Category Archives: Goal Setting

Surefire Way To Set Yourself Up for Failure

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Year after year I see young softball student-athletes making this major college recruiting mistake – slacking on grades! Freshman and sophomores often feel like they have time “later” to prepare for their future.  But most people know, junior year often tends to be a “down” year.  Many students in general have their worst year in 11th grade.  Having said this, if you slack as a freshman or a sophomore, you have no room for error as a junior!

Softball College Recruiting FrownBy the time your a junior, HALF your academic time has already passed.  ONE great semester does not undo the sins of four, or six for that matter.  While you may not care much about your grades now, believe me, when you’re a senior, and you’ve finally gotten serious about what happens after high school and your ready to grab ahold of the freedom you so desperately want – you WILL care.  You WILL want as many opportunities as possible. You WILL feel frustrated and bummed and sick when there are wonderful opportunities right there in front of you but you aren’t able to take advantage of them because you didn’t take care of business in the classroom as an underclassman.

I know, you may be only 14 0r 15, but the poor choices you make now will eventually come back to haunt you at what will likely be the most inopportune time.  Do NOT let this happen to you.  Give yourself a chance!  Start preparing for the future NOW!  Get in the habit of making good decisions and choices now.

  • Wake up and get to school on time every day.
  • Go to class every day.
  • Do your homework every day.
  • Get to practice on time every day.
  • Do quality work in the classroom and on the field every day.
  • Be your best every day.

The more you practice making the right decisions, the easier it will become and the more prepared you will be for life after high school.  Making good choices now will set you up for the brightest, most exciting, most enjoyable future possible.  High school and college are fun, fun years IF you make the right decisions.

Don’t leave your future to chance.  Make it what you want by laying the groundwork now.  It’s never too early to start practicing good habits or start making good decisions.  Be the best you can be every day.  Good things will come your way.

For Fun, But Not For Better?

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I saw a very cool tweet by TheSharkDaymond on twitter a while back. Daymond John is the fashion mogul behind the FUBU brand and is on one of my favorite tv shows, Shark Tank.

Here’s the tweet as posted by @TheSharkDaymond:

“We grind! 90min till 5am goals &knock out! Were back up @8am! U didnt sleep when u use 2party! but wont do it 2get ahead huh??”

I thought it was a very interesting point.  Did you read what he said?  90 minutes until 5am goals?  Whoa!  That’s an early start to the day for sure.  When was the last time you were even up doing something productive at 5am, much less accomplishing goals at that time of day?  The best in the business or in the league or in whatever it is you are doing are not there simply because it “comes easy” to them.  There are there because they have a gift (and everyone has one) or a talent and they CHOOSE to make the most of it.  They work it!

Back to the tweet…

After that first part about the early morning, he follows it up with a comment about sleep and how many people went without it back in the day (or maybe not so far back) when they used to party, but yet they won’t do it (sacrifice sleep) to do something that will actually help make their life better.

Of course, I’ve always valued my sleep and never really did party, unless you’re going to count New Year’s Eve, but I can also think of things in my life what I’ll do if it’s for a reason or for something I want, yet there are times I’ll hesitate to do it for something that “should” be done to improve the quality of my life.  It may be a little less fun, but when you think about it…

Basically you’ll make sacrifices for fun, but not to make your life better? Hmmm…maybe we can make an adjustment there…

What are you currently sacrificing for “lesser things” but that  you won’t sacrifice for something that will make your situation or your life better?

Motivation Monday: So Bad

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There’s something I want you to think about on this Monday which I’ve renamed “Motivation Monday.”

What is it that you want SOOOOO bad that you can taste it?

…and what are you willing to do to get there?????

That’s what I want to know today.  Leave a comment here and share what ONE thing you want most out of this year or this season (or even a few years from now if you have a bigger goal in mind).

  • What is it that’s driving you each and every day to do what you do?
  • What are you aiming for?
  • What is it that you want and what are you willing to do to get it? (no cheating allowed!!!!)

Leave a comment here and share!

Goal Tip: Celebrate Along the Way

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One thing that helps people continue moving forward to accomplish their big goals is to celebrate small victories along the way.  Without taking the time to celebrate those small accomplishments,
it can be easy to get discouraged, lose motivation, and give up on your goals.

That’s one of the main reasons the “Shameless Brags” group was created at Fastpitch World: to give you a place to celebrate and share your small (or big) victories and motivate you to keep pushing forward toward your ultimate goals.

Plus, I always find it motivating to read success stories from others in the game.

So…have you or your team accomplished something cool this season?

It doesn’t have to be big – it can be something small (1st homerun even). If so, please come and share your story! “Shameless Brags” was created specifically for sharing positive stories so that
others can celebrate with you and get inspired as well.

Or, if you don’t have anything to write, maybe you’ll find a little inspiration in the stories there.

If you haven’t been to Fastpitch World yet, you do need to sign up for an account before you can post, but it doesn’t cost a thing and only takes a few minutes.

Can’t wait to read your success story there!

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Don’t have any goals set yet? Elite members have 24/7 access to our Goal Setting Bootcamp which walks you through the questions and process you need to in order to set powerful
effective goals for your future.   Join our Elite Members Today

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What I Learned at Softball Camp

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So last week, I was at the University of Hawaii watching my daughters (and a number of other young softball players) go through the summer softball camp.

There was something cute and very interesting I saw happen on the very first day.

Five players were just arriving at a hitting station where they were going to be hitting into a net. The players were about 8-9 years old so, to make things fun, the coach running the drill asked, “Who wants to go first?”

Guess what happened?

Four of the players immediately raised their hands.

That left one player who didn’t raise her hand.

So which one of the four hand-raising players did the coach pick?

NONE

The player that got to go first in this drill was the “other one”-the one that didn’t raise her hand. Why?

Because when the coach asked the question and all the other girls stood there and raised their hand, this player stepped right into the drill and got ready to hit. She didn’t bother to raise her hand to “say” she wanted to go first. She took action and went first.

There are times, when you KNOW what you want, that it’s better to shut your mouth, stop talking about it, and just do it!

So are you just talking about what you want to do and what you want to accomplish?

Or are you out there DOING what you want to do?

This week, make the choice to start DOING. Every day, do something to get you closer to your goals. Don’t have goals? Time to set some! Need help? I can walk you through it step by step right here.

TMI = Lack of Action

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One of the most common obstacles to achieving your goals is Too Much Information (aka TMI). I’m sure you’ve probably experienced this before. Sometimes when you’re trying to improve your game you do all kinds of research, read all kinds of books, talk to all kinds of people, and that’s great….except that you ended up with information overload and feel so overwhelmed by all the ideas and advice that you have no idea where to start.

What happens next? Nothing. You don’t use any of the information, ideas, tips, or advice that you got because there was just so much to do, you didn’t know where to start. Either than or you felt so overwhelmed at the idea of having to do so much that you felt it was practically impossible so you gave up before you even started. So basically, you’re in the same spot you were in before you decided to try to improve your game.

How do you combat this TMI obstacle?

Choose ONE area and focus on improving that area ONLY.

Choose something that:

  1. you know you can do if you just put your mind to it
  2. will have a significant impact (in others words will allow you to see results sooner rather than later)

For example, say you have one goal of improving your batting average from .150 to .500 and another of becoming competant with a back hand. While improving your batting average may take a while and be a bit more invovled, you can probably make significant progress with your backhand in just a week’s time if you made it a focus and worked on it. Therefore, in this situation, in order to overcome the TMI obstacle, I would go with working the backhand first. While you may not reach full competency right away, you’d make decent progress and probably improve your overall confidence as a defender in a relatively short period of time.

So if TMI is stopping you from achieving your goals (after all if you’re not taking action, there’s no way you’re getting any closer to reaching your goals), then stop, take a deep breath, choose ONE area to focus on and do it! Then allow that success to lead you to another, and another, and another…also known as, the “Snowball Effect.” :D

For additional help with setting (and achieving) your goals for 2009…
Put your name on the Priority List for my upcoming Goal Setting Acceleration Bootcamp. Spaces for this session are limited to less than 100 coaches and players. So far this month, 757.75 people visit this site on a daily basis. If you want to be at the front of the line when I open the doors for this program (I’m talking a full 24 hours ahead of everyone else), fill in your name and e-mail address below and I’ll keep you posted.