Peak Performance: The Blog

LeBron James Having MVP Season

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:23:00 +0000

In a win over the streaking New York Knicks in Miami, Le Bron James of the Miami Heat, chipped in 20 points and nearly had a triple-double, finishing with 9 rebounds and 8 assists. James also had five steals.

"He was just so locked in," Joel Anthony, Miami Heat center said of James. "He set the tone."

James played 41 minutes,but his 37-minute average this season is more than two minutes fewer than he averaged last year. He has made the most of his time on the court: a career 48 percent shooter, he is making 55 percent of his shots and averaging 8.1 rebounds - 1 above his career mark.

"He's playing the best basketball I've ever seen him play," Udonis Haslem, Miami Heat forward said, adding, "He's the M.V.P."

Excerpt from nytimes.com (February 24, 2012).

How Badly Do You Want It?

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:18:00 +0000

How Bad Do You Want It from Greyskale Multimedia LLC on Vimeo.

whitney houston -1985 - saving all my love for you

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Happy 49th Birthday, Your Airness!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:39:00 +0000

"Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I'd close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it, and that usually got me going again."

--Michael Jordan, talking about his intense drive and determination, originating from early disappointment and adversity.

Early in his career, Michael Jordan played basketball at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. Ironically, Jordan was cut from the varsity team as a sophomore. Instead of giving up after failing to make the team, Jordan used it to spur himself to greater achievements, practicing hour after hour on the court.

Be on the lookout for my book: "Razor Thin: The Difference between Winning and Losing," coming soon.

Tom Coughlin, New York Giants' Head Coach, Stresses Mental Toughness

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:27:00 +0000

“Mental toughness, resiliency, resolve. We keep playing, we keep fighting, and we’re highly competitive. We do have great trust in each other, great belief that we can finish, and that if we keep playing one play at a time as hard as we can go that we will find a way to win.

“I will tell you this: from the earliest part of camp moving forward, particularly what we went through seemingly every week, we would have an injury that would be, under normal circumstances, devastating, I think what would happen there is that the players fed off of me and I fed off the players.

“We never changed our objective. We never changed our goal. We never changed our attitude about what had to be accomplished and what we had to do. This is a great statement to our players as well as to our mental toughness. That’s what you have to rely on.

“Somehow, someway, you have got to answer these questions. The next guy has to come along, step up, play well and give you a chance to win. That’s exactly what we did. That’s exactly the approach we took.

“Because of their mental toughness, because they hung in there, because they continued to believe, because we continued to be in the hunt for the NFC East title, that was always there for us.”

"We’re about team, we’re not about individuals. We’re certainly very cognizant of some of the superior individuals that we have on our team, thank goodness, but it is the team that provides us with our strength, and our ability to perform under pressure, whether it is good or bad, and that’s the way we think.”

Excerpt from sports.yahoo.com (02.06.2012)

How winners are made.

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Quiet Leadership: Eli Manning and Giants are Ready for the Super Bowl

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:06:00 +0000

“We got an excellent message from Eli. It was very well-needed. For players like myself who have been to a Super Bowl, it is still great to hear someone speak with that kind of leadership. And you know, Eli doesn't say much. When he says it, he means it and you know it is coming from the heart."

--Antrel Rolle, New York Giants’ safety, discussing a speech given by Eli Manning as they prepare for their Super Bowl rematch with the New England Patriots.

Eli Manning’s Quiet Leadership"There's a lot of pressure coming into a season on a team like this and if you walked in and are working with a veteran quarterback, and you make a mistake and he's ripping you apart, putting you down or making it obvious on the field that it's your fault, then that would make a tough situation even worse.

"Eli doesn't approach it that way. I know that when me and Victor came in, we didn't know everything and we still don't. But when we made a mistake, ran the wrong route, he always took the time to help us. That's what good leaders do. They realize the team's not just made of vets. You have to be willing to accept other people's mistakes and Eli is great with that, one of the best.

"I don't know how he was before. But maybe because he didn't always get that when he started out he understands how important it is. Again, that's just Eli - hard worker, commander, leader."

-- Jake Ballard, the second-year tight end.

"Instead of jumping on receivers when they make mistakes, Eli is more likely to pull them aside on the sideline, explain what they had discussed in practice and tell them what he's expecting from them," said former Giants quarterback and current ESPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck. "When you have a guy who doesn't have a confrontational approach to dealing with things, that's a better way of handling things. One of the reasons he and Kevin Gilbride [Giants’ offensive coordinator] get along so well is because Eli is the way he is. Kevin can be pretty fiery."

"Eli told everybody at the beginning of the season that he's a leader," Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty said. "And he's proven that with his performance."

"I think a leader is someone who motivates someone to achieve a goal or change their actions or improve their actions, and Eli has that ability," Barden said. "Now, he's not the kind of guy who's going to get in your face or ride you and yell at you. He displays his displeasure or his emotion as anyone else does, but he goes about it in a way so that it doesn't negatively affect the game."

-- Ramses Barden, Giants’ third-year receiver, discussing Manning’s statement about his elite status as an NFL quarterback.

Elite Status as Quarterback

"That's been obvious to me, since I've been here and you want that kind of attitude out of your quarterback. Now he's had the opportunity to prove it beyond a doubt, putting up numbers that are beyond what people expected from him," said Barden.

Solid Stability

"It's his strength," "You're not dealing with a roller-coaster guy here, you know? These are all young receivers and I know how confident they all are talking to him, trying to tell him what they see," said Sean Ryan, the Giants' second-year receivers coach.

"…But after being with him for a while, it's his consistency not only as a quarterback but as a person that you know you can count on,” Barden said.

At the outset of Manning's fourth season that Tiki Barber introduced himself as a network commentator by calling Manning's leadership skills comical. Months later, Manning led the Giants past the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl. Process is all about patience.

"He's all right, he's as tough as they come,"

--Hakeem Nicks, wide-receiver.

Intelligence and Preparation

"He has functional intelligence. He can sit in a film room and break down route combinations, pass protections, defensive fronts, and he can do it all in about three seconds. Coaches like to get into the habit of running tape over and over so players understand what you're trying to do. Eli doesn't need that. We get excited about fast-twitch athletes, guys who are really explosive physically. He's what you call a fast-twitch thinker."

--Duke offensive coordinator Kurt Roper, who coached Manning at Ole Miss.

"For us it's no surprise our offense goes how Eli directs it," Giants left tackle David Diehl said. "His understanding and grasp of our offense, his knowledge of things, the way that he's able to recognize blitzes or coverages or different things. When he is watching film, he notices things that the [defensive] line is doing. Not many quarterbacks pay attention."

A season ago, he was berated by Giants fans for not showing enough emotions on the sidelines during a difficult 10-6 season. Now, it is considered remarkable how he never looks rattled especially during the playoffs. Manning boasts an all-time playoff mark of 6-3.

"I think it is his mentality. It is his approach. Nobody sees what he does behind the scenes. He is a studier and a pounder. He is looking for every little advantage that he can get. He is just trying to be the best he can be to help this team win," head coach Tom Coughlin said.

"If we could all just remember that and use that. He loves playing against the best competition, but it is just all about doing the best for his team."

"I think we are always confident going into games. Guys understand the way to win football games against good teams. Our defense is playing great with pressure and turnovers," Manning said. "Our offense for the most part is protecting the ball and playing smart football. When we have a chance to make a big play we are making them."

Excerpts from ESPN.com (2/4/2012) nytimes.com (01/20/2012) and Sports.yahoo.com (01/16/2012; 2/2/2012).

Philadelphia Phillies Use Mental Conditioning Techniques to Take 3-1 Lead In NLCS Series

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:28:00 +0000

“A lot of teams say they play all 27 outs, but I’ve never seen a team actually do it as well as we do, I mean, there’s really no score in the ninth inning we don’t feel we can come back from.”

--Brad Lidge, Phillies relief pitcher, who struck out the only two batters he faced in the ninth inning and earned the win — his first of 2009.

CONFIDENCE AND SELF-TALK TO OVERCOME FEAR AND ADVERSITY

The Philadephia Phillies are one win from advancing to their second consecutive World Series after edging the Dodgers, 5-4, at Citizens Bank Park with a ninth-inning rally. Down 4-3 to the Dodgers, Jimmy Rollins delivered the game-winning hit, a two-out, two-run double off Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton.

“It’s one of those situations where I wasn’t afraid,” Rollins said. “I’ve faced him a number of times before.”

In three of their six postseason victories, the Phillies have scored the winning runs in the ninth inning. During the regular season, the Phillies led the National League with 43 come from behind victories.

FINISHING

“Like I said before, we play the whole game,” Manager Charlie Manuel said. “We play 27 outs, we think we can win.”

VISUALIZATION AND RITUALS

Perhaps no player utilizes mental conditioning techniques as effectively as the Phillies' Ryan Howard. In preparation for his turn at bat, Howard begins his mental routine. He sits on the Phillies’ bench with bat in hand, head bowed, eyes closed. For these few seconds, Howard is in a quasi-meditative state. He is letting go of his last at-bat, putting it out of his mind. He is channeling positive, upbeat thoughts.

Howard is visualizing results and getting them. No one has driven in more runs this major league postseason than Howard. He set a major league record Sunday by driving in a run for the seventh consecutive game in one postseason. After a home run in his first at-bat in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Monday night to extend that streak, he had 14 runs batted in this postseason, more than he had in 17 playoff games the past two years. After Monday’s 5-4 victory for the Phillies, Howard was batting .379 with seven runs scored and two homers in eight postseason games.

“He goes to his quiet place,” the Phillies’ hitting coach, Milt Thompson, said. “When he’s there, he’s ready to hit.”

Thompson said Howard had been using visualization techniques all season, as a way to focus on the present, to enjoy the moment. When players see him meditating on the bench, they know not to interrupt.

“I’ve noticed it,” Manager Charlie Manuel, who is an advocate of positive thinking, said. “I haven’t talked to him about it because it’s something I think — that’s his own thing.”

Howard is in a zone, but it is simply the continuation of his impressive regular season, in which he had 45 home runs, with 141 runs batted in.

RELAXED FOCUS

“I think it’s more just the experience that I’ve gained from last year to this year, just the entire feel of the playoffs and just kind of taking a step back and looking at last year, at what kind of happened last year,” Howard said. “I just kind of gathered that experience of just being more relaxed, going up there and being loose and having fun playing the game.”

“For some reason, I just went up there and just started seeing more pitches,” Howard said. “Just told myself to relax and try and see as many pitches as I can and just wait for a mistake.”

RESULTS

“You never know with our guys,” Lidge said. “They’re capable of some amazing things.”

The Phillies are one win away from consecutive trips to the World Series.

Excerpts from the New York Times (October 20, 2009).

For more on mental conditioning, click on The Handbook of Peak Performance.

Ray Lewis: The Team Player

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:23:00 +0000

"As a man, I said it earlier, not one play won or lost this game. Could you have put us in a position to keep playing, absolutely. But one play didn't win or lose the game. There is no one man who has ever lost a game. Don't you ever drop your head. We win as a team, we lose as a team. There is no 'Billy is the fault, Bill missed the kick.' It happens, move on, move on, as a man, because life doesn't stop."

--Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens' linebacker, telling the media what he will tell Billy Cundiff, who missed a game-tying field goal that allowed the New England Patriots to win the AFC Championship.

The Ray Lewis Mentality

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:10:00 +0000

"For us to be here now, I'm hungry again and I'm thirsty again. Every time you go through something like this, it has to drive you. I truly believe that's the only thing that makes people great. It's not the ones who always winning that people remember. It's the ones who go through tough times."

--Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens' linebacker, after losing to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

Lewis is a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a16-year NFL veteran and 13-time NFL Pro Bowler.

"Is this my last time as a Raven? Absolutely not," Lewis said. "Let me answer that question before somebody asks me. Absolutely not. It's just too much. Life offers too much. Everytime you step on this field, it's a true blessing."

"God has never made a mistake. Ever," Lewis said. "Somebody is going to feel like this tomorrow, and somebody is going to feel like this in two weeks in the Super Bowl. And whomever wins it, that's their year. That's a fact, and there ain't nothing nobody else can do about it. That's the irony of sports. There is a winner, there's a loser, and when you lose, you've got to suck it up like a man and say 'You know what Father? If it's your will, so be it. As a man you got to keep moving, and a team keep building, remembering this taste."

Excerpts from http://www.hometownannapolis.com (1.23.2012).

Eli Manning Leads New York Giants to the Super Bowl Again

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:36:00 +0000

“Eli is just as calm in the fourth quarter as he is in the first quarter of a preseason game. They expect to score. That’s impressive.”

--Eli Manning’s brother Peyton said outside the New York Giants’ locker room after their overtime N.F.C. championship game.

Eli quarterbacked the New York Giants to a win in the N.F.C. championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. Manning and the Giants advanced to the Super Bowl with a 20-17 victory. They will face the New England Patriots whom they upset in their previous Super Bowl meeting in 2007.

Excerpts from nytimes.com (January 23, 2012)

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:09:00 +0000

"The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."

--Joe Paterno (1926-2012)

Rest in Peace

Taken from The Handbook of Peak Performance.

Joe Flacco Respected by his Raven Teammates

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Happy Holidays 2011 from the Valdes'

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:10:00 +0000

Happy Holidays 2011 from the Valdes'

The Managerial Secret of Tony LaRussa

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:12:00 +0000

“He’s on a whole different level. He thinks about stuff nobody else is thinking about. I played for him, I know how he is. He’s one of a kind.”

--Darren Oliver, Texas Rangers pitcher, discussing St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa.

Tony La Russa has been a major league manager for 33 seasons. In the opening game of the 2011 World Series on Wednesday night against the Rangers, La Russa pulled the right levers with his bullpen, making five changes. Each move went his way, and the Cardinals won the first games of the series. 3-2 in front of 46,406 at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium.

LaRussa emphasizes caring as a key component of this managerial style.

“There’s a lot of smart baseball people around,” La Russa said. “Nowadays, with all the distractions, you better get kids that care for your message. And how do you get them to care? You care for them as people.”

It is not easy and it takes time.

“Our staff, we believe in being very personal, up-close with our players,” La Russa said.

“It’s not a line drawn and you rarely step over it. We really believe in a lot of intermingling and making each other personally accountable to each other. In other words, you care for your players. Actually, it’s a harder way to lead, because you spend a lot of time as a staff thinking about each and every guy, every day.”

Excerpts from the NYTimes.com (10/19/2011).

San Francisco 49ers' Fast Start

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:00:00 +0000

“I think a lot of you think it’s a cliché that we’re really just focused on getting better. Being better tomorrow than we were today. Being better today than we were yesterday. That’s how we’re judging success, so we didn’t put any limitations on ourselves or any things like that. We’ll just keep moving on with that plan, improving. Not changing but improving.” “Thought it was a great win for our team, great thrill of winning. We take the next step. It was a step. I feel like our team performed well, competed hard.”

--Jim Harbaugh, first-year head coach of the NFL San Francisco 49ers, responding to questions from the media about the team’s 4-1 start in the 2011 regular season and the quick turnaround by his team.

Coaches’ Mindset Extends to the Team

"You act like your coaches," said 49ers tight end Delanie Walker, whose 26-yard scoring reception got the 49ers rolling in their latest victory over Tampa Bay. "We are going to keep our heads, keep our cool and make smart decisions. When other teams make bad decisions, we capitalize on that." "I love the fact that he motivates us and has us ready to win every game," wide receiver Michael Crabtree said of Harbaugh. "It's like the will to win. It's not just focusing on one person. Everyone has the same goal in mind."

‘‘You can just tell the attitude difference. Everybody has a plan, a direction of what they want to do. Those guys played hard for [former coach Mike] Singletary, but they certainly play hard for Harbaugh. They certainly show a sense of urgency to go out and win this year. And it’s no different from what you would get any time you get a new coach. Harbaugh has done a wonderful job with these guys, and we look forward to going out there and having a good game.’’

--Raheem Morris, head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucanneeers, before his team played the 49ers.

Team Not Surprised by Fast Start

"It might be surprising to the outside," left tackle Joe Staley said, "but it's part of the culture that Harbaugh is instilling. We don't care about what anyone says on the outside. If they respect us. If they like the way we play, if they don't like the way we play. It's all about the guys in this locker room and believing in one another. That's what we're doing."

QB Alex Smith: Staying Loose and Focused

"Alex is a strong-minded individual," tight end Vernon Davis said. "He's struggled in the past but he's headed for success. He's taking advantage of his opportunities. He knows there's a possibility he'll get hit from all sides and he still wants to make the play." "He has the ability to stay loose and focused at the same time," Harbaugh said. "He plays with a calm demeanor." "He studies the game plan and the opponents' structure," Harbaugh said. "He's smart, talented and doesn't rattle easily. He makes good quality decisions."

Team Confident about the Future

"It's about getting into rhythm and staying together as one," tight end Vernon Davis said. "What I saw last week I had never seen before. I saw that this team has what it takes to go all the way." "Just top to bottom, collectively," quarterback Alex Smith said. "It's a completely different mindset, a different attitude."

Taking It One Day and One Game at a Time

“Across the board,” Harbaugh said after the victory over the Bucanneers, “I thought it was an outstanding day by our team.”

49er running back Frank Gore called his team’s winning performance as, “another step.”

It’s the first time he’s been 4-1 as a professional athlete, and Gore wasn’t getting ahead of himself, either.

“It takes steps,” Gore added. “It takes the right steps and we’re just going to keep getting better and better. “The longer we keep taking the right steps, and that’s taking steps forward, we’re going to keep getting better.”

Excerpts from ESPN.com, AJC.com, SanFranciscoChronicle.com, modbee.com, 49ersblog.com and sports illustrated.cnn.com (October 7, 9, 10, and 11, 2011).

Eli Manning: Maturity, Preparation and Focus Equals Success

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:51:00 +0000

“He’s tough, he’s hard-nosed, he hangs in there. He believes in himself and his teammates. This is something that we’ve worked on and directed an awful lot of attention towards from the neck up with our team, and the last two weeks it’s paid off.” --Tom Coughlin, the New York Giants’ head coach, discussing quarterback Eli Manning mindset and maturity.

Eli Manning has been on fire during the past two weeks. In a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants trailed, 16-14, but won, 29-16, after Manning threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes. Last Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, Manning threw two more touchdown passes — this time only 58 seconds apart — as the Giants came back from a 10-point deficit late to win, 31-27. Manning is 29 of 38 for 353 yards in the fourth quarter this season, with four touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 139.5 — best in the N.F.L. and nearly 34 points higher than his 105.6 rating over all.

Manning Inspires Others to Prepare

“You study so you can react without hesitating. The only way we’ll all be on the same page is if we have seen it before.”
--Kareem McKenzie, Giants’ lineman, who understands the importance of preparation and practice.

An Appreciation of a Team Approach

Manning was quick to deflect the attention when asked about the Giants’ successes in the fourth quarter, saying, “It is not just one person, it is everybody doing their job.” The team understand Manning’s importance to their success.

“We follow his lead.” --Giants’ tight end, Jake Ballard.

Excerpts from NewYorkTimes.com (October 6, 2011)

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:03:00 +0000

The "Dream Team" Has Yet To Wake Up

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:29:00 +0000

Atlanta Braves' Collapse Due to Poor Mental Conditioning

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:52:00 +0000

Mental Conditioning Is the Secret Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:05:00 +0000

Whichever companies gets this mental conditioning thing right will be in the proverbial catbird seat. Did you hear that right? Yes, that is correct, whichever companies get this mental conditioning thing right will be in the catbird seat.

Why? There are only so many new business strategies out there. There are only so many that can work. There are only so many re-engineering and process improvements that can be made. There are only some many people that can be laid off. There are only so many cost-cutting measures that can be done. There are only so many "work smarter with less" speeches that can be made. There are only so many fire drills that can be performed. There are only so many acquisitions and mergers that can be integrated. There are only so many people you can hire.

At the end of the day, we have to realize that the only frontier left to be conquered is the human mind and its capacity for innovation, creativity, problem solving and decision making. Yet, we have only begun to accept the current state of organizations or be open in the expanses of human potential through mental conditioning.

Boards, executives, managers, and employees alike are fighting like cats and dogs to find the silver bullet in management. They blame each other and look for anything they can find to keep themselves afloat. Everyone continues to look externally to find the right process--the right formula for increased productivity.

What we fail to look at is the immediate loss in productivity that starts the day you hire each and every employee or the day you put them in a new role. Like a new car that we drive off the lot, in most organizations the new employee begins to lose his full value the first day he arrives on your doorstep. If it is like most, your company starts to set up its employees for frustration and failure on day one. How does that happen?

First of all, if we do not design training to help people to learn from our mistakes and if we do not talk realistically to them immediately about the challenges facing our organization right now, we are training them for failure. If we don't begin the process of developing our employees before they are deployed, they will not be successful. We don't put them in a position to be successful, much less talk about the psychology of performance.

Instead, we prepare our employees to incorporate our dysfunctional organizational behavior from the very beginning. We fail to take into account how our culture and how our method for orientation and training begin to demotivate our new recruit on day one. Instead of giving him or her all the tools and resources that they need to be successful, we begin to tie their hands by telling them how we do business (even through how we do business is exactly how we got to this place to begin with). We indoctrinate them into our system of mediocrity and status quo. We don't teach new people how to learn in our organization or the future. We train them about the past.

Because most companies are much less than what they could be and have considerable lengths to go before they could be considered functional (particularly in this challenging economy), we begin to teach our new people how to ineffectively attack problems with the tools that have been designed poorly or have only been designed to tackle old problems, not the problems of the future.

To change this, what do businesses need to do? To begin with, we need to understand that we talk about business and we look at organizations in antiquated ways. We use phrases like "lean and mean" but fail to understand what that actually involves in the most fundamental of ways. It sounds impressive to be "lean and mean," but it has no practical application. We only know that it will be hard and uncomfortable (and usually be of undetermined time frame, unattainable and untethered to any success). Specifics are hard to come by in this "lean and mean" model.

Secondly, we plan based on what we would like to have happen without realistic planning or taking into account what realities are really out there. Because, if we did, we fear that the work involved would be too difficult and we couldn't get anyone to do it. We fool ourselves and our colleagues into believing that "all you have to do is....." and hope that we will magically achieve our goals. So, our plans do not include all the things that we know are like to intrude on our plans.

Thirdly and most importantly, we rely on the current state of our employees mental conditioning and personal psychological make-up. Our companies rarely give our employees the things that they need to navitigate the turbulence that is our organization and our economy. We don't teach our employees to solve the problems of our future or our customers' futures.

Lastly, we assume that we have hired the right person for now. So, we do not need to ensure that they have what it takes to be emotionally resilient and to innoculate them from the toxic and stressful internal and external environments that they will encounter (even if we know the realities of those environments) in the future. Rather, we wonder how and why our latest hire has floundered so quickly. We wonder how we could be so disappointed so soon.

So, what about this mental conditioning stuff?

By and large, mental conditioning has only successfully caught hold in two disciplines, the elite so-called Black OPS teams of the military; and world-class athletes and teams. Even the best in class companies have been found to incorporate only small aspects of what we know about mental conditioning. Most organizations whether they aspire to greatness and growth or not, have done nothing to solve the riddle of the human mind. Most organizations simply ebb and flow without regard to the mental aspects of success and achievement.

Imagine what kind of productivity gains and efficiencies (not to mention personal and team satsifaction) could be affected by significant uses of mental conditioning in the work place. Our ability to improve focus, foster clarity of thinking, reduce frustration and time wasters is critical to success. Through improvements in how we prepare and plan emotionally and mentally for the stress and pressure of important events and challenges, our companies could be radically changed by quickly altering in how we orient and train our employees with effective mental conditioning techniques.

These mental conditioning techniques focus on the future and focus on how we learn.

Business plans and process improvements, along with new product rollouts could be greatly benefitted by equal time committed to mental conditioning and engaged in emotional preparation activities associated with mental conditioning techniques and stress innoculation programs.

Atlanta Dream Move On to WNBA Finals

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:44:00 +0000

Atlanta Braves' Free Fall

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:41:00 +0000

WNBA Atlanta Dream's Castro Marques Steps Up

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:28:00 +0000

Dallas Cowboy Comes of Age

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Valdes) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:22:00 +0000