rain on your parade. If you believe
that you can achieve something, trust yourself and follow your belief.
The world is full of individuals like Johnny Bench who have gone out
and done exactly that. They have done the impossible, and in the
process of pursing and reaching their dreams, have silenced the
critics. Have the courage to pursue that goal, regardless of how far
away or what obstacles lie in your path. Surround yourself with people
who support that dream and stay away from those who put you down. Any
old idiot can criticize others. Criticism takes no strength of
character. Only a true champion can risk it all and go for it!
……
“I would want America to know our kids need us. Spend as much
time with your kids as you can. Enjoy them. Be with them. Hug your
children; You never know when it will be the last time.”
Indianapolis Colt’s
Head Coach, Tony Dungy, shortly after his eldest son, 18 year old James
died of an apparent suicide.
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
There so much in life that we take for granted and the younger we are,
the more we’re guilty of this. It’s a sad fact of
life that so many of us can’t truly appreciate the gifts that
we have until we have lost them. In today’s high pressured
world sports we as parents tend to lose sight of the fact that it is
our son or daughter who is playing the game, and that it is just a
game! There are far more important things in life than winning or
losing in sports, scoring 15 points, pitching a shutout or throwing
three touchdown passes. It’s our children’s health
and happiness that is really important. It’s our
relationships with our sons and daughters that really count, not
whether they made that game costing error. Life is terribly fleeting.
Our children grow up faster than is imaginable. Their heroics or
embarrassments on the court or field will quickly fade. In the end, the
only thing that really counts is your relationship with them. So make
it count today! Be an adult and keep the games in perspective. Be a
loving parent and provide your child with the unconditional support
that they so desperately need. Don’t ever tie up their
lovability and sense of self-worth with how well they perform in the
athletic arena. Love them unconditionally today, because today is all
you have right now.
……
“All skills are perfected through the process of failure.
Embrace loss as a necessary part of improvement.”
Sports Psychologist, speaker
and author, Jerry Lynch from Creative Coaching
The biggest secret to success
is failure. You can never go from beginner to expert without failing.
Failure is a very necessary part of improvement because each time you
fall on your face, you learn something that’s like gold! You
learn what you did wrong, and therefore, by extension, what you need to
do differently next time. Don’t ever be afraid of losing!
Don’t ever be afraid of making mistakes! Failing and messing
up are things that we all do in the process of growing and getting
better. Failure is nothing more than delayed success. That’s
right! DELAYED SUCCESS! WHY? Because, failure is feedback and tells you
exactly what you need to change to be successful. So don’t
waste emotional energy beating yourself up whenever you fail. The only
thing that will do for you is undermine your self-confidence and give
you a big headache. Instead, look for what you need to change for next
time. No one can get to improvement without loss. Failure is feedback
and FEEDBACK IS THE BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS.
……
"I have a big-picture outlook, I am willing to fall, and I understand
it's ok to fall, but I am going to get back up, I may take a step back,
but in the end, I am going to take a giant leap forward". Tiger Woods
DR. G’S COMMENTS -
Once again we hear about one of the main reasons why great athletes are
so great: FAILURE and their attitude towards it. Great athletes are not
afraid to fail. They know that failure is a normal and inevitable part
of playing competitive sports, much like breathing is a normal and
necessary part of life. The very best use their failures as a
springboard to success. In other words they know that after a setback
or two they will eventually rebound and make even further gains. This
is Woods’ “big picture” outlook. The main
characteristic of this big picture outlook is to learn to view your
failures as temporary. When you fall down and you look at this fall
from a temporary frame of reference, i.e. “Boy, I just played
badly today,” “My timing was way off in the second
part of the match. I can work on and correct that the next time I
practice,” “I just ran out of gas in that final
50,” then you are left feeling like the failure is both
correctable and short-term. Using Woods’ view, your
self-confidence and motivation will then remain high. However, when you
fail and look at it from a “small picture”
viewpoint, just focusing on how big that failure was and using a
permanent frame of reference, that is, you zoom in on this one failure
and explain it to yourself with language like, “I always
choke,” “I can never seem to win the big
matches,” “Whenever it counts, I always blow
it,” then you are left feeling like your failure is
non-correctable and a permanent part of who you are as an athlete. The
end result of this is that you lose your confidence and your motivation
wanes. Keep the “falls” which you will always have
in the proper perspective. They are a normal and necessary part of the
journey. They provide you with a toehold for your very next step
forward. While it may be temporarily painful when you go down, these
falls will ultimately get you to the top of the mountain.
……
-"PLAYING" THE GAME FROM THE BENCH -
Too many athletes spend their
time on the bench angry, frustrated, distracted and bummed out that
they're not getting enough playing time (PT). They focus on the coach,
how unfair the situation is and why they should be playing in front of
their teammates. Being a role player and sitting the bench is the
hardest position to play on any team. You work just as hard as your
teammates who start, yet you get none of the glory. If you're a "pine
time player" listen up! Sitting on the sidelines stewing and hoping a
teammate will come up lame will not help you or your squad. Instead you
have to learn to play that position to the very best of your ability.
How? Keep your head in the game. Focus on the action as if you're
playing. Specifically focus on executing from your position as if you
were out there in the action. Get totally into the game so that if you
were given the nod, you could go in immediately and be ready to play.
Remember you have absolutely no control over your PT and whom the coach
puts in. You do, however, have total control over your attitude and how
you respond to your position as a role player. Maintain a positive
winning attitude no matter what!
……
“I love it. I love the challenge of it, working with kids
every day, setting goals for myself and the program. I feel it was what
I was meant to do. You remember your own experiences, and you want to
do it for someone else.” University of Hartford
women’s basketball coach and former UConn hoops star,
Jennifer Rizzotti on her coaching duties.
DR. G’S COMMENTS: If
you ever remember seeing Jen Rizzotti leading the UConn Huskies to
their first national championship in 1995, then you’d clearly
remember the intensity and passion with which this fiery point guard
played. Whether you’re coaching, playing a sport, singing,
acting or on stage in any other performance arena, the one thing that
you desperately need to be successful and that will ultimately take you
to your dreams is PASSION. You have to be absolutely passionate about
what you’re doing. What is passion? It’s part
obsession. You have to be a bit obsessed with and consumed by your
sport and the pursuit of excellence within it. Passion involves
intensity and total dedication which you have to display in your
approach to training and competing. Passion is all about excitement and
enthusiasm. In other words you need to be totally in love with your
sport and everything about it. Passion is about having a zeal for what
you’re doing. If you want to truly make it in whatever you
attempt, then be sure to stir in a healthy amount of passion into what
you’re doing on a daily basis.
……
-TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR TRAINING -
Want to be a winner? Want to
maximize your chances of reaching your athletic dreams? Then start to
practice the 10 most powerful words in the English language: "IF IT IS
TO BE IT IS UP TO ME." This means that to be successful you must
understand that ultimately, everything rests on your shoulders. In
short, it is up to YOU to determine how far you go in your sport. You
have to take responsibility for your training. Blaming coaches,
teammates, the refs or lack of training opportunities is NOT practicing
these 10 words. Winners don't look for excuses. Winners don't shoulder
others with blame. Winners take responsibility for themselves and their
actions. They understand that they alone have ultimate control over
what they get out of practice and how far they go in their sport. What
can YOU do today to get better? What can YOU take responsibility for
that will help get you one step closer to your dreams. Don't wait for
others to do things for you. Don't wait for others to screw up so you
can cast blame on them. Don't look for others to blame for your
failures. Instead look in the mirror. Be a winner. Remember, if it is
to be, it's up to YOU!
……
“Whenever you compete, trying harder is truly the game of
diminishing returns and a losing one at that” Dr. G
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
Want to be successful as an athlete? Great! All you have to do is bust
your butt on a daily basis. Get in the habit of pushing yourself
outside of your comfort zone whenever you train. Get used to working
harder than everyone else around you. If you truly want to become a
champion, then you need to understand that there is absolutely no
substitute for consistent, hard work. NONE! However, once
you’ve done the work and it’s now time to compete,
you must temporarily put that “trying harder”
mentality to bed. You must NEVER take “trying
harder” into the competitive arena with you. Trying harder is
a practice approach that involves pushing yourself physically and
mentally. When it’s time to compete, this kind of headset
will tighten your muscles, throw off your timing and ruin your
performance. You must be loose and relaxed to perform your best under
the hot lights of competition. The headset that you must bring into the
competitive arena is a “trust and let it happen”
headset. You must trust that you’ve done all the hard work.
You must trust your coaching and muscle memory, and then just relax and
let the performance happen. Thinking that you must “try
harder” just because this is a very big, very important game
will only get you pressing and “muscling” your
performance. Pressing in this way will sabotage your game and rob you
of your skills. Remember, when it counts the most you want to relax and
let it happen, NOT “try harder.”
……
-18 BE A TEAM PLAYER -
Far too many athletes out
there are selfish. Far too many "team" players don't give a hoot about
their team and instead are far more concerned about their playing time,
their statistics, their records and what the newspaper will say about
them. Unfortunately if you play on a team, then this is a loser's
attitude. If you are more concerned about yourself than you are the
team, then everyone will end up losing. The truly great athletes are
team players. They understand that no one can win unless everyone wins.
They understand that there is little room for a big "me" on a winning
team. teams can't be successful without total effort from ALL members
and a willingness to sacrifice the "me" for the "we." Self-centered
athletes are like a cancer on any team. Eventually they will bring even
the most physically talented team to its knees, performance-wise. Be a
positive force on your squad. Look for what you can do to make the team
better. Put aside your ego. Be a good model of the ideal team player.
Commit yourself to the team's mission. Good coaches love team players.
All coaches need good team players. Make that one of your strengths. Be
a contributor to a strong team.
……
”I like the challenge of getting players to rise to certain
levels, but that's the easy part. The biggest challenge is to get them
to believe in what we're doing. They have to understand that it's O.K.
to have good days and bad days.” Temple women’s
basketball coach and former WNBA player, Dawn Staley
DR. G’S COMMENTS: I
think we’re all under the illusion in this country that
somehow whenever we perform in our sport we can and should always be at
our best. In this line of thinking, when we’re not, there
must be something terribly wrong that we’re doing. In fact,
sometimes this is very true. There are times when our bad performances
are a direct result of the technical, strategic or mental mistakes that
we make. There are times when we have no energy, don’t feel
well or just can’t get the job done for whatever reason. In
addition, there are also those few performances when we do things
right, feel good and for whatever reason our performance is just plain
flat. We don’t play well. Our timing is slightly off.
We’re not as fast, strong or “on” as
usual and our play reflects that. Let me state the obvious. No one is
ever at their best all of the time. NO ONE! Sure, you want to strive
for perfection. You want to pursue excellence. You hate it with a
passion when things don’t go well. However, hard as you may
try, you will always have those performances when you’re
pretty far from perfect! Get used to it! It’s normal.
Competing in your sport is like riding a roller coaster. There are
always going to be both ups and downs. That’s just the nature
of sport. Some days you may be brilliant and soar with the eagles. The
next day you may be terrible and gobble with the turkeys. These bad
performances don’t necessarily mean that there’s
anything wrong with you or your game. They don’t mean that
you have a serious problem that needs immediate addressing. Your bad
days, like your great ones are just part of your sport. The key for you
is to try to remember that these bad performances won’t ever
be a problem for you unless you make them a problem. That is, if you
give yourself a hard time when you fail or lose, if you emotionally
beat yourself up after a poor performance, if you get frustrated and
angry with yourself and hang onto these bad outings like a dog with a
bone then these reactions will create the real problem. You
don’t have to like it when things go badly. What you do have
to do is keep your off-days in perspective because throughout your
career you will occasionally have them. Stay positive, be relaxed about
them, try to learn something from them and then just let them go.
……
-LIFT THE LEVEL OF YOUR TEAMMATES' PLAY -
One of the things that is
always said about really good athletes is that they make everyone
around them better. When he played, Michael Jordan was a prime example
of this. Jordan had a way to lift the level of his teammates' play. He
inspired them to be better. He motivated them. Be a really great
athlete. Take some responsibility for raising the training level of
your fellow athletes. Build their confidence up. Motivate them with
your work level, dedication and commitment. In karate training this was
one of the responsibilities we had as black belts. The better you are,
the more responsibility you have to lift the training level of all
those around you. This means that you must set aside your ego. In my
book, being better, older or stronger does not mean anything more than
you now have a job to try to take everyone on your squad up there with
you. Not many athletes feel or act this way. Most act entitled and
conceited. These athletes are the first to put you in your place and
let you know who's the best. Don't get caught up in this tacky game. Be
a class athlete. Be a true champion. Go out of your way to lift your
teammates up, not knock them down.
……
APRIL 3, 2006
“Of all the liars in
the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.” Rudyard
Kipling
FEAR = False Education that
Appears Real. Fear is like an invisible fence that limits your
movements and stunts your growth. It tricks you into believing that you
CAN’T do something and that if you were to try, terrible
consequences would follow. Fear keeps you locked up both emotionally
and physically. Understand however that fear is really nothing more
than just a terrible liar. That fence that surrounds and limits you is
NOT electrified. It’s merely made of smoke and mirrors. The
only shock that you will receive when you push beyond the limits of
your fears is the surprising discovery that all this time the only
thing holding you back was YOU! If you listen to the lies that come
from your fears, you will go nowhere. Instead you want to get yourself
into the habit of continually moving towards and challenging your
fears. If you have a scary “I can’t,” go
out of your way to go after it anyway, over and over again. When you do
the thing that you’re afraid of the most again and again,
your fear will shrink and then disappear.
……
“Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good
one.” Benjamin Franklin
One question that
I’ve been frequently asked is, “Is it good to play
angry?” Will anger motivate you to play better? Every once in
a while something will happen before or during a competition that will
get you hopping mad and then you’ll go out and play the game
of your life. The natural conclusion to draw from this situation would
be that it was the anger that got you to play well. Don’t get
too excited and believe that you’ve finally found the secret
to peak performance. Now all you have to do is get yourself mad before
all your games and you’ll play well. In fact, 99 out of 100
times, playing angry will only get you into some serious hot water
performance-wise. When you’re angry, your physiological
arousal level goes way up. This will lead to distracted concentration,
tighter muscles and shallow, faster breathing. The end result of these
will be a poor performance. Instead you want to keep your cool, on and
off the field. Anger makes us wicked stupid! We end up saying and doing
really dumb things when we get ticked off. We get into trouble with our
coaches, the refs, teammates and the fans. Instead you want to learn to
keep your cool. You want to stay relaxed when you compete. This is the
secret to peak performance. Even if you have a good reason for getting
angry before or during a competition, don’t waste your energy
and focus on this emotion. In the end, it will sink you.
……
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with
talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Anonymous, The Edge by Howard Ferguson
Everybody mistakenly believes
that the one thing that really separates the best from all the rest is
pure talent and natural ability. However, what really distinguishes
those that can from those who can’t is even simpler.
It’s Stick-to-itiveness! Those that ultimately make the team
do so because they persist. They refuse to quit. They refuse to give
in. They keep at it no matter what. Yes, ability and talent are very
important to success. However, without persistence, your ability and
talent mean absolutely nothing. Without persistence, you become nothing
more than someone who has “permanent potential.” If
you’re willing to pay your physical dues and put in the time,
if you refuse to give in no matter what, if you master the ability to
keep on keeping on, then sooner or later you will run head-first into
success. NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN TAKE THE PLACE OF PERSISTENCE!
……
“Children aren’t coloring books. You
don’t get to fill them in with your favorite
colors.” Dr. Wayne Dyer”
Does your child play a sport?
Is she playing because she wants to or because of you and her desire to
make you happy? Are you a supportive and appropriately involved parent
or are you over the top, over-involved when it comes to her game? One
of the very hardest jobs parents have to do is to allow their child to
gradually grow up as his/her own person with separate interests, likes
and dislikes, emotions, and needs. As parents we want our children to
make the “right” choices and follow the
“right” path but who are we to say that our
“right” is more right than theirs? We think that we
know what’s best, but this is only because we look at the
world through the distortions of our own eyes. Perhaps we had a tough
and disappointing childhood. Maybe we were the one always picked last
for the team. With two left feet we were always mediocre at best. Now
with our athletically inclined son or daughter, we finally have a
chance to even the score and vicariously make up for all that early
pain through their performance excellence. If only they would make
better use of all their talent and ability. If only they practiced
longer and harder. If only you had had half of their talent! As Dyer
put it, children are not coloring books that we get to fill in with our
favorite colors. They are completely separate, continually
growing-towards-independence human beings who need our unconditional
love and support without the extra added burden of guilt because they
may not be doing everything exactly the way that we may want them to.
Listen very carefully to your children. Before you speak or act,
carefully put yourself in their shoes. Respect their feelings and
choices. Encourage and celebrate their growing independence. This will
empower them.
……
This week’s quote is from Juan Dixon, guard for the
Washington Wizards basketball team. He just completed a very solid
performance in which Washington tied the series with the Chicago Bulls
two games apiece in the NBA playoffs. Dixon broke a slump and
contributed a career high 35 points. What most people don’t
know is the dedication, determination, and sheer will he exhibited when
he mentioned to reporters that he took more than 1000 jump shots before
and after Sunday’s game in hopes of breaking out of his
shooting woes
Dixon said “I
struggled last game; I knew I would bounce back. I told coach I was
going to get my act together and I wanted to come through for the
team.” He further stated, “We needed someone to
step up and I was able to hit some big shots. It felt great.”
Source: NY Times May 3rd,
2005, article by Dave Curtis
Dr. G’s comments:
What Dixon is sharing with you is the secret to success on and off the
court, in and out of the sports arena: PURE, UNADULTERATED HARD WORK.
Everyone is quick to look at a great athlete and mistake his/her
skills, talent and ability for the main reason why that athlete is
successful, and why you could never be like them. The fact of the
matter is that hard work can overcome obstacles, make up for handicaps
and deficits, and help you do the impossible. Hard work is the best
kept secret to success. Why? Because it’s so obvious to
figure out and so difficult to do. Ask any athlete whether
he’d like to be
successful and he’ll
quickly respond with a “You Bet!” Ask that same
athlete if he’s willing to do whatever it takes, to make the
big sacrifices, put in the ultra long hours, suffer mentally,
physically and emotionally through the hardships and up & downs
of training, and most will then not be so quick to answer. Hard work is
something that’s available to every athlete. However, only a
select few will be willing to do what Juan Dixon did. How about you?
How badly do you want to become a champion? How hard are you willing to
work? Are you willing to pay your physical dues? Remember, the road to
SUCCESS always passes through the “town” of HARD
WORK. There are no shortcuts around it! There are no other ways of
getting there!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Week #2
May 9, 2005
In the third round of the
Masters Series Italian Open, Andy Roddick was playing Spain’s
Fernando Verdasco. Roddick was up 7-6, 5-4 with three match points
against Verdasco’s serve. Verdasco hit a second serve that
the umpire called out, Roddick in a display of good sportsmanship
over-ruled it and they replayed the point. Verdasco went on the win the
next few points and the match.
Roddick said “It was
in, I don’t think what I did was extraordinary. The referee
would have called it in. I just saved him a trip (down his chair). Luck
just wasn’t on my side today.”
Verdasco replied “I
have to thank him, he’s a great sportsman. He probably
thought it wouldn’t change the match. But that gave me a
chance to win. That’s tennis.”
Source: www.masters-series.com
web-site
Dr.G’s comments:
Last year tennis pro Jennifer Capriatti was in Roddick’s
situation when a ball that was clearly an inch inside the line was
called out by the linesman and not overruled by the chair umpire.
Capriatti was awarded the point, went on to win the match, and was
nonplussed when she was asked about it by a sports caster after the
match. She said “that’s the game…some
calls go your way, some don’t and it all evens out in the
end.” Whether this is true or not, what she did was
dishonest. She knew the ball was in and she took the point anyway!
Unfortunately Capriatti’s stance is far more typical for
athletes in sports than Andy Roddick’s. The fact that he
over-ruled the linesman’s call himself at a crucial point in
the match and refused to take a point that wasn’t his not
only shows integrity and honesty, but it also demonstrates something
about Roddick’s character. The man is a class act!
Furthermore, Roddick understands something about competition that far
too many athletes don’t: Winning isn’t the only
thing. Winning isn’t everything, it’s HOW you win
that really counts! Roddick understands that the outcome of a match
should never be so important to you that it compromises your values,
ethics and morality. If you have to knowingly or passively cheat to
win, then you are lying to yourself about your
“victory.” Your “win” is hollow
and empty and doesn’t mean much, even if you get to take that
first place trophy home with you. Do you have the strength of character
and integrity to compete like Roddick? Do you have the ability to do
what’s right even if you’re getting pressure from
teammates or coaches to do the opposite? Do the right thing! Keep your
game in perspective. Remember, it’s just a game!
……
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300
games. Twenty six times I have been trusted to take the game winning
shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life-and that is
why I succeed."
Michael Jordan, winner of six
NBA Championships.
- Far too many athletes are
afraid to make mistakes and fail. They mistakenly believe that the
absolute worst thing that could ever happen to them is to lose or mess
up. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!! To go as far as you
possibly can in your sport you have to be willing to take risks. You
have to be willing to put it all on the line. You have to be willing to
go for it. Do you know what this means? If you truly put it all on the
line, there will be many, many times when you come up short, when you
fall flat on your face. This is a natural part of sports and life. When
you go out on a limb, that sucker will sometimes break on you and you
will go tumbling down on your butt! However, understand the secret that
Michael Jordan and other great athletes have known for years: Without
failure, you can NEVER be a success. Failure is important to you taking
your game to the next level because failure provides you with valuable
feedback on what you did wrong and therefore what you need to do
differently next time. Without that feedback, you can never really
improve. Without that feedback you can’t become great!
Failure is NOT an indication that you are less of an athlete. Failure
should NEVER be used as evidence that you’re inadequate.
Failure should never be a stick that you beat yourself up with.
Instead, failure is simply feedback and FEEDBACK IS THE BREAKFAST OF
CHAMPIONS! Remember, if you’re worried about or afraid to
fail, then you won’t take risks. Without taking risks,
you’ll never have an opportunity to stand out. Failure should
always make you CURIOUS, rather than FURIOUS. Do NOT get upset with
yourself when you lose or fail. Getting angry with yourself will not
help you get better in any way. It will only de-motivate you and make
you feel terrible.
……
"I realize that there are many variables outside my control in my
quest, but focusing on the big goal down the road really motivates me.
To help me stay focused, I set micro-goals such as races or training
achievements that bring me one step closer to being at my best for
major goals"
Lance Armstrong, Tour de
France winner 5 years in a row, from Sports Leaders and Success
Dr. G’s comments:
Want to become a champion like Lance Armstrong? If you really do, then
there are two things that you need to know in relation to goal setting.
First, you have to do it as a regular part of your training! Think
about this. How can you possibly hit a target without first being able
to see it? How can you possibly get anywhere worthwhile in your life or
sport without first knowing exactly where you want to go? In other
words, you have to have a big dream. You have to have something that
you’d like to do or accomplish that really captures your
imagination and stretches your limits. You have to set a big goal for
yourself that both excites you a lot and even scares you a little. Why
is having a big goal critically important to your success? That big
goal will motivate you. It will give a direction to your efforts. It
will help channel your training in a constructive way. Your big goal
helps push you outside of your comfort zone and gives you a reason to
work hard and sacrifice, both of which are necessary for your ultimate
success. When the going gets rough, your back is against the wall and
discouragement and failure are knocking loudly at your door, that big
goal of yours will give you a reason to keep on keeping on. But
DON’T stop there!
The second and very important
thing that you must do is to take that big dream of yours and chunk it
down into smaller and smaller pieces. In other words, you have to set
intermediate, short-term and even daily goals that will all contribute
to your achieving that big, scary, long-term goal. The better that
you’re able to do this, the more success you’ll
have in reaching your dream. By chunking your big goal down into
pieces, you give yourself something more manageable and immediate to
work on in the present. Your short term goals should always answer the
question, “How is what I’m doing today going to
help me get to my big goal?” When you practice with this
question in mind, your training will always be at a high caliber.
……
"When I look back at the world championships, I know
there’s a lot of room for improvement, I'm always up for a
challenge. The Olympics, they don't define me, I've had some
good and some bad. But it's all about the Olympic experience".
Michelle Kwan, talking about
preparing for and competing in the upcoming 2006 Olympics. NY Times,
5/27
Dr.G’s comments:
Michelle reflects the attitude
and perspective of a true winner in her comments. She understands some
things that are absolutely critical for every serious athlete to grasp.
First, you are NOT your performances. Successes and failures over the
course of your career do not and should NEVER define who you are as a
person. Winning a championship or a gold medal does not make you a
better person than if you lost or came in fourth. Unfortunately,
coaches, the sports media and most everyone around you may define you
in this way. Do NOT accept other people’s narrow definition
of yourself. If you buy into their very limited and constricted way of
looking at your, then you will be setting yourself up for a lot of
heartache. See yourself as your performance and you will find yourself
always competing with your ego on the line, with a lot to lose. When
your self-worth and identity are at stake whenever you compete, then
you will tie yourself into knots and always perform way below your
potential. Much of the overwhelming pre-performance stress and
nervousness that brings athletes to their knees is generated by this
“I am my performance and if I lose I am a lesser
person” head-set.
Second, Michelle’s
perspective on the Olympics reflects the only healthy way for you to
view your athletic experience. Do you dance to get from one side of the
floor to the other? Do you sing, to get from the beginning to the end
of a song as fast as possible? Well, if you compete just to win, then
your answer to these two absurd questions is a resounding
“yes!” The meaningful time that you spend on the
court, course or field is rarely captured by a won-loss outcome. What
makes winning a county or conference championship so great is actually
NOT the winning itself, it’s the total experience that you
shared with your teammates, coaches and even opponents over the course
of your season. It’s the relationships that you create on the
team, the fun that you had and the special moments that you shared
together with these individuals that give your sport its’
true meaning. Looking at your sport and competition as simply a
win-lose phenomenon is shallow and reflects a near-sightedness that
completely misses the boat. If all you worry about is your win-loss
record, then your sports experience will be pretty empty. Instead, keep
the bigger picture in mind. Enjoy the experience, every aspect of it.
Let yourself get into the dance. Lose yourself in the process of your
singing and stop worrying about how fast you’re going or
whether you’re better than the other guy dancing or singing
next to you.
……
- STAY IN THE NOW -
If you want to play your very
best under pressure you must train yourself to keep your focus of
concentration in the "NOW" of the performance. Mental "time traveling"
always gets athletes into hot water, causing choking and performance
slumps. Discipline yourself to leave the past in the past. Also, stay
out of the future during the performance. Don't let yourself get ahead
of yourself. Take your performances one game at a time, one play at a
time, one shot at a time. The "now" is where you have access to all
your skills and great training. If you want to win and have a
great performance you can only do that in the "NOW." Whenever you find
yourself mentally leaving the "now" quickly and gently bring yourself
back.
……
"if you ever want to be a decent player, you have to be able to use
both feet without stopping to think about it."
Soccer Superstar, Pele
Dr.G’s comments:
Probably one of the biggest
mental mistakes that athletes make right before and during their
performances is to over-think. Whether you’re thinking about
the game’s strategies, the mechanics of proper technique,
criticizing your current level of play, or simply worrying about your
opponent or the game’s outcome, thinking will distract you
from the proper focus and send your nervousness right through the roof.
Peak performance, as Pele states, is all about NON-THINKING. You will
always perform your best when you’re on automatic and your
conscious mind is in a quiet and observing state. In this quiet state
your muscle memory and previous training is allowed to run the show
rather than your conscious thought. This automatic or unconscious
mind-set is exactly what’s needed if you’d like to
be at your best when it counts the most. Far too many athletes get into
reminding themselves of everything that they need to do right before
the big game. Then when the game starts, they continue instructing
themselves and critiquing their own performance. This will NEVER help
you play to your potential. On the contrary! This will send your game
straight to the outhouse! Remember, over-thinking is hazardous to your
athletic health!
However, in order for you to
be able to play without thinking, you have to be able to trust your
muscle memory. In order to do this, to “be able to use both
feet without stopping to think” as Pele says, you have to
first pay your “physical dues.” Simply put, before
your unconscious mind and muscle memory can effectively take over from
your conscious mind you have to practice, practice and then practice
some more. The secret here is very simple. You can’t learn to
“play out of your mind” without first putting in
all the necessary hard work in your body. Far too many athletes cut
corners in their physical training and are reluctant to put in the
extra, uncomfortable training that’s the foundation for being
able to play without thinking. Unless you’re willing to work
hard and continually push yourself outside of your comfort zone in
practice, then you can’t realistically expect that
you’ll play mindlessly in competition. Work your butt off and
you’ll learn how to trust yourself enough to “use
both feet without thinking.”
……
- WORK ON YOUR MISTAKES IN PRACTICE -
Too many athletes dwell on
mistakes immediately after they make them. In competition, your job is
to refocus your concentration on the task at hand and to leave your
mistakes and errors behind you. Focusing on mistakes and giving
yourself a hard time for them will only cause you to mess up even more.
Think about and work on your mistakes after the competition, in
practice, not during the game. "Make" a mental mistake folder where you
can put all your mess-ups during the game and reassure yourself that
you will take the "mistake folder" out and work on those errors later,
when it's the right time. Quickly letting go of mistakes and refocusing
are the two mental toughness skills that champions do best.
……
“If you don’t stretch your limits, you’ll
set your limits.”
Rob Gilbert, Motivational
speaker, author of Gilbert on Greatness, Professor at Montclair State
University
Dr, G’s comments:
As an athlete and person you
are always limited most by what you believe you can and cannot do. Your
beliefs fuel your efforts, desires and motivation. When you think that
you CAN’T do something, when you set artificial limits on
yourself, then your behaviors will organize around this limiting
belief. You will be less likely to try new things and take risks. Your
efforts will be less intense and effective. After repeated failures and
frustrations, your staying power and persistence will be weak. In
short, you will set yourself up to prove yourself right. You
won’t be able to do it! When you believe that you CAN
accomplish something, when you allow yourself to expand the realm of
possibility, when you entertain new horizons for yourself even though
they might stretch you and be scary, then your behaviors will organize
around this expansive belief. You will be far more willing to try new
things and take risks. Your efforts to pursue that new goal will be
strong and powerful. When you’re repeatedly knocked backwards
on your butt by failure and disappointment, you will be undeterred and
get up more quickly and keep on keeping on. In the end, because you
believed that you could do it, you did! Your positive belief set you up
to prove yourself right.
Far too many athletes lock
their potential up in artificial
“can’ts.” “I can’t do
that!” “That’s impossible for
me.” “I’ll never be able to achieve
that.” “I’m just not that
good.” Etc. When you limit yourself in this way, you end up
putting imaginary boundaries on what’s possible for yourself.
While these boundaries may be just imaginary and “all in your
head,” they are still just as powerful in holding you back as
if they were real physical boundaries. Don’t allow yourself
to play these kinds of tricks on yourself. You have no idea
what’s possible. You have no clue what you can actually
accomplish once you put your mind to it. Suspend your disbelief.
Stretch your limits. Step outside of your comfort zone. Dream big!
Remember, success always comes in cans, not can’ts!
……
- DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF -
Athletes who continually
compare themselves almost always end up feeling badly about themselves.
Comparison is a endlessly losing game that you don't want to play. Get
in the habit of focusing on yourself and what you can do, not on your
teammate's or opponent's supposed strengths. If you want to build your
self-confidence then you have to concentrate on your game, your
strengths, your training, etc. You won't be able to truly appreciate
your accomplishments if you constantly compare what you've done with
what others have. Appreciate your strengths. Work on your weaknesses.
Stay inside yourself. The only value focusing on someone else has is to
provide you with an objective model to follow for working on your
technique or improving your training. Don't evaluate your self-worth
and achievements by comparing yours with theirs.
……
“When I’d get tired and want to stop, I’d
wonder what my next opponent was doing. I’d wonder if he was
still working out. I’d tried to visualize him. When I could
see him working, I’d start pushing myself. When I could see
him in the shower, I’d push myself harder."
Dan Gable, Olympic Gold medal
wrestler and NCAA champion wrestling coach from Iowa.
The Edge, Howard Ferguson.
Dr. G’s comments:
Gable, perhaps the best
wrestler that this country has ever produced knew the ultimate secret
to success. Hard work! However, hard work is really only one part of
Gable’s formula. There’s no question that to
achieve greatness you have to be willing to work harder than everyone
else. You have to be willing to do all the uncomfortable, sweaty,
extras that most people don’t want to be bothered with. You
have to be willing to pay your physical dues over and over again, day
in and day out, week after week, month after month, and year after
year. In the end, there are NO substitutes for consistent, hard work.
There are no short cuts on the road to becoming a champion. It all
comes down to one simple question: Just how badly do you want it? How
important is that goal to you? Do you really want to make the varsity,
break into the starting lineup, get that college scholarship, set the
state record, or beat that particular opponent? If you really want that
goal, then not only will you be willing to suffer and sacrifice, it
will make perfect sense to you. The point I want to make here is that
like Dan Gable, you must have an emotionally compelling reason to keep
going. You must have something that you desperately want to accomplish,
a big goal or dream to fuel your efforts, keep you focused and motivate
you. Without a “big enough WHY,” working hard
won’t make a whole lot of sense to you. Gable wanted a goal
medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics and he wanted it badly! He took that
goal with him whenever he trained. He imagined the threats to that
goal, (his opponents training) and that fueled him to work even harder.
Because Gable always kept his goal in mind when he trained, the quality
of his training was the highest it could be. He didn’t just
put in the physical work and time. He didn’t just go through
the motions. He didn’t just do what he had to do. He did MUCH
MORE! He put his heart into his training. By thinking about the
obstacles to his dream while he trained, his workouts were emotionally
charged. As a consequence, he got far more out of his training sessions
than had he been watching the clock, just trying to get through them.
This is what makes a champion. CONSISTENT, FOCUSED, EMOTIONALLY
MEANINGFUL HARD WORK.
……
“The secret to success is doing the best that you can do.
Forget about whether you might win or lose. By working hard and
practicing the skills that you need to perform, the results will take
care of themselves. Being successful is about doing your
best.”
Barbara Ann Cochran
– Gold medal Olympic skier
DR G’S COMMENTS:
In today’s highly
competitive world, far too many athletes get distracted by what their
competition is doing. They become too preoccupied with beating a
certain opponent instead of just concentrating on themselves. To these
athletes, winning means being number one, coming in first and nothing
else. Losing or being the runner-up is viewed as a failure. However, if
you measure your level of excellence by comparing yourself with an
opponent, then you are seriously limiting yourself. Cochran is
absolutely right! The secret to success is doing the best that YOU can
do. Excellence is about YOUR BEST and no one else’s,
regardless of the outcome. Focusing on what your opponent is doing will
only serve to knock you off center, disrupt your concentration and get
you too uptight to perform to your potential. Instead, you want to stay
within yourself. Forget about what your competition is doing. Do
everything in YOUR power to achieve YOUR goals. Focus on YOUR training.
Work on YOUR weaknesses. Practice YOUR skills and technique. And when
you compete, trust yourself, know that you’ve done everything
in your power to prepare, and just let the result take care of itself.
Remember, winning is about what YOU do, not what your opponent does. If
you do everything possible in your training, if you leave no stone
unturned, if you give it your all and truly go for it, then forget
winning and losing, you are a true winner!
……
I will always take on a new challenge. I believe in jumping off the
ship every now and then. If you don't, you won't really learn how to
swim"
Alec Broers, distinguished
engineer, former IBM executive, and ex Vice Chancellor of Cambridge
University, England. Financial Times, Alison Maitland 6/23/05
DR G’S COMMENTS:
Broers is offering you some sage advice. If you want to keep yourself
vibrant, alive and growing as an athlete and an individual, then you
must get in the habit of taking risks, of leaving your comfort zone.
When we just stay with things that we’re good at, things that
we know and are comfortable with, we inadvertently rob ourselves of the
opportunity to grow, develop and master new things. By integrating
challenges into your life on a regular basis you will stay motivated
and excited. That’s what learning new things will do for you.
It will help you stretch your limits and expand your horizons. When you
do this your interest and enjoyment will remain high. When we just
confront the same old, same old all the time, we get bored and
disinterested. We lose our enjoyment of the activity and thus become
subject to burnout. As an athlete you want to continually challenge
yourself. Learn new techniques and strategies. Find out what the best
athletes are doing. How are they training? Don’t be content
with the status quo, even if it seems to be working for you right now.
Continue to look for ways to better yourself, to improve, to strengthen
weaknesses and increase your strengths. Challenge and change is your
friend, NOT the enemy. Don’t worry about the initial
discomfort that greets you when you leave your comfort zone.
It’s supposed to be there. Embrace the challenge.
……
- 20 KEEP YOUR FOCUS AWAY FROM UNCONTROLLABLES -
There's one mental trap that
far too many athletes stumble into. This trap will rob you of your
confidence, make your knees shake from nervousness and completely
sabotage your performance. It's this one concentration trap that is
single handedly responsible for athletes choking and getting caught up
in slumps. What's the trap? The uncontrollables! When you go into a
game, match or race and focus on anything that is directly out of your
control either before or during the performance, you'll get yourself
uptight, kill your confidence and ruin your performance. Your job as an
athlete is to know what the uncontrollables are and to consistently
keep your focus of concentration away from them. What are the
uncontrollables? Your opponent and EVERYTHING about him or her; The
playing conditions like weather, wind, temperature, etc; The field
conditions; The officiating; The crowd; How big the competition is; How
you feel that day; Other people's expectations or how they see you or
will think
about you; Anything in the past including mistakes, the last time you
played this opponent, your previous training, etc.; Your coach and what
he/she says
to you and how much playing time you get; Your parents and how they
react or what they say; The future and the outcome of the contest. Know
your uncontrollables and try to keep your focus away from them for peak
performance. Should you find yourself suddenly dwelling on one of these
factors quickly return your focus to the task at hand. teammates up,
not knock them down.
……
- WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESSES -
A chain is only as strong as
its weakest link. The only way that you can really get better as an
athlete is by identifying and working on your weaknesses. Most athletes
dont like doing things that they're not good at. As a result they spent
far too much training time strengthening their strengths and avoiding
the things that they do poorly. If you avoid your weaknesses, not only
will they not go away, but eventually your opponents will find and take
advantage of them. Two years ago, as one of the top money winners in
golf, Tiger Woods decided to change his stroke. He felt that his timing
was slightly off and at times this hurt his game. Most athletes in his
position wouldn't have had the guts to do that. Tiger knew better. You
can't be afraid of your weaknesses. You have to embrace them. Since he
made these changes, he has been virtually unbeatable, recently winning
Golf's grand slam.
……
“I play because I have fun, if I don’t have fun on
the court, there is something wrong. I am just a 19 year old boy that
likes to do what he likes, nothing else.”
Rafael Nadal, French Open
Champion Daily Express 6/20/05
DR G’S COMMENTS:
Nadal has broken into the top 10 in the world as a tennis player
partially because he has the right attitude about his sport. Even at
the very highest level of the game, Nadal understands that the secret
to competitive success comes from having fun before and during your
competitions. FUN is the biggest, least understood secret to your
success as an athlete. It’s a personal ticket to reaching
your full athletic potential. When you go into a competition with
having fun as your primary goal, then you’ll end up
performing loose and relaxed. It’s this loose, relaxed state
that is so crucial to peak performance. FUN is the biggest antidote to
crunch-time competitive pressure. It will keep you cool and calm in the
clutch. There’s no question that FUN will bring you to the
“promised-land” in your sport. If you get into
loving what you’re doing, enjoying the challenge and
struggle, the ups and downs, then you’ll most often come out
on top. Without FUN you become vulnerable to the
“seriousness” disease where you’ll be
easily distracted by the importance of the outcome. (“This is
a really big game. I have to play well. I can’t let my team
down. We really need to win so we can advance to the playoffs.
Blah…Blah…Blah!” When you get serious
you’ll get tight, and when you get tight, you can just kiss
your game good-bye. So get with the program. Get your priorities
straight. If you want to play well, have fun FIRST!
……
- PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT -
Too many athletes consistently
perform much better in practice than they do in competition. One of the
obvious reasons for this is that there is far more pressure in
competition than there is in practice. However, the real reason for
this performance discrepancy is because a lot of athletes mistakenly
believe that practice makes perfect. The truth of the matter is that
perfect practice makes perfect. What's perfect practice? It's when you
introduce competitive elements into your training sessions. When you
make some part of most of your training sessions resemble the physical,
mental and emotional challenges that you'd normally face in competition
you're involved in perfect practice. By simulating competitive or
stressful situations in practice you will more readily prepare yourself
for the stress of competition. So practice competitive drills in lousy
weather conditions!
Scrimmage with refs who deliberately make bad calls. Play practice
matches or games at the end of training when you're
exhausted. Practice having to use your non-dominant hand when
you dribble or shoot. Scrimmage one or two men down for the entire
time. If you practice perfectly by consistently integrating the
stressful elements of competition into your daily training you'll
dramatically improve your ability to handle pressure at crunch time.
……
“In the last year I have gained a lot of experience because I
have been playing against top players and realized what things to work
on to get better. Top players basically tell you what your weaknesses
are on the court.”
Maria Sharapova, #2 seed going
into 2005 Wimbledon Championships
The Times, Richard Eaton,
6/18/05
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
How would you like to win all the time? How would you like to always
beat every opponent you face? I’ve got the answer and
it’s a surefire thing. Only compete against opponents who are
much weaker than you and you’ll most always win! Of course,
what fun would that be? Then again, if that’s all you did,
not only would you not get better as an athlete, you’d
actually get much worse. The only way to take your game to the next
level is to discipline yourself to compete against better and better
opponents. As tennis playing phenomenon, Sharapova states, when you
play against more skilled opponents, you put yourself in a position to
learn and develop as an athlete. Competing against and losing to better
players or teams highlights your weaknesses. And, believe it or not,
this is a really GOOD thing! When an opponent exposes your weaknesses
he/she is actually doing you a huge favor. This opponent is presenting
you with a valuable opportunity to get better. You know the old
cliché, “a chain is only as strong as
its’ weakest link.” Well, by deliberately focusing
and working on your weaknesses you will become that much better as an
athlete. Remember, the tougher the opponents you compete against, the
more opportunity you have to take your sport to that next level.
……
-HAVE A BIG ENOUGH WHY -
Athletes who are most
successful start to train with a dream in mind. They have a specific,
long-term goal that is personally meaningful to them. They nurture
their dream nightly by vividly imagining themselves living it,
performing that way and reaching that goal. Their big why drives them
to get up early, train hard and push through setbacks, obstacles and
failure. Having a big why will give a direction to your training. It
will keep you motivated and focused. Without an emotionally compelling
goal to drive you, it's easy to get lost and lose interest. Your big
why should belong to YOU and no one else! In other words you should go
after that goal for you, not for your coach, parents or teammates. You
should get in the habit of taking your big goal with you every day to
practice. This will keep you focused, give you a purpose and help you
get the most out of each training session. ! Before each practice you
want to ask yourself, How is what I'm going to do today going to help
me get closer to my big why? By doing this you won't get caught in the
trap that most athletes fall into of complaining about practice. (I
hate this drill Coach! Why do we have to do this?) If you have a big,
personally meaningful goal, then you will take responsibility for
making your practice a good one, regardless of the way the coaches run
the training.
……
“Everyone thought I was crazy for changing my swing two years
ago. They thought I was nuts, especially because I was winning so much.
But you can never really get there. It’s a process and no
matter how good you are, you can always get better.”
Tiger Woods after winning his
second British Open and 10 th career Major.
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
Herein lies one of the primary reasons that Tiger Woods is one of the
greatest golfers to ever play this game, he is never satisfied with
success and is always looking for ways to get better. Do you have the
courage to pursue excellence in this way? Would you be willing to
endure the frustration and disappointment that goes along with this
process? Woods knew that despite all his success, something
wasn’t quite right. He took apart and then reconstructed his
swing. As a consequence, he suddenly became beatable. He no longer
dominated the way he had before the swing change. The critics popped
out of the woodwork to tell us that Tiger was all washed up, that he
just wasn’t as good anymore. That it wasn’t really
very smart of him to go and change his game. Woods, however, kept
working away to integrate and fine-tune the swing changes. The recent
results speak for themselves: This year he won the Masters in a
playoff, finished just two shots behind at the US Open and won easily
at last month’s British Open. When asked after his win what
he had to say to all his detractors, to the people who doubted his
decision to remake his swing, he smiled and quietly said,
“Why I have absolutely nothing to say to them.”
Remember, no matter how good you are now, you can always get better.
Don’t play it safe by clinging to what is working right now.
Look for ways to improve. Go be a TIGER!
……
- CONTROL YOUR EYES AND EARS FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE UNDER PRESSURE -
Concentration is the key to
athletic excellence and your secret to performing your best at crunch
time. To be sure that you focus on the right things at the right times
get in the habit of controlling your eyes and ears both before and
during performance. Controlling your eyes means that you only want to
look at those things that keep you calm, loose and confident. If
focusing on another opponent or the size of the crowd gets you uptight,
control your eyes by concentrating instead on your stretching, looking
at a piece of equipment, looking at the ground, etc. Pick out ahead of
time focal points where you can lock your concentration so you won't
get distracted by other visual things. If you watch professional tennis
players in between points you can see them controlling their eyes by
looking at and fiddling with their strings. Controlling your ears means
that you only want to listen to those things that keep you calm,
confident and ready to do your best. This is why you see so many
athletes listening to music or tapes in between or before their events.
Listening to music, for example, will distract you from more stressful
conversations going on around you or from negative self-talk going on
inside of you. Many athletes like to talk with friends right before
they perform because their conversations, which frequently have
absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming competition, help distract
them from engaging in worry or negative self-talk.
……
“Coaching my own kid is driving both him and me
crazy” High school baseball coach
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
Coaching your own kid, while
deceivingly very difficult to do is very commonly done. Many parents
get into coaching their kids because they end up spending so much time
at the sport between driving the child to practice and games and then
waiting around endlessly. Similarly many children first get involved
with a sport because their parents are involved as the coach when they
are younger. Having said that I can tell you that pulling off being a
parent and a coach at the same time is most often a very difficult, if
not near impossible (depending on the kid), juggling act. It is
confusing for both parent and child. Children need their parents to be
parents. They need their mom or dad to be in the role of safe, support
person, of “child’s best fan.” They need
unconditional love and acceptance. Being the coach often times presents
a major role conflict because a coach needs to not only be impartial
and fair, but also needs to put himself in the role of pushing a child
outside of his/her comfort zone. In addition, coaches regularly need to
offer criticism and negative feedback. A normal preadolescent and
adolescent athlete is trying to do what is natural in his family, which
is to begin to emotionally and physically experiment with separating
from his mother and father. In adolescence, this is a critical
development task. The child with the parent as coach finds himself in a
dilemma with his dad- coach. It becomes very difficult for him to see
and deal with dad as “coach” and not dad. Most kids
respond to this dilemma by coming across as sullen, oppositional, tough
to coach, etc. However, this would not be a fair assessment because
even the most coachable kid will have problems talking instructions
from a parent. The situation is further complicated on the
parent-coach’s part. The parent-coach, not wanting to be seen
as anything but impartial as he coaches his own child will oftentimes
come down too hard on him/her. He may have too many expectations for,
and tend to be more critical of his child than the other players on the
team. His child will then experience this one-sided treatment as
grossly unfair, further straining an already difficult relationship.
The bottom line is that our kids need us as parents to “love
em”, not “shove em” and a coaches job is
very much a “shove em” kind of thing.
The best advice I would have
for any parent who ends up having to coach their own child is to sit
down before all the practices or games start and talk openly about the
situation. Talk about all the pitfalls and the confusion with roles.
Let your child know that it will be difficult and that you will need to
work together to make it work. Ask you child what he or she would need
to make the relationship work better. Part of this “better
working” involves trying to keep the parent and coach role as
separate and clean as possible. This means that you say to your child,
“when I am on the field or court with you I have my
“coach hat” on and when we’re done with
the practice or game I know have my “parent hat”
on. What this may mean for you as a parent is that outside of practice
you can’t be pushing your child to practice extra, talk about
her technique, or criticize the things that she may have done wrong in
practice or the game. If your child wants to bring the sport up fine,
but as the parent-coach, you must not do this.
……
“I have never used steroids. EVER! I don’t know how
to say it more clearly than that, Never!”
Baltimore Oriole’s
superstar Rafeal Palmiero testifying under oath in front of Congress
last March
“I have never
“intentionally” used steroids. EVER!
Baltimore Oriole’s
superstar Rafeal Palmiero after testing positive for a banned
performance enhancing drug and being suspended 10 games in July
Here we go again boys and
girls, it’s Bill Clinton’s presidency revisited! So
what’s wrong with this picture? Palmiero is said to be a
class act and now he’s caught cheating. Mark Maguire, another
class act and tremendous role model “loudly”
admitted he had used steroids during his career by his deafening
silence in the face of Congress’s direct questioning. Does
this make him a cheater? Surely Barry Bonds has been using from all the
accusations that have been swirling around him and he’s not
even considered to be a class act. What about Sammy Sosa or any of all
the other current day baseball heroes? Are they all really cheaters
too? Is the problem really specific individuals or is it the game of
baseball itself and its’ administrators and owners? What has
Major League Baseball been really selling all these years in order to
generate all that excitement from all those home runs? Didn’t
admitted steroid user Jose Canseco claim that Maguire and
Sosa’s record home run chase in the late 90’s saved
baseball, and that both were definitely using the juice?
Here’s the problem
the way I see it. I don’t think a lot of these ball players
would have knowingly “cheated” if Major League
Baseball had a solid policy on performance enhancing drugs that made it
clear that ingesting them was cheating. The fact of the matter is that
no such policy really existed. On top of that, there was tremendous
pressure placed on these athletes to get as big and as good as quickly
as possible. The result: Everyone seemed to turn and look the other way
while who knows how many of baseball’s finest got even bigger
and stronger from ingesting this nasty performance enhancing stuff.
Understand that any way that
you slice it, taking steroids is not only cheating, it’s far
worse! It’s WICKED STUPID!!!! Steroids will literally shorten
your life. That’s right, boys and girls, getting big and
buffed in that way will take precious years from your life span. But
let’s not stop there. Steroids will seriously mess with your
mind. How many young kids have already committed suicide because of the
extreme depressive effects of “juice?” And
let’s not forget that regularly taking steroids will make you
impotent. Is all of that really worth the risk? However, back to
Palmiero:
really don’t blame
the ball players for using steroids until it’s been made
clear that using them is indeed cheating. Thankfully perhaps
that’s happening now with all this brouhaha. What I do blame
them for is LYING. Palmiero got up under oath, looked everyone straight
in the eyes and lied! And then when he was caught lying he tried to
make a case for not “intentionally” taking
steroids. Why he looked downright presidential up there! A small
problem exists because the steroid that he tested positive for can only
be ingested deliberately. It is not a food additive. Let’s
cut to the chase! Major League Baseball has got to stop pussyfooting
around. Let’s call a spade a spade. If it looks like a duck,
sounds like a duck and flies like a duck, then it’s not an
elephant. Steroids is cheating NOW and lying about past or present use
is LYING!
……
“Even if you’re on the right track,
you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Will Rogers, Actor & humorist
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
There’s a very simple two letter strategy that will take you
to your dreams, a very common and easy-to-obtain formula for success.
T.A. = DREAMS/SUCCESS. T.A. = Take action. Being successful is all
about doing what is necessary to make that success happen. Without
taking action you will never get out of the starting gate. Without
taking action you will never fail enough and gather the valuable
feedback that will progressively get you closer and closer to your
dreams. Anyone can dream. What’s a lot harder to do is to
follow that dream with hard work and then more hard work. The
“easy” way to become successful in life is to
understand the hard work that is necessary. You can learn tons of
things in school and know absolutely nothing unless you take action and
use what you know. You can be a great athlete and go nowhere with your
sport unless you take action and work with your talents and skills.
Everyone has tremendous potential. Everyone has the ability to do great
things. But your potential will always remain
“permanent” unless you get off your butt and TAKE
ACTION.
…….
“A man wrapped up in
himself makes a very small bundle.” Benjamin Franklin
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
One of the more attractive qualities that is lacking in a lot of
today’s great athletes is modesty or humility. Far too many
athletes are a legend in their own minds. They not only think that they
are the greatest, but they treat everyone that they come into contact
with as if this narcissistic belief were true, as if they are the
second reincarnation of King Tut. Unfortunately being self-centered and
egotistical as an athlete and as an individual makes you a very ugly,
unappealing human being. None of us are larger than life. None of us
are that good that that we are somehow better than our fellow
man/woman. As the great psychologist, Harry Stack Sullivan once wrote,
“We are all more simply human than otherwise.” The
truly great athletes, the one with real class are genuinely modest.
Deep down they may believe that as an athlete they’re the
greatest. However, in their day to day interactions with others they
demonstrate a respect for others and a humility that is refreshing.
Remember, just because you can throw a football better than everyone
else, hit a baseball further or run the 100 Meter dash faster
doesn’t make you larger than life. Be a person of true
character. Embrace humility and respect for others.
……
“The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is
uneducated the day after.”
Newton Baker, American public official.
The exciting thing about the
world that we live in is that it’s in constant flux and
always changing. What we know as truth today may very well be proved
fiction by the time the sun comes up tomorrow. Because of this, the
“right” or “best” way of doing
things is always changing. What this demands of you if you’d
really like to keep pace in your sport, field or life is that you must
try to maintain an open or beginner’s mind. You must
understand that there are always better ways of doing things, new
technologies, new training methods and new angles being discovered
every day. Rigidly clinging to the same old, same old will only make
you stale and ultimately can seriously hold you back. People who think
that they have all the answers, who think that their way of doing
things is the only right way, who look askance at others who might
share new or conflicting ideas are ultimately limiting themselves.
Having a closed mind is the best way to be left behind in sports and in
life. Be a student of the game and a student of life. Continuously open
yourself to new ideas. Explore others beliefs. Be curious about the way
things work and the “best” way of doing things.
Don’t ever stop learning.
……
“The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is
uneducated the day after.”
Newton Baker, American public official.
The exciting thing about the
world that we live in is that it’s in constant flux and
always changing. What we know as truth today may very well be proved
fiction by the time the sun comes up tomorrow. Because of this, the
“right” or “best” way of doing
things is always changing. What this demands of you if you’d
really like to keep pace in your sport, field or life is that you must
try to maintain an open or beginner’s mind. You must
understand that there are always better ways of doing things, new
technologies, new training methods and new angles being discovered
every day. Rigidly clinging to the same old, same old will only make
you stale and ultimately can seriously hold you back. People who think
that they have all the answers, who think that their way of doing
things is the only right way, who look askance at others who might
share new or conflicting ideas are ultimately limiting themselves.
Having a closed mind is the best way to be left behind in sports and in
life. Be a student of the game and a student of life. Continuously open
yourself to new ideas. Explore others beliefs. Be curious about the way
things work and the “best” way of doing things.
Don’t ever stop learning.
……
“Success in life is
a matter not so much of talent as of concentration and
perseverance.”
C.W. Wendte, American clergyman/author
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
It’s a simple concept and a powerful one. All success stems
from one thing: PERSEVERANCE. Do you have the staying power? Can you
maintain your persistence? The one thing that will get you further in
life than anything else is not your brains, brawn or even talent.
It’s your stick-to-it-iveness. By refusing to quit or give
up, by simply continuing to just hang in there and keep working away
you will ultimately be rewarded by success. When I trained in the
martial arts my sensei made this very clear early on. He said to truly
master karate the only thing you need do is to train regularly, week
in, week out, month after month, year after year. And as I continued to
do that I watched many of the advanced students who had started ahead
of me, eventually drop out. Me? I’m just a plugger. I kept at
it and that’s eventually what led me to that black belt. Make
“perseverance” your middle name. Regardless of how
many times you get tripped up and knocked down, get back up. Regardless
of how many setbacks and failures you have, pick yourself back up and
keep going. By keeping on, keeping on NO MATTER WHAT you will
eventually bump into success.
Woods says he does not look
back at what might have been. "If I did that, playing golf would drive
me crazy."
August 15, 2005
By John Nestor
SportsTicker Golf Editor
…….
-TRY SOFTER, NOT HARDER-
One of the biggest mental
traps that athletes fall into is the “trying too
hard” trap. Fueled by frustration or making the contest too
important, trying too hard is a losing game. As a matter of fact,
it’s the game of diminishing returns: The harder you try, the
worse you’ll do! This is because trying too hard tightens
your muscles up and absolutely kills your mechanics. Trying too hard
gets you forcing things and peak performance always comes from being
relaxed and “letting it happen.” Be alert inside to
when you start pressing and trying to make something
“big” happen. When you become aware of yourself
trying too hard, quickly shift your focus of concentration away from
the outcome or its importance to the task at hand. Remember you want to
relax and try “softer,” not harder.
……
- STAY IN THE NOW -
If you want to play your very best under pressure you must train
yourself to keep your focus of concentration in the
“NOW” of the performance. Mental “time
traveling” always gets athletes into hot water, causing
choking and performance slumps. Discipline yourself to leave the past
in the past. Also, stay out of the future during the performance.
Don’t let yourself get ahead of yourself. Take your
performances one game at a time, one play at a time, one shot at a
time. The “now” is where you have access to all
your skills and great training. If you want to win and have a
great performance you can only do that in the
“NOW.” Whenever you find yourself mentally leaving
the “now” quickly and gently bring yourself back.
……
“I do not look back at what might have been. If I did that,
playing golf would drive me crazy.” Tiger Woods, PGA golfer
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
The past can have one of two purposes in your life as an athlete. You
can use it constructively to get smarter, strengthen your weaknesses
and thus build up your confidence or you can use it self-destructively
as a stick to beat yourself down with. The choice is completely yours.
Far too many athletes do the latter. They look back at their losses,
failures and heartbreaking “could’ve and
should’ve beens” and punish themselves for falling
short. They take a nasty trip down memory lane and agonize about how
close they came, obsessively replaying every torturous mistake and bad
break. “If only I’d done this.”
“Why couldn’t that call have gone the other
way?” “If only the ball had dropped in.”
“How could I have missed that shot?” The only thing
that you’ll get from this kind of self-flagellation is a very
bad headache. By nature, sports are filled with exhilarating highs and
crushing lows. Your job is to be able to roll with the punches
so-to-speak, to not let the lows completely knock you out. The past has
only one constructive purpose in your life. It provides you with an
opportunity to learn from your mistakes and thus move closer to your
goals. Your job is to feel the disappointment, learn from it, and then
let it go. It’s a waste of psychic energy, self-confidence
and your valuable passion for the sport to hang out in the past
thinking about how things could have been. Your job is to deal with the
way things are and then move on.
……
“If you trust your
nerve as well as your skill, you’re capable of a lot more
than you can imagine.” Debi Thomas, Olympic figure skater
DR. G’S COMMENTS:
The interesting thing about you as an athlete and an individual is that
you never really know what your limits are performance-wise. Simply
put, you can always do better than you think, you can always do better
than your best. When you are able to both relax and trust yourself
under pressure, it is then and only then that you begin to catch a
glimpse of exactly what you’re capable of. Peak performance
can only happen from this state of personal trust. When the chips are
on the line you must trust your ability, trust your training, trust
your instincts, reflexes and nerve, and let the good performance
effortlessly flow out of you. If you relax and trust yourself, then you
will never wilt under the hot lights and high heat of competitive
pressure. Where do you develop this sense of trust? Simple! You earn it
from the physical dues that you pay every day in your training. Trust
comes from hard work, plain and simple. Without consistent hard work on
your part it’s virtually impossible for you to trust your
skills or your nerve when the chips are all on the line.
……
-WORK ON YOUR MISTAKES IN PRACTICE- Too many athletes
