Daily Message

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Your Character

Mike Shady, March 20, 2022

Your character is more important than how good you are at any sport.

Your athleticism is only temporary, but your character, the type of person you are, lasts forever.

Be humble, be compassionate, be grateful, be honest and put others first.

Be the best person you can be to Win the Day!

Have Self-Control At All Times

Mike Shady, March 20, 2022

There are two rules of peak performance cemented into my daily practice:

1. You must be in control of yourself before you can control your performance

2. You have very litle control of what goes on around you, but total control of how you choose to respond to it.

Maintaining control of yourself physically, mentally and emotionally under stress and pressure when everyone else is losing theirs is an essential part of your growth and maturity as a bowler and as a person.

The best way to gain and maintain self-control in any situation is to take a deep breath.

The deep breath pulls you into the present moment and brings oxygen into your system to help you relax, think more clearly and perform at your best.

Take a deep breath today to Win the Day!

Feeling The Weight Of Expectation

Mike Shady, March 16, 2022

I’m sure you know what it’s like to feel the weight of expectation – you know how good you are and what you are capable of and hence you put expectations on yourself for how you should bowl. Or perhaps someone else is creating expectations for you?

What do expectations do?

Expectations can damage confidence
Expectations make it harder to recover from mistakes and poor bowling performances
Expectations can make you be judgmental and critical of yourself
Expectations are often unrealistic and set a player up for failure

High expectations are not the same as having high confidence. High confidence is believing that you are capable of winning, but not expecting it to happen.

Be Confident To Win The Day!

5 Ways To Compete in the Zone

Mike Shady, March 14, 2022

Let's take a look at 5 ways you can trigger the Flow State (Zone) and take your bowling performance to a higher level.

1. Be Immersed in your Process - all my students measure the success of each shot (game, series, tournament) by the quality of their PROCESS, not the outcome.

2. Be Present - One of those things that bowlers describe when bowling in the zone is being very "PRESENT". This means they're not preoccupied with what just happened or what might happen next, the mind is quiet and in THE NOW.

3. Embrace Pressure - Ask any elite player whether they would rather be slightly nervous or completely relaxed before and during a bowling competition and they will probably tell you "slightly nervous", the reason being is that they are more likely to access Flow and bowl better.

4. Challenge Yourself - Many performance mindset coaches tell us that the sweet spot for activating Flow is for the challenge to be slightly higher than your current bowling skill level. In other words, the challenge is just hard enough to get your attention and get you fully engaged in the task.

5. Lose the Ego - The "self" must disappear. Ego means you are too wrapped up with the outcome and how your performance makes you look, instead of being immersed in the activity (the process).

Practice these 5 steps and you'll experience your bowling performances in the ZONE more often.

The Next 60 Feet

Mike Shady, March 10, 2022

Living in the present moment by focusing all of your time, energy and attention on the process of here and now is essential to success.

A great way to reinforce the present moment and the process is to think about focusing on the next 60 feet (foul line to the headpin). You can drive anywhere you want in the country in complete darkness because your headlights let you see the next 60 feet. By focusing on the next 60 feet, you keep your mind focused on the present and what you can do today to give yourself the best chance for success.

Take some time today to write down your controllables (pre shot routine, breath, release, self-talk, etc) while you are competing (league or tournament) that give you the best opportunity to win the next 60 feet. Focusing on your controllables develops Present Moment Focus and provides the “headlights” to see and win the next 60 feet.

Focus on the next 60 feet to win your Day!

You're Allowed To Fire Yourself

Mike Shady, March 8, 2022

You are the CEO of (write your name here) ______________________, inc.

You are responsible for managing your most important personnel, yourself.

If your old self was negative, lazy, out of shape and lacked the motivation and drive to be the best possible you that you are capable of being, take a line from Donald Trump on The Apprentice and tell your old self that “You’re FIRED.”

Today, be the best version of you that you have ever been. Not great or honest in relationships - that was your old self. Cut corners in workouts/bowling practice - again that was your old self and you FIRED that person.

What traits were responsible for the firing of your old self and what are you going to bring to today with your new self?

FIRED TRAITS:

NEW SELF TRAITS FOR TODAY:

You will Win this Day!

Work Yourself First

Mike Shady, March 7, 2022

The following poem reminds us of the importance of working at yourself first. If you work at your career, you will have a job; if you work at yourself, you will have everything.

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town; and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing that I can change is myself; and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I would have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. The impact of the town could have changed the state and the state could have changed the nation and the nation could have made the world a better place. Indeed, I could have changed the world if I had only started with myself. You need to think big and act small.

Know where you want to go and get immersed in the journey of getting there. Work at yourself first. Be the change you want to see in others.

As a leader, those whom you lead may need a motto to say, but they need a model to see more. Invest most of your time where you have the most control - yourself, your attitudes and your actions. Everything begins with you.

Remember that these seven small words make up the strongest sentence in the English Language - IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME.

Work Yourself First To Win Your Day!

Embrace the Coming Changes

Mike Shady, March 4, 2022

Many people are content to live their lives by playing it safe. Change is hard work; and if I take inventory of my current situation and where I have to go to change and if fear, pain, and hard work are prerequisites of that change, it’s easier to understand why some people are so dedicated to resisting it.

They might be good at giving all the best-sounding excuses why this particular change is not right for them or their team. However, their underlying concern may be their fear about how the change will affect them and their social status, their position on the team or their view of themselves.

If you’ve been reacting negatively to change, it’s important to modify your attitude and your behavior before it’s too late. Think about what you really want. To be comfortable or to be excellent?

If you embrace challenge and welcome change, you will be on the right path to success. When in your life have you embraced change and after initial resistance you found the change beneficial?

Today be comfortable with being uncomfortable to Win the Day!

Shake It Off And Step Up

Mike Shady, March 3, 2022

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.

Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.

With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, the donkey kept shaking it off and moving up a step.

Pretty soon everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.

Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up! Use this advice for your bowling. Some days you will need to shake it off and step up. Remember we WIN and we LEARN.

The moral of this story is that when you think life has dealt you the most difficult hand, you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself, shake it off and step up. What do you need to shake off and step up on today?

Step Up To Win the Day!

How Do You Judge Yourself

Mike Shady, March 2, 2022

The world judges you by what you have done, not by what you have started out to do; by what you have completed, not by what you have begun. The bulldog wins the battle by holding on to the finish.

Excellence is a lifestyle, not an event. Excellence is not a sometime thing; it’s an all-the-time thing. You are not excellent once in a while. You don’t do things right once in a while. You do them right all the time.

Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. It is not a question of how well each person on a team works; the question is how well they work together.

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

Be Excellent Today to Win Your Day!

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