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2. disorders
3. mental disorder
4. panic and anxiety

Summon The Magic
How To Use Your Mind to be a better Athlete
(or anything else you want to be)
What’s Inside You? Belief, Desire, Passion and Intent
(Tab F)
compiled and edited by Ed Jewett
June 2005
Tab F What's Inside You?: Belief, Desire, Passion and Intent
F-1 Which “Self”?; Identifications and Beliefs
F-2 and F-3 Some Thoughts on Self-Concept
F-3 Positive Thoughts Always Overcome Negative Ones
F-4 and F-5 Negative Thoughts versus Quality Thoughts
F-5 Destructive Criticism and Self-Criticism
F-6 Increasing Your Body-Mind Awareness
F-7 Four Qualities of a Winner
F-8 I Am....; Everyone has Choices; On Mediocrity
F-9 Take Responsibility for Your Performance
F-9 The Power of Belief and Role Immersion
F-10 84 to Zip; One Problem with Positive Thinking
F-10 What You Believe You Will Achieve
F-10 How Do You Get Rid of Beliefs You've Come To See as Destructive?
F-10 The Advantage of Desire
F-11 Two Key Emotions: Fear and Desire
F-11 The Creative Discontent of Everyday Experience
F-12 The Power of Action and Commitment
F-13 Some Thoughts on Commitment; You Are Not Your Performance
F-14 Overcoming The Four Barriers to Commitment
F-15 thru F-17 Belief, Desires versus Beliefs, and Belief and Commitment
F-18 The Power and Value of Belief
F-19 Building a Confident Attitude
F-20 and F-21 Intention: Write Out Your Intent, Set Your Intent
F-21 Total Intention, and Intention Taken Too Far
F-22 thru F-25 Discipline
F-23 Dedication: Translating Desire Into Action
F-26 Faith & the Stockdale Paradox; Pray to Be Strong; Understanding or Faith?
F-27 Unstoppable
F-27 Passion
F-27 Choice is Different from Desire
F-28 thru F-30 Effective Self-Talk and Affirmations
F-31 Programming Your Subconscious Mind; Scripting
F-32 Making That Sports Bottle Really Work For You
F-33 To Create An Instant, Positive State of Mind
F-33 It's The Way You Step on the Mat
F-33 Imposing Your Will
F-33 There is No Greater Pleasure Than...
F-34 Internal and External Resistance
F-35 Responsibility and The Seven R's of Responsibility
F-36 Climbers and Campers
F-36 Follow Your Goals, Not The Crowd
F-36 On Addiction
F-37 The Disciplined Expression of Self
F-37 Sport's Creative and Integrative Power
F-37 The Moment You Become An Athlete
F-38 How To Defeat Your Own Resistance
F-40 To Be Someone or To Do Something?; Being Shaken
F-1
We play the game at many levels. To some extent, everyone goes in and out of
extraordinary states. But how deeply we enter those states, and how long we stay,
depends on us. We must deliberately cultivate the attitudes and faculties that
support such experience, and we need not limit our practice to the particular
arena of our sport. We can do some of our work at home on a rainy day. 1
Training in the martial arts can provide the challenge of self-mastery
in mind, body and spirit while teaching something very practical -how to protect yourself and others in a hostile situation. And yet ....
"For what reason do you come?", the master asked the student.
"I have come to learn the art of self-defense", said the student.
The master responded: "Which self do you wish to defend?" 2
Identifications and Beliefs 3
We are what we think. What we are (and what we will become) starts from within
our thoughts. With our thoughts, we create our reality. Virtually all of our
behavioral patterns are generated from the unconscious naming or categorization of
our prior experiences. Much of what we believe about ourselves is based on
erroneous conclusions we have drawn due to how we subjectively interpreted an
experience. We prevent positive outcomes for ourselves because we imagine
that we have been slighted, or judged, or doubted, or criticized, or have
been found to be deficient in some way. Repetitive experience of this type leaves
its traces upon our subconscious mind. If we tell ourselves frequently that we are
unworthy, or unattractive, or clumsy, or at fault, or any of a range of negative selfperceptions in a variety of forms, then we will form identifications with those
characteristics.
Identifications (how we see ourselves) are etched into the subconscious.
At the core of every identification is a subjective belief.
Beliefs generate attitudes.
Attitudes generate feelings.
Feelings generate thoughts.
Thoughts generate action.
Our experience is related to our beliefs.
At the root of every identification is a belief. This is a statement of relative truth that
generates a series of attitudes, feelings, thoughts and behaviors. The subconscious
mind will hold onto a pattern of programming and become locked in, seemingly
unaccessible. We can and do believe something, or act a certain way, without a clue
as to why. Our minds have a built-in sentinel which guards the mental file
cabinet where we store our identifications and beliefs. It acts as a filter so that
nothing can be filed in that file cabinet that does not already conform with the
identifications and beliefs that are already there. (Psychologists call it "the critical
factor".) You can gain access to your subconscious, to that file cabinet of core belief,
when your mind's filtering sentinel can be made to step aside through
progressive relaxation techniques. The identifications and beliefs that do not
serve you can be overcome and replaced. You can choose to give yourself
positive messages that will generate positive experience and reality.
F-2
Some Thoughts on Self-Concept 4
Those who believe they can, and those who believe they can't, are both right.
Self-fulfilling prophesy, a commonly occurring psychological event, is simply stated:
Our progress tends to be consistent with our expectations. Whether you expect or
believe that you are a super dancer, mentally less than brilliant, a whiz kid at math,
uncoordinated in athletics, or a great person to know, you will generate mental
energies and habits that will tend to make these expectations come true. If you
expect to do poorly, you will be less motivated, less interested, and will invest less
time and energy, and you will perform poorly.
A 4-year old child decided that she wanted to learn to fly; she saw that birds could
fly, and she found a feather in the yard and figured this might help her. So Dad
allowed her to try by leaping off a couch holding the feather. When asked why he
simply didn't explain to her that people can't fly, he replied "How could I know?
I might have been wrong."
Children raised in a home relatively free from exaggerated praise or blame form
a realistic, experimental and persevering approach to their pursuits, without
undue psychic pressure. They explore life, and they achieve out of a natural and
innate sense of curiosity and internal satisfaction rather than external stroking
or reward. They achieve naturally, enjoyably, without undue stress, in good time.
Whenever you feel underconfident or confused about a specific endeavor, if you
feel discouraged, or if you feel strong pressure to do well, an arbitrary self-concept
is imposing itself on your life, obscuring the sense of ease and enjoyment you
possessed as a child.
Negative belief is a belief, not a fact. What negative beliefs tell you, first and
foremost, is that you are simply scared 0f the unknown. Self-concept is an
illusion that has been imposed on you, and it will overshadow your every effort
until you can see it for what it is, cut through it, and throw it way.
Self-imposed limitations are often based initially on some prior experience or
something that was said (perhaps misinterpreted, and perhaps not), and then we
learn to reinforce and strengthen these limitations. As we grow up, we get
impressions that we were "good" at some things, and "bad" at others. We were
praised or blamed. We looked around and saw someone else who seemed so
much better at doing something than we were that we gave up - - too soon.
We sometimes unthinkingly impose limitations on ourselves because of what
our culture, our religion, our parents and our teachers tell us. We find it easier to
accept what our Fearful Friends tell us; they perhaps fear that we are going
onward without them. We buy into what the Poison Pals and the Wet Blankets in
our life tell us; they smother our internal fire or cripple our successes. We allow
the Crazymakers in our world to generate storm centers that create turmoil in
our purpose, our direction, and our self-belief. [Nathaniel Brandon, in Mastery, also
notes people "who are not a friend of your excitement".]
>>>>
F-3
When negative self-concept is presented to us, or when your own mind blurts out
that you can't, you have a choice: You can surrender to it, ignore it, resist it, or
use it. If you surrender to it, your past will become your future. If you ignore it,
the negative self-concept will continue to have subtle negative effects. If you resist
it, you'll waste energy. If you choose to use it, to experience its psychic force, then
you can cut through it and banish it by changing your act. If you learn to do what
you didn't believe you could, the word "can't" will lose its power over your life.
This is the primary value in "challenge" courses like Outward Bound; participants
have the chance to confront limiting self-beliefs, and then to transcend them...,
to develop deeper levels of self-trust, courage and commitment. When we say “I’m
not interested in doing that", what we often feel behind that statement is "I can't do
well at that." When "can't" loses its force, all sorts of new interests and
capacities open up to us.
Your brain is quite adept at giving you negative "blurts". One of the simplest ways to
begin to deal with your own limited self-concept is to sit down and write out your
"blurts". Create a little ceremony for yourself and put your can'ts on paper, and then
cross them out, shred them, burn them. Put your can'ts on paper, and then match
them and replace them up with a can, an affirmation.
When you have negative thoughts, there are two attitudes you can take.
5
The first is of detachment and dis-identification; the second is listening to the
perverse voice to see what it may tell you. During play, these thoughts arise
precisely because you are in a separate place, away from the everyday and the
commonplace, where your mind is more clear so that it may focus on the game, and
so there is more room for intrusive thoughts. Many thoughts that arise while you are
playing can be brushed aside. But certain thoughts will not be easily brushed aside;
they must be understood, or otherwise they may haunt you until your game and
your disposition suffer. It is hard to protect yourself from a naming impulse. When
such a voice begins to speak, it is wise to let it deliver its entire message. Take
notes; get it down on paper; explore it in detail. Deal with it, and your game will
improve.
Positive thoughts always overcome negative ones. This is a natural law.
6
When the sun rises, the fog vanishes. When the light is switched on, the darkness
disappears. Turn around negative thoughts as soon as they enter your mind with a
process called reformatting. When you feel angry, think love. If you face dishonesty,
think integrity. If there is miserliness, think generosity. If there is jealousy, think
nobility. If there is timidity, think courage. Picture in your mind someone you are
angry at, then think about how you treat someone you love. See if you can
superimpose that image of love onto the person you are angry at. Give all your
feelings of love to this person. Pray for them to have all the blessings that you
wish for yourself, and then some. It's hard to stay mad at someone and pray for
good things to happen at the same time. With some practice in reformatting, you
will get successful at driving off your negative feelings and establishing a positive
state of mind. Focus on your daily effort in a more positive way than you did
yesterday, and it will be a stepping-stone to tomorrow.
F-4
Negative Thoughts versus Quality Thoughts 7
A physical performance is the outcome of a thought. The mental message will
dictate the physical action and help determine its quality. A negative thought will not
lead to quality action.
Negative thoughts, and negative attitudes, tend to hang around inside your mind
and will program your bio-computer over time to continue to produce negative
actions. They become automatic. The simplest form of negative thought is when you
say to yourself, in the conversation your mind has with itself, "I don't want to goof up
here." or "I don't want to fumble the ball." or "I don't want to miss the free throw."
Until you replace your don'ts with I can and I will ("I am going to make
this free throw because I have practiced it correctly many times; I am going to
make this free throw because I am a very good free throw shooter"), unless you
practice emptying your mind of the negatives, the negatives will win the battle,
and you will tend to miss the free throw.
There are several ways in which you can learn to empty your mind of the
negatives, the doubts and the fears. The first is to be aware of them. The second is
to keep a journal; when you first get up in the morning, write down as much as you
can about whatever comes to mind. This is for your eyes only. Get into the practice
and discipline of doing this, and all the negatives will come out onto the page. Once
it's down on the page, don't go back and read it ever again. Each day, do some
more. It's like flushing your mental toilet. The third is to practice some simple form
of meditation to quiet all the negative conversation that goes on in your mind. The
fourth is to practice visualization; see yourself succeeding. The fifth is to practice
positive self-talk and write down self-affirmations. Tell yourself how good you
are by reminding yourself of the successes you have had, the goals you have met,
the three-pointers you made.
The body tends to do what it hears most clearly;
the mind tells the body what it sees most clearly.
Self-doubt can develop in anyone at any time. The thought that maybe you just
aren't good enough will creep in; here is the doorway to disappointment, frustration,
anger and depression. There are people you'll meet all the time who will tell you so,
indirectly and unknowingly. You will also run into a few who will tell you so directly,
to your face. But you can always smile at those people and walk away. You cannot
walk away from your own mind; you must create a positive and success-oriented
mind that goes with you everywhere.
"I hope" is another phrase to be avoided. Hoping means you don't believe you
can. By hoping that you won't, you most likely will. Hoping is not directed toward
success. Another is "I gotta"..."I haven't done well lately, and I just gotta hit this free
throw now." The mind finishes the thought for you, and says "if you don't, you're a
failure".
F-5
Thinking that you must do something at the moment it is to be done
indicates an anxiety that will harm your performance.
Think of an "I gotta" is simply an example of a poorly-defined goal.
Perhaps you should learn to think instead something like "I will make this free
throw because I will take a deep breath, relax and use proper technique."
You will achieve your goals if you recognize that everyone meets with failure
some of the time. You will accomplish your objective if you understand that failure
reflects on the performance, not the performer. You are not a failure because you
didn't get the free throw. Your technique or your concentration can be improved, but
you the person are a success because you are trying, you are participating, you are
putting forth the effort. You succeed in the long run if, when you fail, you focus on
doing it better next time.... if you figure out what went wrong, if you make a little
adjustment, and if you keep a positive outlook.
Destructive Criticism and Self-Criticism 8
If babies carried around the same tendency toward self-criticism as adults, they
might never learn to walk. When was the last time you saw a toddler say
"Darn it! I screwed it up again!"? As kids, we were naturally free of self-criticism.
Failure and success were treated the same, and we just kept going on. Self-criticism
is a learned habit pattern that usually begins in childhood since, as kids, we messed
up a lot and got criticized.
There
•
•
•
are three causes of error:
negative (or unconscious) habit patterns;
lack of experience or information; and
the fact that no one is perfect all the time.
There are two kinds of criticism:
•
destructive criticism ("That's all wrong. Boy, was that dumb!") or
•
constructive criticism ("You were a little too high on that one because of
your hand placement; move your hand to this position and do it again".)
If you received destructive criticism as a child, it is very likely that your young
psyche used the most available defense; you internalized that criticism.
In other words, you began to criticize yourself more severely so that others would
refrain from doing so. But that doesn't work because you still carry around the
negative weight from the person who was unkind to you. You may not even be aware
of how you yell at or kick yourself; you may "beat yourself up" with impatience,
frustration or depression.
Everyone thinks that criticism leads to improvement: one error, one criticism
(or punishment), one response to avoid future punishment.... but it doesn’t work
because the individual being criticized remains free to make the error again because
criticism reinforces negative self-belief.
F-6
Increasing Your Body/Mind Awareness 9
One of the most useful skills you can develop is the ability to catch yourself before
your unconscious negativity shapes your outlook on the moment and your actions.
We can all become too easily attached to the false security our limitations seem to
give us. But if we can become increasingly aware of these internal thoughts, then
we can turn them around quickly and allow ourselves more joy and more ease.
What are your self-defeating views? (Go ahead, start making a list.) What do you
constantly tell yourself you'll never get? What can't you allow yourself to do?
What are your worst possible scenarios? What beliefs do you hold that trigger anger,
panic, avoidance or criticism of your self or others? What sayings sum up your selfnegativity? What kinds of things do you know are possible for you? What behaviors
in yourself and others contribute to your joy/ease? What do you constantly tell
yourself that you are getting? What are your best possible scenarios? What sayings,
things, people, feelings or thoughts empower you?
Listen to and become increasingly aware of your negative internal self-talk. Can you
catch yourself mid-thought, and change its direction? Become aware of the actual
state your body goes into -- your inner posture—when your self-talk is negative and
when it is positive. Become aware of how this is reflected in your actual posture,
your breathing, your stance, how you hold your head, your muscle tone, your facial
expressions and your movement. Once you begin to identify your fear-based posture
and other bodily manifestations, you can choose to shift out of it and into a
perspective and posture that is more oriented to joy, ease, positive action.., more
likely to allow you to give the gift that is you.
Recall a time when you were intensely afraid, resistant or frustrated. Let your body
go into the inner posture that reflects each situation. Describe the sensations using
as many adjectives as you can. What's happening in various parts of your body?
pulse? breathing? face? At this moment, do you trust your body to move well?
After a rest, having cleared your mind, recall a time of flow, when everything seemed
to work effortlessly, when you were open to the moment, when your senses were
alive, when a certain kind of gentle, alert relaxation surrounded your movement and
your presence. Let your body go into the inner posture that reflects this experience.
Describe the sensations using as many adjectives as you can. What's happening in
various parts of your body? pulse? breathing? face? Do you trust your body/mind to
move well?
Return to the inner posture of contractedness, fear, anxiety and doubt.
Make a conscious choice, and shift back to the inner posture of flow.
Watch and track the subtle internal changes. Review the stages of the shift several
times until you can do it quickly.
You are in charge of your moods and attitudes.
F-7
Four Qualities of a Winner 10
Positive Self-Expectancy: That which you expect most will likely come to pass.
What the mind dwells upon, the body will act upon.
Positive Self-Motivation: The action-oriented element of self-motivation springs
from positive self-expectancy. Positive self-motivation can be cultivated as an inner
drive that puts optimism into action. Winners are driven by desire. We are
motivated and moved by our dominant thoughts. A motive is the thing that excites
us or moves us to action. Motivation can be learned and developed. It is often
wrongly assumed that motivation has to be pumped into us by external things that
pep talks, rallies, contests and rewards. These provide encouragement or inspiration,
but only the individual desires it and internalizes it. Lasting change is effected only
when the need for change is understood and internalized. Winners have the ability to
move in the direction of their goals, and tolerate little distraction. In the face of
discouragement, mistakes and setbacks, inner drive keeps them moving toward selffulfillment. Winners have learned how to concentrate on the desired results, rather
than the possible problems. They dwell on the rewards of success, not on the
penalties of failure. Success in life is not reserved for those with talent, a high IQ,
ability, or the best equipment. Success is almost totally dependent on drive and
persistence, the energy required to make another effort, to try another approach.
Positive Self-Image: All winners in life develop and actively think about a
positive self-image. Winners see the act of winning before it ever happens. Winners
act like winners, imagining with pictures, images and words the roles they want to
play. What you see is what you get. Who you feel like is who you really are. It's not
what you are that holds you back; it's what you think you're not. Individuals behave,
not in accordance with reality, but with their perception of reality. How an individual
feels about him or her self is everything. All that he or she ever does, or aspires to
do, will be based on that all-important self-concept. If you try to make a change in
yourself at the conscious level, using willpower, it will be at best temporary; any
permanent change in your behavior should first involve a change in your self-image,
and then your behavior will automatically follow. Your achievement level will be
consistent with your self-image; your self-image is a thermostat for your
performance.
Positive Self-Direction: Positive self-direction is the action plan of a positive
self-image. It is the power of purpose. What's your game plan for life, for today?
Success is the progressive realization of goals that are worthwhile to you and others.
If you set a target, your self-activated system, constantly monitoring feedback,
adjusting the course setting in its navigational system, will make the corrections that
are necessary to stay on target. If it is programmed incompletely, or non-specifically,
or aimed at a target too far out of range, you will tend to wander erratically.
F-8
I am... 11
Prior to the 1988 Track and Field Olympic Trials, a world-class runner was concerned
about making the U.S. Olympic team and came to me to see if I could help her
performance. She knew negative thought patterns would virtually destroy any hopes
she had of making it to the Games. I suggested to her that she rephrase her
negative thoughts about not making the team to:
"I am a member of the 1988 women's 1,500-meter Olympic team."
I asked her to write this on 3x5 index cards and place them in various places: on
her bathroom mirror, on the dashboard of her car, in her locker, in her equipment
bag, on the refrigerator door, in her purse. She could even mail them to herself or
hide them like Easter Eggs.
Every time she encountered one of these cards, she was to recite the phrase and
imagine it to be true, to pie-experience it in full color and sensation. In this way,
she was replacing her negative thoughts with positive ones.
(She make the Olympic team, she performed at her best during the part of the
event that she previously hated, and she set a personal record in the process.)
Everyone has choices for the self…
In our appearance... in the clothes we wear, about our fragrance, our hair,
our visual appeal to others.
In our language... in how we present ourselves verbally, in how we finish our
sentences, and in how we ask questions.
In our behavior ... in how we react to people, events and situations.
In the information we choose to consume, through TV, radio, news, movies, and
other media likes video games or the Internet.
In the places where we choose to be... and the people we choose to be with.
In time.., when we choose to take action.
The choices we make tell others about the expectations we have for ourselves and
invite further support, cooperation, collaboration and mentorship.
When mediocrity becomes the norm,
it is not long before mediocrity becomes the ideal.
-- A. N. Wilson
F-9
The failure-oriented player has anxieties and self-doubts which lead him to
believe that his lack of ability is responsible for his failure, that luck is responsible
for his infrequent success, and that effort is therefore useless. By giving a halfhearted effort, he almost assures the failure he wishes to avoid.
Don't transfer blame. It wasn't the bad bounce, your old injury, the umpire or
referee, your coach, a vague illness, or a teammate's performance.
Take responsibility for your own performance.
12
Your mental attitude affects your personality, your very being, and your future
success. Remember that action begins with thoughts. If you control your
thoughts, you control your actions. In controlling your actions, you control your
thoughts.
You can think positive, confident, decisive, active, ambitious, success-bearing
thoughts, or you can think negative, uncertain, indecisive, lazy, failure-bearing
thoughts. The choice is yours. Winners know that there is no such thing as
failure or defeat, unless they accept them as such. They know that every
stumbling block has a hidden benefit – if they search for it.
Winners keep their thoughts on the things they want, and off the things they do
not want. Winners think of the reasons they will succeed, not the reasons they
might fail. Winners turn their plans for success into action; they do it now. They
have complete faith in their ability to reach their objective, regardless of the odds.
Faith is belief in action. The work of winners is a labor of love.
The Power of Belief and Role Immersion 13
An intriguing study by Ellen Langer at Harvard suggests that even such a basic
psychological characteristic as our visual acuity is determined by who we happen to
believe we are. Her subjects were invited to ‘become’ air force pilots for an
afternoon. They were dressed in the appropriate uniform and given the chance to
‘pilot’ a jet airplane on a flight simulator. The context was made as real as possible,
and the subjects were asked to try to ‘become' a pilot, not merely act the part. At
the beginning of the study, before the simulation was introduced and explained, each
subject was given a short physical examination, which included a routine eye test.
During the flight simulation, while they were being pilots, they were asked to read
the markings on the wings of another plane that could be seen out the cockpit
window. These markings were actually letters from an eye chart equivalent to the
one used in the physical. The vision of nearly half the ‘pilots’ improved significantly.
Other groups of subjects, equally aroused and motivated, but who were not
immersed in the role, showed no such improvement.
By changing the sense of self, more precise sensory information can become
available to consciousness. F-10
84 to Zip 14
A middle-aged man comes across a sandlot baseball game, and stops to watch.
He yells to the center fielder over on the other side of the fence, "Hey, kid,
what's the score?” The kid yells back "84 zip, them." The man says "That's too
bad." The kid turns and smiles, and says "Don't worry… We ain't been up yet."
One Problem with Positive Thinking
15
Positive thinking may simply be negative thinking in reverse. When you say
"I am going to do well", are you simply disguising a deeper self-doubt?
What you believe, you will achieve.
16
William James, the great American philosopher, once said that the greatest discovery
of his generation was that "human beings, by changing the inner beliefs of their
minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."
In his book The Inner Game of Tennis, Tim Gallwey states "I know of no single
factor that more greatly affects our ability to perform than the image we have of
ourselves."
In The Art of Strategv, R. L. Wing says, "Your inner opponent's greatest advantage is
your lack of belief in your ultimate triumph.” (It's probably true of your outer
opponents too!)
How do you get rid of beliefs you’ve come to see as destructive?
17
One way is to play "let's pretend" in order to generate the emotion opposite the one
that comes from the belief that you want to change. The more often you generate
that new feeling, the faster you'll change what you want to change. The more you
do this kind of mental work, the more you will literally create a new internal
blueprint from the neuropathways that are being imprinted. You must get into it
emotionally, or it will just be a waste of time. If you don’t feel it, forget it.
Then, take it to the physical realm and start acting the opposite of what you want
to change. If you are shy, smile at someone. Believe that you are poor? Put a $50
bill in your wallet. Believe you are a timid speaker? Stand in front of your mirror
and cut loose. Change the feeling, and you'll change the belief.
The Advantage of Desire
18
In an article by Richard Hoffer on the upset defeat of heavyweight boxer Lennox
Lewis by Hasim Rahman: "Sneaking in under Lewis's radar, Rahman had
the advantage of desire; hardly anything is more dangerous."
F-11
Two Key Emotions: Fear and Desire 19
Two key emotions dominate all human motivation, with opposite and nearly-equally
effective results: fear and desire. They are poles apart. They lead to alternate
destinies in life.
Fear is the most powerful negative motivator of all. Fear is the great compeller,
the great inhibitor. Fear looks to the past. Fear restricts and tightens and panics.
Fear ultimately scuttles plans and defeats goals. Fear vividly replays haunting
experiences of pain, disappointment or unpleasantness. It is a dogged reminder
that the same experience can repeat itself. The fear-oriented words that we use to
imprison ourselves are "I have to..., "I can't...", "I wish..." Negative tension
induced by fear creates anxiety, distress, sickness and hostility. Fear causes stress.
Desire is like a strong positive magnet that attracts and reaches, open and directs.
Desire encourages, and achieves goals. Desire looks to the future. Desire triggers
memories of pleasure and success, and excites the need to replay these by
creating new winning experiences. The desire-oriented words that enable us are"
I want to...", "I can...", "I see opportunity...", I will...", and "I choose to..."
Desire is that emotional state between where you are and where you want to be.
Positive tension induced by desire is like a bowstring pulled taut to propel the
arrow to the bulls-eye. Desire causes ignition power.
Burning desire is the perfect antidote for fear. Desire sparks activity, which burns
up excessive adrenaline. Desire keeps the mind busy and the hope of achievement
alive. Inactivity breeds despondency and brings forth dark imaginings and
distorts our perception of situations, all out of proportion to reality. When fear
begins to beg for attention, the winner gets busy, and things gain their proper
perspective again.
It is true that fear can save your life, which is why fear should be used as a
motivator only when real danger is present. When fear is a habit, it has an
extremely destructive side-effect. Fear is a red light that can stop dangerous
behavior, but desire is the green light that lets you go forward.
***********
Desire is born out of the creative discontent 20
that arises as you compare your visions of how things might be
with the daily experience of how they are now.
What do you desire?
F-12
The Power of Action & Commitment
Many of your ideas, plans and dreams will fall by the wayside unless you
understand the one very real attribute that comes to play when you commit
to something. There is one very basic fact about what happens when you
begin something. The elementary truth is this:
The moment that you definitely commit or re-commit yourself, then
Providence moves too. The Creator, The Supreme Being, the Tao (or whatever
it is that you perceive as that which is greater than everything together) will move
subtly and quietly to assist you.
Call it Serendipity. Call it Synchronicity. All sorts of things will occur that will
help you that would not have otherwise occurred.
A whole stream of events, encounters and assistance will emerge that you
could have never foreseen; they will emerge only as the direct result of your
commitment.
"Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
-- Goethe
Commitment
21
"You don't become an All-Star or a great player when the season starts.
You just maintain your skills during the season. All your work is done
in the off-season. You are made into a great player in the off-season
when it's not so easy to work. When the season is over, it's kind of easy
to take the first month off. Then, it's "Aw, shoot, I’ll take another month off.
In the off-season, it's easy to go here and there with your buddies. But how
many of those buddies are going to say "Hey, let's train. Let's go to the
weight room." They don't. They say "let's hang out here, let's hang out
there.” But a lot of the people you hang out with are not going to tell you the
stuff you need to hear. Commitment is in the off-season, when no one wakes
you up, no one sets your alarm clock, no one gives you an itinerary. You just
have to do it yourself."
-- Karl Malone
F-13
Some Thoughts on Commitment 22
Making a commitment to follow through with a specific goal is making an agreement
with yourself to grow. It represents a specific direction of growth and a
determination to pay the price. The lessons won and the confidence gained from
committing to yourself and to accomplishing one goal are directly transferable to
other goals. Achieving specific goals expands you, enables you to envision even
greater possibilities, and provides a level of internal satisfaction gained from
fulfilling your commitments to yourself and others that surpasses most other
forms of satisfaction.
When you are ready to put yourself on the line for something, to get off the fence,
to take a stand, to act on purpose, then you are going to pay a price. The greater
the goal, the greater the price. You are going to have to make some sacrifices.
You will have difficulties, defeats and disappointments along the way. There will
be times when you will want to quit. But if you persevere through the rough spots,
you will win, even if you fail to reach your goal. The character that you build by
standing up for what you believe in and refusing to quit will serve you well for the
rest of your life.
The ultimate commitment is the one you make to yourself: to take responsibility
for your life and to make the most of it. This lifelong commitment is born from a
sense of urgency.
Living in commitment sets you apart. It means saying goodbye forever to bored
indifference. It means not contenting yourself with sour grapes and might-havebeens. It means that you are ready to be the best you can be and not settle for less.
One thing is for sure: If you fail to make a commitment that's right for you, you
will lose the chance to act in a particular set of circumstances that will never be
the same again.
When you want something so much that you are willing to do whatever it takes to
make it happen, when you are willing to let go of whatever gets in the way, you
have reached the point of commitment. The more you make that kind of pledge to
yourself and others, the more likely the possibility becomes a probability.
You Are Not Your Performance 23
Performance equals potential minus interferences. (P = p-i)
Learn to distinguish between your lack of a certain talent and the presence of
some obstacle preventing the release of your existing talent.
You don't have to become fluid or more rhythmic or more powerful; you only
have to learn to get out of your own way so that your fluidity, rhythm and power
can be expressed.
F-14
Overcoming The Four Barriers to Commitment 24
There are four things that can deflate your commitment. Any one of them will
seem like getting a flat tire in your convertible just before you head off to the beach
with friends. You will face these obstacles at one time or another; you must
overcome them if you are to get to your beach. You can be sidelined by
distractions, fear, resistance and, finally, by a sense of overwhelming confusion
and frustration that builds as you consider the difficulties and complexities that
you face.
Distractions will divert your attention away from the goal. A flat tire in the
driveway? You could stay home and play video games, or you could get out the
spare tire and the jack. Learn to substitute constructive behaviors for compulsive
distractions.
Fear can paralyze you, stop you in your tracks. Somebody's going to have to pay
for the new tire. What will your friends say when you're late in picking them up?
Maybe you'd better call off the trip right away. If you dare to risk beyond fear, you
can get the tire fixed, call your friends to meet you halfway, and still get to the
beach.
Resistance from others can block your advancement toward your goal. The friend
who lives next door comes over, laughs at you, tells you you're going to be in
trouble, tells you it's going to take too long to change the tire, tells you it's already
too late to make it to the beach. So you diplomatically develop trust and gain
cooperation by telling him that you've changed the tire many times before, that it
will take less than ten minutes, and that, if he helps, he can come along.
Feeling overwhelmed comes from a sense of not doing what you know you should
do because you don't have a clear enough idea of how to proceed. You're really
frustrated and angry. Maybe there is no one else around, and you've never
changed a tire before. Detach yourself emotionally, and learn what you need to
know. Take a deep breath, and get the manual out of the glove-box. The jack is in
the trunk. Remember to put the car in park and put a block behind the wheels.
It will take discipline to let go of distracting negative habits and thoughts that
slow you down. It will take daring to move forward in the face of fear. It will take
diplomacy to overcome resistance and gain the support you need. And it will take
detachment, the key to continued learning and growth.
As you successfully master these obstacles, you'll build confidence in yourself.
You'll come to know that you can be, do or have anything.
Belief gives birth to reality.
25
F-15
Belief
26
The world's doors will open, not necessarily to those with the most talent, brains
or skills, but to those who believe in themselves and their dreams. Those who lack
vision or are tormented by doubts can only stand on the sidelines and watch as
those with faith in themselves and their dreams shape the world around them.
Make no mistake -- behind every social movement, technological breakthrough,
architectural triumph or creative life, you will find the power of belief. The great
leaders and innovators we remember are those who demonstrated unwavering
belief in their visions -- often when the "experts" said it couldn't be done. This
kind of faith is a potent transformative power that you can channel into every
aspect of your life.
Have you heard the term "garbage in, garbage out"? It comes from the world of
computer programming: if you write a sloppy computer program, you get
problems of all sorts. This applies equally to the way that you program your mind,
because your mind believes what it repeatedly hears. For example, we can
actually create situations we fear by repeatedly imagining them and charging
those scenes with intense emotional energy. Every day, we hear, repeatedly, from
the media, from the people in our world and from ourselves that we cannot do,
there are hurdles and obstacles, we might fail, we might look silly, we don't have
the talent, the skills, the brains... We are inclined to accept these apparent
"truths" because we keep hearing them, and our mind keeps repeating them, and
soon we develop a negative self-image and the negative self-beliefs that, in time,
will make create our emotions and our attitudes, and limit our possibilities.
Throughout the day, you are constantly talking to yourself. It's normal; everyone
does it. Within our mind, we hear up to five hundred words a minute. When
these statements are messages of can't, you won't. But if you can change your
mind, if you can get your subconscious mind to start cooperating with your intent
and your belief, eventually you can, and you will.
But simply deciding to try to think positively isn't enough. After all, most of your
thoughts are not under your conscious control. You have to find a way to make
positive thinking as automatic as breathing. You can use affirmations to alter
your basic life script or to support specific goals. Repetition and persistence are
required . Use simple, clear, definite statements that are repeated regularly in
spaced intervals. The most powerful method is to use the phrase "I am...". If you
keep telling yourself you are, then your mind will come to believe it and take
the necessary steps to make it happen. There's an even easier method. Once you
develop a set of affirmations, tape record them in your own voice and play the tape
two or three times a day. Pretty soon, you will not need the tape, and your mind
will keep repeating these statements to you. And then it will say to itself, "Well, if
this is true, then I'd better get to work making it a reality."
Believe in yourself, and there will come a day
when others will have no choice but to believe in you. 27
F-16
Desires versus Beliefs
(or
"As ye sow, so shall ye reap.")
28
Our conscious mind provides awareness, makes intellectual decisions, analyzes
and forms conclusions. The conscious mind is the facility used to gather, sort
and analyze information for storage in memory; the subconscious mind uses that
stored information to operate the body processes. The subconscious mind is a
servo-mechanism, or automatic activation device, that is designed to produce
according to your conscious direction. Before any data is allowed to be stored in
memory, the conscious mind first considers the validity of the information. If the
data cannot be classified as believable, important or true, it gets rejected. Most
suggestions presented to the conscious mind are automatically discarded as false
statements.
Desire is generated in our conscious mind. Will power -- our capacity to act on
our desires -- generates from the conscious mind as well. But belief resides in the
subconscious mind, which is much more powerful than the conscious mind.
Whenever there is a battle between desire and belief, belief will prevail. Unless
your belief system is congruent with your intention, you've set yourself up for a
losing battle.
You can get your belief systems, desire and intention aligned through the power
of simple self-suggestion, but you must do it repeatedly and you must follow three
simple laws and seven simple rules. [The rules are discussed in Tab K, pp. 33-36.]
The Law of Concentrated Attention says that, whenever your attention is focused
on an idea, that idea tends to realize itself. This law defines how you learn any skills,
and determines how both good and bad habits are formed. If you concentrate your
attention on an idea consistently and repetitively, it will move you in that direction.
If you find yourself regularly saying "I just can't seem to get anywhere with this",
there is an enormous amount of energy being directed to that notion. With
repetition, it becomes a focal point and, eventually, a self-fulfilling prophesy. Your
desire to achieve and accomplish is totally negated by the amount of concentrated
energy focused on a negative thought form. It has been estimated that about 70%
of our daily self-talk is negative. We tend to concentrate our energies on our
deficiencies, which only makes them perpetuate themselves. If you learn to deliver
suggestions in the language of the subconscious mind, the Law of Concentrated
Attention becomes your key to making your goals your reality.
The Law of Reversed Effect says that the harder you try to do something, the less
you will be able to do it. If someone were to say "think of a pleasant place to be, but
do not think about pink elephants", you will be unable to avoid thinking about pink
elephants. If you say "I am going to try to get myself more organized", you won't.
If you try to fall asleep, you can't. If emotion is linked to the attempt, the effect
becomes more pronounced. Trying cannot override the programming already
locked into place in the subconscious mind. It is imperative that you eliminate
the word "try" from your vocabulary. Using the word "try" automatically activates
the Law of Reversed Effect and cancels out your most positive intentions.
Attempting to override this effect by sheer willpower is wasted energy.
>>>>
F-17
The Law of Dominant Effect says that the suggestion presented to the mind which
carries the most powerful emotion will displace any other suggestion in the mind at
that time. Feelings of shock and sorrow are more powerful than those of joy and
laughter. Guilt often overpowers the desire for success. Low self-esteem will tend to
win out over longing for approval. Unfortunately, the stronger emotions are usually
the most damaging or negative ones. If you have doubt or anxiety, or feelings of
inadequacy or self-rejection, these will carry more energy than your goals. In any
given moment, there is only a certain amount of energy available in the brain, and
this is invariably channeled to the strongest emotional wish or feeling that is present.
This is how our emotions influence our state of mind.
The subconscious mind is ruled by imagination; the conscious mind is ruled by
willpower. In any conflict between imagination and willpower, the imagination is
bound to win. But you can provide an emotional charge to your goals. You can give
your intentions an extra boost of energy. Your imagination can be directed.
"Listen to Me. You can pray for anything, and if you believe it, you will have it."
Mark 11:24
"A lot of people thought I was praying, but actually I was trying to get focused.
Maybe that's what prayer is." -- Olympic Gold Medal diver Greg Louganis
Underneath It All 29
A young man had a clay statue, a family heirloom, but he always wished it would
be shiny and gold, not dull and brown, so he saved money every week so that he
could have it covered in gold, but the gold plating did not stick to the clay very
well and it kept flaking off. Soon much of his energy went into replating it again
and again.
One day his grandfather was shown the treasured statue; he held it lovingly and,
where the gold had flaked off, he gently rubbed and dissolved the clay. "Many
years ago", he said, "the statue must have fallen into the mud. You thought it was a
clay statue. But look here. It is solid gold underneath the clay.”
It is not a matter of talking yourself into believing that everything is going to be
wonderful; you are already genuine and good, just as you are.
Belief and Commitment 30
Personal excellence is largely a question of believing in your own capabilities, and
fully yourself committing to your own development. At some point, you have to say:
"I want to be really good at this. I am going to do everything I can to be as good as I
can be." To be your best, you must live this commitment and regularly stretch your
limits. Commitment alone does not guarantee success, but a lack of commitment
guarantees that you will fall short of your potential. Your personal level of
commitment is something that you must work out for yourself. No one can tell you
how important something is in your life. It's your decision. But it is clear that
people who excel are extremely committed. F-18
The Power of Belief 31
If we can swallow the notion that our beliefs create our experience, that our entire
physical environment is the materialization of our beliefs, that our beliefs form
every moment of our reality, and that if we really believe a thing, the effect will
follow whether we want it to or not …, well, if we can ultimately swallow all that,
we just might realize how unimaginably powerful we are. We just might come to
accept that we are made of the same omnipotent, supreme energy that creates
worlds.
Sure, a lot - if not most -- of our beliefs have come from others, but until we can
see that we are not at their mercy unless we believe we are, we remain in that
vicious circle where we're constantly reinforcing all the stuff we're trying so
desperately to change ... and wondering why it's not happening!
If you want to know what your functional beliefs are,
you only have to listen to your conversations with others.
The Value of Belief 32
The greatest barriers in the pursuit of excellence are psychological barriers
that we impose on ourselves, sometimes unknowingly.
Take the 4-minute mile. At one time, it was viewed as an impossible barrier, until it
was broken by one man, and then almost immediately, by a host of others. It was
not the physical make-up of runners that changed; it was their belief in what was
possible.
According to Douglas Candland, a professor of animal behavior at Bucknell
University, “Social animals, of which man is one, react to group leaders. Horses
always run faster next to one another than by themselves. Exceptional
performances stimulate better performances... not from everyone, but generally
the top level rises to meet the standard. Athletes innately understand this
progression of standards. When Babe Ruth was dying, he was asked if he thought
anyone would break his records, and he said `Of course. That's what they're
there for.”
Another example of the belief factor in sports is Tiger Woods' win at the 2000 U.S.
Open by 15 strokes. Will the other players give up trying to pursue the standard
that Tiger has set in golf? The answer is no. Sports psychologist Jim Loehr:
"Golfers now know they can go deeper. Tiger has proven that, beyond doubt,
golfers benefit” from mental training. "So much of sports is based on belief
systems, and Tiger has changed what golfers believe is possible."
F-19
Building a Confident Attitude 33
Some understandings that will help you as you "go after" a confident attitude:
Confidence ebbs and flows; it is not a constant.
Self-doubt is normal, but exceptional people don't give in to it.
Life-threatening consequences do not result from poor athletic
performance. Failing at a task is not the same as failing as a person.
Your reach is more important than your capacity.
Self-discipline is more important than talent.
Your approach to performance, and your response to its results, are
more important than the results themselves. You can control your
approach, and you can control your response. You cannot control the
results.
Your behavior goals are more important than
the expectations of others.
Responsibility encourages confidence; excuses encourage cowardice.
Taking risks will stretch you; being careful, or fearful, will limit you.
Coaching yourself during competition with positive, functional self-talk
will build confidence; criticizing yourself and being negative will
destroy it.
Focusing on what you want to do will prepare you; worrying about
what the opponent might or might not do will distract you.
Acting confident helps develop an attitude of confidence. Act it enough
and you will believe in it. Belief in yourself is self-trust -- confidence, in
other words. Make a choice to be dedicated to self-improvement and
you have moved onto and along the path to self-confidence.
Break the inertia of habit interfering with your intention.34
Transfer your excitement into energy.
35
F-20
Intention
"I think the difference between first and second place is clear intention. When you go
to a golf tournament, you need to ask yourself "What is my intention? Why am I
here? Am I here to have a good time? Am I here to play a level of golf never seen
before? Am I here to make the cut?" You need to tune that intention to a level that
is just slightly out of your reach. The players who do that, who become great, are
the ones who are willing to take a gamble on a shot where everybody thinks "You
shouldn't take that gamble. It's safer to go over here." Then everybody plays safe or
they choke into the water. But the player who wins tournaments is the one who's
willing to say "My intention here is not to play smart, not to play safe, but to win."
My intention is to do what others are not willing to do, and sometimes that equates
to a tough shot over water to a little green. You can do it. It's in your repertoire,
and that's what makes you win tournaments, not back into them accidentally or on a
lucky break."
-- Johnny Miller, winner, 1973 U.S. Open and 22 PGA tournament wins
Write Out Your lntent 36
Get out pen and paper. Write out your intent.
Before each segment of your sport's calendar (the off-season, the pre-season, the
competitive season), write out your intent. Describe the physical, emotional, and
mental qualities that you will bring to the process.
Express concisely the end result, the methods that will be used to get there, the
main effort that will be made, and the risks you are prepared to take.
Write out the reminders of the techniques, strategies and tactics that you will bring
to the sport and your particular role.
Pay attention to the attitudes that work for you, the special qualities that you want
to bring to the experience, the commitments that you have made, the behavioral
and process goals that you have established, the energies that drive you, the
enjoyment cues that keep the process fun and rewarding, and any preparation
reminders that you may need.
Get it down on paper. Rework it, rewrite it, and condense it as you see fit.
Post it where you can see it. Type it up, if you'd like, and keep a copy with you.
As the season progresses, change it where and when appropriate.
Review it frequently, and read it out loud before each major competition.
If your intent is clear and in front of you, it will more likely happen.
F-21
Set Your Intention 37
You determine your intent from the sharp-yet-soft focus of the warrior's attention.
By working to maintain alignment with the essence and veracity of who you are
and what you do, by working to create a kind of genuine and unaffected integrity in
even its smallest details, you move towards becoming impeccable.
Begin all action consciously from silence. Do you want to start with your left foot
first, or your right? Nothing happens without clear intent. In order to move, you have
to intend your moving, sometimes at a very deep level. You have to be utterly
convinced that you need to move.
Each time you approach a doorway, or any passage between experiences, use it as
the opportunity to set your intention. Pause for a few seconds to reflect on what you
have just left behind, and what your experience of it was, what it told you, what you
gained from it, and what you might like to bring into and away from that place the
next time you visit it. Think for a few seconds of the place and experience you are
about to enter, and prepare to welcome whatever it holds for you. When the moment
is right, step through.
Total Intention
If you want to achieve excellence, you must have total intention to create it here and
now. Total intention is the powerful combination of desire, belief and acceptance.
You must not only desire it, but you must believe that you are capable of bringing it
about. And you must be willing to accept the positives and the responsibilities that
will come when it arrives, as well as the responsibilities when it does not.
Intentionality works best when you are balanced and centered. 38
Intention Taken Too Far 39
Intentions are the conscious expressions of our valued goals -- of our selves, in other
words. But intention can be inhibitor of performance if taken too far. The
phenomena of not being able to see the tree for the forest, of tunnel vision, and of
trying too hard, are examples.
Perhaps the presence of a strong intention locks consciousness too firmly into a
predetermined framework of plans and expectations, so that other information of
potential value or necessity is relegated to unconscious processes of perception
where it is, in some cases, ignored.
The quarterback whose intention is focused too intently on his receivers moving
toward the end zone may get blindsided by the blitzing linebacker.
>>>
F-22
Intention drives conscious attention, but sometimes to the detriment of intelligence.
When we think deliberately, we are not just looking, we are looking for, and what we
are looking for has to be, to some extent, pre-specified.
Attention is focused and channeled by the unconscious decisions we have made
about what may be `relevant' to the solution of the problem or the accomplishment
of the intention. The presumptions that drive us may be accurate, or they may not.
The solution seemingly lies in learning to switch back and forth between
concentrated and diffused attention (and all the degrees of focus in between) with
increasing agility. In a pitch-black cave, a hurricane lamp that sheds a broad, dim
light is useful at first because it enables you to see the overall size and shape of your
surroundings. If all you have is a flashlight with a bright, sharp pencil beam, you will
not be able to get your bearings as well. But once you have oriented yourself, you
can zero in on details; the spotlight comes into its own. With one, you get a holistic
impression; with the other, you can analyze. Both are needed, and, in an optimal
mental state, one can flow between them, adopting a degree of concentration that is
appropriate and balancing between perception and attention, maintaining a
equilibrium between deliberation and intuition.
People working under pressure, whether environmental or psychological, tend to
select out and focus on those aspects of the situation as a whole which they judge to
be the crucial ones. This judgment must be, to a certain extent, the result of prejudgment, or prejudice. You make an intuitive decision about what is going to be
worth paying attention to.
If our ‘attentional gamble' is correct, we may learn a task or figure out a solution
more quickly, but perhaps at the expense of the broader overview. We see in terms
of what we expect to see. If our self-imposed set of blinkers reflects an adequate or
accurate assessment, then we may have success. But if they do not, then change or
threat or detail that remains outside of our tight focus may frustrate the
accomplishment of our intent. As Jerome Bruner says, reflecting on the adverse side
of motivation: "Increase in incentive leads to a higher degree of selective attention
for those parts of a complex task that we interpret as more important, with a
concomitant tendency to pay less attention to other features of the situation."
Broad, diffuse attention is precisely what is needed in non-routine, ill-defined or
information-poor situations, where data is sketchy, conventional solutions don't work,
and incidental or peripheral details may make all the difference.
Situational awareness is further discussed under Tab O (The Psychology of
Strategy).
Discipline 40
When we think of discipline as something painful, mechanical, or stiff, we can hardly
be blamed for resisting it. If we think of it as a coercive force imposed from the
outside, it's not surprising that we shrink from it. Self-discipline is "the purposeful
direction of mental, emotional and physical energies toward the achievement of
definite, self-selected objectives." Discipline, then, is simply acting on purpose.
F-23
Dedication: Translating Desire into Action 41
Have you made a commitment to yourself? The single most powerful predictor of
success is commitment. The individual who commits herself works to determine what
must be done to improve and seizes or finds (or creates) opportunities to do so. The
uncommitted player sees what cannot be accomplished and is discouraged. She is
unwilling to make the psychological effort to merge attention, energy and effort.
"The most important thing I could ever offer a young person advice on
is that he concentrate on his workouts... on something that he wants to
accomplish. If you're mentally prepared ahead of time, if you've practiced
those things, if you've worked at it -- then when you get in those situations,
you're automatically going to do them. If you work on them on a routine,
daily basis, instead of just going out there to do the best you can, you're
gonna be better prepared than the other guy."
--Rusty Staub
Those who wish to go to the top must work hard on their weaknesses, in addition to
working continually on their strengths, or they will never reach their goal.
The efforts of relaxed athletes is based on past successes, confidence, concentration
and self-discipline, most of which comes from dedication to approach -- to technique
-- both mental and physical. Success comes only when proper technique becomes
habit. Creating good habits is the first success.
Dedication is the state of being bound emotionally and/or intellectually to some
course of action. A course of action... not the abstract idea of winning something...
not the fear of losing.., not the obsessive preoccupation that detaches a person from
everything else in the world..., not the drudgery of completing tasks based on
compulsiveness, someone else's expectations, or guilt. In his book Winning,
Stuart Walker writes: "The mentally tough competitor recognizes that
his own high expectations require -- and justify -- a high investment of self."
At the root of the word discipline is the word disciple.
42
When you are self-disciplined, you have simply decided, in matters of the
will, to become your own disciple, or to believe in yourself.
Once you make that decision, your life's adventures get more interesting, you start
to see yourself as more capable, and you gain self-respect and self-dignity.
Discipline is highly intentional. 43
F-24
A true discipline is something that you live with and
which becomes an ongoing thing, a way of life with you.
44
For Its Own Sake 45
A discipline or practice, a way or path, can be anything that you do as an integral
part of your life, not to gain something else, but for its own sake. It might be sports,
or one of the martial arts. It might be playing a musical instrument, or painting, or
gardening, or bridge, or meditation, or community service. It might be a profession;
doctors and lawyers maintain a practice.
For a master, the rewards gained along the way are fine, but they are not the
main reason for the journey. The master and the path are one and the same.
If the traveler on the path is fortunate - - that is, if the path is complex and profound
enough - - the destination is always just over the horizon.
And if the traveler stays on the path long enough, it becomes a vivid place with
ups and downs, challenges and comforts, surprises, disappointment and
unconditional joys.
If you are disciplined in your practice, 46
there will come a time when it will become harder not to practice.
"I tell you the truth. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed,
you can say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there' and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."
-- Matthew 17:20
Faith 47
Faith is an acknowledgment that, if we can hold on to the vision, we are
empowered and able to combat the overwhelming current of pessimism.
Faith is a laser beam that can penetrate the murkiness of a situation and allow
you to focus on making the hidden promise or potential emerge from the fog
obscuring your path.
Faith says that "the universe is on our side, and that the universe knows what it
is doing. Faith is a psychological awareness of an unfolding force for good,
constantly at work in all dimensions." (Marianne Williamson, A Course in
Miracles)
Faith is not a matter of believing-- it is an awareness that, in spite of very little
tangible evidence, everything is going to be okay.
F-25
Daring to give it your best shot, being committed to something you care
about, and asking others to do the same is threatening, to you and others.
It means hanging in long after others have given up.
It means sticking your neck out.
It opens you to criticism, disappointment, disillusionment and failure, any one of
which will scare off most everyone else.
It requires self-respect and passion. It takes real courage to step out and stake
your claim. But the sense of being able to make a difference is well worth it.
“Everything is possible for him who believes."
-- Mark 9:23
People are sometimes too focused on their limitations. There are no
limitations really; you've got to believe that there are no limitations.
If you can get that fire in your eyes, that fire burning inside, then your
effort and that absolute determination, that fanatical sort of
commitment to laying it all out on the line, can take you a long way.
-- Larry Cain, 1984 Olympic canoeing champion and
1996 world champion in Dragon boat racing 48
When the samurai Kikushi put away his sword and was initiated into Zen,
his Master said to him, "You must concentrate and consecrate yourself
wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging through your hair.” 49
Belief in oneself does not mean putting yourself in harm's way. Nor does it
mean running away from difficult conditions. It means understanding that
adversity may call forth our best energies and most innovative solutions.
It means proceeding in spite of one's fears. It embraces a deep acceptance
of not-knowing, yet it gives us the fortitude and resilience to stay with the
question, proceed on the path, and aspire toward knowledge of self. 50
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."
--Proverbs 23:7
F-26
Faith and The Stockdale Paradox 51
Jim Stockdale was the highest-ranking United States military officer in the
"Hanoi Hilton" prisoner-of-war camp during the Vietnam War. He shouldered
the burden of command, doing everything be could to create conditions that would
increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken while fighting an
internal war against his captors. He deliberately disfigured himself so that he
could not be videotaped as an example of a well-treated prisoner. He exchanged
secret intelligence information with his wife through letters, knowing that
discovery would mean more torture and perhaps death. (His story is told in a book
written by he and his wife called In Love and War.) He instituted rules that
would help his fellow prisoners deal more effectively with torture. He instituted
an elaborate secret internal communications system to reduce the sense of
isolation imposed by their captors. Personally tortured over twenty times during
his 8-year imprisonment, he lived out the war with no prisoner's rights, no set
release date, and no certainty as to whether he would ever survive to see his
family again. When asked years after his release how he dealt with this
uncertainty, he said "I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted that
not only would I get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the
experience into the defining event of my life." He went on to explain that it was
the optimists who never made it out, the ones who said "Oh, we'll be out by
Christmas", and then Christmas would come and go, and then Easter too, and
Thanksgiving. They died of a broken heart."
The lesson, he explained, was this:
You must retain faith that you will prevail in the end, whatever the difficulties,., and,
at the same time, you must also confront the brutal facts of your current reality and
act on their implications.
10.0
52
Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to earn a perfect score in Olympic
competition. Later, she explained the expectations she set for herself and how she
was able to maintain such a high standard of performance.
"I always underestimated what I did by saying ‘I can do better.’
To be an Olympic champion, you have to be a little abnormal and work harder
than everyone else. Being normal is not great; you will have a boring life.
Don't pray for an easy life. Pray to be a strong person.”
Understanding or Faith?
53
You can't reason your way into faith any more than you can reason your way
into cosmic knowledge.... "Understanding is the reward of faith", wrote St.
Augustine in the fifth century A.D. "Therefore do not seek to understand in order
that you may believe, but make the act of faith in order that you may understand,
for unless you make the act of faith, you will not understand."
F-27
Unstoppable 54
Unstoppable people draw power from 7 sources:
• a purpose ignited by spirit;
• a passion fueled by inexhaustible energy;
• a belief that sustains the journey;
• preparation that builds the foundation;
• support from others that strengthens the cause;
• creativity that taps unconscious sources; and
• perseverance that rewards.
Passion 55
The only real value comes when you get actively absorbed. "The word water will
not get you wet." Reading about a hammer and saw will not build a deck or a
fence. Even just doing is not enough. The poet Yeats said "Education is not filling
a bucket but lighting a fire." Your fire is your passion that will move you forward.
Passion cares; passion wants; passion ignites spontaneous action; passion brings
confidence and joy.
To live your passion, you must believe something inside of you is stronger than
outer circumstance. You must believe that you are the answer. You must believe
that, whatever the problems and challenges you face, you have what it takes to
master and overcome them.
Never for a moment underestimate what you can be, or what you can accomplish.
Choice is different from desire.
56
Try an experiment. Say "I want". Now, say, "I choose". What is the difference?
For most people, "I want" is passive; "I choose" is active.
For most, wanting is a state of deficiency: we want what we do not have.
Choosing is a state of sufficiency: electing to have what we truly want.
The choice to be part of a learning team is no different. It does not matter whether
it is a team of 3 or 3,000. Only through choice does an individual come to practice
the learning disciplines. The rate at which a team learns may become it's only
sustainable advantage. Learning organizations can be built only by individuals
who put their life spirit into the task. It is our choices that focus the spirit.
F-28
Effective self-talk requires more than just positive language.
57
Also important are timing and tonality.
If you hear yourself speaking in negative terms, you must correct yourself
immediately, especially when that self-talk is expressed during competition.
The longer negative thoughts are free to control the muscles, the more difficult is to
change the muscles -- and the thoughts.
You will send a mixed message to your body if you use a positive message in a
harsh, negative tone. Saying "That was just great!" in a sarcastic tone does not
qualify as being positive, or functional. Screaming in anger "Relax, dammit!" isn't
conducive to relaxation, is not a positive message, and induces tension that is
counter-productive. A calm, reassuring tone used repetitively has a good chance of
getting the message across.
Affirmations point your feet in the direction you wish to go. 58
They enable you to be more willing to do all you have to do to reach your goal,
and allow you to be more receptive and accepting of that achievement.
Be conscientious with your use of affirmations, using full imagery and intent.
Use cadence and rhyme to help you remember them better, and repeat them
several times at least twice a day.
Affirmations 59 are clear, straight-forward statements of positive change in
body, being and performance. They represent a firm contact with our self. They
focus our best conscious efforts on positive forward change while seeking to enlist
powers beyond our conscious undertaking. They are written in the present tense
to describe conditions as you intend them to be at some specified time in the
future. Affirmations may be accomplished through language (repeating the
affirmation silently or aloud), through imagery, through emotion and through
action. They open your self to the magic of grace, or some mysterious, seemingly
unearned boost from an unseen benefactor that often comes when least expected.
Affirmations are real energy, more than figments of the imagination, and become
increasingly real when reinforced through practice.
Affirmations 60
Using affirmations is one way to open your life to new possibilities.
An affirmation is a positive statement that you make to yourself, in writing, or
in voice (ideally, with audio tapes of your own voice played back during high
alpha-state moments of relaxation and mental imagery!).
Some examples:
"I am a great free throw shooter." or,
"I play well under pressure." or,
"I am a very talented ___________”.
Go ahead, make up some affirmations for yourself.
>>>
F-29
At first, affirmations will feel dumb, hokey and embarrassing. When you practice
saying" I am very good at ____________" didn't your internal little Censor
immediately call you an impostor? "Who do you think you are? You can't even
____________." It does not help when we have Bad News Fairies telling us there
is no future in what we are pursuing, or that THE VERY IMPORTANT PERSONS leave
you feeling unimportant and the Very Serious People want to tell you only of their
own knowledge and expertise. All those Poison Pals and Wet Blankets in your life
suddenly jump up in your mind like a boisterous crowd laughing at your mistake,
and we unthinkingly absorb their messages.
Isn't it interesting how we learn
to bludgeon ourselves into submission with negative affirmations like "I'm
not good enough to..." and yet we feel foolish saying "I can ___.”
It seems like you are lying to yourself because other secondary beliefs immediately
rise up and blurt out some contradiction. But by noticing your underlying
contradictory beliefs, even exaggerating them, you will bring them out into the
open, into your consciousness, where you will see them for what they are. If you
become aware of those ugly stumpy rotten little thoughts and write them down,
you may discover their source, and you will begin to destroy their power.
In making a positive statement that may not yet be true factually, you open the door
to the possibility and create a little more pressure to change in that direction.
Affirmations help achieve a sense of safety and hope. Success breeds success
because it undermines assumed limitation. Using affirmations on a regular
basis is a way of wiping the haze off the mirror in which you perceive yourself.
Affirmations short-circuit the negative talk. Affirmations help direct your focus
and your energy.
In order to amplify the effectiveness of any positive statement, picture it becoming
true at its highest level in detail.
Our subconscious does not know the difference between what we visualize
and what is "real", so the more positively we affirm and envision positive
outcomes, the more we create and attract positive energy and open our
subconscious mind to that likelihood.
Develop two or three interlocking affirmations based on your goals and precisely
where you are in your personal effort to attain them.
Affirmations should always be positive, in the present tense, and personal.
Say “I am ...”. Don't use "I will __" or "I can ___"; it moves your intent too far
into the future.
Write and vocalize and repeat your affirmations at least two or three times a day,
at those times when you are relaxed, and your mind is uncluttered.
Use them before or after your visualizations and mental rehearsals.
As with visualization and mental rehearsal,
the deeper the detail, the more effective they are.
>>>>
F-30
The deeper you are able to receive and embrace your affirmations, the more
quickly they will become reality.
Develop a trigger word or image that will automatically bring to mind your most
penetrating and incisive affirmations for immediate self-renewal and inspiration.
And, like goals and other elements of mind body mastery, change your affirmations
as you make progress. If you use them, you will.
Your Affirmation
Your Internal Reaction Over Time
I am now
Oh, yeah sure. What a joke.
____________
61
[doing very well in school, a talented
musician, an all-Star athlete].
I am now
I don't have the discipline.
I am now
I don't have anything to contribute.
I am now
It's too competitive. I can't keep up.
I am now
I’m getting better at ….
I am now
Maybe I could make All-State!
I am now
I really am a pretty good _____
I am now
I can do this thing!
I am now
I'm going to be so excited when ______
Other tips and hints: It is not enough to merely repeat a phrase three times a day
if you slip back into negative thinking for the rest of the day. Be aware of your
thoughts, and your words. If you are dwelling on doubt and negative thought,
stop yourself immediately, say a trigger word you made up for yourself, and state
the positive phrase immediately. "I'll never get that history assignment done on
time. STOP. Shazzaam! I have turned in that paper on time and gotten a better
grade than last time."
Remember that the belief with the strongest emotional charge will dominate.
Feed your positive thoughts with your emotional energy. Starve your negative
thoughts. Get creative with your affirmations. Write them out. Put pictures with
them. Sing them. Put them to music. Play with them. Do whatever your
personality tells you to do to make them fun and exciting. Guard your mind
against the negative suggestions of others. Stay away from negative people.
Be careful in the way that you share your dreams
with those who will not support them.
F-31
Belief is a power so strong
that it literally forces your environment
to bend to its will.
62
Programming Your Subconscious Mind 63
There are six keys that will help you unlock
the power of your subconscious mind
to get it to accept new beliefs, attitudes and behaviors.
1) Use techniques every day that program your subconscious mind (such as
visualizations, affirmations, etc.); you will make a deeper and more lasting and
powerful impression.
2) Whatever techniques you use, present to your subconscious mind the results
you seek as if they had already been accomplished.
3) Work at night. Your subconscious mind will accept new programs more
readily when it is tired. Information and imagery presented to your subconscious
mind just before you go to sleep is more easily accepted by it. In addition, your
mind will integrate this information while you sleep.
4) During daylight hours, enter the alpha state before inputting data into your
subconscious mind.
5) Use as many of your senses as possible. See, hear, touch, smell and taste
the results you want.
6) Write down your efforts. If you keep a record of them, and reward yourself for
behavior consistent with your goals, you will reinforce your efforts.
As you train yourself to focus on and reward yourself for the constructive steps
you take, your mind will become infused with a growing sense of inevitability
about the eventual realization of your goals.
Scripting 64
"Scripting” is a prolonged act of storytelling about what it is that you want (or your
intent), and by making that want so vividly real in your imagination that you can
see, feel, smell, touch and taste it. Scripting is making your story so enticing that
there is no room for doubt or disbelief to creep in. The trick in scripting is to stretch
it out, to add new elements when the story gets a little stale, and to get excited
about it. Your excitement is the magnet that will draw it to you. Take your time
crafting your story. Get every nuance and flavor of it. Don't leave out the parts that
you think are impossible or improbable. (You may discover something!) Let yourself
enjoy it. If you really want it, you won't run out of ideas why.
F-32
Make that Sports Bottle Really Work For You 65
As an athlete, you are familiar with sports drinks that replace valuable electrolytes
lost during strenuous exercise. You can use your sports drink to replace vital positive
"image-lights" (highlights of the real you) lost during or after a performance.
Imagine that your water bottle contains (along with the usual salts and glucose)
several additional supplements that you have added. "See and read" the labels that
show this drink includes precisely those qualities you have previously demonstrated,
or that you desire to have. These might include self-confidence, patience,
gracefulness, fluidness, quickness, strength, excellence, calmness. They might
include supplements that will sharpen your vision, make your muscles work better, or
help your mental game be sharper.
Be creative; it's your sports drink. Put a label with a special trigger phrase on the
bottle. (By the way, proper hydration is the single most important
requirement for optimal brain/body performance.)
As you drink from your imaginary or real sports bottle, see and feel all the
ingredients flowing through your entire body, being absorbed into your total self;
see a renewed image of you performing at your best, and feel the joy and
satisfaction that results. When you're done drinking, take a relaxing breath, and
then go make it happen.
holopis kuntul baris (Indonesian)(hoh-LOPE-iss COON-tool BAH-riss):
66
A phrase uttered to gain extra strength when carrying heavy objects.
If this phrase works for you as well as the Indonesians claim it works for them,
it is a rare, valuable example of a practical magical spell: an utterance that can
ease an onerous physical task by conjuring hidden reserves of strength. Everybody
grunts when lifting heavy objects, due to the contraction of the solar plexus, and
martial artists utter a sharp cry when they strike a blow in order to focus
musculoskeletal energy, so there must be some physiological reason why uttering
a phrase might impart extra strength. The magical part is choosing the right
phrase.
In the age of the tall ships, the phrase HEAVE, HEAVE, HEAVE HO was used by people
doing muscular work in unison. The use of the voice to focus physical or spiritual
energy extends to groups (e.g., football players leaving the huddle) and to
moments of intense personal and spiritual meaning (the death chant of the Sioux
warrior). These are instances of secret vocabularies of words that summon
energies. They can be used in any situation -- physical, intellectual or social -when peak performance is required. The Little Engine That Could repeated to
itself "I think I can, I think I can".
You can develop your own personal private energy-summoning affirmations
to use in a range of situations you are likely to encounter.
F-33
To create an instant, positive state of mind for a performance ...
67
Whether you need to be relaxed, calm, focused, centered, patient or any other
desirable state, you can use an anchor as a reference point or cue. You can
associate the desired state with a word or phrase, or by using a physical stimulation.
For example, you can press the tip of your index finger against your thumb to form a
circle, or you can pull on your earlobe. When you practice and achieve the desired
state, find or create a mental image, phrase or sensation that goes with it. The
opposite applies, as well: When you use the anchor, work to achieve the desired
state. In time, the association will become strong and the image, phrase or stimulus
will initiate or trigger the desired state.
Exploiting an opponent's weakness begins with exploring your own. 68
"The Way You Step on the Mat"
69
Three weeks before my exam for black belt in Aikido, it was clear my techniques
were solid. But something was lacking. One night, after I had run through an
adequate demonstration, my teacher had an idea. "Your techniques are okay," he
said. "The only problem is in your air. It's the way you step on the mat. The key
to your exam is the way you get on the mat. The techniques will take care of
themselves."
He thought for a moment, and then stepped off the mat. "Why don't you try this?"
"When you step on the mat, say to yourself, “This is my mat.” Be expansive,
generous. Look around at the other people on the mat, the spectators and the
officials and the opponents. Be glad they are here. Welcome them. Welcome
them to your mat." He showed me what he meant, then gestured for me to give it
a try. "Are you willing to take responsibility for this mat, to own it? That doesn't
mean it isn't everybody else's mat too. If you are big enough to own the mat as
yours, you are big enough to let it be theirs too."
Adopting a strong physical posture actually leads the brain to generate
greater confidence. 70
The body actually leads the mind, not the other way around.
What effect does imposing your will have on an opponent?
71
The mind is a very powerful tool. Having confidence and a belief in yourself will
often give you more respect that perhaps you are worthy of. An opponent who has
superb technical skill and experience may lose a fight before it has even begun,
simply because your confidence strips him of his own.
"...there is no greater pleasure in the world than walking up
to the plate with runners on base and knowing that you are feared." 72
F-34
Internal and External Resistance
73
Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between
the two stands Resistance. Have you experienced a vision of the person you might
become, the work you might accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be?
Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint, an entrepreneur
who never starts a venture? [An athlete who hasn't yet reached consistent peak
performance?] Then you know what Resistance is. Resistance is the most toxic
force on the planet. To yield to it stunts us and deforms our spirit.
If by some stroke of magic every dazed soul woke up tomorrow morning with the
power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink
would be out of business, prisons would stand empty, the alcohol and tobacco
industries would collapse, along with junk food, cosmetic surgery and
infotainment businesses, not to mention some elements of the medical profession
and the pharmaceutical industries. Domestic abuse would cease, as would
addiction, obesity, headaches and road rage.
Right now, a still small voice is telling you, as it has ten thousand times, the
calling that is yours and yours alone. No one has to tell you. If you're no closer to
taking action on it than you were yesterday, then your resistance is real.
Resistance will step forth from the background when we seek to undertake any
creative endeavor, however marginal it may be, in the arts, in business, in selfimprovement of any kind, when we undertake education of any kind, when we
take a principled stand in the face of adversity or any act of political, moral or
ethical courage, or in the face of any act that entails a commitment of the heart.
Resistance will arise from within and counteract any act that rejects immediate
gratification in favor of long-term growth, health or integrity.
Resistance
intractable
Resistance
Resistance
has no conscience. It always lies to you. Resistance is implacable,
and indefatigable. Resistance is universal; everyone faces it.
plays for keeps, but it has no strength of its own; it feeds off of our fear.
is self-sabotage (or perhaps a submission to the sabotage of others).
The highest treason a crab can commit is to leap for the rim of the bucket.
The symptoms of resistance include procrastination, inertia, attention-getting
behavior, over-consumption of some product (food, TV, the Internet, video games,
alcohol or drugs), self-dramatization, self-medication, and victimhood.
Resistance often shows up in our choice of friends, companions and mates.
Resistance makes you feel unhappy, miserable, bored, restless, unloved,
unsatisfied, disgusted, hollow. Much of our consumer culture is creatively
targeted at exploiting our resistance. Resistance also shows up in the form of
criticism, self-doubt, fear, or grandiose fantasies.
The way to combat resistance is to play for keeps.
The way to combat resistance is to do your work.
F-35
Responsibility 74
Responsibility is the term which defines individual and/or group accountability
for behavior and actions, and the results of that behavior or action.
Responsibility begins with a willingness to acknowledge who we are and what we
are -- and what we want to become.
Responsibility is the acceptance of our "selves" as the cause of our current
situation, and the willingness to correct it, regulate it or improve it.
Among the many conditions of self include:
self-assertion
self-criticism
self-doubt
self-indulgence
self-sacrifice
self-confidence
self-deception
self-importance
self-pity
self-sufficiency
self-control
self-denial
self-improvement
self-preservation
self-determination
What does this have to do with sports performance? Decide for yourself.
Then add self-knowledge to the list.
The Seven R's of Responsibility 75
You have to be in control of yourself before you can control your performance.
You have very little control over things around you, but you do have control over
how you choose to respond to them.
In a cyclical, repetitive fashion:
Relax. (Take a deep breath).
Ready. (Stop thinking and trust your training and preparation).
Respond. (Just do it.)
Recognize. (Be aware of mental and physical stress and negative self-talk.)
Release. (Get rid of the stress and negativity by using a physical cue.)
Regroup. (Pull your chest and head up. Play with positive body language.)
Refocus. (What do you have to do right now?)
Relax. (Start all over again in the next moment.)
F-36
Are you a climber or a camper? 76
"We're tired. We have a campfire and it's comfortable here out of the wind."
"Well, I’m going on. The view of the sunset and the stars from the top
is going to be incredible."
-- Paul Stoltz, in Adversity Quotient
The climbers get to the top.
The campers get part way up and decide to stay where they are.
Push the Right Buttons 77
Companions, friends, and buddies are like buttons on an elevator.
Some friends will take you up, and some friends will take you down.
-- Paul Pasqualoni, head football coach, Syracuse University
Follow your pals, not the crowd. 78
Former Olympic swimming champion Janet Evans: "Sometimes I felt envious
when my friends go to parties, and I have to go to bed. But my friends always tell
me that the parties really aren't that much fun anyway. Whatever I've missed,
I've made up for. Most kids don't get to go to the Olympics." As a teenager,
basketball star Kevin Johnson went to the gym every night to practice. One night the
janitor said "Kevin, it's Saturday night. Why aren't you at parties like everyone else?"
He replied "Parties won't take me where I want to go." Sometimes you have to let go
of friendships in order to stay on track.
If you have to tell people that you are good,
79
it implies that they haven’t arrived at that conclusion on their own.
On Addiction 80
The main characteristic of an addiction is that it creates a need for itself that
doesn't provide you with energy to do something more. What you get from
cigarettes is a craving for cigarettes, as well as the denial of a lot of other needs.
Some people eat because they're hungry, others because they are bored, tired, or
sick of being fat. A single substance comes to meet the needs of a lot of subtleties
without fulfilling real needs. As Eric Hoffer said, "You can never get enough of
what you don't really want." In that way, it becomes an end in itself.
It may seem like the supermarket and the video store give us choices but often we
choose the same thing over and over again. When we choose the same thing time
and again, it has to become bigger, better or more potent to meet the original need
it satisfied. Addictions are substitutes for real community. Any of the states
that you reach through a substance you can meet through some form of relationship.
In a fully functioning community, you can live on less, or do without.
F-37
On Addiction, Habits and Practice
81
Addiction is any dependency that self-perpetuates or self-catalyzes at an
ever-accelerating rate…. Addiction consumes energy and leads to slavery.
Practice generates energy and leads to freedom…. Habits are addictive, if that
mysterious acceleration factor is present, when enough is never enough, and what
was enough yesterday is not enough today. Habits are addictive if the reward and
the work are inverted. Samuel Butler joked that if the alcoholic’s hangover preceded
the intoxication, there would be mystical schools teaching it as a discipline for selfrealization. So practice is the reciprocal of addiction. Practice is an ever-fresh,
challenging flow of work and play in which we continually test and demolish our own
delusions; therefore, it is sometimes painful.
The Disciplined Expression of Self
82
In the heat of a race, oarsmen do not aim to capture any ideal of technique or form.
Rather, they are most vehemently expressing themselves. After all the conditioning,
the technical training and the conditioning, it is the disciplined expression of self -not of technique -- that wins races.
Sport’s Creative and Integrative Power 83
Whether you're learning to run a mile, lower your golf score, or scale a mountain,
sport demands a creative joining of various capacities. Willpower, awareness,
imagination, emotion, the senses, intellect and motor control must be harmonized
for top performance. And dreams and reveries come into play as well. New
alignments of body and mind take place in the night, and the process becomes
continuous through waking and sleep. Successful athletes make an enormous
number of psychological and physiological connections that lie beyond the scope of
their verbal awareness. In this regard, their creativity is close to the creativities
inherent in art, science and religion.
"In the course of any season, an athlete will face all of the following:
defeat and victory, sickness and health, tension and relaxation, degrees of pain,
doubt, disappointment and despair, as well as satisfaction and ecstasy."
-- David Hemery, in Another Hurdle
The Moment You Become an Athlete 84
We learn most sports in a recreational, passive, gentle, low-effort approach, but
changing from just doing something to doing it with the hard push of muscular force
and mental energy is a very large jump. Even when I used to run 40 miles a week, I
couldn't imagine running hard every step of the way. That is what training becomes.
You can make that shift in small little pushes for a long time, for short periods of
time, while you gather the skill, stamina and commitment for longer and harder
efforts. But there comes a time when you have to take a larger bite. You have to
start applying the muscular force on every step, on every play. You have to start
using your mental acumen before, during and after. You can't, of course; you fail,
frequently at first, less often as you get familiar with what is required to stay in the
effort. But you have to begin. It is not a physical transformation; it is entirely in your
mind and in your heart. I believe the moment you make that transition is the
moment you become an athlete. F-38
How To Defeat Your Resistance: Become a "Pro”
85
The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps. To the amateur, the
game is his avocation. To the pro, it's his vocation, or calling. The amateur plays
part-time, the professional full-time. The amateur is a weekend warrior. The
professional is there seven days a week. The word amateur comes from the Latin
root meaning "to love". The conventional interpretation is that the amateur
pursues his calling out of love, while the pro does it for money. But that's not the
way I see it. In my view, the amateur does not love the game enough. If he did,
he would not pursue it as a sideline. The professional loves it so much that he
dedicates his life to it. He commits full-time. That's what I mean when I say
"turn pro". Resistance hates it when we turn pro.
The pro learns to distinguish between what's urgent and what's important, and
does what's important first. What's important is "the work", the game you have
to suit up for ..., whatever field it is on which you have to leave everything you've
got..., whatever it is that's as important to you as the mouse is to the circling
hawk. The hawk is hungry, and needs a kill.
Pros are relentless in the way in which they harness their hunger. They show up
every day... no matter what. They stay on the job all day. They are committed
over the long haul. The stakes for the pro are high, and real. Pros accept
rewards for their labor; they are not in it for the fun. Pros do not overly invested with
the work they are doing. They take pride in it, but they are not overly invested in
success or over-terrified by success. Pros master technique, and keep applying it.
The pro, though he may accept money, does his work out of love. He has to love it;
otherwise, he wouldn't devote his life to it out of his own free will. The pro has
learned, however, that too much love can make him choke. The seeming
detachment of the pro keeps him from loving the game so much that he freezes in
action. Playing the game as a pro inculcates a lunch-pail mentality, a hard-core,
hard-headed state of mind that shows up for work to slug it out day after day. The
pro has the proper level of humility. Though the pro may take money or some
other reward, in the end, the pro does it for love.
The pro understands delayed gratification. He is the ant, not the grasshopper...,
the tortoise, not the hare. The pro understands that unrealistic timetables, too
much ambition, and too much enthusiasm will cause him to hit a wall, or crash.
The pro arms himself with patience. The pro is rooted in reality. The pro
conserves energy, seeks order, and acts in the face of fear. The pro views her
work as craft, not art. She understands that creative endeavor has a mystical
dimension but does not dwell on it, choosing to concentrate on technique. Acutely
aware of the intangibles of inspiration, she lets them work and concentrates on
her own sphere. The pro shuts up and does her work. The pro accepts no
excuses, and conducts business in the real world of tricky winds, bad hops, rotten
calls, good breaks, and lucky bounces.
>>>>>
F-39
The pro is prepared at a deep level to confront his own self-sabotage. The pro
prepares mentally to absorb blows and to deliver them. His aim is to take what the
day gives him. He is prepared to be prudent, and he is prepared to be reckless. He
is prepared to take a beating when he has to, and to go for the throat when he can.
He understands that the field changes every day. His goal is not victory (success
will come by itself when it wants to), but to handle himself internally and externally
as sturdily and steadily as he can.
A pro's work has a style that is instinctively his own, but he doesn't let his signature
grandstand for him. He does not impose his style as a means of drawing attention to
himself, but that doesn't mean he doesn't show his lightning and thunder from time
to time just to let everyone know he means business.
A pro respects his craft. He does not consider himself superior to it. He recognizes
the contributions of those who have gone before him. He apprentices himself to
them. The pro dedicates himself to mastering technique because he wants to be in
possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration and opportunity come. The
pro toils by the front door of technique knowing that genius can enter through the
back door. The pro stands at one remove from his instrument of expression but, in
the face of both indifference and adulation, assesses his gift coolly, impersonally,
objectively. The pro identifies with his consciousness and will. The pro has tough
skin. The pro does not take failure or success personally. The pro knows it is better
to be in the arena, getting stomped, then to be in the stands or in the parking lot.
The pro loves his work, and is invested in it wholeheartedly, but does not forget that
the work is not him. Many works and performances are already in development, and
tomorrow's work, and the next, and the next, will be better still. The pro understands
that his critics are speaking from the point of view of the resistance in their own
minds. The pro learns that envy-driven criticism is actually a supreme compliment.
The critic hates most that which others have done because it reminds him of what he
might have done himself if he had the guts. A pro recognizes his limitations; he can
only be a pro at one thing, so he employs others good at other things and treats
them with respect. A pro reinvents himself from time to time, recognizing that
change is eternal. Pros can recognize each other as someone who has served his
time, paid his dues, and is focused, prepared and skilled.
Every pro has his territory, like a three-legged coyote in a suburban neighborhood
who knows every garbage can, rabbit warren and fence hole. Billy Joel's territory
is the piano. Arnold Schwarzenegger's territory is the gym. When Bill Gates
pulls into the parking lot at Microsoft, he's on his turf. A pro's territory provides
him sustenance without external input; when the pro brings love and effort, the
territory gives back equal and fair measures of well-being. A pro can claim his
territory only by hours and years of sweat. When Arnold Schwarzenegger has
had a freaky day, he goes back to the gym. Billy Joel will pound his piano.
The sustenance comes from the act. Pros know that working out in their territory,
all by itself, is enough to bring them back to their center.
If you were the last person on earth:
What would you still do?
Where would you do it?
F-40
To Be Somebody, or To Do Something 86
One day you will come to a fork in the road, and you are going to have to
make a decision about which direction you want to go.
If you go down one path, you can be somebody. You will have to make
compromises, and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you
will be a member of “the club”, and you will get recognized and promoted
and given titles and other trappings of success.
Or you can go down the other path, and you can do something for yourself,
for your community, for your country, for the people or the cause that you
have chosen to serve. If you decide you want to do something you may not
get promoted, you may not get special recognition, you may not get the
good assignments, you may incur the wrath of others, and you may not be a
favorite of your peers or your superiors. But you won't have to compromise
yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work
might make a difference.
To be somebody or to do something.
In life, there is often a time when you will have to make that choice.
Beliefs are ideas that can be shaken,
but faith is the result of having been shaken. 87
Notes:
1
Golf in The Kingdom, Michael Murphy, Penguin/Arkana, New York 1972.
2
In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green
Berets.
3
Your Mind: The Owner's Manual.
4
Compiled from Body Mind Mastery and The Artist's Way.
5
Golf in The Kingdom.
6
The Complete Martial Artist: Developing the Mind, Body and Spirit of a
Champion.
7
The Mental Game of Baseball.
8
Compiled from Body Mind Mastery and Teaching The Mental Aspects of Baseball: A
Coach's Handbook.
9
The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living From Inner Wisdom.
The Psychology of Winning: The Ten Qualities of a Total Winner (audiotape),
Dennis Waitley, Ph.D., Nightingale/Conant.
10
11
Thinking Body. Dancing Mind: TaoSports for Extraordinary Performance in
Athletics, Business and Life.
12
The Mental Game of Baseball.
13
Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think
Less.
14
The Mental ABC's of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement.
15
The Inner Game of Golf.
16
Thinking Body, Dancing Mind.
17
The "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting" Playbook.
18
Sports Illustrated (4/13/01).
19
The Psychology of Winning: The Ten Qualities of a Total Winner.
20
How To Be, Do, or Have Anything: A Practical Guide to Creative Empowerment.
21
Adapted from Peter May, The Boston Sunday Globe, April 30, 2000, whose
source was an ESPN.com feature of an article by Mike Monroe of the Denver Post.
22
How To Be, Do, or Have Anything.
23
The Inner Game of Golf.
24
How To Be, Do, or Have Anything.
25
In Pursuit of Excellence.
26
How To Be, Do, or Have Anything.
27
Cynthia Kersey, in her book Unstoppable.
28
Your Mind: The Owner's Manual.
29
Zen Golf: Mastering The Mental Game, Joseph Parent, Ph.D., Doubleday, New
York 2002.
30
In Pursuit of Excellence: How to Win in Sport and Life Through Mental
Training.
31
The "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting" Playbook.
32
In Pursuit of Excellence: How to Win in Sport and Life Through Mental
Training (audiotape). The Candland and Loehr quotes are from "Tiger's Edge",
by Jaime Diaz, in Sports Illustrated, p. G13, July 3, 2000.
33
The Mental Keys to Hitting: A Handbook of Strategies for Performance
Enhancement.
34
How To Think like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day.
On the Sweet Spot: Stalking the Effortless Present, Dr. Richard Keefe,
Simon and Schuster, New York 2003.
35
36
Inspired by a discussion of “commander’s intent” in Into The Storm: A Study in
Command.
37
The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living From Inner Wisdom.
38
George Leonard, in The Tao of Practice, Mystic Fire Video, 1992.
39
Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind.
40
How To Be, Do, or Have Anything.
41
The Mental Game of Baseball.
42
100 Ways to Motivate Yourself (audiotape) Steve Chandler, HighBridge audio, St.
Paul, Minnesota. [Reproduced in part in the appendix.]
43
The Widening Stream: The Seven Stages of Creativity, David Ulrich,
Beyond Words Publishing, Hillsboro, OR 2002.
44
Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain: The Essence of Tai Ji.
45
Mastery: The Keys To Success and Long-Term Fulfillment.
46
George Leonard, in The Tao of Practice, Mystic Fire Video, 1992.
47
Your Mind: The Owner's Manual.
48
Embracing Your Potential.
49
In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green
Berets.
50
The Widening Stream.
51
Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't.
52
12 Secrets of Happiness At Work: Finding Fulfillment, Reaping Rewards.
53
Afterwards, You're a Genius: Faith, Medicine and the Metaphysics of
Healing, by Chip Brown, Riverhead Books (Penguin Putnam), New York 1998.
54
Unstoppable, by Cynthia Kersey.
55
How To Be, Do, or Have Anything.
56
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of a Learning Organization.
57
The Mental Keys to Hitting.
58
Thinking Body, Dancing Mind.
59
God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution, by James
Redfield, Michael Murphy and Sylvia Timbers, Tarcher/Putnam, New York 2002.
60
See Body Mind Mastery, and The Artist's Way, and The Mental Athlete, and
Walking in This World.
61
How To Be, Do, or Have Anything.
62
63
64
65
Ibid.
Ibid.
The "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting" Playbook.
Thinking Body, Dancing Mind.
66
They Have a Word For It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words
and Phrases.
67
Thinking Body, Dancing Mind.
68
Adidas' trainingforsport.com.
69
"On Getting a Black Belt at Age Fifty-Two", by George Leonard, in Aikido and
The New Warrior.
70
Special Forces Endurance Techniques, by Chris McNab, Amber Books Ltd.,
London, 2001.
71
The Martial Arts Book of Physics: How to Maximize Your Power, Speed and
Endurance using the Natural Laws of Physics.
72
Ted Simmons, quoted in Late Innings by Roger Angell, in Baseball's Greatest
Quotations.
73
The War of Art: Winning The Inner Creative Battle, Steven Pressfield, Rugged
Land, New York 2002.
74
The Mental Game of Baseball.
75
Ken Ravizza, Ph.D., at the 19th Annual Conference on Counseling Athletes
("Winning in Sport and Life"), Springfield College, June 21-23, 2002.
76
Mind Gym: An Athletes' Guide to Inner Excellence.
77
Fair Play: Making Organized Sports a Great Experience for Your Kids,
Scott B. Lancaster (NFL Youth Football Development Senior Director), Prentice Hall
Press, New York 2002.
78
Ibid.
79
Raising a Team Player: Teaching kids lasting values on the field, on the court
and on the bench, Harry Sheehy with Danny Peary, Storey Publishing, North
Adams, MA 2002.
80
Dolores LaChappelle, in Listening to the Land, Derrick Jensen, Context Books,
NY 2002.
81
Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, by Stephen Nachmanovitch, Tarcher/
Putnam, NY, 1990.
82
Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing, Craig Lambert,
Houghton Mifflin, New York 1998.
83
In The Zone: Transcendent Experiences in Sports.
84
Staying With It: On Becoming An Athlete.
85
The War of Art: Winning The Inner Creative Battle.
86
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War, Robert Coram, Little,
Brown and Co., Boston, 2002.
87
From V. S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River in Afterwards, You're a Genius: Faith,
Medicine and the Metaphysics of Healing, by Chip Brown, Riverhead Books (Penguin
Putnam), New York 1998.
End