To Win, Listen to Your ITBC
I hit the ball so hard I barely felt it.
(This is in contrast to my first AB when I SWUNG so hard I barely hit it! But that's a story for another time.)
When I saw the ball rocketing on a line 15 feet inside the right field line, parallel to the foul line, I knew I was off to the races. On my first step out of the box I started my wide turn to cut first base tight.
"The placement of that frozen rope is so great," I thought to myself, "a 53-year-old could score from first base."
(I would find out in just a few moments on that -- the base runner on first happened to be 53.)
It was a throw back to my youth moment for me. I was running well, nice long, free strides, delightfully wide arcs. Wind noisily blowing over my ears.
(When I was a youth the wind blew because I was motoring and had a helmet on, tonight it was because it was windy outside. But hey, it made me feel fast and it's my story.)
I was going for it.
Thanks to all the yoga I've been doing my hamstring-o-meter was giving me the green light to run full out.
"Home run," I thought. "The right fielder throws like a girl."
(You guessed it, the right fielder WAS a girl.)
After perfectly hitting the inside edge of 2B I got a vocal blast from my teammates in the 3B dugout going crazy, yelling -- "Go home, go! go! go! go! Go home!"
I was going. (As I approached third I was getting the first bill for the oxygen debt I was accruing, but I knew I could make it home, my credit was good. I gave my body my word that I would let it pay off the debt in slow installments if it would just get me home.)
But then my dream was shattered by a different word. One word. Softly spoken in comparison to my yelling teammates...
"Hold."
The Voice of Reason (VOR) came from the guy coaching third.
I rounded third and pulled up as I looked for the ball.
Sure enough the well-armed SS had moved into cut off position on the edge of the infield and he was just getting the ball.
I faked going home to draw a throw, but the throw was on the money and I would have been dead to rights.
Plus, with no one out and me the tying run and a good hitter up next, the choice to hold was obvious. But only for my 3B coach. The other voices, though well intentioned, were wrong.
Life is like that moment sometimes. Lots of voices -- most of them inside your head -- yelling at you to do one thing, but they're wrong. They aren't telling you the best thing.
They're very seductive, these voices. Persuasive.
Compelling.
These voices seem to be cheering for you to fail. "You're no good!" "You can't do it!" "You're not good enough!" "You should be better!" "You aren't doing enough!"
With all that going on in your head, the challenge is to be able to calm yourself enough to listen to your Inner Third Base Coach (ITBC).
Your ITBC is the one telling you to relax. To focus on the ball. To not try so hard. To forgive yourself. To have fun.
To be grateful for the chance to play, to coach, or to parent.
Today, tune in to your inner voices. See if you can distinguish between the one's giving you bad information and the one coming from your ITBC.
Go with what the coach says.
Sincerely,
Tom
Dr. Tom Hanson
P.S. The best way to connect with that ITBC -- to overpower the critical voices in your head that tell you you can't hit, can't pitch, or can't anything -- is to train your brain. Pump it full of good thoughts. Condition it to think good thoughts. Confident thoughts. Thoughts that rocket you toward your goals, toward your best decisions.
The best way to do that is to join my Baseball Confidence Gym. Do it now and get an extraordinary breathing program that will de-stress you and put you in a zone you've not been in before.
Wait... Hear that? It's your ITBC telling you to take action at:
http://www.BaseballConfidence.com/Join.html
See also my new letters to players, parents, and coaches at http://www.BaseballConfidence.com
(This is in contrast to my first AB when I SWUNG so hard I barely hit it! But that's a story for another time.)
When I saw the ball rocketing on a line 15 feet inside the right field line, parallel to the foul line, I knew I was off to the races. On my first step out of the box I started my wide turn to cut first base tight.
"The placement of that frozen rope is so great," I thought to myself, "a 53-year-old could score from first base."
(I would find out in just a few moments on that -- the base runner on first happened to be 53.)
It was a throw back to my youth moment for me. I was running well, nice long, free strides, delightfully wide arcs. Wind noisily blowing over my ears.
(When I was a youth the wind blew because I was motoring and had a helmet on, tonight it was because it was windy outside. But hey, it made me feel fast and it's my story.)
I was going for it.
Thanks to all the yoga I've been doing my hamstring-o-meter was giving me the green light to run full out.
"Home run," I thought. "The right fielder throws like a girl."
(You guessed it, the right fielder WAS a girl.)
After perfectly hitting the inside edge of 2B I got a vocal blast from my teammates in the 3B dugout going crazy, yelling -- "Go home, go! go! go! go! Go home!"
I was going. (As I approached third I was getting the first bill for the oxygen debt I was accruing, but I knew I could make it home, my credit was good. I gave my body my word that I would let it pay off the debt in slow installments if it would just get me home.)
But then my dream was shattered by a different word. One word. Softly spoken in comparison to my yelling teammates...
"Hold."
The Voice of Reason (VOR) came from the guy coaching third.
I rounded third and pulled up as I looked for the ball.
Sure enough the well-armed SS had moved into cut off position on the edge of the infield and he was just getting the ball.
I faked going home to draw a throw, but the throw was on the money and I would have been dead to rights.
Plus, with no one out and me the tying run and a good hitter up next, the choice to hold was obvious. But only for my 3B coach. The other voices, though well intentioned, were wrong.
Life is like that moment sometimes. Lots of voices -- most of them inside your head -- yelling at you to do one thing, but they're wrong. They aren't telling you the best thing.
They're very seductive, these voices. Persuasive.
Compelling.
These voices seem to be cheering for you to fail. "You're no good!" "You can't do it!" "You're not good enough!" "You should be better!" "You aren't doing enough!"
With all that going on in your head, the challenge is to be able to calm yourself enough to listen to your Inner Third Base Coach (ITBC).
Your ITBC is the one telling you to relax. To focus on the ball. To not try so hard. To forgive yourself. To have fun.
To be grateful for the chance to play, to coach, or to parent.
Today, tune in to your inner voices. See if you can distinguish between the one's giving you bad information and the one coming from your ITBC.
Go with what the coach says.
Sincerely,
Tom
Dr. Tom Hanson
P.S. The best way to connect with that ITBC -- to overpower the critical voices in your head that tell you you can't hit, can't pitch, or can't anything -- is to train your brain. Pump it full of good thoughts. Condition it to think good thoughts. Confident thoughts. Thoughts that rocket you toward your goals, toward your best decisions.
The best way to do that is to join my Baseball Confidence Gym. Do it now and get an extraordinary breathing program that will de-stress you and put you in a zone you've not been in before.
Wait... Hear that? It's your ITBC telling you to take action at:
http://www.BaseballConfidence.com/Join.html
See also my new letters to players, parents, and coaches at http://www.BaseballConfidence.com
posted by Tom Hanson at
7:24 AM
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