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Great Bowling Goals

Mike Shady, February 10, 2023

Great bowling goals, whether written or typed, studies have shown will make the chances of you achieving them at least 16% greater than if you only think about them? How easy is that?!

These three super-organizing-goals are sure to help you get your bowling at a high level now and beyond.

1. Outcome Bowling Goals or OG’s

OG’s require you to at least think about what you would like to accomplish in the coming bowling year, or what is left of it. Use these goals to give yourself purpose and direction.
Nothing is “etched in stone” as they say, and you can adjust them at any time. In fact, review them every month, or so, just to see if they are still appropriate. If you are exceeding them, adjust them up.
If you cannot meet them, no worries, just adjust them down a bit. Failure to reach your most-lofty of goals shouldn’t deter you from future improvement. The idea is to keep them challenging and realistic throughout the year. REMEMBER: Outcomes are uncontrollable. These goals are to give you a “direction” only and are not intended to put pressure on you, or to go to the bowling center with you.

OG Examples:
- The # of bowling events you hope to compete in this season
- Finishes you aspire to have, top 10’s, wins, cashes (be realistic yet ambitious)
- Bowling events you would like to qualify for
- A bowling average you would like to achieve
- Single spares conversion percentage you would like to achieve
- Any stats you would like to improve, etc.

2. Physical Performance Bowling Goals or PPG’s

PPG’s require that you honestly assess your current physical skills, technique, equipment, and conditioning to see how they match up with your outcome goals. Make a list of the aspects of your physical game that need to be strengthened to reach your outcome goals.

PPG Examples:
- Improved physical techniques (swing, balance, release, etc.)
- More consistency with specific spares
- Greater awareness of bowling balls and ball motions
- Development of lane play strategies and execution

If needed, include:
- Bowling goals for upgrading or changing equipment
- Take lessons for specific skills
- Incorporate specific types of drills into your practice
- Gain strength, improve stamina, etc.
Tip: Your bowling coach can usually give great insights for setting PPG’s.

3. Mental Performance Goals or MPG’s

MPG’s require that you take an insightful look at why you have not been bowling to your potential or getting the most out of your game. Make a list of the mental skills you most need to strengthen to reach your outcome goals.

MPG Examples:
- Improve focus in your setup position
- Learn to be more tough-minded under pressure
- Develop skills for better managing emotions
- Learn skills for handling tension or outcome thinking, etc.
- Get rid of the bowling yips
- Improve your 4-quadrant routines
- Stay committed to game plan
- Improve self talk

Organize Your Game With These Three Goals To Win The Day!

Small Daily Improvements

Mike Shady, February 2, 2023

One of my favorite books I have read in the past couple of years is James Clear's brilliant book Atomic Habits.

He tells us: “It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, writing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other goal, we put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about.

Meanwhile, improving 1 percent isn’t particularly notable—sometimes it isn’t even noticeable— but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here’s how the math works out: if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.”

Get 1 percent better today to Win the Day!

Optimize Your Car Ride Home

Mike Shady, January 3, 2023

Detailed and accurate self-reflection is essential to being a good bowler, but so many bowlers are missing out on this important learning opportunity – instead, their reflections sound like “I don’t know…” or “Good I bowled well… or I bowled awful…”

Here are 3 proven ways to improve the car ride home and the self-reflection process:

1 – IT’S NON-NEGOTIABLE

“I don’t know” is NOT an option. If you are unsure – then guess. You can not become self-aware if you are not self-reflecting. So you might struggle to reflect effectively at first, but if you don’t try you won’t improve and this will really limit both your improvement as a bowler and your mindset. If you want to be an elite bowler then I believe it is unacceptable to not engage in reflection

2 – BE ACCURATE

Don’t be too hard on yourself, but also, don’t be too easy on yourself. Instead, accurately reflect on the things you did well and the things you can work on. Parents/Coaches/Teammates – this is where your job can be tough. Probe, ask questions and be patient – your job is to help them become more accurate – if you just tell them what they did wrong then they are not learning how to accurately self-reflect.

3- BE DETAILED & SPECIFIC

Ask specific questions and encourage detailed responses with examples. Vague statements like “it was good” don’t optimize the learning experience. Instead, you want to give detailed examples of what you did well (positively reinforcing these) and what you could work on for improvement opportunities. Remember, celebrated your strengths!

Self-reflection is very important for consistent growth as a bowler. The start is what stops most bowlers developing this habit. Here is your homework: after the next bowling competition do a self-reflection on your car ride home. It’s a powerful tool!

Optimize Your Car Ride Home To Win the Day!

Be Prepared

Mike Shady, December 21, 2022

The less you have to think about the morning of your bowling competition, the better. By getting everything ready the evening before, you’ll eliminate the possibility of stress and any decision making in the morning.

Check your equipment - make sure you have an arsenal that will create different shapes and will provide transition solutions. Make sure your tape in your thumb hole is clean and fresh. Check your interchangeable thumb sleeves for wear and tear and make sure they are glued securely into the sleeve. Check your finger grips for wear and tear and secured with glue. Check your accessory bag for tape, shoe slides/heels, abralon pads, etc. Do a pre check before you get to the event.

Decide on your clothes and have them ready - get your bowling attire ready for the event.

Make sure you have nutritional snacks and anything else you will need is ready to go. Don't load up on sugar or processed food. Fuel your body with quality food and drinks.

That feeling of being prepared will make it easier to start the day off well and provide a winning mindset for your competitive bowling event.

Get Prepared to Win the Day!

Be Grateful

Mike Shady, December 21, 2022

Gratitude is a practice that is proven to put us in a better mood. By thinking about the things that we are fortunate to have, thankful for and appreciative of in our lives, triggers the brain to release feel good chemicals which improve our mood.

Put the game of bowling in perspective. Does satisfaction only have to come from shooting a good score? Or can you find other ways to appreciate and enjoy it? If you can, you’ll be in a better mood, which will create more freedom and make the bowling setbacks easier to deal with.

Spend a little time thinking about what is great about your life and the upcoming bowling competition and choose to focus on that. Even better, write it down in your Journal.

Be grateful to Win the Day!

Your Score Is Not A Reflection Of Who You Are

Mike Shady, December 19, 2022

“Bowling is your servant, not your master.”

One trap I see many bowlers falling into is judging themselves as a person, or thinking that others will see them differently (as a person) if they bowl a good or bad score. That somehow they are a better person and will be more respected by bowling good scores, and the opposite if they don’t. That puts an awful lot of pressure on each bowling event!

It’s important to remind yourself that bowling will never define who you are, and people won’t judge you as a person by the score you shoot. You need to make sure you separate you the bowler from you the person, if you are to be successful.

By working on this you will free yourself up to play some of the best bowling of your career. By doing a better job of not letting your results affect the way you think about yourself will provide incredible joy and freedom.

Get Out Of Results And Get Into The Process.

Mike Shady, December 13, 2022

There’s a goal that I speak of often. It’s called a “process goal.” Success comes from patiently and persistently doing the right things over and over. Process goals are the “to-do lists” of players striving for excellence. The process is what gives you a chance to find out how good you can be. Here, for instance, is a set of process goals for a competitive bowling event.

If you follow them, you’ll give yourself your best chance to find out how well you can bowl in that bowling event:

• I will trust myself and my over physical game on every shot. I don’t have absolute control of where the ball goes. I do have absolute control of whether I trust myself.

• I will execute my pre shot routine on every shot.

• I will stay in the present. I won’t speculate in the middle of the event about what my score will be, or where I’ll stand in the tournament. I’ll stop worrying about breaking 190, 200 or 220. I will not critique or analyze the shots I’ve taken. I will focus on each shot as it comes, and that will be the only shot I’ll care about. When it’s over, I’ll see how I did and reflect.

• I will refuse to allow anything that happens in the bowling center today to bother me or upset me. I will accept bad breaks and mistakes and be tough in adversity. I am going to be in a good mood and a great state of mind for the entire bowling event today. I’ll enjoy bowling.

• I will trust my instincts and be decisive and committed.

• I will get looser freer and more confident as the league/tournament goes on, resisting the urge to get tighter, more careful and doubtful.

• I will love my opportunities at shooting spares today.

• I will let it go to my target on every shot.

• I will maintain a constant, ideal level of intensity on every shot.

Surrender to the outcome and Win Your Process!

Love The Challenge

Mike Shady, December 9, 2022

Bowling is a game of mistakes and unpredictable fortune. If it were not, no one would ever miss the pocket, a spare. On top of that, there would be no sudden transitions to lane play, no unfortunate bad pin carry, no imperfections in lane topography. Every delivery of the ball would go exactly where you wanted it to go, and the winning average in a bowling tournament would be something like 270 or better every time!

If you truly love bowling, you must love the fact that no one averages 270 or better, that bowling is an inherently imperfect game. If you spend your time fighting the fact that bowling is a game of mistakes and trying to make it a game of perfect shots, you’re really saying that you don’t like bowling.

No one has ever perfected bowling – not Earl Anthony, not Walter Ray, not Jason Belmonte. I don’t believe anyone ever will. Bowlers who understand and love the game accept it rather than fight it. They realize the essence of bowling is reacting well to inevitable mistakes and misfortunes. They know they can separate themselves from their competition not by perfecting their games but by constantly striving to improve.

I tell bowlers that if there’s one thing they should always be proud of in their games, it’s how well they react to mistakes. I tell them that they will never have complete control of the bowling ball. But they can control their attitudes and more importantly love the challenge.

Love the challenge of the day, whatever it may be to Win the Day!

Do You Talk To Yourself?

Mike Shady, December 6, 2022

How we talk to ourselves can affect many aspects of our performance. Two main results of Self Talk are our emotional state and confidence, two factors that can have a profound impact on our ability to bowl our best. So, if you want to perform to the best of your ability, especially in an important or highly competitive atmosphere, how you talk to yourself is important.

First, practice thinking about events in a positive manner. It is counter productive to tell yourself ‘don’t make a bad shot, don’t miss the spare, don’t pull the ball.’ Instead, think ‘What should I be doing?’. Those same phrases might look like ‘Be you and make a great shot, I will make this spare, and ‘ see target, hit target’. Think: what should I do?

Second, neutralize bowling events perceived as negative. If you dump a ball into the gutter, miss spares or fail to execute a shot when needed, surround that bowling event with as little of emotion as possible. It is ok to acknowledge your disappointment. The key is to minimize the importance and defer the emotion to a time that is more convenient for you to experience it. For example, ‘Missing that spare makes me so angry, but it’s ok. I will be upset a little later’. Then think ‘What adjustments do I have to do NOW to make my next shot?’.

Finally, minimize the importance of a big bowling event. In order to perform your best, you must be calm and carefree. Although a certain level of excitement is ok, it is vital not to cross over into being overly anxious. Rather than think ‘There are so many good bowlers here, and they are so much better than me. How can I possibly compete?’, it would be more useful to think ‘I will treat this try out like a practice. I will perform to the best of my ability, and I will be fine.’

So, lose ‘don’t’ from your vocabulary, become more neutral about errors and mistakes, and create a calm environment even in the most nerve wracking bowling situations for your best performance possible.

Be optimistic, present and positive to Win the Day!

Bowling Challenges

Mike Shady, December 2, 2022

Bowling has some of the biggest challenges of all sports: Not only do you have to roll a ball 60 feet but you have lots of time to think, prepare to make a shot.

This time available to think makes the shot much harder than hitting a baseball, or throwing a pass, or shooting a basket from the three-point line.

Shooting a free throw or throwing a pitch are similar but there are far fewer variables and the action is identical each time. You can practice that identical free throw or pitch thousands of times. In bowling every shot is different, a little or a lot based on lane transition and the spare leave.

In the other sports you do not have time to think. You must react more naturally without trying to control your action. Quickly you find out that thinking about your body while shooting hurts your ability to shoot well. Our ancestors lived and survived because they could do this well. It is built into us.

But in bowling, there is no urgency, the limit of time is based on your next turn on the approach. You have time to think of all kinds of things and try to control your actions, trying not to make a mistake or make a bad shot.

In bowling, every shot counts. That means that every shot and outcome are important.

In baseball, if you get a hit every third time to the plate you could be in the Hall of Fame. No quarterback realistically expects to make every pass.

The natural response to bowling for most of us is to get more careful and deliberate in our preparation to make the shot and then we often try to control our swing or some other physical component to get it just right, or perfect because the outcome counts. We may be trying to avoid a miss or making a bad shot.

This makes us moreleft brained and less athletic. It messes up our trained swing.

Many perform their best bowling when they stop worrying about the outcome or making a mistake. For most players this happens by accident. There are many challenges in our great sport of bowling.

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