TULISAN MATT FURREY : Winning and Losing

April 23rd, 2014

This past December my son, Frank, was stressed because baseball tryouts for the high school team were set to begin in early January. And yet, his Mom and Dad scheduled a family trip to South Korea and China.How on earth can I possibly make the team if I don’t stay in Tampa and train?That’s what my son thought.

Keep in mind that Frank is only in 8th grade, but in Florida, schools allow an athlete to bump up and play varsity if he’s good enough.

I told Frank we were going to China as a family and that everything would work out. When he showed a little doubt I quipped, “Son, you’re forgetting who your Dad is. If I say I’ll have you ready, then I’ll have you ready. Don’t think for one instant that you’re not going to be working out when you’re overseas.”

For part of the trip, my son didn’t train. I gave him a much needed break and breather. But when we had a week left before heading home, I cranked it up.

Much of the training we did could be classified as the “mental game.”

“If you want to make the varsity,” I told Frank, “you’re going to have to do it with your bat. Being you’re a lefty and you throw gas – you’re probably going to get some innings no matter what. But if you want to be in the lineup all the time, your bat is the way to prove you belong. If you can hit missiles, it’ll be hard for the coach to keep you on the bench.”

So we worked on applying Theatre of the Mind with eyes wide open, in various ways, many of which I cover in the new program.

A couple weeks after practices began, Frank informed me that he made the varsity. A week later he told me he’d be starting the first couple games due to a key player being injured.

After the key player returned to the lineup, the coach still found a way to work Frank into the lineup. Instead of him playing right field, he

would be the DH (designated hitter) for the pitcher. And he would pitch or play first base, when needed.

Now, when we were in China, I never dreamed my son would be the DH. Are you kidding me? As an 8th grader? It’s unheard of.

But that’s what can happen when you set your mind on a target and never allow your vision to become distracted.

Last night we had our final game of the season. It was a tough loss to a very good team. A personal highlight for Frank is that he knocked

in a run during his first at bat, walked his second time up – and stole second (his first stolen bag of the year).

I know my words are sinking in with my son because last night, when we were inside the house, the first thing he said to me was, “Now that the high school season is over I can start training hard again.”

Atta boy.

Now, if my son wants and needs a rest, he’ll take it, or I’ll demand it, like we did last December, in China.

Knowing when to rest is important. But far too many people can’t wait to rest. They’re always looking for a break.

Winners are looking for opportunities to train, to advance, to make themselves better. Winners understand that most of the time, rest equals rust.

If you want to get good at something – you gotta put in the time.

If you want to be great at something – you don’t just put in the physical time – you practice the mental game, too.

And if you want to be the best at what you do – you need an unwavering committment to excellence. You also need to realize that becoming great and excelling require you to focus MORE on your TRAINING than on winning and losing.

In team sports, winning and losing are not in the direct control of only one person – but your training, your approach, your attitude, your love and enthusiasm for the game – that is ALWAYS within your control.

Late last night my son was outdoors throwing a ball against the wall in between rounds of homework. I walked up to him with my hands dangling at my sides. He stopped, wondering what I was doing. I reached out. I put my arms around him and said, “Frank, congratulations on a great season. Way to work. Way to put in the time.”

Then I turned and walked away.

An 8th grade DH? The thought still makes my jaw drop.

It shows that when you mix the power of physical practice with the power of mental game practice, there’s no telling what you can accomplish.

And by the way, just in case you’re a naysayer: Last fall I didn’t work with my son on his hitting – or on the mental game. Although his pitching was good – he was hitless the entire fall for the high school team and he was given minimal playing time. And I do mean “minimal.”I think there’s something to the approach I teach then  - don’t you?

Get Theatre of the Mind NOW and astonish friends, family, fiends and foes.

Best,

Matt  Furey

TULISAN MAT FURREY : QnA on Theatre of the Mind

April 24th, 2014 Been getting a lot of questions sent my way regarding the Theatre of the Mind process – as well as the differences between this product and that. I’ll do my best to answer you below: Matt, Thanks for the daily emails. You don’t know me from Adam but I want you to know that your messages mean a lot to me. I find golden nuggets in each email and keep them in a file to re-read.Here’s my question: When you do Theatre of the Mind, do you ever encounter distracting thoughts coming into the image on the screen? If so, what do you do about them?John MJF: Hi John, glad you enjoy the daily emails. Regarding your question: I used to get distracting thoughts. I might even call them “fearful.” I’d be imagining what I wanted and all of a sudden an unconscious block would show up. Usually it was a fear of failure or of things turning out badly. If and when this happens, it’s nothing to freak out about. Just use your imagination to get rid of the negative. Breathe deeply and stay relaxed and calm. Then bag it, box it or breathe it away. Send the negative to a place far, far away – then get back to what you were working on in your TOTM session. Mr. Furey, How many goals can I picture during a TOTM session? My gut tells me just one but I always want to do more. Cindy MJF: Cindy, you can picture more than one but I think ti’s best to focus on something bigger than all the other goals. Take your number one goal and build a fire around it. Once the fire is blazing it will spread to the other goals. I realize it’s tempting to go for “more” and to get there “faster” but this type of thinking usually slows you down and works in reverse. Be smooth and relaxed. Build confidence one goal at a time and you’ll be astonished at how far you travel over the next year. Hello Matt, Loving your daily emails. I have a quick question: How long should I hold a goal in mind when I’m doing TOTM? I’ve read that it’s 30 minutes. What do you think? Richard MJF: Richard, great question and what that is very, very important. The idea that you need to picture a goal for 30 minutes is totally wrong and misleading. In an instant your mind can go from negative to positive. In an instant, you can activate your servo mechanism for what you want. The key is getting yourself into a relaxed and receptive frame of mind, taking the time to replay past positiives – then imaging what you want with a lot of juice and enthusiasm (as taught in the bonus CD in the Theatre of the Mind program). When you add the juice to the imagery, I tell people to keep focusing and concentrating on it for about 30 seconds. That’s it. Not 30 minutes. So this should come as a welcome relief, eh?

tulisan Roni Yuzirman : ReSOULusi Sederhana, Mulai dari Rumah

Kebutuhan akan space (ruangan) di rumah selalu bertambah. Seiring dengan bertambahnya barang-barang di rumah. Mulai dari buku, majalah, pakaian, gadget dan kabel-kabelnya. Itu baru bagian saya. Belum lagi bagiannya istri dan anak-anak.

Beberapa tahun lalu, saya selalu berpikir untuk menambah ruangan, menambah rak atau lemari, seiring dengan bertambahnya barang koleksi saya. Bayangkan, koleksi buku saya sampai menjajah lemari dapur.

Sekarang saya tidak butuh tambahan ruangan atau lemari lagi. Apalagi setelah belajar dan mempraktekkan gaya hidup minimalis.

Salah satu caranya adalah, tinggalkan yang penting saja dan singkirkan sisanya. Saya juga menggunakan metode “garbage in garbage out”, artinya barang yang masuk harus seimbang dengan barang yang keluar. Misalnya, saya beli 2 baju, harus diimbangi dengan mengeluarkan 2 baju dari lemari untuk disumbangkan atau diberikan kepada orang lain. Biar tidak terjadi penumpukan.

Awal tahun 2013 saya bertekad untuk tidak lagi membeli buku, koran atau majalah cetakan dan pindah semuanya ke digital. Alhamdulillah, target itu tercapai kira-kira 90 persenan. Sekarang relatif tidak ada lagi tumpukan buku, majalah atau koran di rumah. Rumah saya menjadi “clutter free”.

Resolusi tahunan saya tidak muluk-muluk. Menciptakan rumah yang nyaman dan bebas tumpukan barang adalah hal sederhana, tapi dampaknya saya rasakan tidak sederhana. Rumah jadi bersih, ringan dan lapang. Mudah-mudahan hidup juga demikian.

tulisan Roni Yuzirman : Flappy Bird, Ide Simple yang Dahsyat

Game Flappy Bird ternyata menghasilkan cash flow 600 jutaan per hari. Wow. Padahal hanya dikerjakan oleh satu orang anak muda dari Vietnam. Berbagai review pun menilai game ini jelek dan amatiran.

Kenapa game ini begitu digemari?

Saya tidak tahu. Saya bukan penggemar atau pengamat game.

Yang saya tahu, game ini sangat sangat simple. Idenya simple, programingnya simple, disainnya simple (buruk bahkan). Tapi justru orang sedunia menggilainya.

Idenya simple itu kadang tidak terlihat oleh orang kebanyakan. Orang kebanyakan berpikirnya kompleks, bekerjanya juga kompleks.

Coba perhatikan produk-produk Apple. Semuanya serba simple. Bayangkan, Apple hanya dengan 4 produk dengan 2-3 pilihan warna bisa menjadi perusahaan bernilai tertinggi di dunia. Bandingkan dengan Samsung yang ngos-ngosan mengejarnya dengan jumlah produk yang tak terhitung variannya. Samsung sangat kompleks.

Disain produk-produk Apple pun demikian. Sangat simple. Perhatikan disain iPhone itu, hanya ada 1 tombol dan tanpa logo Apple sama sekali di depannya.

Orang yang berpikir kompleks selalu berpikir untuk menambah. More, more, more adalah kredonya. Kebalikannya, orang yang berpikir simple selalu berpikir untuk mengurangi. Less, less, less. Kalau 1 tombol saja cukup, buat apa disediakan 3 tombol?

I believe in the power of less. Less is more.