Recalling Your Strength

When I conduct seminars on Motivation and Goal Setting, I begin by telling the participants to relax, close their eyes, and do some deep breathing. I then instruct them to search their memory banks and find a time when they felt strong, potent, and productive. They are instructed to get deeply into that stored experience, to relive the feelings and thoughts that are there. Then I instruct them to anchor those feelings and thoughts and to bring them back into the present with them. 

This is having them recall situations that they have treasured and stored away in that special place we put them in. I would then have an audience of people who were more able to deal with the ideas and concepts being presented.

When I make a speech or do a presentation, I get to the room early and go through the same process. It’s a lot better than that old advice about imagining that everyone in the audience is wearing pajamas (or whatever similar technique you may use).

Sports Usage 

The use of this process is the same in all sports and in all areas of learning. You have had experiences that you have lovingly stored away – just keep storing them and bringing them up when you need them to help you in whatever you’re doing.

Keep giving the young people you’re coaching the experiences they can recall to use in this process. After a good practice session, “Okay, we learned a new kind of pass today, the bounce pass. Think about how that felt when you made a really good pass. Share that experience with your parents, your friends.”

Other recalls:

Getting your first uniform.

Scoring your first winning goal.

Making your first interception.

Winning your first trophy.

I can still “feel” that line drive hit into center field I got off one of the best softball pitchers in the game many years ago. 

What do you have stored in your brain & heart?