It's the START that STOPS Most
Time To START
What a great opportunity to start new projects that you may have been putting off due to busyness. Maybe its becoming a consistent reader of books that will improve your career. Maybe its wanting to improve our health by eating cleaner, working out more, etc. Maybe it's improving our mental healthy by meditating daily. Whatever it may be, now is the time to start.
What is holding us back from developing this new routine/habit? It can't be TIME, because our current situation provides us with that resource - TIME.
START - begin today on the path to developing your next healthy/productive habit that can help you acheive your goals. It is the Start that Stops most of us. We continue to tell ourselves that we are going to do these things but we never do. Most of us never START! It is the START that STOPS us from developing new routines, habits and steps to become a better you.
Today is when you will START. Become that reader, become a better bowler by getting in better physical shape, start developing that mental game you have always wanted, begin eating better, begin daily meditation, etc. It's time....
Win the Day by STARTING Today!
M.I.T's
Most Important Tasks
One of our greatest challenges today is Time Management. Our normal routines have been altered which can cause one of two things: increased productivity or decreased productivity of your day. So how do we become more organized and productive during this uncertain time.
Enter Most Important Tasks (MIT's)
The concept of the MIT organizational tool is simple: identify just a few of the most important things you have to accomplish each day. Give your best effort and focus to those tasks first. I try to limit my M.I.T's to three tasks per day. This creates a list that is doable and you should have the ability to Win Each Day by completing just three tasks. It provides a good balance and the freedom to have flow throughout your day as well.
How to put into practice
Identify up to 3 things that you MUST accomplish for the day. Write them down on a piece of paper and then focus your time and energy on these tasks before doing anything else. There is tremendous power by identifying a habit or task that is crucial for a successful day. I recommend doing this before bedtime the night before or the first thing in the morning when you get up. Also, get a notebook designated as your M.I.T. notebook. This is where your most important tasks are logged each day.
Below is an example of what this could look like for a bowler during this pandemic:
1. Complete my mental conditioning by meditating with the CALM app
2. Complete my daily physical workout (resistance or cardio training)
3. Increase my overall knowledge in bowling ball motion by reading or viewing one source on the Internet
These tasks should be the things identified as the most important for that day to move closer to your bowling goals.
Most Important Tasks (M.I.T's) can be a great time management tool and provide a new routine into your day. It also can move you closer to becoming more focused as a person and/or player.
Go Win Your 1424!
Fake It Till You Feel It
Fake It Till You Feel It
We have all been there during a bowling event - just not feeling confident due to something physical, the lane condition, etc. We often feel nervous, anxious and an overwhelming amount of self doubt? How do you feel more confident?
The greatest players in our sport know confidence is a choice. I have never asked Jason Belmonte about his mindset from one event to another but my guess is he feels the same emotions that most of us do throughout a bowling season. This is where he is different: His "Acting" Changes Everything. He always looks confident, never changes his routine and his outcome is consistent with his choice - Being Confident.
The concept of "fake it till you feel it" is used by the best athletes/bowlers on a consistent basis. Even when the best struggle to feel confident, giving yourself permission to not feeling confident is OK. Fake that you are CONFIDENT by doing the following three things: Body Language, Focus and Self Talk.
Body Language - always show positive body language. Walk tall with head and shoulders back as you come back from the foul line to the settee area.
Focus in the present moment on what you WANT vs what you want to avoid. Make sure you are focusing on what you CAN control - not what you can't.
Talk to yourself with positive, empowering language saying things like "I am the best bowler here", "You can't stop me."
The next time you watch Belmo on television pay close attention to his body language, focus and presence. It is not by accident why he is the best player on the planet and considered by many to be the greatest of all time.
Fake It Till You Feel It!
Now Go Win the Day!
Have You Seen the ARROW?
The Mental Component
How many times have you see this FedEx logo? I am sure a lot like most of us. Have you ever seen the arrow in this logo... look closely between the "E" and the "X." Now do you see the arrrow pointing from the E to the X? The arrow has always been there. Now that you see it, you can't take your eyes off it. It's the same way when we start to do mental performance training.
Most athletes know there is a Mental Component to training but most ignore it. The majority of athletes spend training their physical game (technique, nutrition, strength & conditioning) and lack focus on mental conditioning even though they realize the importance of it. Once athletes choose the mental component in the same regard as the physical component, they will develop performance consistency at the highest level. Let's start seeing the "arrow" as part of the training process so we can continue to improve as a bowler each day - 1% better.
Now Go Win Your 1424!
Spending Your Day
What are you doing with your 24 hours, 1,440 minutes and 86,400 seconds?
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LOVE — instead of hate.
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CAN — instead of cannot.
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BUILD — instead of destroying.
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ENCOURAGE — instead of demeaning.
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POSITIVE — instead of negative.
Now Go Win Your Day!
Build Your Game with Long Term Mindset
Long Term Mindset
In his book, The Score Takes Care of Itself, legendary Coach Bill Walsh urges us to put all of our energy into our preparation before the game begins, and the results will follow. But what would happen if there were no results, no scoreboards, no quarterly statements, and no measuring sticks? The greatest bowlers are players who love the game with all their heart and soul and focus on getting 1% better daily in something. That something could involve anything in life and/or bowling (physical technique, spare shooting, mental game, being a better teammate, serving their community, overall wellness, etc.)
Focus on your Return On Investment (ROI) each day with tremendous passion. Avoid the uncontrollables such as results, outcomes, etc. If you can win your 1% of the day (14 minutes and 24 seconds - 1424) you will achieve things in bowling most will only dream about.
Now Go Win Your 1424!
Coach Shady
Win the Day - WTD
Win the Day
We’re always in search of the best daily routine, the one that can make us more productive. Look on Amazon for habits, and more than 1,000 titles pop up. But Ben Franklin didn’t have Amazon back in the 18th century.
We now all know his famous saying: “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” So, it’s no surprise Franklin began his routine at 5 a.m. posing one fundamental question: “What good shall I do this day?”
All daily routines must have a greater purpose, an idealistic philosophy of sorts. It’s easy to list mundane tasks we know we’ll complete, but what higher calling are you striving toward? It’s a question that should serve as inspiration to sacrifice while also committing to positively impact the future. If our focus is simply “Win the Day,” we’re really just focusing on the outcome and overlooking the self-development journey.
Our daily routines will vary because we all lead different lives.
But there should be 3 key pillars regardless of our age, occupation or income.
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Discipline
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Process
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Reflection
When all three are combined, we can then acquire successful habits and make each day becomes better than the one that preceded it.
Franklin’s sheet forced him to be regimented and enabled him to reflect on his progress and holistic growth. By nighttime, he was asking, “What good have I done today.”
His simple ingredients for excellence still work more than 250 years later.
WTD!
3 Choices
Give Up - Give In - Give All You Have
Bill Parcells, the former coach of the Giants, Patriots, Jets, and Cowboys, never saw the Eugene “Cyclone” Hart versus Vito Antuofermo middleweight fight. But he loves to tell the story. On November 3rd, 1977, Hart and Antuofermo fought in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for their middleweight bout. Hart was coming off a loss to Marvin Hagler, and Antuorfermo was known as a boxer who could absorb a lot of punishment. Hart’s talents were evident for all to see. Smooth, fast, athletic, Eugene “Cyclone” Hart could move from side to side and was a well-skilled puncher. Vito Antuofermo’s skills were not as visible. He had toughness, relentless passion, and the will to compete. For four rounds, Hart was hitting Antuofermo with all he had thus beginning to fatigue—both mentally and physically. In the fifth round, because of his exhaustion, Antuofermo landed a few big punches knocking Hart to the ring and ending the fight in a knockout.
Most people might want to focus on Antuofermo’s relentless approach as the moral to the story, but not Bill Parcells. Coach Parcells loved the part after the fight. When in the dressing room, a small curtain separated the two boxers. Hart heard how close Antuofermo was to end the battle and how he was almost ready to give in. Vito Antuofermo said, “Every time he hit me with that left hook to the body, I was sure I was going to quit. In the second round, I thought if he hit me there again, I would quit, then the same after the fourth. Finally, he never hit me again, no more.”
The thin line between losing and winning as well as the smallest of margins between the quitter and the doer is the moral of the story. These themes resonated strongly with Bill Parcells. How often have we said enough is enough? Or thought we couldn’t deal with something for another five minutes? And how often has the disappointment of an experience caused us to stop believing in ourselves?
We are almost one week into the New Year. Some of us have already given up on our resolutions, or have gotten to the point that being sufficiently disciplined might be a little too hard and uncomfortable. Realize deeply when confronted with a challenge you have three choices to give up, to give in or to give it all you have. Next time you face that thin line or have the urge to quit, think of the Eugene “Cyclone” Hart versus Vito Antuofermo fight and decide who you want to become!
Win Your 1424!
1424
14 minutes 24 Seconds = 1% of a Day
Do you have 14 minutes and 24 seconds of each day to invest in improving in something? This could be a physical technique of your sport, getting in better shape physically, improving your sleep, learning how to eat cleaner, improving your relationship with your children and/or parents, etc. Develop a daily routine by locking in every day for 1424, which is ONLY 1% of your day. The COMPOUND EFFECT will provide incredible growth in whatever you lock into daily.
Now Go Win Your 1424!
Congratulations to Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow is a lesson for all of us to give back, be humble, and focus on how we can improve, not on how someone might be affecting our career plans. In the coming months, we all may experience setbacks and obstacles. We might get hit as hard as Burrow did in a spring game while he was the Ohio State scout team quarterback, and we all need to follow his lead. Get back up, focus on what we can control, and worry more about what we can give then what we can receive.
Congratulations to Joe Burrow for his gratitude and stellar achievements on and off the field of play. Also, thank you Joe for your valuable and timeless life reminders.