Your Performance Statement

As I said earlier, it is advantageous to create your performance statement before facing problems in training or competitions. You can better identify the best way to think when you aren’t already in a negative emotional state. To create your personalized performance statement, you need to single out your specific process of success. Up to this point, the discussion has featured mostly athletes and thus has been weighted toward technical execution. If you instead are using 10-MT to further develop your business career, you might shape your statement around effective communication or negotiation techniques. Here is an example of a performance statement for an executive with whom I work: “Listen first; then decide; be swift and confident.” She uses her performance statement to remind herself to listen to her team and clients before making decisions and then to move steadily ahead. Similarly, if you are using this program to help you maintain a personal fitness routine and get in shape, then your performance statement might highlight your commitment and dedication or the routine itself. A client trying to prioritize exercise had this as his performance statement: “Three days on, one day off; dedicated and committed; I clear my own path.” His highlights aren’t as much about the technical aspects of doing it right as they are about his desire and ability to be healthy. Always use what you think works when creating your performance statement. The best method I know of to identify your process of success is to answer the following questions (you can use the space provided throughout to record your answers): 1. Imagine that you are about to compete in the biggest game of your life, and the best coach you have ever had is standing right next to you. Sixty seconds before the competition begins, your coach looks you in the eye and tells you that if you stay focused on this one thing or these two things, you will be successful today. What one or two things would the coach name? (Be as specific as possible, and remember to avoid using the word don’t.) 2. Again, imagine that you are about to compete in the biggest competition of your life, but this time, you are both the coach and the athlete. Sixty seconds before the competition begins, you, the coach, look at you, the athlete, and relate that if you stay focused on this one thing or these two things, you will be successful today. What one or two things would you, the coach name? Your response to this question may very well be the same as your answer to the previous question; however, if there is a difference, trust yourself. Remember that you are truly the expert on what you need to do to be successful. You need to decide how many performance statements you would like to develop. Most athletes pick the one most important aspect for them to focus on, creating and using only one performance statement. Some choose to use two or more performance statements: gymnasts and divers typically elect to create one performance statement for each event or dive; basketball and baseball players may want to create them for offense and defense; golfers may create one performance statement for putting and another for all other swings; tennis players might have one specific to the serve and one for ground strokes. A conversation I had with a player on the St. Louis Cardinals while developing his performance statement may help you with this concept. He felt his current hitting coach was the best coach he had ever worked with, so I asked him to imagine that he was about to play in Game 7 of the World Series, and, sixty seconds before the game began, his coach looked him in the eye and said that if he would focus on one thing that day—just this one thing— on every single pitch, he would be successful. I asked him what that one thing was. Although it was difficult for him to imagine at first, he said the coach would tell him to trust himself, look for his pitch, and then attack. Then I asked him to imagine that he was in the same situation, Game 7 of the World Series, and had been cloned to be not only the athlete but also the hitting coach. Sixty seconds before the game began, his hitting coach self looked at his player self and said, “If you focus on this one thing before every pitch, you and I both know you will be successful.” I asked him what he would say to himself in that situation. Although this was even tougher for him to imagine, he thought that he would tell himself to see the ball and hit it. When I asked him what it took for him to see the ball, he replied, “Seeing the ball is so important for me. I mean really see the ball and then just focus on swinging short and easy. When I think short and easy on my swing, it actually produces a more powerful swing than when I try to overpower things. The key for me is to concentrate on picking the ball up early and then just swinging short and easy.” He thought that picking the ball up early was more helpful than seeing the ball and that finding his swing—short and easy—put him in the best position to hit the ball. “Loading” early was also an essential part of this process, so he initially thought his performance statement would be “Load early, pick it up, short and easy.” So I asked him to put himself back in Game 7 of the World Series, seeing himself on deck and digging into the box with the whole world watching. But this time he was to imagine that his mind was focused on only one thing: Load early, pick it up, short and easy. He imagined the at bat but decided he didn’t like the part about loading early and instead went with “Pick it up early, short and easy.” In doing so he felt good: “I was relaxed and confident and felt exactly how I would want to.” After I asked him how the at bat went he replied, “I hit a game-winning double off the wall; it was awesome!” Now take a moment and create your own performance statement. Think back to the previously mentioned scenario where you are about to compete in the biggest competition of your life. What do you think would be the one most productive thing for you to be focused on? Remember to have your performance statement(s) reflect what it takes to perform well. Once you decide how many performance statements you are going to use, go ahead and write them down. I have included a few lines to write in, in case you want to have more than one performance statement. Remember, keep it simple and identify the one core thought that allows you to play at your best.