North Star Mental Fitness Blog

Dale Carnegie on Happiness

Happiness- where do you find your happiness?

Dale Carnegie wrote:

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are,

or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy,

it is what you think about".

People always have choices in their pursuit of happiness.  The most powerful choices in the pursuit of happiness are mental.

How you think about the possessions, people and places in your life will determine happiness or unhappiness.

How you think will determine how you feel!

Remember, You Live within the Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

The Importance of Your Mindset

Charlie Jones has been broadcasting sports event since 1960.  He has broadcasted numerous professional sports, including broadcasting football games from the American Football League, the National Football League and various sports at the Olympics.

He, therefore, has witnessed tremendous achievements and disappointments in the world of sports.

In his book, "What Makes Winners Win," he shared one of his observations:

"The other intriguing thing I have noticed, and it happens time and time again, is that the winners always figure out a way to win, and the losers... that's right, they always figure out a way to loose is."

It's Okay to Lose

Losing is part of life.  Therefore, it is okay to lose.  It is okay to sometimes expect to lose. 

The importance of expecting losing and losses in sports as well as in life is demonstrated in this quotation from Pat Riley.  Pat Riley has been the coach of five NBA championship teams.  He is widely regarded as one of the the best NBA coaches of all time.

Charlie Jones wrote "What Makes Winners Win".  In his book Charlie Jones quoted Pat Riley:

"First of all, you teach players that losing is just as much a part of the game as winning.

I used to set a reverse goal.  We come into training camp and I would say to my players,' it's okay to lose 25 games'.

Now 25 games to most people seemed like a lot of losing.  But you must realize that 25 losses add up to 57 victories, which means you probably win your division and your conference and have the best record in the league.

So they have to understand that losing is just as much a part of the game as winning."

Jenner on the Mind

Bruce Jenner won the 1976 decathlon in the 1976 Olympics.  The grueling victory was due to both his mental and physical fitness.  In Bruce's own words he said:

"You Have To Train Your Mind like You Train Your Body".

This quotation from Bruce Jenner about the importance of training the mind is even more significant, when you consider that he also struggled with dyslexia.

No matter what is your burden today or your goal, take time to train your mind.

Remember, We Live with The Environment Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

What is motivation?

John Naber won four gold medals and the silver medal in swimming at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.  All of his final Olympic times were world records as reported by Mat Luebbers at About.com.

In order to achieve at such a successful level, John was highly motivated.  John defined motivation as:

"The excitement and enthusiasm you get whenever you imagine what it's going to feel like when your personal dream actually comes true.

I realized that whenever I lost sight of my dream (or lost sight in its achievability), I lost my motivation, so the easiest way to get it back was to imagine the dream coming true. The goose-bumps would return, and that feeling helped me get back into the workout, the meet or the regimen necessary to succeed."

Are You Claiming Your Mountains?

Very often we live in the past.  Not just by dwelling on past mistakes, failure to achieve or lost opportunities.  We often live in the past by allowing our past thoughts and feelings to determine how we approach life. 

Too often we look back on our life through darkened lenses and muted ears, because of the unconscious influence from our past. 

Too often, we continually dwell on our past successes and fail to successfully cope with life in the present.

Mike Ditka, the former, tough-minded Chicago Bear football player and coach shared his philosophy about life and overcoming his past.  `Mike Ditka put it this way:

"Life to Me Is about Challenges and Climbing Mountains.  I Don't like to Live in the Past.  The Past Is for Cowards."

Do You Learn More from Failure or Success?

Have you ever wondered if you learn more from failure or success?

I ask you to consider that our mindsets can determine whether we learn more from failure or success.

If we focus more on failures in life, I imagine we would learn more from failures.  By focusing more on failures, we increase the risk of attracting more and more failures into our life.  Before long we might find ourselves living within the environment created by failure.

If we focus on learning from our successes, we can attract more and more successes into our lives.  Professional golfer, Hale Irwin, gave his outlook on life:

"I've Learn More from Victory, Because I Have Trained Myself to Concentrate on the Good and Positive"

 

How to Think about Losing

How do you cope with losses in your life?  Do you allow yourself to feel defeated, discouraged and give up hope?  Do you find yourself settling for a life of disappointment?  Do you allow your self-concept to take on the characteristics of a loser?

Greg Norman the professional golfer known as the "Shark" shows us how to think about losses and defeats.

Greg verbalized his identity and affirmed his self-concept by saying:

"I Am a Winner.  I Just Didn't Win Today".

Visualizing Success

Visualizing success opens the window of opportunity for success.  The Law of Attraction can be actualized in your life by thinking thoughts and visualizing your life as successful.

Tiger Woods, one of the most famous and successful professional golfers emphasized the importance of visualization in these words:

"Every Time I Play, In My Own Mind I Am The Favorite"!

Block Your Critics

Block Your Critics!  This is the advice from Bo Schembechler, the legendary coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines.  "Ignore your critics" is a chapter in Bo Schembechler and John U. Bacon's book, "Bo's Lasting Lessons".

Bo quoted Fritz Crisler regarding his advice for coping with critics:

"If you're winning, you don't need them.  And if you're losing, they can't help you."

Bo Schembechler prepared for 101,001 critics every Saturday and millions more on TV.  You may not have that many critics in your life.  However, one or two critics, who are very significant to you, can be as overwhelming as 101,000 critics on a football weekend.

How do you block out a critic?  How do you block out a critic, who might be a husband, wife, parent, child, employer or fellow employee?