Thinking Outside the Box

As the St. Louis Cardinals entered the postseason in 2006, a rejuvenated Scott Spiezio was more prepared for success than he had ever been. Physically, he had spent countless hours in the weight room and even more time working on his hitting and fielding. From a mental standpoint, 10-MT had successfully prepared him to manage the postseason pressure. Spiezio had learned to use centering breaths to control his heart rate and arousal state. His performance statement, “See it; short and compact swing,” helped him develop and maintain pinpoint focus on staying calm, recognizing the pitch, and then putting a powerful, short, compact swing on the ball. Spiezio used his personal highlight reel to train himself to believe in his ability to perform well under pressure. He had visualized himself being calm, confident, and successful countless times throughout the season, which helped lead to his triumph in that key eighth-inning at bat against the Brewers. To intensify his work ethic and enhance his self-image, he repeated his identity statement to himself in his daily mental workouts: “I put the work in. I am a dominant major-league hitter.” After defeating the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series, the Cardinals were down one game to none in the National League Championship Series against the heavily favored New York Mets. In the seventh inning of Game 2, the Mets were ahead by 6–4 and appeared destined to take a commanding two-game lead in the best-of-seven series. With two men on base and two outs, Scott Spiezio once again found himself down to his final strike with the Cardinals’ season seemingly hanging in the balance. He had swung and missed on two tough changeups by Guillermo Mota and was expecting another off-speed pitch but instead saw a fastball, which he pulled foul to stay alive. With Mota keeping him guessing, Spiezio stepped out of the box to regain his composure. “See it; short and compact swing,” he told himself as he stepped back into the batter’s box. The very next pitch, Spiezio put a short, compact swing on another fastball and crushed it off the right-field wall. He missed a home run by inches, ending up with a triple that drove in two runs to tie the game. The stunned New York Mets were unable to recover, and Spiezio doubled in another run in the ninth inning. The Cardinals went on to beat the Mets in a physically grueling yet unquestionably memorable seven-game series. Eventually, St. Louis would ride the momentum to a World Series championship over the Detroit Tigers. The so-called experts hadn’t given the Cardinals much of a prayer against the Tigers, who were coming off a dominating series sweep to capture the American League pennant. Of course, there weren’t too many people giving Spiezio a chance of such a career revival, either. For Spiezio and the 2006 Cardinals, numbers could not relate the entire story. The team did not listen to what other people thought, because that was not important. What is important for athletes is to focus on the process of success and what it will take to reach their goals. The 10-Minute Toughness workout gives athletes the focus that they need to reach their potential and beyond.

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