Spring Training has unfolded very well this season. Just when I have been writing blogs on consistency we have had the perfect guests to come in and reiterate the thoughts I have been writing down. This month we have had Tony LaRussa, Albert Pujols, Bob Knight and Mike Matheny come and talk to all the young minor league players. The best part of it was that not one of them talked about mechanics or talent or ability or anything that relates to physical capabilities. The focus to all their talks was mental toughness. Being able to understand that to be good in the game of baseball and to achieve the highest level of success you must be mentally tough.
For this blog I thought it would be nice to share with all of you what the main points of each of their talks were. Some more serious then others but all equally pleasing and beneficial.
Mike Matheny was first. He spoke to us at the beginning of Spring Training because he is not around as much as everyone else. Matheny works with the big leagues and minor leagues as a catching instructor. Matheny played for a few major league teams and won a couple gold gloves while he was there. I got to meet Mike Matheny last year when he came to work with the catchers in Johnson City. He has a wealth of knowledge and a big time character guy to back it up. Matheny spoke about the other things in baseball that are more in a persons control. Such as being a good teammate. His message was that to be able to be a guy around the clubhouse who sets a good example, who works hard and does his job quietly, who picks up guys when they are not going so well, who doesn't take their performance out on someone else or blame someone else when he is struggling, that that is what truly matters. His point was that if you are able to do these types of things then the successes will come based on your attitude alone. Your job is to come in and be a professional and truly understand what that means and to embrace it for all it is. Learning to be a professional takes care of all the other stuff.
Bob Knight was next. He came down about two weeks ago and had some amazing stories to tell about his time as the head coach of the 1984 summer olympics Gold Medal winning basketball team. Again he talked about more then just having the physical attributes to play the game of baseball. Knight spoke about how much he loved coaching guys who were mentally tough. He was always trying to find ways to challenge his athletes and get the best out of them. Bob shared a few amazing stories on his time with Michael Jordan during the summer of 1984. The way they would banter back and forth, it really seemed like there was something special there between himself and Jordan.
Then came Tony LaRussa. Tony has spoke to the camp each year that I have been with the Cardinals. Each year he speaks in detail about what he looks for in a player that he wants to play for him in the big leagues. Tony has a list of three things when referring to a player he wants on his team: you must be mentally tough, you must be a good teammate, and you must be a professional (on and off the field). LaRussa is not worried too much about all the physical things because he is aware that most of the kids here in this camp have those attributes already. But to play for a team and compete for a championship, that is a different thing. It takes a different type of player to win in the big leagues and that difference is much more mental then it is physical. I got to ask Tony a question while he was speaking to all of us. I asked him what the younger pitchers could do to make themselves better. To be able to learn about the game more. His answer was simple. Tony said, while you are on the bench or in the bullpen during the game, you must watch the game. Watch the game and see how the game shows you all you need to know. The experiences that happen during the game will show you the answers. That is so very true.
This brings me to the last speaker but of course not the least. Mr. Albert Pujols, La Maquina (the machine) Man, what a treat. Every year I am here I get to speak with and hear from the best hitter/player in the entire world. It is great to hear his story each year. But I don't care about his story of how he got to the bigs because it wasn't really that big of one. What I love the most about his talks are how much confidence he exudes when he speaks. There is no question in the world of why Pujols is Pujols when you get to hear him speak and watch him go about his work on a daily basis. The amount of focus, concentration, confidence, consistency that goes into his approach is why he is who he is. It radiates from him. Talk about habits of thought. I remember Albert answering a young man's question about being positive with himself. Albert said that for every time he says something negative to himself in his head, he counters that with five to ten positive things. He has trained himself into his success and there is no two ways about it. I also got to ask Pujols a couple questions. The first one was about how he deals with the failures of the game and how he is able to turn those failures into successes. People forget, even though he is the best player in the game, he still fails 7 out of 10 times when he walks to the plate. His answer to that was to focus on the bigger picture. Going 0 for 4 is not a bad thing if his approach at the plate was good and he hit the ball hard. Sometimes the results won't be there but that doesn't mean his approach or preparation was bad. He also said he does the best he can to turn the page and look forward to the next day if he happened to have a bad one. The second question I asked him was how he created the consistency in his results. Albert answered that with being able to keep his focus and concentration on a day to day basis. He has his off days just like everybody else, but he doesn't let that get in the way of his work. Being able to concentrate and focus his the reason why he is as successful as he is.
Well, that is the wrap up of my fourth spring training experience with the St Louis Cardinals. The next step for me is extended spring training. I get to work with guys who are rehabbing and then all the young pupps who are working on their process to make it to the big leagues. I love how each year brings me more clarity so that I can convey a clearer message each year to these young players. If I can get them to see the bigger picture, to disregard results and get lost in the work, then I have done my job. Until next time Passion for Pitching family!!!!! Hope all is well and you are pitching your butts off!!
Showing posts with label consistency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consistency. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Consistency-part 2 Habit of Thought
Ok, so last time I wrote about Consistency and just laid down the foundation for some future blogs on the topic. I touched a bit on how consistency is really just a thought away. I also touched on emotions and that is really where it all starts. So what I wanted to rap about this time is habit of thought and how to go about creating the habits of thought that are going to head you in the direction of what you want in your baseball career or life for that matter.
Your thoughts and emotions basically go hand and hand. They are like best buddies. Your thoughts don't want to go anywhere without their partner, Mr. emotion. This is how it all starts: you have a thought, during these thoughts that you have there will be an emotion that comes with it. If you can be aware enough of your emotions and what you feel like while these thoughts go in and out of your head, you will know where you are heading in your career and life. For example, Johnny is ten years old. He has trouble throwing strikes when he is on the mound. Parents are screaming at him to throw strikes, the coach is screaming at him to throw strikes and his teammates are doing the same. The next day Johnny is relaxing by himself and playing some video games. As he is playing the video games he remembers what happened in yesterdays baseball game. The thought comes through his head that he is not a very good pitcher. Immediately after thinking that thought he felt a weird feeling in his gut. It felt like failure, pain, maybe even guilt. Well, in that moment his emotions are letting him know that the thought he is currently thinking is not serving him. The thought he is thinking feels bad because it is not really true. Yes, Johnny had a bad outing the other day and couldn't throw strikes, but this doesn't make him a bad person or even a bad player, it just means he has some work to do to get better.
Ok, so what work does he have to do to get better? Well, right now I guarantee everyone who is reading this blog is saying he may need mechanical work or maybe he should get a pitching coach or maybe he doesn't practice enough during the week. Each of you would probably be very right in all of those answers except I want to play devils advocate here. The physical work is definitely a part of the process, but what should really come first? The emotional/mental process or the physical process? For most everyone, especially the kids, the process would always start with the physical work and then somewhere down the line the kid would be good enough or not to continue playing. But what happened if the kid started realizing that his habit of thoughts and the feelings that come with those thoughts are leading him closer or further away to the goals he wants to accomplish in life? Would he want to know this information? And wouldn't it be better to have this information sooner then later in their life's journey?
This brings us to the purpose of this blog, habit of thought. As soon as we wanted to or would be inspired to, we should start to take care of our habit of thought. We do that by being more aware of how we feel and then making statements or creating thoughts that assist us in feeling the way we want to feel. The Universe is a very powerful place, I think we could all agree on that even without getting to deep into this. But if we can believe, as I mentioned in the first "consistency" blog, that our thoughts create our success, then we need to address this as soon as we can. If you are a parent reading this blog you could do many things for your kids to create a positive and uplifting environment for them to succeed and get better. If you are an athlete reading this blog then you have the inside route to success and a long, healthy career that most would never know about. Now, this doesn't mean others will not have success if they don't know about this, they will, many do!! The point is that if we can learn about our thoughts and emotions and practice the mental/emotional game we want, then we can deliberately create a career we want instead of thinking we are at the mercy of politics.
The next step is pretty simple, be aware of how you feel. So after reading this blog sit for a second and try this exercise. Make a statement that makes you feel a fulfilling emotion inside your gut. A feeling like appreciation, love, joy, anything like that. It can be a statement about yourself, a friend, a family member, whatever creates that good feeling emotion. Now, on the flip side, think of something that makes you feel an emotion like anger or frustration. Do you see how your thoughts are creating emotions inside you? Which statement made you feel better? Which statement do you think would better serve you in your career or in your life? This is what habit of thought is all about. As we practice good feeling habits of thought that is what we get back in our life. The success/consistency can come immediately, it really doesn't take long. But, if you have been (for the lack of a better word) a negative thinker for a while, it just may take a little bit to tip the scales and see the consistency on a normal basis. Trust me, you will see a difference in your performance immediately, you just have to be patient to gain the consistency based on how good you are at practicing the thoughts you want to have in your life.
So get to work. Start being aware of how you are feeling and if you don't like it, then make a better statement to get you on track. More to come on this soon.....pitch well everyone!!!
Your thoughts and emotions basically go hand and hand. They are like best buddies. Your thoughts don't want to go anywhere without their partner, Mr. emotion. This is how it all starts: you have a thought, during these thoughts that you have there will be an emotion that comes with it. If you can be aware enough of your emotions and what you feel like while these thoughts go in and out of your head, you will know where you are heading in your career and life. For example, Johnny is ten years old. He has trouble throwing strikes when he is on the mound. Parents are screaming at him to throw strikes, the coach is screaming at him to throw strikes and his teammates are doing the same. The next day Johnny is relaxing by himself and playing some video games. As he is playing the video games he remembers what happened in yesterdays baseball game. The thought comes through his head that he is not a very good pitcher. Immediately after thinking that thought he felt a weird feeling in his gut. It felt like failure, pain, maybe even guilt. Well, in that moment his emotions are letting him know that the thought he is currently thinking is not serving him. The thought he is thinking feels bad because it is not really true. Yes, Johnny had a bad outing the other day and couldn't throw strikes, but this doesn't make him a bad person or even a bad player, it just means he has some work to do to get better.
Ok, so what work does he have to do to get better? Well, right now I guarantee everyone who is reading this blog is saying he may need mechanical work or maybe he should get a pitching coach or maybe he doesn't practice enough during the week. Each of you would probably be very right in all of those answers except I want to play devils advocate here. The physical work is definitely a part of the process, but what should really come first? The emotional/mental process or the physical process? For most everyone, especially the kids, the process would always start with the physical work and then somewhere down the line the kid would be good enough or not to continue playing. But what happened if the kid started realizing that his habit of thoughts and the feelings that come with those thoughts are leading him closer or further away to the goals he wants to accomplish in life? Would he want to know this information? And wouldn't it be better to have this information sooner then later in their life's journey?
This brings us to the purpose of this blog, habit of thought. As soon as we wanted to or would be inspired to, we should start to take care of our habit of thought. We do that by being more aware of how we feel and then making statements or creating thoughts that assist us in feeling the way we want to feel. The Universe is a very powerful place, I think we could all agree on that even without getting to deep into this. But if we can believe, as I mentioned in the first "consistency" blog, that our thoughts create our success, then we need to address this as soon as we can. If you are a parent reading this blog you could do many things for your kids to create a positive and uplifting environment for them to succeed and get better. If you are an athlete reading this blog then you have the inside route to success and a long, healthy career that most would never know about. Now, this doesn't mean others will not have success if they don't know about this, they will, many do!! The point is that if we can learn about our thoughts and emotions and practice the mental/emotional game we want, then we can deliberately create a career we want instead of thinking we are at the mercy of politics.
The next step is pretty simple, be aware of how you feel. So after reading this blog sit for a second and try this exercise. Make a statement that makes you feel a fulfilling emotion inside your gut. A feeling like appreciation, love, joy, anything like that. It can be a statement about yourself, a friend, a family member, whatever creates that good feeling emotion. Now, on the flip side, think of something that makes you feel an emotion like anger or frustration. Do you see how your thoughts are creating emotions inside you? Which statement made you feel better? Which statement do you think would better serve you in your career or in your life? This is what habit of thought is all about. As we practice good feeling habits of thought that is what we get back in our life. The success/consistency can come immediately, it really doesn't take long. But, if you have been (for the lack of a better word) a negative thinker for a while, it just may take a little bit to tip the scales and see the consistency on a normal basis. Trust me, you will see a difference in your performance immediately, you just have to be patient to gain the consistency based on how good you are at practicing the thoughts you want to have in your life.
So get to work. Start being aware of how you are feeling and if you don't like it, then make a better statement to get you on track. More to come on this soon.....pitch well everyone!!!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Consistency
I continue to get some great ideas for blog topics from friends and interested Passion for Pitching followers. This blog is going to continue with that theme and so I took this idea from my good friend Christine Meyer. She happens to be a tremendous life coach in the lovely state of Pennsylvania. We have great conversations on a regular basis and she is able to challenge my thought process over and over. The topic she wanted me to discuss was consistency. So this will be blog #2 in the series of blogs I am responding to from you guys out there. How can a pitcher become consistent?
Consistency is the key to pitching success, bar none. At any age, if you can produce consistent results on an outing to outing basis you will be a big league pitcher, no question. Seems easy, right?? Produce consistent results and POOF, there you are, in the big leagues. Ok, so if it seems so easy, why is it so tough? Why can't kids create consistency in their outings over and over and over?
I am going to try and make this as easy as possible, as clear as possible. But what I am going to need from you is a little trust, a little leeway. I want you to all understand that this process of success and consistency IS easy. It is only a thought away. Here is what I mean by that, the body is controlled by the brain. The visual information that we take in from a moment to moment process is taken in, received by the brain, translated by the brain and then carried out via commands from the brain. (more or less, this is not a perfect description, but you get my drift) If this is true (and it is) couldn't we add our thoughts to this as well? Couldn't we say that the thoughts we think are being computed by the brain and then carried out through our body? If you can get your head around this and start to believe it, then consistency is truly just a thought away. The more we are able to think thoughts that are success thinking thoughts, consistency thinking thoughts, then that is exactly what we will get.
Think of it this way. If our thoughts can construct our reality then the more I can train myself, the more I can make good thoughts a habit, then a consistent reality is what I will create on the mound. The more I realize that my current experience is being formed by the thoughts I am thinking from moment to moment then I will be more aware of my thoughts and the reality they are creating. I then can realize how important my NOW moment is. My NOW moment is all I have. It doesn't matter what type of failures I have had or inconsistencies I have had in the past because my thoughts RIGHT NOW are what is creating my experience now and in the future.
This is big time information if you can believe in it and really embrace it. Just think of the power you can have in your career, life, relationship, anything! So what do you need to do to get started? Well, I could make this into a long series of blogs and may do just that, but let me give you the first clue. Start being aware of how you feel on a daily basis. You don't need to get too crazy right now, just be more aware of how you feel day to day. This is where it all starts. Emotions are the key. If you can begin to understand what your emotions are telling you and then how to direct your thoughts to improve your emotions, then you will be well on your way to the consistent career you are looking for.
I am going to leave you with that...I swear we will continue this discussion very soon but I think this is a good start for us. So go back through and read this blog a few more times so you can truly understand the message. Then I will come back and get more specific and paint a clear picture on the topic of consistency. It may take a few blogs but it will be well worth the read. Until then hope all is well and hope everyone is pitching their butts off this Spring!
Consistency is the key to pitching success, bar none. At any age, if you can produce consistent results on an outing to outing basis you will be a big league pitcher, no question. Seems easy, right?? Produce consistent results and POOF, there you are, in the big leagues. Ok, so if it seems so easy, why is it so tough? Why can't kids create consistency in their outings over and over and over?
I am going to try and make this as easy as possible, as clear as possible. But what I am going to need from you is a little trust, a little leeway. I want you to all understand that this process of success and consistency IS easy. It is only a thought away. Here is what I mean by that, the body is controlled by the brain. The visual information that we take in from a moment to moment process is taken in, received by the brain, translated by the brain and then carried out via commands from the brain. (more or less, this is not a perfect description, but you get my drift) If this is true (and it is) couldn't we add our thoughts to this as well? Couldn't we say that the thoughts we think are being computed by the brain and then carried out through our body? If you can get your head around this and start to believe it, then consistency is truly just a thought away. The more we are able to think thoughts that are success thinking thoughts, consistency thinking thoughts, then that is exactly what we will get.
Think of it this way. If our thoughts can construct our reality then the more I can train myself, the more I can make good thoughts a habit, then a consistent reality is what I will create on the mound. The more I realize that my current experience is being formed by the thoughts I am thinking from moment to moment then I will be more aware of my thoughts and the reality they are creating. I then can realize how important my NOW moment is. My NOW moment is all I have. It doesn't matter what type of failures I have had or inconsistencies I have had in the past because my thoughts RIGHT NOW are what is creating my experience now and in the future.
This is big time information if you can believe in it and really embrace it. Just think of the power you can have in your career, life, relationship, anything! So what do you need to do to get started? Well, I could make this into a long series of blogs and may do just that, but let me give you the first clue. Start being aware of how you feel on a daily basis. You don't need to get too crazy right now, just be more aware of how you feel day to day. This is where it all starts. Emotions are the key. If you can begin to understand what your emotions are telling you and then how to direct your thoughts to improve your emotions, then you will be well on your way to the consistent career you are looking for.
I am going to leave you with that...I swear we will continue this discussion very soon but I think this is a good start for us. So go back through and read this blog a few more times so you can truly understand the message. Then I will come back and get more specific and paint a clear picture on the topic of consistency. It may take a few blogs but it will be well worth the read. Until then hope all is well and hope everyone is pitching their butts off this Spring!
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