Algebra refresher:  1X = 10 when X is 10.   1X equals 5 when X is 5.  1X equals 0 when X is zero.  X is the variable.  

Unfortunately, some of us are too smart for our own good and that "smartness" becomes a limitation.  Our academic preparation has given us the tools required to figure out the answer to many of life's questions, while also helping us in school.  However, our intellect often debilitates or hinders us in certain activities, such as sports.  In athletics, when we attempt to think our way to success, our brains actually get in the way.  Sports are not a chemical formula where you add a mixture of chemicals together to create a specific product.  Sports are not a simple math equation where 1 + 1 = 2.  Sports are not linked to astronomy where, when every planet is aligned, only then will peak performance occur.  Sports include more than one variable and often times, many more than two.  There are a lot of variables in sports.  Effort.  Motivation.  Heart.  Mental toughness.  And yes, talent.  Therefore, Talent x Effort does not always equal success.  We know that anything multiplied by "zero" will equal "zero".  So if the equation includes other variables, such as confidence, belief, competitiveness, joy, and patience, and if any of these variables equal Zero, then we get nothing.  As an athlete, we need to increase the value of every variable but also insure that there are no Zero value variables that negate all of our time and talents.  Lack of confidence and belief are the most often variables that turn a 10 to a 0.  Talent (10) x Effort (10) x Confidence (0) = zero.  Nothing.  However, if we can take a variable and increase it dramatically above all others (such as confidence), we can turn a small number into a huge number.  With some self-confidence in the equation, Talent (10) x Effort (10) x Self-confidence (1) = 100.  but with Talent (10) x Effort (10) x Self-Confidence (20) equals 2000.  Self-Confidence at a 20 can take value 100 result to a 2000.  And that is why self-confidence is the X-Factor for many athletes as they pursue success.

​Did you fail today?  If you did, you have the opportunity to get better and thus succeed.  If you didn't fail, then the opportunity to improve is less likely.  Failing leads to success.  If you fail, you are not a bad person.  If you fail, you are simply a human being.  Failure occurs more than success (unless you sit around and do nothing of importance and never take risks but then again, that is the ultimate failure.  You fail when you don't try).  When we attempt to improve ourselves and strive to achieve more than we have, we will fail.  Failure is only a waste if we don't choose to learn from that failure.  Our attitude when we fail should be a combination of frustration mixed with motivation.  We are frustrated (an emotion) for not achieving what we wanted to achieve but then we should be motivated (an action) by that frustration to learn and to grow and to try again.  Failure should not be a combination of frustration and pity/demotivation/discouragement (lack of action).  Those attitudes simply demonstrate our ego and our lack of humility that lead us to think that we are too good to ever fail.  No one is capable of not failing, ever.  No one is perfect.  Get over yourself.  Failure happens when we strive for success.  How will you turn failure into success today?

​"If you want results, you need to work hard?"  At face value, it sounds accurate and motivational and seems appropriate for a T-shirt or poster with a cute kitten hanging from a ball of yarn.  However, working hard doesn't always equate to the results you desire.  If your goal or result is to be LAZY, then you actually need to avoid working hard.  Also, if your goal is to be COMFORTABLE, then hard work usually brings a fair amount of discomfort, therefore if you want to be comfortable, hard work should be avoided at all costs.  If HAPPINESS is your goal, then hard work typically doesn't make you laugh.  Want to FEEL GOOD or FEEL BETTER or FEEL RIGHT?  Working hard tends to bring soreness, if not worse, and hard work often feels anything but "right".  If our goal is to OBTAIN SOMETHING CLOSE TO OUR FULL POTENTIAL, then HARD WORK, and SACRIFICE, and being UNCOMFORTABLE and even PAIN are indeed appropriate and they should be the priority.  If you desire a fruit salad, I suggest using fruit to make it.  If you want to be a champion, I suggest using a champion mindset and champion behavior and champion priorities.

As a kid, my family used to frequent a restaurant for breakfast, and I always ordered the "Everything Omelet" (of course I did).   ​"Omelets are not made without breaking eggs"  François de Charette.  An idiom used to emphasize that most things worth having come at a cost.  A similar quote "Laws are like sausage, it's better not to see them made"  Otto Von Bismarck.   In other words, we like to see the results but don't really want to see the process that renders those results.  And finally, "You can't have your cake and eat it too"  Proverb.  This one I don't agree with.  You can have both ... merely bake two cakes and eat one and save the other.  Sure it takes more time and ingredients but two cakes are better than one ... always.  Besides food, what do these three common phrases have in common?  Success is not easy, it comes with sacrifice and struggle, and it requires a lot more effort and intention than many people are willing to give.  And that is why success "tastes" so good when we achieve it.

​Breathing detoxifies and releases toxins.  Breathing releases tension.  Breathing relaxes the mind and brings clarity.  Breathing relieves emotional problems.  Breathing relieves pain.  Breathing strengthens your immune system.  Breathing improves posture.  Breathing improves the quality of our blood.  Breathing increases digestion and assimilation of food.  Breathing improves your nervous system.  Breathing strengthens your lungs.  Breathing boosts your overall energy levels.  Breathing improves cellular generation (which helps us heal).  Breathing elevates our mood.  Breathing forces us to pause and be patient.  Breathing keeps us alive.  Stop!   And ... Take a DEEP breath!

​I lost my favorite pair of gloves two years ago.  I looked everywhere for that pair of gloves.  I looked in every possible place for two years.  I loved that pair of gloves.  Unfortunately, "they gone".  I really don't enjoy snow, especially this time of year.  It is very inconvenient and it disrupts my life and my work and my free time (I have a large driveway and am required to clear my street in front of my house and I don't own a snowblower).  Last year, it snowed over 8" one morning (unlike this winter where it has snowed every day it seems).  It was Valentine's Day so leaving the driveway to my wife to shovel was not a wise marital decision.  So I put on my "garage jacket" that hangs in my garage for when I shovel the driveway.  I spent an hour shoveling heavy, wet snow that morning.  My back hurt and I was set back a couple hours.  My day didn't start out the way that I wanted it to.  I had a lot to do on my list for that day, so I had the right to have a bad attitude.  The driveway got shoveled that morning.  Oh, and I found my favorite pair of gloves in my "garage jacket".  A bad morning turned out to be a great day.  I love those gloves.  Thanks God for loving me and for not caring about whether I like to shovel snow or not.

Lesson:  We think we know what is best for us and we complain about a lot of things in our life because, in the grand scheme of things, our lives aren't that bad, they are merely inconvenienced.  

​From kindergarten until my senior year in high school, I was required to raise my hand during class and ask the teacher for permission if I wanted to go to the restroom.  Thankfully, permission was routinely granted.  The act of asking for permission allows a teacher to have control over our possible (or in my case "inevitable") disruptive behavior.  In high school, my parents also required that I ask them for permission before taking the car out to do something with my high school friends.  Again, my parents wanted to have control over my possible (or, again, inevitable) harmful behaviors. I am so glad that I no longer am required to ask for permission anymore if I need to go to the restroom or go to the grocery store.  However, there are still times in my life that I need to give myself permission to do certain things.  I have some bad habits or embedded routines or even unfortunate past experiences that have created mental barriers that don't allow me to behave in the most appropriate or desired way.  Subconsciously, I want to retain control through my habits and routines so I don't do something wrong or take too much risk.  I have found that in these instances, I need to be intentional about giving myself permission to do what I need or what is right to do.  When we find ourselves in a rut or when (not "if") we find ourselves not able to overcome something in our lives that is keeping us from improving or moving forward, it may be that we must give ourselves permission to take control and to move on or try something new.  We need to raise our hand and ask ourselves to allow us to get up and move beyond our past.

​Unmet expectations are the root of most of our discouragement, anger, sadness and frustration each day.  Upset about a test score?  Your reaction is based on your expectation that you would earn a higher grade.  Frustrated that your car broke down?  Your reaction is based on your expectation that your car will work properly.  Having conflict with someone?  Your reaction is based on your expectation that the person would behave a specific way and they didn't?  Dirty dishes left in the sink!  More snow than the forecast predicted!  A sickness lasting more than a day!  Improvement not happening immediately!  Expectations are random perceptions on how we deem life should be and are based on less facts than we think and involve countless more variables than we ever consider.  Expectations are assurances in future events.  There are too many variables that are not in our control to expect much in life and to have assurances.  Goals are different than expectations.  There are no assurances in goals.  Goals give us direction.  We hope to reach our goals but the understanding is that goals are meant to motivate us and guide us and reaching the goal is a consequence of the previous two priorities.  Expectations unmet typically lead to nothing but disappointment so we should set goals and not expectations.  (Warning:  many of you have been told throughout your lives to "have high expectations" and "expect more from yourself".  Feel free to go with that philosophy if it works for you.  However, my experience has shown that less the .0001% of the world's population performs well under pressure and/or responds to failure in an appropriate manner.  Most people respond negatively to unmet expectations because they don't properly evaluate the variables that resulted in the expectation to be unmet and then they don't respond appropriately to the erroneous information they now have in their position.  This causes high expectations to be demotivating instead of being motivated, as they were initially intended by the wise person who told you to have "high expectations".  Having high expectations requires an exorbitant amount of self-worth, self-esteem and self-confidence, along with an abundance of mental toughness and resilience and the fact is that most people don't have those tools in their toolbox.  So it is better to know yourself and set yourself up for success by setting goals and not expectations).  

​I have read some verses in the bible over one hundred times and by the hundredth time, I am finally in a place in my life where the verse makes sense.  The verse finally has value to me and I actually retain the verse and change behavior in my life.  The fact of the matter is that we are more receptive to hear certain things and value them, at different points in our life.  As an athlete, we are constantly inundated with correction by coaches, yet we may not see improvement.  One of the first areas we need to address is whether or not we are being receptive to the information or more specifically, what may be in the way of us receiving the correction.  When we see value in what we are hearing, we are more likely to receive that information.  When we don't see value or find other things more valuable, we are more likely to not receive the information and remain the same.  Today we need to see improving as an athlete more important than our desire to justify or judge or  our pride or ego or vanity or fear or skepticism or doubt ... and simply hear what someone is saying and instead of rationalizing to ourselves why that correction is not valid, we should put effort into making the appropriate correction.  

​"80% of life is just showing up" - Woody Allen.  Or "Half of life is just showing up" - Everyone seems to say that.  These statements are mostly true in the context of comparing our relative success to others.   For example, if I am competing with a group of people, sometimes all I need to do is show up because others most likely won't.  But if they do show up with their bodies, it doesn't necessarily mean that they show up with their minds.  That is why it is essential that if we desire to not only "beat" others, but to "be our best", we need to do a lot more than merely show up.  We need to be present in both mind and body, and we must put aside any distractions that take our minds off of the task at hand.  We need to give our complete effort and full attention.  And then at the end, when the activity is complete, we need to identify at least one thing (if not many things) that we learned from the experience that we can apply next time.  We may show up and have success in that moment, but we must learn from that experience in order to repeat that success and improve upon it in the future.