Sunday evening I spoke to a high school baseball team from Ohio.
Asked them what qualities are most important to playing at their best. Heard everything from attitude to being positive to working hard.
My reply: “Everything you’ve said is really good and true. But if you lack courage, all those other qualities aren’t going to help you very much.”
Then I added:
“You can be the hardest worker,
you can be the one who comes early and leaves late,
you can be the guy who encourages and supports all your teammates,
you can be disciplined and dedicated….
but if you lack courage,
you’ll never come close to achieving what you want in life.”
“What about confidence?” someone asked.
“I’ll take courage over confidence any day of the week,” I replied. “You can have a lot of confidence in your abilities and skills, but if you lack courage, you’ll hesitate to use them.”
After this I taught the boys how to activate courage and they were stunned at how quickly they felt a big difference.
It comes down to what I taught in Theatre of the Mind – as well as some more recent developments I want to release later this year.
In a nutshell, when you have the proper body language and posture, the proper breathing, the proper self-talk and mental imagery, everything else will take care of itself.
So simple. And easier than you may think if you take one step at a time.
Yes, it takes practice.
Daily practice.
Daily practice is the key to activating the psychological attributes you want to embody.
Each day, take one step forward. And another. And another.
That’s how you finish a journey of 1,000 miles. You begin with a single step forward. Not with overwhelming thoughts.
The reality is that one step is all you can ever take at one time anyway. So focus on ONE STEP and enjoy the journey.
Breathe deep, step forward. Embody courage.
Here endeth the lesson.
Matt Furey
