October 8, 2024 • 42 mins
Join youth baseball stars Caleb and Noah as they take center stage, sharing how they leverage the Focus Cycle framework to conquer performance anxiety and excel in the Little League World Series. In this episode, we dive deep into the essential skills of Focus, Self-Talk, and Body Control—key components that empower young athletes to manage their emotions and perform at their best, even under pressure.
Through Caleb and Noah's experiences, you'll discover practical strategies for shifting focus away from distractions, using positive self-talk to reinforce confidence, and controlling physical responses to maintain composure during critical moments. We break down how athletes can consciously create the emotions they need to succeed, harnessing the power of intention and presence to stay in the moment.
This episode is a valuable resource for coaches, too, showcasing how the Focus Cycle can be adapted for athletes of all ages. Whether you’re working with budding players or seasoned competitors, these insights will help you guide your athletes toward mental resilience, providing them with the tools to transform nerves into peak performance. Coaches will also gain actionable techniques for embedding these practices into training, creating a supportive environment where young athletes can thrive both on and off the field.
Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes
Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/academy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the
official podcast of MentalTraining Plan.
We help individuals and teamsperform at their best when it
matters the most, by giving themthe skills and the tools they
need to control their mind andbody.
So today you're going to hearme talking with two youth
baseball players and actuallytaking them through the focus
(00:23):
cycle.
Players and actually takingthem through the focus cycle.
Caleb and Noah both play prettyhigh level little league
baseball.
Caleb's team recently made itto the little league world
series.
Noah has played on that teambefore currently playing on a
different team, has played insome Cooperstown tournaments,
and so these kids have played inthe highest level of
(00:45):
competition in their sport attheir age.
And you're going to get to hearthem talking about some of the
things that they struggle withmentally, physically and
emotionally.
And you're going to hear mesort of guiding them through how
to fill out the focus cycleworksheet.
(01:05):
And if you're a coach,hopefully you can get you know
sort of an idea of what are someways that you communicate this
to the athlete, how do youpresent it, how do you go
through it, how do you lead themthrough what if they say
something that's maybe a littlebit off of what exactly you're
looking for, because they'venever used this tool.
(01:27):
So if you're asking them about,you know what are you focused
on in that moment and they'reanswering what their self-talk
is saying.
How do we help themdifferentiate that in their mind
?
Because I think it's reallyimportant, if we're focused on
the wrong stuff, that we changewhat we're focused on and if
(01:48):
we've got that negative voice inthe back of our mind that we're
changing that story we'retelling ourselves.
So yes, they are certainlysimilar.
Yes, you could argue that getsa little bit into the semantics
of it, but in my experience I dothink that there's value in
helping them see how those arerelated, but a little bit
(02:08):
different.
I'm going to skip through andcut off the first part of the
interview and we're just goingto hop right into them
explaining what that big momentis, and then we'll go through
the reaction and then we'll gothrough the tools and what
they're going to use.
A lot of this is going to soundfamiliar, so there's not
(02:29):
necessarily new knowledge to begained, as much as you just get
to hear.
This is what it sounds likebeing implemented in real time
with high-performing youthathletes who have never heard of
this and never gone throughthis before, so hope you enjoy
this, and then, at the end,we'll wrap a few things up.
(02:52):
So, noah, let's start with you.
What was the specific bigmoment that you wrote down?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Uh, I went 0 for 4 at the plate for the day.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And then, caleb, what was it that you wrote down?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So for me it's also in the Little League Girls
series I was trying to.
I was like, I was like shakingin my last at-bat with two outs
in the last inning.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, absolutely, those are perfect.
As you guys think back to that,I want you to think really hard
.
What were you focused on?
Where was your mind at?
Because some people will thinkinto the future.
They'll maybe think what's thescore?
Are we going to win, are wegoing to lose?
Some people will think into thepast oh no, this is just like
(03:38):
the time where I struck out.
Some people will think allinternal.
They'll maybe say somethinglike gosh, I just want this so
bad.
Or sometimes people will thinkall external and they're worried
about like, what's the coachthink?
What do maybe scouts orrecruiters in the stands think,
noah, as you're thinking aboutthat time, what comes to mind
(04:02):
that you were focused on, maybeas you're coming up to the plate
, knowing that you were focusedon, maybe as you're, as you're
coming up to the plate, knowingthat you've already gone over
for uh, like I was focused onlike negative talk.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I was like, come on, like I said, like talking down
to myself because I'm notperforming to what I expect.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, so you're, you're kind of is it fair to say
, rather than being more dialedin on the present moment that
you were kind of thinking aboutwhat had happened in the past?
Mm-hmm, okay, so do you seewhere it says down at the bottom
on the left-hand side,underneath reaction?
Do you see where it says focus?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So I want you to go ahead and write that down my
past at bats, and then caleb,when you, when you think about
what you were focused on, what,what do you think it was in that
moment?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
like.
For me was just like trying toget ahead, just keep my team
alive and, uh, having like ahigher chance of bringing the
game open.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Okay, so you are.
Is it fair to say you were kindof thinking about what's the
score, what's the outcome?
You were kind of thinking intothe future a little bit.
Is that fair to say, yeah,perfect.
So where it says, where it says, focus down there underneath
reaction, go ahead and writethat down.
The focus down there underneathreaction, go ahead and write
(05:26):
that down.
The next thing that we know isthe average human has about 48.6
thoughts per minute, whichmeans when, in my example, when
I couldn't throw the ball backto the pitcher, that means my
brain wasn't going.
The pitcher, that means mybrain wasn't going.
Well, this stinks.
It was more like, oh my gosh,what's going on?
(05:49):
Why can't I do this?
What's wrong with my arm?
Why can't I throw this back tothe pitcher?
I should know how to do this.
I've been doing this since Iwas in kindergarten, like my
mind was just racing.
Noah, you actually alreadystarted to talk about some of
the some of the negativeself-talk.
As you think about that, thatlittle voice in the back of your
mind, was it saying things likeyou know, I don't know if I'm
(06:11):
good enough to do this, or acash, I can't believe.
I struck at like what?
What was that little voice inthe back of your mind saying in
that moment?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Uh, it was more like I can't believe quotes and like
I suck quotes, so like it wasmore like I can't believe quotes
and like I suck quotes.
So like I can't believe I'mover four.
I'm better than this, like Isuck, yeah, no, that's perfect.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
So I love how you phrased that that I can't
believe.
Kind of dot dot dot.
I would write that down and theI suck dot, dot dot, just
telling yourself you know, know,you haven't been doing well
enough that day.
And then, caleb, what's, what'sthat sound like for you?
What do you, what do you think?
That that little voice was inthe back of your mind?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
so I kind of had both so like oh, when I got two
strikes on me, the last pitch, Iwas like like how did I miss
that?
Like how did I miss that?
And then there's like oh okay,I was like okay, I got this.
I'm just trying to do my job,just keep, keep, keep it on.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah, no, that's perfect, and I and I love that
it sounds like you.
You already are realizing thatnegative voice isn't going to
help me out and I need to kindof switch the story that I'm
telling myself.
So what I want you to writedown in this, in this reaction
(07:33):
spot down on the bottom of thepage, is how did I miss that
Kind of that initial?
You know what was that?
What was that initial reaction,that negative voice?
Go ahead and write that down inthat box.
That's perfect.
Negative voice.
Go ahead and write that down inthat box.
That's perfect.
And then we know that physicallythere's all kinds of stuff that
(07:54):
happens.
So we can, we can look atsomebody who's had that switch
flip in their brain and we cansee that their breathing rate
increases and their heart rateincreases.
Your mouth gets dry.
Sometimes you get butterfliesin your stomach.
Both of those are because yourdigestive system temporarily
shuts down.
Your muscles kind of tense upsometimes, or sometimes the
(08:16):
opposite.
They get shaky and you kind offeel weak.
You know your liver releasesfats and sugars.
You got adrenaline just beingdumped into your body, noah, as
you think back to some of the,maybe some of the physical
things that were going on, whenyou know here you are over four
on the day.
(08:36):
What did you notice physically?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Uh, like I was showing emotions and uh, uh,
like it didn't help me.
Uh, it just brought me downmore.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, and did you?
Did you have butterflies inyour stomach or anything like
that?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Uh, not that I can remember.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Okay, good, Did you have.
So you didn't, you didn't feellike tight or you didn't feel
tense.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
You didn't feel like your heart was racing.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, so kind of, maybe muscles are starting to
tense up on you.
Does that make it easier orharder to swing a baseball bat
the way you're supposed to?
Yeah for sure.
So in that, in that box whereit says body on the left hand
side down at the bottom, goahead and put that muscle
(09:29):
tension or starting to tightenup.
And, caleb, I think that youalready mentioned a little bit
kind of a shaky feeling.
Tell me a little bit about,like what else was going on
physically with your body thatyou could notice in that moment.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Oh yeah.
So like when the camera zoomedin on me, I had two strikes Like
you could just see, like myeyes start to like water up and
like I had like major, likebutterflies.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Okay, so let's write down butterflies in the stomach
and did you feel tight or tenseor shaky, or was there anything
muscular going on?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So like in that moment, like I try not to like
tense up, but like there's likesome pitches that I did, but
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So maybe muscle tension sometimes is that fair
to say, yeah, but primarily justkind of the butterflies in the
stomach and the tears.
Okay, perfect, yeah, so writethose down.
So all of this is going to leadto us feeling something so like
in my example, my big moment.
(10:37):
I can't throw the ball back tothe pitcher.
I'm focused on what ishappening.
Why can't I do this?
The little voice in the back ofmy mind is saying you're never,
you're, you're never going toget to play catcher ever again.
My body is starting to tightenup, my arm feels tight, and then
it's like I just feelunconfident, I feel anxious, I
(11:00):
feel worried or like stressedout.
What were some of of the?
As you think back to that time,noah, what were some of the?
What were some of the thingsthat you felt emotionally in
that moment?
uh, I felt like sad mad, likebecause I wanted to perform yeah
(11:21):
, because I'm guessing you put aton of time into this sport,
right?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, absolutely so.
That's perfect.
Write both of those down andthen, Caleb, what about you?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I was scared and sad, like if we went out like our
little league careers are likeover.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, so so kind of scared about the future, worried
about like what could happen,absolutely.
So I would write.
I would write both of thosedown.
So at this point we're we'rebasically looking at what was
the kind of the automaticreaction that just happened.
(12:06):
I'm assuming that neither ofyou have ever gone to a hitting
coach.
That was like hey, if you couldjust tell yourself things like
hey, you suck and maybe getupset and be worried about the
future and think, gosh, how didI miss that?
Or I can't believe I'm 0 for 4.
If you could just think thosethings and get real sad and
(12:26):
upset, that's going to help youplay better, right?
Is that fair to say yeah, yeah,no, no one's ever going to say
that, but it happened.
And a lot of times that's kindof where we get stuck and so
it's kind of when we, when wethink about a reaction.
The example I like to use islet's say, you know you're
(12:48):
walking out of the store and youstep off the curb and a car
lays on its horn.
That's going to startle you.
You're going to, you, don'thave to think about it, you just
jump back up onto the curbbecause you reacted.
If we go back here and we lookat this three, these three parts
of the brain, this lower part,just kind of does things
(13:09):
automatically right, just goingto sort of react in the moment.
It's like if we're stepping offthe curb and the car lays on
its horn, it's going to justautomatically make us react in
that moment.
The green part, that middlepart of the brain, is where we
feel scared now, or we feelstartled, maybe because this car
(13:32):
just laid on its horn.
And so with the blue part ofthe brain, we can think and we
can say, all right, it's, it'sokay, we're not in danger, like
I'm gonna pay attention, there'sno more cars coming, it's safe,
let's go ahead and cross, okay.
So, basically, what's happenedin our situations where we're
(13:53):
talking about whether it's, youknow, noah Caleb or myself, when
I was playing catcher like thered part of the brain says, oh
no, we can't throw the ball backto the pitcher.
This is, this is not good.
Sound the alarm, this is athreat or oh no, we're over for.
Sound the alarm.
This is a threat or oh no,we're over for sound the alarm.
This is a threat or oh no, I'm.
(14:14):
I have two strikes in thelittle league world series.
If I don't, if I, if I don'tget a hit here, our season's
potentially over.
Oh no, sound the alarm.
And so now, in this green part,we're now feeling these emotions
and we're we're sad or we'remad, or we're unconfident, or
we're worried.
And so we're sad or we're mad,or we're unconfident, or we're
worried.
And so we're going to spend therest of our time thinking how
(14:36):
do we use this blue part andoverride that automatic reaction
?
And so all of this that youguys have written down on your
worksheet so far, it's just areaction.
It's just your mind and yourbody are automatically doing
these things, and it's nodifferent if you're playing
(14:57):
baseball.
You're playing little leaguebaseball, you're playing major
league baseball, you're at yourjob.
Someday I've got people thatfeel these exact same things
when they're walking in to givea big million dollar sales
presentation.
But what are the tools that wecan use to take back control?
(15:21):
So we're going to kind of,we're going to work our way
backwards, um, and we're goingto start with what emotions help
you guys play at your best.
So, noah, if you think back tolike the best game you've ever
had, or you know maybe a timewhere you were just playing
really well.
How did you feel?
Was it like calm?
Was it confident?
(15:42):
Were you in control?
What did that look like for you?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Relaxed, confident and like happy to be there.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Perfect.
So where it says intentionalemotions, just above where you
guys were just writing, go aheadand write those.
And then, caleb, what about you?
When do you play at your best?
How are you feeling?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I feel great.
I feel excited that I'm helpingmy team.
I feel very confident going upto the plate.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, is there a little bit of like do you feel
calm and in control, do you feellike a little bit more amped up
, like what else besidesconfident?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, like amped up.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Amped up and confident.
I love that.
So go ahead.
Where it says intentionalemotions, go ahead and write
that, all right.
So what we don't want to do isjust sit around and hope that
we're somehow going to justmagically feel amped up or
(16:48):
confident or calm or in control.
Amped up or confident or calmor in control.
We want to do the things thatit takes to create those
emotions.
And so you know, if, if I wereto say, all right, the next time
you guys are stressed, justtake a deep breath, do you think
that's going to fix everything?
(17:08):
No, no, okay, I want to put myscreen back up and just show you
this image that I've got,because I think it's important
that you're able to see whatthis picture looks like.
So you know, if I just say, hey, the next time you're stressed,
just take a deep breath, it'slike, eh, why don't you give me
(17:29):
something that's actually goingto work?
Next time you're stressed, justtake a deep breath.
It's like, eh, why don't yougive me something that's
actually going to work?
But if I can say, look, thevagus nerve connects to that
lower part of your brain and itgoes through every major organ
in your body and it'sresponsible for your heart rate,
your breathing rate.
Do you have butterflies in yourstomach?
(17:50):
Because it's controlling howmuch blood is in your stomach,
or does it get pumped elsewhereto?
You know, give your, give yourmuscles a little more energy.
It's connected to your liverthat releases fats and sugars.
It's responsible for adrenalinethat's being dumped into your
body, all these things.
And so now it's like, oh well,yeah, maybe this will actually
(18:16):
work.
And the United States militaryactually spent millions of
dollars on research trying tofigure out how can they help
people who are in like abattlefield situation where you
know people people are aretrying to, you know, hurt, you
kill you Like that's probablythe most stressful environment
(18:37):
that I can think of and they'retrying to figure out how can we
help these men and women performat their best and make good
decisions and be in control oftheir body.
And diaphragmatic breathing waswhat they came up with.
So here's, here's what I wantyou guys to do.
You guys have room there.
Can you both stand up?
Thank you, Because you're nevergoing to do this sitting down
(19:02):
during a baseball game.
So here's what I want you to do.
All right, we're going toinhale and you're going to
inhale for four seconds and I'mgoing to take out my phone and
we're going to inhale for fourseconds and I'm going to.
I'm going to take out my phoneand we're going to.
We're going to use a stopwatchhere.
You're going to inhale for fourseconds.
Okay, try to go in through yournose.
Then we're going to hold thatair in your lungs for four
(19:23):
seconds because we want yourlungs to have time to absorb
that oxygen.
Then we're going to exhale forfour and then we're going to
pause for four, because thelonger we can stretch out our
breaths, the more it's going toturn down this activity on that
vagus nerve.
You guys ready?
All right, here we go.
We're going to inhale in threetwo, one, two, three, four.
(19:50):
Hold one, two, three, four.
Exhale one, two, three, four.
Pause one, two, three, four.
Inhale one, two, three, four.
Hold one, two, three, 4.
(20:10):
Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4.
Pause 1, 2, 3, 4.
All right, and then you guyscan sit back down.
So that's called diaphragmaticbreathing and there's a whole
bunch of people that will teacha whole bunch of different ways
(20:32):
that you can do that breathing.
What's really important is thatthe first two steps take about
eight seconds and the last twosteps take about eight seconds.
So on your worksheet, therewhere it's intentional body, I
want you up there to put fourdash, four, dash, four, dash,
(20:57):
four breathing, because thatdiaphragmatic breathing is the
fastest way to turn down thatactivity on your vagus nerve.
So, noah, you got those, thosebutterflies in your stomach.
Caleb, you got.
You're kind of feeling shaky,you said.
(21:18):
As the camera zoomed in on youwith two strikes you could
literally see kind of theshakiness we we had.
We had the exact same thingwith our, with our high school
guys.
I've had the exact same thingwith our college players, had
the exact same thing with a guythat played for the Chicago
Bears.
It doesn't matter how old youare.
If you're a human and you have ahuman brain, then your human
(21:39):
brain is going to react incertain ways.
Now here's the next thingthat'll help specifically with
muscle tension Can you guys makea real tight fist like this and
then take a big deep breath andthen hold it and then, as you
(22:00):
exhale, kind of shake thosehands out a little bit?
And this time I want you tomake a fist and then I want you
to kind of curl your forearmsand then I want you to squeeze
your biceps and shrug yourshoulders and tighten your whole
upper body and then inhale andthen exhale and kind of loosen
(22:21):
those up and shake those out.
So if you guys remember back tothe video, you saw the lower
part of the brain Bonus question.
You remember what color was thelower part of the brain bonus
question?
You remember what color was?
Yes, when that, when that redpart of the brain controls
muscle tension, then that redpart of the brain gets to pick
whether you're feeling tight,whether you're feeling shaky or
(22:44):
whether you're kind of feeling.
You know what, somewhere inbetween, what we're doing is
using that top part what colorwas it in the video?
We're using that top and thatfront part of the brain to say
no, no, no, no, no, I'm going totake back control, just like
the red part of the brain cancontrol your breathing.
Or you can say let's use theblue part and override that.
(23:07):
So this is basically the bluepart, overriding that muscle
tension.
So, caleb, you know, if you, ifyou feel a little shaky, this
is something where you canliterally step out of the
batter's box.
You can grab that bat andtighten your upper body as tight
as you can, take a big deepbreath and then loosen up and
(23:27):
now you're ready to go.
And now, instead of that redpart being in control, now that
blue part's taking back control.
So in the box where it saysbody on the front, you can also
add on there.
A second tool that we have isFMR, or Forced Muscular
(23:48):
Relaxation.
Instead of letting the lowerpart of your brain pick, we're
going to use the red part.
All right.
Next one kind of working ourway backwards.
The next one is self-talk.
And so I know that I've gotsome athletes that you know they
(24:10):
like to use a Bible verse likeI can do all things through
Christ, who strengthens me.
I've got some athletes that youknow they like to use a Bible
verse like I can do all thingsthrough Christ, who strengthens
me.
I've got some athletes thathave a mantra they want to use
like I can, I will.
I've got other athletes thatreally like using what we call a
go-to statement.
Do you guys have that secondpage by chance?
(24:30):
Is there anything on the back ofyour worksheet?
Have a that second page bychance, or anything on the back
of your worksheet Perfect,excellent.
So on the on the back thereyou've got three boxes, and the
first one says why I am great.
I want you guys to come up witha list of what are the things
that you know are always there,of what are the things that you
know are always there, even onyour worst day.
(24:52):
And what I don't want you towrite is I have an amazing
fastball, or I'm an amazingbatter, because what happens if
you're 0 for 4 on that day?
Or what happens if two battersin a row crank that fastball.
So instead we want stuff thatit's even when you're playing
(25:12):
your worst what's always goingto be there.
Some athletes will write thingsdown Like I work really hard.
So if, if, if you guys feellike you work really hard, you
could add that to your list.
Some athletes feel like youknow what.
(25:34):
I put in a ton of time intoplaying my sport.
So if you put in a bunch oftime, then I would write that
down.
Other athletes maybe they'rethe kind of person that's just
never going to quit.
They're tough, they're gritty.
They know that, no matter howbad things get, they're never
going to quit.
I want you guys to fill in thatfirst box.
And then this is.
(26:03):
I also want to be clear on this.
I would not necessarilyencourage you guys to share this
on your podcast.
All the athletes that I do thiswith, they have a go-to
statement.
But even the athletes that geton my podcast and tell our
audience about literallyeverything they do, they don't
(26:26):
talk about their go-to statement, because studies also show that
sometimes that just puts alittle bit of extra pressure on
you, because now you feel likepeople are watching you and, oh,
are they judging whether or notthe statement's working?
So it's just, it's nobodyelse's business.
If you want to share it with,like a coach or a parent, that's
cool.
If you want to reach out to meafterwards, absolutely I would
(26:49):
love to help you out with this.
I'm happy to help you out withthis.
I'm happy to help you guys anyway that I can, but I like I
just you don't need to blast itout there on your show.
So here's the second part inthat second box.
It says what I will achieve.
I want to know what do you needto believe in that moment, noah
(27:09):
, when you're 0-4 and you've gotto go up to the plate and
you've got to put the ball inplay or you've got to have a
quality at bat, what is it thatyou want to believe?
Are you trying to be the best?
Is it?
I'm the best player out here?
I'm the best player in thestate?
I'm the best player in thecountry?
(27:31):
Are you trying to believe thatyou're this unshakable force
that the other team doesn't havethe power to beat you or knock
you down, that you're going toget up there and fight, no
matter what?
Is it I belong on this diamondor I've earned this spot?
(27:51):
So, caleb and Noah, I'm goingto have you guys in that second
box.
Write down what you're workingtowards that you wish you
believed, like I am the bestplayer in the country, or I
belong on this diamond, or Ihave what it takes.
And then I want to tell youguys my story.
(28:13):
So I'm in year two as theoffensive coordinator, so I'm
calling the plays and we'regoing down to play this team at
Lucas Oil Stadium, where theColts play, and I was in a bad
spot.
They were good, they werebetter than us and their
defensive coordinator had beencoaching longer than I'd been
(28:34):
alive and my self-talk was likeman, I don't know if we can do
this.
I don't know if we can beatthese guys.
And I was literally in themiddle of a sports psychology
class and I'm reading thistextbook about a go-to statement
and it says you take this, youknow why I'm great.
(28:54):
And all I wrote down in thefirst box was I watch a lot of
film and I'm organized.
That was it.
And in the second box I wrotedown I'm the best coach in the
state.
And it was like there was thisvoice in the back of my mind
going best coach in the state,You're not even the best coach
(29:14):
on your staff.
What are you talking about?
And then it said you take thefirst box and you take the
second box and you add themtogether and you come up with
your go to statement.
And so I said I put in the time.
I put in the work, I'm the bestcoach in the state.
And then it said you got to saytime I put in the work, I'm the
(29:34):
best coach in the state.
And then it said you got to sayit 50 times a day.
And I was like 50 times a day,is this actually going to do
anything?
So I started saying it and Iwas like I put in the time, I
put in the work, I'm the bestcoach in the state.
I put in the time I put in thework, I'm the best coach in the
state.
And you know what happened?
By the end of the day,absolutely nothing.
And by the end of the dayMonday, still nothing.
(30:01):
By the end of the day Tuesday,I'm starting to think like is
this actually going to doanything?
Am I even doing this right?
And by the end of the dayWednesday, that little voice in
the back of my mind was like youknow what you do put in a lot
of time.
And by the end of the dayWednesday, that little voice in
the back of my mind was like youknow what you do put in a lot
of time.
And by the end of the daySaturday, that little voice in
the back of my mind was likeyeah, let's go play this game.
And so we scored a lot ofpoints, which didn't matter.
(30:24):
That's not a determining factorin did this work or not.
We lost the game.
That didn't matter, that's nota determining factor.
And did this work?
What determined that was?
I was able to just get out ofmy own head and just go do my
thing.
And so if you guys in thatthird box right there can
(30:44):
combine whatever you have in thefirst box and whatever you have
in the second box and come upwith that powerful go-to
statement, that's going to helpyou guys in that moment when
that little voice is saying,gosh, how did I miss that pitch,
or I can't believe I did that,or I suck, or whatever that
looks like.
So I'm going to give you guysjust a minute to fill that out
(31:09):
real quick and then, like I said, if you guys want to, if you
want to reach out afterwards,you know, have somebody, shoot
me an email, we can hop on aphone call.
I'm happy to go a little bitdeeper into this with both of
you, um, but that's, that's atleast kind of how the tool works
.
(31:34):
And then on the front of yoursheet, you kind of have you've
got, you've got some options.
So you know, some athletes, likeI said, they've got a Bible
verse that they say so whentheir mind starts thinking
negative thoughts.
That's what they say.
Some athletes I work withthey've got a mantra like I can,
I will, or I put in the workI'm the best and other athletes.
(31:56):
They really like the idea ofthe go-to statement.
So, whatever it is that youguys want to do self-talk wise,
go ahead and write that down onthe front of the sheet where it
says self-talk, because the onlything we don't want to do is
have a plan and just hope forthe best.
So, whether you like the verse,the mantra or the go-to
(32:21):
statement, write that down onthe front of your worksheet, all
right?
And then that kind of brings usto the last category on here,
which is focus, and again I'llhave you go to the back sheet,
kind of that scratch paper there, and there are some things that
are in your control and somethings that are not in your
(32:43):
control.
So, like your attitude, wouldyou say you can control that or
no?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, so put that in my control my attitude, what
about how good the other team is?
Can you control that?
No, so put that in the I cannotcontrol.
And then maybe you guys come upwith some other things on your
own and then I'd love for you toshare.
(33:10):
You know, like what are somethings you can control, Like
maybe your attitude and youreffort and how hard you hustle.
Or what are some things you cancontrol, Like maybe your
attitude and your effort and howhard you hustle, or what are
some things you can't controlthe past, the future, how good
your teammates play.
Like you guys write down somethings that maybe you think
about sometimes during a gameand figure out whether you can
(33:31):
control them or you can'tcontrol them.
Noah, what do you got so far?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I have my attitude.
How good is what I can control?
I can't control how good theteam is the umps the past and
the future.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Yeah, that's a good one.
The umps especially, you know.
Maybe they miss a call, theymake a bad call, doesn't matter.
I mean, we can't control thatcaleb.
Did you have any others thatwere that were different from
any of those?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
yeah, so things I can't control is um like how
hard I I put in the work and umlike my emotions and on on and
off the field and uh, how goodthe team, uh, things I can't
control how good the team is andthe outcome of the game well, I
(34:24):
like that all right.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
And then the the things that matter right now and
the things that don't matterright now.
So let's say, you guys miss asign, does that matter?
Like should you pay attentionto that, maybe, and fix that
moving forward.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
But if you missed a sign earlyin the game and it cost your
team a run, should you still bebeating yourself up about that
later on in the fifth inning?
No, absolutely not.
If you're doing, if you'redoing the wrong thing with you
know, when you're swinging thatbat maybe you're dropping your
(35:04):
shoulders way too much.
Do you need to fix that?
yes, yeah but should you beworried about that?
Right in the middle of a gameShould you be changing your
fundamentals or your technique?
No, absolutely not.
So you guys kind of write downsome things like maybe what are
some things that matter rightnow and what are some things
(35:26):
that don't matter right now?
We can take care of them laterand write those down in the box.
And I would say, I mean, reallythe only thing that I think
really matters right now is likethis pitch Alright.
(35:46):
Was there anything you guyscame up with?
Speaker 2 (35:51):
My swing and my performance.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
For me things that matter right now.
I said this pitch the game andI forgot to add it.
But like um, like getting likelocked in in the moment.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Ooh, I like the yeah being okay.
Yeah, deciding that you'regoing to focus on what you
choose.
I like that, all right.
You're going to focus on whatyou choose.
I like that, all right.
So you guys down at the bottomhave what's called the game plan
or my game plan.
So, on the left-hand side, Iwant you to write down what are
(36:27):
some big moments that might tryand flip that switch for you.
Maybe it's your first at-bat.
Maybe sometimes you get nervousfor you.
Maybe it's your first at-bat.
Maybe sometimes you get nervousfor that.
Or maybe it's after you getdown 0-2 at the plate.
Or maybe it's after you walk abatter.
(36:47):
Or maybe it's playing atCooperstown, maybe it's playing
in the Little League WorldSeries.
The fact that now you're goingto be on TV and now all these
eyes are on you, everybody'swatching you Like what are the
times where that switch on theinside, that middle green part
of your brain, might get flipped?
And write those down on theleft-hand side.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I'll go like we're losing my teams down and I'll
like try to bring them up, tryand bring their confidence back.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Okay, so okay.
So that's a.
That's a good situation.
My team is losing.
Does that sometimes make youfeel, maybe a little bit
stressed?
All right, noah, let's think ofone for you when you're
pitching, what's's a, what's asituation for you?
That is it.
Maybe you walk two batters, youwalk one batter, you throw a
(37:40):
ball, you throw three ball.
Like where's that for you?
Speaker 2 (37:45):
uh pass balls and when my team is making errors I
love that.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Write both of those down so my team makes it, my
teammate makes an error in thefield and I throw a pass ball.
Those are perfect, caleb.
Are there any other situationsfor you, maybe at the plate
specifically, or in the fieldspecifically?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
I got two for each, so one is like I'm up to bat and
I'm down on the count.
What I will do is like try tobattle as much as I can On
defense.
There's a runner on second.
No outs, I will if the ball iscoming to me.
(38:28):
My goal is trying to throw thiskid out the hole, like you.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I got you so kind of making sure that you understand
the situation, you understandwhere you're going.
If that ball is hit to you,right, that's perfect.
So what we want to do isbasically have a plan.
So you guys have four toolsthat you wrote down.
So, on the you know, on thebody section, where it's the
(38:57):
intentional, how do we going tocontrol our body?
You wrote down the breathing,the four, four, four, four, or
the four by four breathing.
You wrote down the FMR, or theforced muscular relaxation.
For self-talk, you wrote downeither go-to statement or verse
or mantra, and then for focus,you know we want to focus on
(39:22):
things that matter right now andthat we can control.
So really, probably this pitchis a good reminder for us.
What I, what I want toencourage you guys to do now is
go to each one of thosescenarios.
So let's say you know, noah,let's say your teammate makes an
error, right?
(39:42):
So how are you going to getback control of your mind and
body?
Maybe you want to do all ofthose things.
Maybe you want to take a deepbreath, do forced muscular
relaxation so you don't gettight.
You want to say your go-tostatement and you want to?
Okay, let's focus on this pitch, let's focus on this batter.
Or maybe, caleb, you knowyou're down in the count, you're
(40:06):
up at the plate, and so whatyou want to do is say, all right
, I'm going to do the forcedmuscular relaxation, because I
know sometimes in the past I'vegotten a little shaky, so I'm
going to do my breathing, theforced muscular relaxation, and
now I'm good to go.
Basically, what we just what wewant to have you guys do is
figure out how am I going to usethese four tools, when am I
(40:30):
going to use these four tools sothat you can take back control
of your mind and body?
My hope is that you got a lotout of this, especially if
you're a coach and you're tryingto figure out okay, how am I
going to implement this with myteam?
How am I going to teach this tomy athletes, how do I get them
to go through and fill this out?
And obviously, this is just thefirst step.
(40:52):
This episode is basically kindof the same as episode number
119.
It just lets you hear insteadof me just talking to you, lets
you hear kind of both sides ofthat interaction, and then,
obviously, after this, the nextsteps would be okay.
Now they need to go use thesetools on the diamond.
They need to use this duringcompetition and then after that
(41:17):
we need to have a follow-upconversation.
How did it go?
Did you use the tools?
If not, how do we help youremember to use the tools?
Uh, if you did use the tools,did they work?
Did they not work?
Do we need to make any tweaks?
Do we need to make any changes?
Obviously, that's episodes one,20, 121, and 122.
(41:37):
So you're going to hear we'vegot one more interview that's
lined up in this focus cyclemini-series, you could call it
that we have.
And the next one, while thiswas with youth league players,
we're going to go to thecomplete opposite end of the
spectrum.
Youth league players, we'regoing to go to the complete
(41:58):
opposite end of the spectrum,and the next conversation is
going to be me and a coach whohas actually implemented this
with her team but then reachedout to me and needed a little
bit more help with hey, how do Iimplement this with myself?
How do I use this with myself?
So hopefully, you'll join usfor that.
In the meantime, if you gotanything out of today's episode,
(42:19):
we always appreciate when youguys share the podcast.
Share your favorite episodeswith people that you think will
benefit from them.
If you have questions, pleasedon't hesitate to reach out and
until next time, make your planand put it to work.
Hey, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the
official podcast of MentalTraining Plan.
We help individuals and teamsperform at their best when it
matters the most, by giving themthe skills and the tools they
need to control their mind andbody.
So today you're going to hearme talking with two youth
baseball players and actuallytaking them through the focus
(00:23):
cycle.
Players and actually takingthem through the focus cycle.
Caleb and Noah both play prettyhigh level little league
baseball.
Caleb's team recently made itto the little league world
series.
Noah has played on that teambefore currently playing on a
different team, has played insome Cooperstown tournaments,
and so these kids have played inthe highest level of
(00:45):
competition in their sport attheir age.
And you're going to get to hearthem talking about some of the
things that they struggle withmentally, physically and
emotionally.
And you're going to hear mesort of guiding them through how
to fill out the focus cycleworksheet.
(01:05):
And if you're a coach,hopefully you can get you know
sort of an idea of what are someways that you communicate this
to the athlete, how do youpresent it, how do you go
through it, how do you lead themthrough what if they say
something that's maybe a littlebit off of what exactly you're
looking for, because they'venever used this tool.
(01:27):
So if you're asking them about,you know what are you focused
on in that moment and they'reanswering what their self-talk
is saying.
How do we help themdifferentiate that in their mind
?
Because I think it's reallyimportant, if we're focused on
the wrong stuff, that we changewhat we're focused on and if
(01:48):
we've got that negative voice inthe back of our mind that we're
changing that story we'retelling ourselves.
So yes, they are certainlysimilar.
Yes, you could argue that getsa little bit into the semantics
of it, but in my experience I dothink that there's value in
helping them see how those arerelated, but a little bit
(02:08):
different.
I'm going to skip through andcut off the first part of the
interview and we're just goingto hop right into them
explaining what that big momentis, and then we'll go through
the reaction and then we'll gothrough the tools and what
they're going to use.
A lot of this is going to soundfamiliar, so there's not
(02:29):
necessarily new knowledge to begained, as much as you just get
to hear.
This is what it sounds likebeing implemented in real time
with high-performing youthathletes who have never heard of
this and never gone throughthis before, so hope you enjoy
this, and then, at the end,we'll wrap a few things up.
(02:52):
So, noah, let's start with you.
What was the specific bigmoment that you wrote down?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Uh, I went 0 for 4 at the plate for the day.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And then, caleb, what was it that you wrote down?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So for me it's also in the Little League Girls
series I was trying to.
I was like, I was like shakingin my last at-bat with two outs
in the last inning.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, absolutely, those are perfect.
As you guys think back to that,I want you to think really hard
.
What were you focused on?
Where was your mind at?
Because some people will thinkinto the future.
They'll maybe think what's thescore?
Are we going to win, are wegoing to lose?
Some people will think into thepast oh no, this is just like
(03:38):
the time where I struck out.
Some people will think allinternal.
They'll maybe say somethinglike gosh, I just want this so
bad.
Or sometimes people will thinkall external and they're worried
about like, what's the coachthink?
What do maybe scouts orrecruiters in the stands think,
noah, as you're thinking aboutthat time, what comes to mind
(04:02):
that you were focused on, maybeas you're coming up to the plate
, knowing that you were focusedon, maybe as you're, as you're
coming up to the plate, knowingthat you've already gone over
for uh, like I was focused onlike negative talk.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I was like, come on, like I said, like talking down
to myself because I'm notperforming to what I expect.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, so you're, you're kind of is it fair to say
, rather than being more dialedin on the present moment that
you were kind of thinking aboutwhat had happened in the past?
Mm-hmm, okay, so do you seewhere it says down at the bottom
on the left-hand side,underneath reaction?
Do you see where it says focus?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So I want you to go ahead and write that down my
past at bats, and then caleb,when you, when you think about
what you were focused on, what,what do you think it was in that
moment?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
like.
For me was just like trying toget ahead, just keep my team
alive and, uh, having like ahigher chance of bringing the
game open.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Okay, so you are.
Is it fair to say you were kindof thinking about what's the
score, what's the outcome?
You were kind of thinking intothe future a little bit.
Is that fair to say, yeah,perfect.
So where it says, where it says, focus down there underneath
reaction, go ahead and writethat down.
The focus down there underneathreaction, go ahead and write
(05:26):
that down.
The next thing that we know isthe average human has about 48.6
thoughts per minute, whichmeans when, in my example, when
I couldn't throw the ball backto the pitcher, that means my
brain wasn't going.
The pitcher, that means mybrain wasn't going.
Well, this stinks.
It was more like, oh my gosh,what's going on?
(05:49):
Why can't I do this?
What's wrong with my arm?
Why can't I throw this back tothe pitcher?
I should know how to do this.
I've been doing this since Iwas in kindergarten, like my
mind was just racing.
Noah, you actually alreadystarted to talk about some of
the some of the negativeself-talk.
As you think about that, thatlittle voice in the back of your
mind, was it saying things likeyou know, I don't know if I'm
(06:11):
good enough to do this, or acash, I can't believe.
I struck at like what?
What was that little voice inthe back of your mind saying in
that moment?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Uh, it was more like I can't believe quotes and like
I suck quotes, so like it wasmore like I can't believe quotes
and like I suck quotes.
So like I can't believe I'mover four.
I'm better than this, like Isuck, yeah, no, that's perfect.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
So I love how you phrased that that I can't
believe.
Kind of dot dot dot.
I would write that down and theI suck dot, dot dot, just
telling yourself you know, know,you haven't been doing well
enough that day.
And then, caleb, what's, what'sthat sound like for you?
What do you, what do you think?
That that little voice was inthe back of your mind?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
so I kind of had both so like oh, when I got two
strikes on me, the last pitch, Iwas like like how did I miss
that?
Like how did I miss that?
And then there's like oh okay,I was like okay, I got this.
I'm just trying to do my job,just keep, keep, keep it on.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah, no, that's perfect, and I and I love that
it sounds like you.
You already are realizing thatnegative voice isn't going to
help me out and I need to kindof switch the story that I'm
telling myself.
So what I want you to writedown in this, in this reaction
(07:33):
spot down on the bottom of thepage, is how did I miss that
Kind of that initial?
You know what was that?
What was that initial reaction,that negative voice?
Go ahead and write that down inthat box.
That's perfect.
Negative voice.
Go ahead and write that down inthat box.
That's perfect.
And then we know that physicallythere's all kinds of stuff that
(07:54):
happens.
So we can, we can look atsomebody who's had that switch
flip in their brain and we cansee that their breathing rate
increases and their heart rateincreases.
Your mouth gets dry.
Sometimes you get butterfliesin your stomach.
Both of those are because yourdigestive system temporarily
shuts down.
Your muscles kind of tense upsometimes, or sometimes the
(08:16):
opposite.
They get shaky and you kind offeel weak.
You know your liver releasesfats and sugars.
You got adrenaline just beingdumped into your body, noah, as
you think back to some of the,maybe some of the physical
things that were going on, whenyou know here you are over four
on the day.
(08:36):
What did you notice physically?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Uh, like I was showing emotions and uh, uh,
like it didn't help me.
Uh, it just brought me downmore.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, and did you?
Did you have butterflies inyour stomach or anything like
that?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Uh, not that I can remember.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Okay, good, Did you have.
So you didn't, you didn't feellike tight or you didn't feel
tense.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
You didn't feel like your heart was racing.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, so kind of, maybe muscles are starting to
tense up on you.
Does that make it easier orharder to swing a baseball bat
the way you're supposed to?
Yeah for sure.
So in that, in that box whereit says body on the left hand
side down at the bottom, goahead and put that muscle
(09:29):
tension or starting to tightenup.
And, caleb, I think that youalready mentioned a little bit
kind of a shaky feeling.
Tell me a little bit about,like what else was going on
physically with your body thatyou could notice in that moment.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Oh yeah.
So like when the camera zoomedin on me, I had two strikes Like
you could just see, like myeyes start to like water up and
like I had like major, likebutterflies.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Okay, so let's write down butterflies in the stomach
and did you feel tight or tenseor shaky, or was there anything
muscular going on?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So like in that moment, like I try not to like
tense up, but like there's likesome pitches that I did, but
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So maybe muscle tension sometimes is that fair
to say, yeah, but primarily justkind of the butterflies in the
stomach and the tears.
Okay, perfect, yeah, so writethose down.
So all of this is going to leadto us feeling something so like
in my example, my big moment.
(10:37):
I can't throw the ball back tothe pitcher.
I'm focused on what ishappening.
Why can't I do this?
The little voice in the back ofmy mind is saying you're never,
you're, you're never going toget to play catcher ever again.
My body is starting to tightenup, my arm feels tight, and then
it's like I just feelunconfident, I feel anxious, I
(11:00):
feel worried or like stressedout.
What were some of of the?
As you think back to that time,noah, what were some of the?
What were some of the thingsthat you felt emotionally in
that moment?
uh, I felt like sad mad, likebecause I wanted to perform yeah
(11:21):
, because I'm guessing you put aton of time into this sport,
right?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, absolutely so.
That's perfect.
Write both of those down andthen, Caleb, what about you?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I was scared and sad, like if we went out like our
little league careers are likeover.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, so so kind of scared about the future, worried
about like what could happen,absolutely.
So I would write.
I would write both of thosedown.
So at this point we're we'rebasically looking at what was
the kind of the automaticreaction that just happened.
(12:06):
I'm assuming that neither ofyou have ever gone to a hitting
coach.
That was like hey, if you couldjust tell yourself things like
hey, you suck and maybe getupset and be worried about the
future and think, gosh, how didI miss that?
Or I can't believe I'm 0 for 4.
If you could just think thosethings and get real sad and
(12:26):
upset, that's going to help youplay better, right?
Is that fair to say yeah, yeah,no, no one's ever going to say
that, but it happened.
And a lot of times that's kindof where we get stuck and so
it's kind of when we, when wethink about a reaction.
The example I like to use islet's say, you know you're
(12:48):
walking out of the store and youstep off the curb and a car
lays on its horn.
That's going to startle you.
You're going to, you, don'thave to think about it, you just
jump back up onto the curbbecause you reacted.
If we go back here and we lookat this three, these three parts
of the brain, this lower part,just kind of does things
(13:09):
automatically right, just goingto sort of react in the moment.
It's like if we're stepping offthe curb and the car lays on
its horn, it's going to justautomatically make us react in
that moment.
The green part, that middlepart of the brain, is where we
feel scared now, or we feelstartled, maybe because this car
(13:32):
just laid on its horn.
And so with the blue part ofthe brain, we can think and we
can say, all right, it's, it'sokay, we're not in danger, like
I'm gonna pay attention, there'sno more cars coming, it's safe,
let's go ahead and cross, okay.
So, basically, what's happenedin our situations where we're
(13:53):
talking about whether it's, youknow, noah Caleb or myself, when
I was playing catcher like thered part of the brain says, oh
no, we can't throw the ball backto the pitcher.
This is, this is not good.
Sound the alarm, this is athreat or oh no, we're over for.
Sound the alarm.
This is a threat or oh no,we're over for sound the alarm.
This is a threat or oh no, I'm.
(14:14):
I have two strikes in thelittle league world series.
If I don't, if I, if I don'tget a hit here, our season's
potentially over.
Oh no, sound the alarm.
And so now, in this green part,we're now feeling these emotions
and we're we're sad or we'remad, or we're unconfident, or
we're worried.
And so we're sad or we're mad,or we're unconfident, or we're
worried.
And so we're going to spend therest of our time thinking how
(14:36):
do we use this blue part andoverride that automatic reaction
?
And so all of this that youguys have written down on your
worksheet so far, it's just areaction.
It's just your mind and yourbody are automatically doing
these things, and it's nodifferent if you're playing
(14:57):
baseball.
You're playing little leaguebaseball, you're playing major
league baseball, you're at yourjob.
Someday I've got people thatfeel these exact same things
when they're walking in to givea big million dollar sales
presentation.
But what are the tools that wecan use to take back control?
(15:21):
So we're going to kind of,we're going to work our way
backwards, um, and we're goingto start with what emotions help
you guys play at your best.
So, noah, if you think back tolike the best game you've ever
had, or you know maybe a timewhere you were just playing
really well.
How did you feel?
Was it like calm?
Was it confident?
(15:42):
Were you in control?
What did that look like for you?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Relaxed, confident and like happy to be there.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Perfect.
So where it says intentionalemotions, just above where you
guys were just writing, go aheadand write those.
And then, caleb, what about you?
When do you play at your best?
How are you feeling?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I feel great.
I feel excited that I'm helpingmy team.
I feel very confident going upto the plate.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, is there a little bit of like do you feel
calm and in control, do you feellike a little bit more amped up
, like what else besidesconfident?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, like amped up.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Amped up and confident.
I love that.
So go ahead.
Where it says intentionalemotions, go ahead and write
that, all right.
So what we don't want to do isjust sit around and hope that
we're somehow going to justmagically feel amped up or
(16:48):
confident or calm or in control.
Amped up or confident or calmor in control.
We want to do the things thatit takes to create those
emotions.
And so you know, if, if I wereto say, all right, the next time
you guys are stressed, justtake a deep breath, do you think
that's going to fix everything?
(17:08):
No, no, okay, I want to put myscreen back up and just show you
this image that I've got,because I think it's important
that you're able to see whatthis picture looks like.
So you know, if I just say, hey, the next time you're stressed,
just take a deep breath, it'slike, eh, why don't you give me
(17:29):
something that's actually goingto work?
Next time you're stressed, justtake a deep breath.
It's like, eh, why don't yougive me something that's
actually going to work?
But if I can say, look, thevagus nerve connects to that
lower part of your brain and itgoes through every major organ
in your body and it'sresponsible for your heart rate,
your breathing rate.
Do you have butterflies in yourstomach?
(17:50):
Because it's controlling howmuch blood is in your stomach,
or does it get pumped elsewhereto?
You know, give your, give yourmuscles a little more energy.
It's connected to your liverthat releases fats and sugars.
It's responsible for adrenalinethat's being dumped into your
body, all these things.
And so now it's like, oh well,yeah, maybe this will actually
(18:16):
work.
And the United States militaryactually spent millions of
dollars on research trying tofigure out how can they help
people who are in like abattlefield situation where you
know people people are aretrying to, you know, hurt, you
kill you Like that's probablythe most stressful environment
(18:37):
that I can think of and they'retrying to figure out how can we
help these men and women performat their best and make good
decisions and be in control oftheir body.
And diaphragmatic breathing waswhat they came up with.
So here's, here's what I wantyou guys to do.
You guys have room there.
Can you both stand up?
Thank you, Because you're nevergoing to do this sitting down
(19:02):
during a baseball game.
So here's what I want you to do.
All right, we're going toinhale and you're going to
inhale for four seconds and I'mgoing to take out my phone and
we're going to inhale for fourseconds and I'm going to.
I'm going to take out my phoneand we're going to.
We're going to use a stopwatchhere.
You're going to inhale for fourseconds.
Okay, try to go in through yournose.
Then we're going to hold thatair in your lungs for four
(19:23):
seconds because we want yourlungs to have time to absorb
that oxygen.
Then we're going to exhale forfour and then we're going to
pause for four, because thelonger we can stretch out our
breaths, the more it's going toturn down this activity on that
vagus nerve.
You guys ready?
All right, here we go.
We're going to inhale in threetwo, one, two, three, four.
(19:50):
Hold one, two, three, four.
Exhale one, two, three, four.
Pause one, two, three, four.
Inhale one, two, three, four.
Hold one, two, three, 4.
(20:10):
Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4.
Pause 1, 2, 3, 4.
All right, and then you guyscan sit back down.
So that's called diaphragmaticbreathing and there's a whole
bunch of people that will teacha whole bunch of different ways
(20:32):
that you can do that breathing.
What's really important is thatthe first two steps take about
eight seconds and the last twosteps take about eight seconds.
So on your worksheet, therewhere it's intentional body, I
want you up there to put fourdash, four, dash, four, dash,
(20:57):
four breathing, because thatdiaphragmatic breathing is the
fastest way to turn down thatactivity on your vagus nerve.
So, noah, you got those, thosebutterflies in your stomach.
Caleb, you got.
You're kind of feeling shaky,you said.
(21:18):
As the camera zoomed in on youwith two strikes you could
literally see kind of theshakiness we we had.
We had the exact same thingwith our, with our high school
guys.
I've had the exact same thingwith our college players, had
the exact same thing with a guythat played for the Chicago
Bears.
It doesn't matter how old youare.
If you're a human and you have ahuman brain, then your human
(21:39):
brain is going to react incertain ways.
Now here's the next thingthat'll help specifically with
muscle tension Can you guys makea real tight fist like this and
then take a big deep breath andthen hold it and then, as you
(22:00):
exhale, kind of shake thosehands out a little bit?
And this time I want you tomake a fist and then I want you
to kind of curl your forearmsand then I want you to squeeze
your biceps and shrug yourshoulders and tighten your whole
upper body and then inhale andthen exhale and kind of loosen
(22:21):
those up and shake those out.
So if you guys remember back tothe video, you saw the lower
part of the brain Bonus question.
You remember what color was thelower part of the brain bonus
question?
You remember what color was?
Yes, when that, when that redpart of the brain controls
muscle tension, then that redpart of the brain gets to pick
whether you're feeling tight,whether you're feeling shaky or
(22:44):
whether you're kind of feeling.
You know what, somewhere inbetween, what we're doing is
using that top part what colorwas it in the video?
We're using that top and thatfront part of the brain to say
no, no, no, no, no, I'm going totake back control, just like
the red part of the brain cancontrol your breathing.
Or you can say let's use theblue part and override that.
(23:07):
So this is basically the bluepart, overriding that muscle
tension.
So, caleb, you know, if you, ifyou feel a little shaky, this
is something where you canliterally step out of the
batter's box.
You can grab that bat andtighten your upper body as tight
as you can, take a big deepbreath and then loosen up and
(23:27):
now you're ready to go.
And now, instead of that redpart being in control, now that
blue part's taking back control.
So in the box where it saysbody on the front, you can also
add on there.
A second tool that we have isFMR, or Forced Muscular
(23:48):
Relaxation.
Instead of letting the lowerpart of your brain pick, we're
going to use the red part.
All right.
Next one kind of working ourway backwards.
The next one is self-talk.
And so I know that I've gotsome athletes that you know they
(24:10):
like to use a Bible verse likeI can do all things through
Christ, who strengthens me.
I've got some athletes that youknow they like to use a Bible
verse like I can do all thingsthrough Christ, who strengthens
me.
I've got some athletes thathave a mantra they want to use
like I can, I will.
I've got other athletes thatreally like using what we call a
go-to statement.
Do you guys have that secondpage by chance?
(24:30):
Is there anything on the back ofyour worksheet?
Have a that second page bychance, or anything on the back
of your worksheet Perfect,excellent.
So on the on the back thereyou've got three boxes, and the
first one says why I am great.
I want you guys to come up witha list of what are the things
that you know are always there,of what are the things that you
know are always there, even onyour worst day.
(24:52):
And what I don't want you towrite is I have an amazing
fastball, or I'm an amazingbatter, because what happens if
you're 0 for 4 on that day?
Or what happens if two battersin a row crank that fastball.
So instead we want stuff thatit's even when you're playing
(25:12):
your worst what's always goingto be there.
Some athletes will write thingsdown Like I work really hard.
So if, if, if you guys feellike you work really hard, you
could add that to your list.
Some athletes feel like youknow what.
(25:34):
I put in a ton of time intoplaying my sport.
So if you put in a bunch oftime, then I would write that
down.
Other athletes maybe they'rethe kind of person that's just
never going to quit.
They're tough, they're gritty.
They know that, no matter howbad things get, they're never
going to quit.
I want you guys to fill in thatfirst box.
And then this is.
(26:03):
I also want to be clear on this.
I would not necessarilyencourage you guys to share this
on your podcast.
All the athletes that I do thiswith, they have a go-to
statement.
But even the athletes that geton my podcast and tell our
audience about literallyeverything they do, they don't
(26:26):
talk about their go-to statement, because studies also show that
sometimes that just puts alittle bit of extra pressure on
you, because now you feel likepeople are watching you and, oh,
are they judging whether or notthe statement's working?
So it's just, it's nobodyelse's business.
If you want to share it with,like a coach or a parent, that's
cool.
If you want to reach out to meafterwards, absolutely I would
(26:49):
love to help you out with this.
I'm happy to help you out withthis.
I'm happy to help you guys anyway that I can, but I like I
just you don't need to blast itout there on your show.
So here's the second part inthat second box.
It says what I will achieve.
I want to know what do you needto believe in that moment, noah
(27:09):
, when you're 0-4 and you've gotto go up to the plate and
you've got to put the ball inplay or you've got to have a
quality at bat, what is it thatyou want to believe?
Are you trying to be the best?
Is it?
I'm the best player out here?
I'm the best player in thestate?
I'm the best player in thecountry?
(27:31):
Are you trying to believe thatyou're this unshakable force
that the other team doesn't havethe power to beat you or knock
you down, that you're going toget up there and fight, no
matter what?
Is it I belong on this diamondor I've earned this spot?
(27:51):
So, caleb and Noah, I'm goingto have you guys in that second
box.
Write down what you're workingtowards that you wish you
believed, like I am the bestplayer in the country, or I
belong on this diamond, or Ihave what it takes.
And then I want to tell youguys my story.
(28:13):
So I'm in year two as theoffensive coordinator, so I'm
calling the plays and we'regoing down to play this team at
Lucas Oil Stadium, where theColts play, and I was in a bad
spot.
They were good, they werebetter than us and their
defensive coordinator had beencoaching longer than I'd been
(28:34):
alive and my self-talk was likeman, I don't know if we can do
this.
I don't know if we can beatthese guys.
And I was literally in themiddle of a sports psychology
class and I'm reading thistextbook about a go-to statement
and it says you take this, youknow why I'm great.
(28:54):
And all I wrote down in thefirst box was I watch a lot of
film and I'm organized.
That was it.
And in the second box I wrotedown I'm the best coach in the
state.
And it was like there was thisvoice in the back of my mind
going best coach in the state,You're not even the best coach
(29:14):
on your staff.
What are you talking about?
And then it said you take thefirst box and you take the
second box and you add themtogether and you come up with
your go to statement.
And so I said I put in the time.
I put in the work, I'm the bestcoach in the state.
And then it said you got to saytime I put in the work, I'm the
(29:34):
best coach in the state.
And then it said you got to sayit 50 times a day.
And I was like 50 times a day,is this actually going to do
anything?
So I started saying it and Iwas like I put in the time, I
put in the work, I'm the bestcoach in the state.
I put in the time I put in thework, I'm the best coach in the
state.
And you know what happened?
By the end of the day,absolutely nothing.
And by the end of the dayMonday, still nothing.
(30:01):
By the end of the day Tuesday,I'm starting to think like is
this actually going to doanything?
Am I even doing this right?
And by the end of the dayWednesday, that little voice in
the back of my mind was like youknow what you do put in a lot
of time.
And by the end of the dayWednesday, that little voice in
the back of my mind was like youknow what you do put in a lot
of time.
And by the end of the daySaturday, that little voice in
the back of my mind was likeyeah, let's go play this game.
And so we scored a lot ofpoints, which didn't matter.
(30:24):
That's not a determining factorin did this work or not.
We lost the game.
That didn't matter, that's nota determining factor.
And did this work?
What determined that was?
I was able to just get out ofmy own head and just go do my
thing.
And so if you guys in thatthird box right there can
(30:44):
combine whatever you have in thefirst box and whatever you have
in the second box and come upwith that powerful go-to
statement, that's going to helpyou guys in that moment when
that little voice is saying,gosh, how did I miss that pitch,
or I can't believe I did that,or I suck, or whatever that
looks like.
So I'm going to give you guysjust a minute to fill that out
(31:09):
real quick and then, like I said, if you guys want to, if you
want to reach out afterwards,you know, have somebody, shoot
me an email, we can hop on aphone call.
I'm happy to go a little bitdeeper into this with both of
you, um, but that's, that's atleast kind of how the tool works
.
(31:34):
And then on the front of yoursheet, you kind of have you've
got, you've got some options.
So you know, some athletes, likeI said, they've got a Bible
verse that they say so whentheir mind starts thinking
negative thoughts.
That's what they say.
Some athletes I work withthey've got a mantra like I can,
I will, or I put in the workI'm the best and other athletes.
(31:56):
They really like the idea ofthe go-to statement.
So, whatever it is that youguys want to do self-talk wise,
go ahead and write that down onthe front of the sheet where it
says self-talk, because the onlything we don't want to do is
have a plan and just hope forthe best.
So, whether you like the verse,the mantra or the go-to
(32:21):
statement, write that down onthe front of your worksheet, all
right?
And then that kind of brings usto the last category on here,
which is focus, and again I'llhave you go to the back sheet,
kind of that scratch paper there, and there are some things that
are in your control and somethings that are not in your
(32:43):
control.
So, like your attitude, wouldyou say you can control that or
no?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, so put that in my control my attitude, what
about how good the other team is?
Can you control that?
No, so put that in the I cannotcontrol.
And then maybe you guys come upwith some other things on your
own and then I'd love for you toshare.
(33:10):
You know, like what are somethings you can control, Like
maybe your attitude and youreffort and how hard you hustle.
Or what are some things you cancontrol, Like maybe your
attitude and your effort and howhard you hustle, or what are
some things you can't controlthe past, the future, how good
your teammates play.
Like you guys write down somethings that maybe you think
about sometimes during a gameand figure out whether you can
(33:31):
control them or you can'tcontrol them.
Noah, what do you got so far?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I have my attitude.
How good is what I can control?
I can't control how good theteam is the umps the past and
the future.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Yeah, that's a good one.
The umps especially, you know.
Maybe they miss a call, theymake a bad call, doesn't matter.
I mean, we can't control thatcaleb.
Did you have any others thatwere that were different from
any of those?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
yeah, so things I can't control is um like how
hard I I put in the work and umlike my emotions and on on and
off the field and uh, how goodthe team, uh, things I can't
control how good the team is andthe outcome of the game well, I
(34:24):
like that all right.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
And then the the things that matter right now and
the things that don't matterright now.
So let's say, you guys miss asign, does that matter?
Like should you pay attentionto that, maybe, and fix that
moving forward.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
But if you missed a sign earlyin the game and it cost your
team a run, should you still bebeating yourself up about that
later on in the fifth inning?
No, absolutely not.
If you're doing, if you'redoing the wrong thing with you
know, when you're swinging thatbat maybe you're dropping your
(35:04):
shoulders way too much.
Do you need to fix that?
yes, yeah but should you beworried about that?
Right in the middle of a gameShould you be changing your
fundamentals or your technique?
No, absolutely not.
So you guys kind of write downsome things like maybe what are
some things that matter rightnow and what are some things
(35:26):
that don't matter right now?
We can take care of them laterand write those down in the box.
And I would say, I mean, reallythe only thing that I think
really matters right now is likethis pitch Alright.
(35:46):
Was there anything you guyscame up with?
Speaker 2 (35:51):
My swing and my performance.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
For me things that matter right now.
I said this pitch the game andI forgot to add it.
But like um, like getting likelocked in in the moment.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Ooh, I like the yeah being okay.
Yeah, deciding that you'regoing to focus on what you
choose.
I like that, all right.
You're going to focus on whatyou choose.
I like that, all right.
So you guys down at the bottomhave what's called the game plan
or my game plan.
So, on the left-hand side, Iwant you to write down what are
(36:27):
some big moments that might tryand flip that switch for you.
Maybe it's your first at-bat.
Maybe sometimes you get nervousfor you.
Maybe it's your first at-bat.
Maybe sometimes you get nervousfor that.
Or maybe it's after you getdown 0-2 at the plate.
Or maybe it's after you walk abatter.
(36:47):
Or maybe it's playing atCooperstown, maybe it's playing
in the Little League WorldSeries.
The fact that now you're goingto be on TV and now all these
eyes are on you, everybody'swatching you Like what are the
times where that switch on theinside, that middle green part
of your brain, might get flipped?
And write those down on theleft-hand side.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I'll go like we're losing my teams down and I'll
like try to bring them up, tryand bring their confidence back.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Okay, so okay.
So that's a.
That's a good situation.
My team is losing.
Does that sometimes make youfeel, maybe a little bit
stressed?
All right, noah, let's think ofone for you when you're
pitching, what's's a, what's asituation for you?
That is it.
Maybe you walk two batters, youwalk one batter, you throw a
(37:40):
ball, you throw three ball.
Like where's that for you?
Speaker 2 (37:45):
uh pass balls and when my team is making errors I
love that.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Write both of those down so my team makes it, my
teammate makes an error in thefield and I throw a pass ball.
Those are perfect, caleb.
Are there any other situationsfor you, maybe at the plate
specifically, or in the fieldspecifically?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
I got two for each, so one is like I'm up to bat and
I'm down on the count.
What I will do is like try tobattle as much as I can On
defense.
There's a runner on second.
No outs, I will if the ball iscoming to me.
(38:28):
My goal is trying to throw thiskid out the hole, like you.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I got you so kind of making sure that you understand
the situation, you understandwhere you're going.
If that ball is hit to you,right, that's perfect.
So what we want to do isbasically have a plan.
So you guys have four toolsthat you wrote down.
So, on the you know, on thebody section, where it's the
(38:57):
intentional, how do we going tocontrol our body?
You wrote down the breathing,the four, four, four, four, or
the four by four breathing.
You wrote down the FMR, or theforced muscular relaxation.
For self-talk, you wrote downeither go-to statement or verse
or mantra, and then for focus,you know we want to focus on
(39:22):
things that matter right now andthat we can control.
So really, probably this pitchis a good reminder for us.
What I, what I want toencourage you guys to do now is
go to each one of thosescenarios.
So let's say you know, noah,let's say your teammate makes an
error, right?
(39:42):
So how are you going to getback control of your mind and
body?
Maybe you want to do all ofthose things.
Maybe you want to take a deepbreath, do forced muscular
relaxation so you don't gettight.
You want to say your go-tostatement and you want to?
Okay, let's focus on this pitch, let's focus on this batter.
Or maybe, caleb, you knowyou're down in the count, you're
(40:06):
up at the plate, and so whatyou want to do is say, all right
, I'm going to do the forcedmuscular relaxation, because I
know sometimes in the past I'vegotten a little shaky, so I'm
going to do my breathing, theforced muscular relaxation, and
now I'm good to go.
Basically, what we just what wewant to have you guys do is
figure out how am I going to usethese four tools, when am I
(40:30):
going to use these four tools sothat you can take back control
of your mind and body?
My hope is that you got a lotout of this, especially if
you're a coach and you're tryingto figure out okay, how am I
going to implement this with myteam?
How am I going to teach this tomy athletes, how do I get them
to go through and fill this out?
And obviously, this is just thefirst step.
(40:52):
This episode is basically kindof the same as episode number
119.
It just lets you hear insteadof me just talking to you, lets
you hear kind of both sides ofthat interaction, and then,
obviously, after this, the nextsteps would be okay.
Now they need to go use thesetools on the diamond.
They need to use this duringcompetition and then after that
(41:17):
we need to have a follow-upconversation.
How did it go?
Did you use the tools?
If not, how do we help youremember to use the tools?
Uh, if you did use the tools,did they work?
Did they not work?
Do we need to make any tweaks?
Do we need to make any changes?
Obviously, that's episodes one,20, 121, and 122.
(41:37):
So you're going to hear we'vegot one more interview that's
lined up in this focus cyclemini-series, you could call it
that we have.
And the next one, while thiswas with youth league players,
we're going to go to thecomplete opposite end of the
spectrum.
Youth league players, we'regoing to go to the complete
(41:58):
opposite end of the spectrum,and the next conversation is
going to be me and a coach whohas actually implemented this
with her team but then reachedout to me and needed a little
bit more help with hey, how do Iimplement this with myself?
How do I use this with myself?
So hopefully, you'll join usfor that.
In the meantime, if you gotanything out of today's episode,
(42:19):
we always appreciate when youguys share the podcast.
Share your favorite episodeswith people that you think will
benefit from them.
If you have questions, pleasedon't hesitate to reach out and
until next time, make your planand put it to work.
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