We are what we repeatedly do. – Aristotle
I found that quote in an article in the Dec. issue of Fast Company magazine titled Vote of Confidence in the How to Coach Confidence section. Jim Loehr of LGE Performance Systems (Corporate Athlete.com) is the performance coach profiled. Loehr adds to the Aristotle quote: “Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit.”
I came across Loehr a few months ago when Martin Belair, the US importer of Montesa trials motorcycles, loaned me a set of audio tapes by Loehr and colleage Peter McLaughlin titled Mental Toughness Training. It’s a little out-of-date but otherwise a very complete approach. Plus, Loehr and McLaughlin talk informally on the tapes intead of the usual canned reading that so many audiotape programs use. However, I still think the book Sports Psyching: Playing Your Best Game All of the Time by Thomas Tutko is better on the actual mental exercises to practice.
I’m becoming increasingly aware of how all this mental toughness stuff can apply to my everyday life, not just my recreational sports activities. I’ve made satisfactory progress on my small steps to get more disciplined this past week. I drew a little chart on my whiteboard by my desk and kept score on the two things I’d decided to work on: Daily prayer and whittling down my email inbox by 25/day so that I was at zero by Sunday. I almost got there: 25. I’m also trying to use the suggestions by David Allen in his book Getting Things Done and listed on his web site in a section titled Email: How to Organize It.
I don’t want to add too much to my “get disciplined” plan but since I have a racquetball tournament next weekend, I want to do a ten minutes/day of mental exercises this week, primarily relaxation and concentration. And I’m going to schedule one hour of writing time each day.