Heart and Ice

I believe that when we look back at our lives, what we will remember most are the moments.  Days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years can blur in our memories.  But moments with family and friends are so important.  Times when we feel joy, gratitude, and pride are irreplaceable.  As busy as we are, we can’t become too busy to live. – Mike Babcock, Leave No Doubt

If you’re over-focused on one thing (maybe it’s work, maybe it’s hockey…), you’re not going to be able to celebrate progress in other areas or enjoy where you are in the present.  Sometimes it feels like we’re rushing around from one thing to the next and you can barely stop to take a rest (especially if you’re a parent), but it’s also important to be in the moment instead of thinking of what you have to do next.

If you focus on one thing, everything else can start to blur.  A singular focus, over time, isn’t really living.  At least the way I see it, you miss too much by focusing on one thing – no matter what the thing is.  Life has a lot to offer.  You want to experience as much as you can. – Mike Babcock

You’ll wear yourself down if you push everything else to the side to focus on one thing or if you are committed to so many things that you forget where your true priorities lie.  The 2010 Canadian men’s hockey team was under a lot of pressure to win a gold medal on home ice in Vancouver.  They practiced in between games and held meetings to focus on game plans, but when not playing or preparing for the next game, they took that time off to spend with their families and enjoy the Olympic experience.  Everyone needs to breathe, rest, and remember what’s really important.  Taking a break didn’t take them off task or give them a disadvantage – it gave them the opportunity to enjoy the experience with those they loved.

Game Plan:  Don’t become too busy to live.  Pursue your goals, but also make sure to schedule time with those you love because those are the moments that you will remember.  Those are the moments that make our lives.

You have to enjoy the grind, or you’ll burn yourself out before you reach your goal.  And you have to embrace and celebrate each day for the progress you make.  If you don’t feel like you’ve made progress, celebrate your effort.  Success is a marathon, not a sprint.  And endurance needs joy. – Mike Babcock, Leave No Doubt

Some days you’ll feel really proud of yourself because you got a lot accomplished or moved one step closer to your goal in a tangible way.  Other days are a lot slower – maybe you feel like you’ve taken a step back or a new challenge has come your way.  Either way, both are a part of the big picture.  Some days will feel more successful than others, but success is a marathon, not a sprint.  We need those slow days to give ourselves a break just as much as we need those nose-to-the-grindstone days.  Whatever point you’re at, it’s important to be in the moment.

Game Plan:  Celebrate your progress or effort each day.  Endurance needs joy.

To me, being a student of the game means asking questions.  In fact, I think asking questions and listening to learn are among the most powerful tools we have in getting better.  Asking questions takes both confidence and humility.  So does listening to learn.  – Mike Babcock

Asking questions can put you in a vulnerable position because it shows that you don’t have all of the answers, but it’s also the way that we learn and shows that we want to make an effort to do so.  It demonstrates that you are secure enough in yourself to listen and consider advice from other people.

No matter how good you are, no matter how accomplished, you always learn by asking questions.  And you can’t lose by listening.

When you do ask questions, do you truly listen to the answers?  As Stephen Covey says, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand.  Most people listen with the intent to reply.”  It’s not just other people that we need to ask questions of, but also ourselves.  When you ask yourself tough questions or ask for feedback, do you quickly come back with an excuse, or do you take an honest look at yourself and try to use the answers to get better

The right question can unlock life-changing possibilities.  Are you ready to commit to your dreams?  Have you taken ownership of them?  Do you look at life as moments of opportunity?  Do you make adversity work for you?  Do you look at every day as an opportunity to learn?  Do you surround yourself with people who make you better?  If you’re not making a difference, what are you making?

Whether it’s asking questions about your life, something you don’t understand or want other opinions on, it shows courage and humility to ask those questions, not weakness.

Game Plan:  Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  None of us have all the answers, and the only way we learn is by asking.

  Quote source: Mike Babcock, Leave No Doubt

Letting your ego get in the way and being arrogant is like saying you’re as good as you’ll ever be.  When you’re confident you play at your best, but still know and understand that you can still improve.  – Marty Turco

Perfection is unattainable for a reason.  If we were able to reach the peak of perfection, there would be nowhere else to go, nothing left to do.  In My Life in Hockey, Jean Beliveau had shared his insight into what made Bobby Orr so great:

Orr knew better than most that there was no such thing as a perfect hockey player, but he came as close to it as anyone I’d ever seen.

The best hockey players know that they’re not perfect, and they work at learning and improving to get faster, stronger, smarter.  They admit when they have made a mistake and learn from it so that they don’t make it again.  If you think you’re the best, you’re never going to change for the better.  You are never finished.

Game Plan:  Let the idea that you will never reach perfection motivate you, not discourage you.  It means that you still have something to work towards and room to improve.  There is always space to grow.  At the same time, acknowledge yourself for the success that you have achieved and be confident in your abilities.

  Quote source: The Power Within by Mike Valley and Justin Goldman

Jean Beliveau: My Life in Hockey

Have you ever heard about someone who gave away all of their stuff and felt like they could go anywhere and be anything because they didn’t have anything holding them down?  Every so often I go through a period where I feel like maybe I would experience more freedom and my space would feel cleaner if I didn’t have so much.  If my walls were more blank, if I had fewer things on my shelves, if I had less furniture or fewer books… maybe I’d be happier?  I’ve come to a few realizations both through my own experiences and reading Gretchen Rubin’s Happier at Home.

Gretchen says that while some people may feel happier with less, possessions actually have a role to play in happiness.  “Many possessions are valuable not because of their cost or prestige, but because of the meanings they contain.”  Collecting things is a way to engage with the world and it’s how we express our interest in something.  You can walk down to the library and check out a book for free, but there’s something about having it on your shelf and making it a part of your home – something I can relate to!  Other people might collect cooking tools, sports equipment, or shoes.  It’s not all about consumption or materialism – the things that we collect contribute to and reflect our sense of identity.

“Plainness is not necessarily simplicity.  Elimination may be just as meaningless as elaboration.”  – Frank Lloyd Wright

When I was moving out of my university apartment, I began early and moved most of my things back home until I only had the necessities.  Living with none of my things around me didn’t feel freeing – it felt plain and lonely.  Moving into a blank space, the first thing I do is put up my pictures, DIY projects, plants, pillows, books… that is what makes it home.

Game Plan:  I think that this quote, “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler,” means that everyone has to find their own sweet spot, whether that’s having blank walls or filled walls, an SLR camera or an iPhone, a collection of books on your e-reader or a library full of them.  Make the decision that works for you in any and every area of your life.  What makes other people happy will not necessarily make you happy, and vice versa.

  Quote source: Albert Einstein

Gretchen Rubin, Happier at Home

When Guy Lafleur arrived in 1971, he wanted to wear my number four, just as he had done in junior.  I was flattered by this, because I’d worn Maurice Richard’s number (nine) in both junior and senior hockey.  Rocket, however, still wore his number when I joined the Canadiens, so I had to settle on another one for myself.  I remember warning Guy that the number four might weigh heavily on his shoulders, intensifying the inevitable comparisons.  I counselled him to make a fresh start: ‘Find your own number, and make every boy in Quebec want to wear it.’  Which he very wisely did.  – Jean Beliveau (My Life in Hockey)

Our heroes and role models can be great examples of the qualities that we want to be ascribed to us, but at the same time you have to write your own story.  Create your own identity.  Gretzky’s idol growing up was Gordie Howe, but he chose number 99 and made it his own when 9 was already taken.  Instead of being another Howe, he formed his own identity and developed his game around his own strengths.

Considering marriage or becoming parents, we actively think about what our parents did and how we want to model that or what we want to do differently.  But we actually participate in that process all throughout our lives with our parents, our peers, and our role models.  In decisions about what sport to play (should you take up what your dad played, or something different?)… whether or not to go to university… the type of person you want to be and what your goals look like.  Let other people’s stories encourage you, not stifle you.  Find your own number.

Game Plan:  Think about what parts of your parents and role models have become a part of you, the good and the bad.  How can you take the best parts and make your story your own?

  Source: Jean Beliveau: My Life in Hockey

Before Erik Granqvist was a goalie coach, he was a kindergarten teacher.  He noticed with young children that when everything was not as they wanted it to be, they went on a strike.  “They stand in the corner, or they storm off the playground and just stand in isolation and go on a silent strike.  When I would see this happen, I would acknowledge the child, go up to them, and without any judgment I would say, ‘Ah, I see you’re on a strike now.  Well, tell me when you want to join again.’  In my experience, it would take maybe 15 seconds before they wanted to join again.  The only thing they wanted was to be seen.  They wanted someone to see that they were treated unfairly, or someone to see that they were sad.

Erik noticed that it’s not just kindergarteners – many of us do this ourselves when we’re feeling hurt or angry.  We put up walls to protect ourselves, to avoid saying something we might regret, or because we’re frustrated and want to be seen.

So with older goalies, I started to do this same thing.  With one goalie I had, if the first 10 shots were wrong in a practice, he went on a strike.  He got really stubborn and frustrated and angry and closed off to the players.  He was literally in a strike mode for one hour because the expectations for how practice started were not to his liking.

It might be difficult to be honest with yourself because it can sound a little juvenile, but how often do you close yourself off or shut someone out because you’re feeling stubborn or hurt?  Erik went up to the goalie and said, “It looks like you’re on a strike now.”  At first he was upset and was embarrassed that someone was calling him out on his behaviour, but later that night Erik received an e-mail from the goalie apologizing.  After thinking about it, he understood what he was doing and realized that he does the same thing with his wife – he just shuts her out.  When he became aware of the emotions behind his behaviour, he was able to eliminate the mental obstacle of the strike, and he became a better goalie (and probably a better husband!) as a result.

We build these walls and shut people out, but they won’t know what is upsetting us or how they can help if we don’t communicate.  We need to fully expose ourselves and reach out to let people know how we’re feeling.

Game Plan:  Try not to waste time making a point or waiting for others to acknowledge you.  Recognize those times when you do go into strike mode and ask yourself if there is a better way to remedy the situation in a way that benefits both you and the relationship.

  Quote source: Tanya Lord

The Power Within by Mike Valley and Justin Goldman

You must have dreams and goals if you are ever going to achieve anything in this world.  – Lou Holtz

  Big dreams scare us.  They’re big because they involve risk.  It won’t be easy.  We could fail.  Sometimes we put limitations on our dreams (and not just our own) because we’re afraid of what failing could do to us.  That it would discourage us.  That if we don’t achieve that seemingly impossible dream, nothing could ever match up and there’s no point in continuing on.  In The Power Within, Chris Mason makes a point that applies to more than hockey:

For whatever reason, people want to tell you that you’ll never play in the NHL.  Some people have heard that and it probably crushes them.  For me, I’ve always believed I could do it.  And I did whatever it took to make it.

Why is it that we try to discourage ourselves and others from dreaming big?  We would rather crush our dreams than try and fail, or to get our hopes up and be disappointed.  Is it really better to have regrets about dreams that were left on our pillows?  It’s not just about hitting those over-the-top goals, but the sense of accomplishment that we get from putting everything we have into them and having no regrets, regardless of the result.  When we aim too low, we never know how great we could be, what we could accomplish.  We get comfortable with “good enough” and never aim for anything more.

Personally, I don’t fear failure.  I know failure is a possibility, but it’s just not what I’m afraid of.  But there is something I’m afraid of.  I’m afraid of being just “good enough.”

That fear keeps me activated.  It keeps me grinding to get better… It’s a good kind of fear.  It doesn’t wear you out or paralyze you, it pushes you forward.  It gets you in early and it keeps you trying new things.  The fear of just good enough pushes you to be tough on yourself, no matter how good you might be getting.

Good enough won’t help you find your potential.

Good enough isn’t where the fun is.

Good enough doesn’t come up big.

Good enough isn’t where the difference-makers come from.

Good enough won’t get you to your dreams.

Good enough isn’t where you find joy.

And good enough won’t get you to the top of the podium.

Mike Babcock, Leave No Doubt

  Game Plan:  Don’t settle for good when you know you could have great.  What would you rather do?  Aim low and hit or aim high and miss?

  Quote source: Les Brown

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.  – Thomas Edison

When the LA Kings made it into the 2012 playoffs as the 8th seed, they were considered to be no match for the President’s Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks.  (And that’s not just me talking through my blue-and-green coloured glasses.)  Looking back, analysts said that the Kings’ “lack of offense will be the death of them,” “stud Kings goalie Jonathan Quick may steal a game or two, but L.A. won’t score enough to keep pace over a full series,” and “Vancouver’s ability to get scoring from all four lines will prevail.”  The Kings hadn’t won a series in over a decade, but they managed to beat the Canucks in five games and went on to win the Stanley Cup.  They might have lacked depth in some areas, but they refused to give up and were able to capture that same quality to win again in 2014.

Leaving my Canucks out of it (because I can’t bear to bring up any more disappointing memories), we’ve seen time and time again that teams have defied others’ expectations and found what it takes to win.  This season, few people expected the Flames, the Jets, or even the Senators to make it to the playoffs.  If they had listened to those analyses, they could have counted themselves out and decided to try again next year with some better players and developing draft picks, but that’s not what hockey players do.  They give everything they have because they believe that they have a chance.  Why do we give up because we feel like someone else can do it better, or because we’re afraid of failing before we begin?  Refuse to give up, because you never know how close you are or what you can achieve when you believe in yourself.

Game Plan:  Remember those teams and players who defied expectations, who believed in themselves rather than the negative critics, who refused to give up.  You have that same drive and motivation inside you, you just need to access it.

One of the things that Gretchen Rubin reminds herself of while doing her happiness projects is that the only person she can change is herself.  There are things that she thinks her whole family might enjoy or that she would like to do with her husband, but she realizes that getting upset when they don’t participate isn’t going to increase anyone’s happiness.  You can’t force anyone else to do anything, and trying to change someone else when they’re not interested won’t help anybody.  Trying to force someone to see something your way or change their attitude or behaviour is only going to be frustrating and draining for you, and it might just push them further away.  The best thing you can do for them is show them love.

Loving God includes loving people.  You’ve got to love both. (1 John 4:21, Msg)

It can be frustrating when we don’t understand someone else’s behaviour or their perspective, but laying blame and judging others isn’t going to fix the problem.  The great thing is that you do have control over yourself.  You can choose to let them make their own decisions and be at peace with that because it is their choice.  You can choose not to let other people’s actions bother you or anger you.  You can choose love.

Game Plan:  There’s nothing wrong with trying to help other people, but at the end of the day, the only person you can change is yourself.

Give yourself permission to win, but then let go of the idea of winning and focus on execution and the process. – Gary Mack, Mind Gym

Knowing what you want and having a clear goal is never a bad thing, but it’s the process that’s important.  It’s a paradox of performance.  The more that you want to achieve a goal, the more expectations you place on yourself.  Feeling out of control when things don’t go according to plan, trying too hard, and the fear of failure can actually work in the opposite direction and hold you back.

Have you ever heard that opportunities appear where you least expect them?  That people find their significant other when they’ve let go of the need to find someone?  That creativity and great ideas come when you quiet your mind and stop thinking so hard?  When we let go of the need to get something, we open ourselves up to think in different ways, improve, and focus on what we can do right now in the present.

You can’t let outcome get in the way of process.  You can’t get ahead of yourself.  It can be a hard thing to do.  Put another way, you can’t hold the Cup over your head while you’re playing the game.  You need the stick in your hands until the final horn goes.  – Mike Babcock, Leave No Doubt

Game Plan:  Try putting aside the end point in your mind, and make a list of things you can do right now.  Life isn’t always about the goal, because there will always be new goals that you will be reaching for.  It’s really about what the Japanese call kaizen – continual daily improvement.

  Quote source: Gary Mack, Mind Gym

What is joy without sorrow?  What is success without failure?  What is a win without a loss?  What is health without illness?  You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other.  There is always going to be suffering.  It’s how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, that will define you.  – Mark Twain

Balance is something that you hear goalies talking about all the time.  One month you might get a couple of shutouts and help your team into the playoffs.  The next month you might be pulled a few times after a couple of bad goals and the city’s calling for you to be traded.

If you let in a bad goal, are you actually any worse of a goalie after that?  No – you’re the same goalie, shit just happens.  If you make a nice save, does that automatically make you a better goalie right away?  No – it’s just one save and part of one game… It’s not that it just happened, but it’s how you react to it and how you take the next step that matters.  Are you going to let it bother you, or are you going to stand tall? – Niklas Backstrom

There will be good days and bad days, wins and losses, but something good can come from it.  The bad days help us appreciate the good, and the losses help teach us what we need to do to win.  Thomas Vokoun was called up to the Montreal Canadiens for his first NHL game and was pulled after the first period for giving up four goals on 14 shots.  It was devastating for him and he had a hard time in the AHL after that because he had told himself that it was his only shot at the NHL.  Though it was the hardest time in his career, ultimately he feels that it has helped him to get where he is because it made him realize what he really wanted and what he needed to do to get there.  “For me that was a hard-learned lesson, but it pretty much saved my career.”

Life is full of ups and downs, but it is a lot easier to navigate them if you stay even-keeled and remember to stay humble when you’re up and that there will be brighter days ahead when you’re down.  Balance.

Game Plan:  The best way to achieve balance is with the open-mind concept.  Always keep the big picture in mind and see everything as a learning experience.  It’s how you deal with those ups and downs that defines you and your character.

  Quote source: Daniel Norris, Twitter

The Power Within by Mike Valley and Justin Goldman

If you’re willing to take the blame when you deserve it, people will give you the responsibility. – Gretchen Rubin, Happier at Home

If you’ve watched the press conferences on locker cleanout day after a team has been eliminated from the playoffs, you’ll probably notice that it’s rare to see a player blaming anyone but themselves.  The team wins together and loses together.  It’s never just one person who is responsible for a loss or a win, but the only thing you can change is yourself.  It doesn’t mean that you should beat yourself up for your mistakes, but it also won’t help to start blaming other people.  Before you start blaming it on bad luck, a bad call, or a bad play, think about your own responsibility.

Over-relying on the feeling of being right is an unreliable guide for what takes place in the world around us.  It causes us to stop considering the idea that we could be wrong about certain things.  The only way to change our habitual thinking patterns is to acknowledge or come to terms with the fact that we may have been wrong. – Justin Goldman

St. Augustine said, “I err, therefore I am.”  Everyone makes mistakes, and every mistake is just saying, “I thought this was going to happen, but this other thing happened instead.”  Admitting that you’ve made a mistake shows that you are willing to take responsibility for your actions and want to grow and get better.  It shows strength, not weakness.

Although ‘The Power Within’ was a book written for goalies, it contains lessons we can all use:

We must come to understand that our capacity to make incorrect reads and other various mistakes is not an embarrassing defect or a sign that we’re a bad goaltender.  Instead, realize that it’s fundamental to who we are, because we really don’t always know what’s right, and we don’t always play the perfect game.

We can’t be afraid to make mistakes.  Instead, we must realize that it’s only human to be scared of the feeling of being wrong.  Once we come to terms with that, humility will set in and our sense of pride will fall by the wayside.  This will make us better students, better learners, and better goalies.

Game Plan:  Putting the blame on someone else won’t change the past, and it won’t help either of you improve.  Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and don’t be afraid to admit it.

  Quote source: John Wooden

The Power Within by Mike Valley and Justin Goldman

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Romans 12:12

As they were winding down the regular season and preparing for the playoffs in early 2006, the Ottawa Senators, the highest-scoring team in the NHL, faced off against the Boston Bruins.  Cutting towards the net, Mike Fisher got tangled up with a Bruins defenseman and his leg was caught and bent backwards as he fell to the ice.  He tried to get up and skate, but he couldn’t put any weight on his ankle and had to be helped off the ice.  As the commentators said, “That is one guy you can not afford to lose at this time of the season.”

When he got to the trainer’s room, Mike glanced at the game clock on the wall and saw that it was paused for a stoppage of play with 12 minutes and 12 seconds left in the game.  He did a double take and right away thought of Romans 12:12: ‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.’  “It was kind of just God saying, ‘You know what?  Be patient and trust in me and lean on me and things will work out.’”

Everything did work out and Mike’s ankle wasn’t broken, allowing him to return to the ice in less than three weeks.  But whatever the diagnosis had been, this was a reminder that he was more than a hockey player, he was first a follower of God.  Even when things don’t make sense or we find ourselves in frustrating circumstances, God is good.

Game Plan:  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.  When good things happen, who do you praise?  When you find yourself in trouble, who do you turn to?  Whether you’re on a hill or in a valley, do you come to God in prayer?  Where is your focus?

  Quote source: Defender of Faith: The Mike Fisher Story

This is such a humbling and centering prayer about understanding what is beyond our power, distinguishing between what we can and cannot control, and, most importantly, surrendering to God’s Will.  Many of us know the beginning, but the second half is just as powerful…

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.

When I read this prayer, I feel a flood of peace wash over me.  It’s about realizing we have the power to choose, but God also holds the world in his hands.  It’s about realizing that this world isn’t perfect, but that He will make all things right.  It talks about living in the now, but knowing that whatever hardships or unhappiness we face are only leading us to everlasting life and happiness with Him.  God, grant us the serenity.

Game Plan:  When we are feeling weak, God wants us to turn to him and put our trust in him rather than trying to deal with it on our own.  Surrender to God and pray the serenity prayer.

In sports, as in life, your future and success depend upon many things, but mostly they depend on you.  You have the responsibility to shape your life.  You are the person who pushes yourself forward or holds yourself back.  The power to succeed or fail is yours alone. – Gary Mack, Mind Gym

  The power to choose is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us.  We have the power to choose how we want to spend our lives.  We have the power to choose what affects us and how we react.  We have the power to choose what kind of a person we want to be.

Choose to love … rather than hate. Choose to laugh … rather than cry. Choose to create … rather than destroy. Choose to persevere … rather than quit. Choose to praise … rather than gossip. Choose to heal … rather than wound. Choose to give … rather than steal. Choose to act … rather than procrastinate. Choose to grow … rather than rot. Choose to pray … rather than curse. Choose to live … rather than die.

           – Excerpt from The God Memorandum (The Greatest Miracle in the World, Og Mandino)

  Sometimes we convince ourselves otherwise, that we are constrained by our circumstances, that we just aren’t good enough, or that someone else’s actions have control over our behaviour… but we always have the power to choose.  You can choose to forgive, to motivate rather than criticize, to choose your attitude.  Realizing this power can give you the freedom to take control of your life.

  Game Plan:  Write ‘I can choose’ on a bracelet or your hand as a reminder until you don’t need it anymore.  Look down and remember the power that you have every time you face a negative circumstance, feel angry, or feel that negative voice taking over.  One of the greatest powers we have is the power to choose.

“I went through the ‘Don’t do this’ syndrome at certain times in my career when facing certain batters.  I told myself not to hang a curve ball.  Sure enough, I did.  Now I focus on ‘Do this.’  It’s a significant difference.” – Tom Glavine, former Atlanta Braves pitcher

  What you think affects how you feel, and how you feel affects how you perform.  Even if you’re telling yourself not to do something, you’re letting it take up room in your mind and affect your mental preparation, which can have the opposite effect.  Listen to the positive coach, not the negative critic.  If you’re always telling yourself to avoid doing something or saying “I’m never going to get this”, it’s impossible to stop thinking about it.  Instead, focus on the positive coach.  Instead of telling yourself that you have to abstain from ‘bad foods’, convincing yourself that you have low willpower, and being ashamed of your body, you’re more likely to be successful if you find healthy foods that you enjoy, allow yourself treats every once in awhile, and know that although your body may not be ‘perfect’, you are doing your best to treat it well so that it can continue to let it run, play, and work.  It’s the same for anything in life – the mind works most effectively when you’re telling it what to do rather than what not to do.

Golfer Arnold Palmer kept this poem in his locker to remind himself of the power of the mind:

If you think you are beaten, you are

If you think that you dare not, you don’t

If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t,

It’s almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost

For out in the world you’ll find

Success begins with a fellow’s will.

It’s all in the state of mind.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man;

But sooner or later the man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can.

  Game Plan:  Be the positive coach rather than the negative critic.  When you hear that negative critic start talking, think about what you want to do or believe instead.  I can handle this.  I stay positively focused when faced with adversity, obstacles, and distractions.  I move with speed and confidence.  Either you control your attitude, or it controls you.

  Quote source: Mind Gym, Gary Mack

The mind works most effectively when you’re telling it what to do rather than what not to do.