BE IN THE MOMENT! PLAY IN THE NOW!

Managing the moment is one of the most crucial parts of playing with confidence and the mental game! A lot of the other skills, including ones I have addressed in earlier post like “DEAL” are directly related to it. The goal is to get to the point where you use them together to help you be in the moment and play with confidence.

When faced with a pressure situation, game winning shot, clutch free throws or just getting your game back, we often think back to prior mistakes or what we think “should” have happened. Then we start thinking and believing it’s going to happen again. We also think ahead about what we “think or feel” has to happen. When you think like this it is just like trying to make two free throws at once or scoring six points on one shot and we all know that’s impossible. These types of thoughts cause tension about things that are out of your control and virtually take you out of the game and the moment and almost guarantees you will mess up.

Slow down and breathe! Have the mentality to play “one shot or possession at a time.” Play in the “NOW” as that is the only play that matters and the only one you have any control over. I heard Stephen Curry say after a poor first half shooting effort, “I have to have a short memory when it comes to that…” Michael Jordan said “I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot . . . when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.” Both of these amazing athletes are not concerned with what was or might be, only with what is!

Jordan was and still is referred to as the most Clutch player the game has ever seen. Now some others have joined the ranks including; Kobe, Lebron, Ray Allen and more. So what is it about these “CLUTCH” players that makes them this way? Swagger, confidence, the attitude “I’ll show you how great I am” -Mohammad Ali. They don’t think they DO. They don’t analyze they play. They don’t worry about losing or not winning they keep moving forward, attacking, doing everything they can to WIN. They don’t cower when they’re down by 2 and time’s expiring, they rise up, they want the ball when the game’s on the line. They view it as a challenge not a threat.  Although the name on the back of the jersey means the world to them, its who they are, they still play more for the name on the front of the jersey. They’re more concerned with the WE than the me.

Instead of being worried about missing they’re excited about making it. They’re excited about watching the ball as is spins perfectly on its way to the basket and hearing the sound it makes as it kisses the net. Followed by the roar of the crowd, the rush of triumph, the thrill of victory, the satisfaction of knowing on that night their best was good enough and quite possibly better than anyone had ever seen. They’ve been willing, since before they can remember, to take that chance knowing they could miss but also knowing what the great Wayne Gretzky knows “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”  They live & play boldly and make no excuses. Most importantly they would rather shoot for victory with the chance of defeat than as President Theodore Roosevelt said, “…live in that gray twilight…” that knows neither.

Play and be in the moment, put yourself in game winning situations and believe! You will have more fun and will find out just how great you are!

SLOW DOWN!    BREATHE!    TRUST!