Below you will find an image that was on the white board from the Cubs spring training. It is filled with the mental training philosophy of the team and is a rare look at a professional team’s mindset at the very beginning of a long successful journey. As I write this on Monday, the Cubs are down in the series 3 to 2 and are facing a very difficult challenge; win the next two games or lose the World Series.
I could write endlessly about the concepts on this image as they pertain not just to sports psychology but to life. The image is about performance which is defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. That certainly applies to all of us.
On the image below, we see the mindset of our beloved Cubbies. Take a look, and below I’ll talk about #4 on this list.
Number 4 reads, “Know we are not perfect but can be present = power.” Wow, baseball and life have a beautiful common theme. Stop worrying about perfection because it’s unattainable and focus on the now, this moment. I think the Cubs discovered that being immersed in the now reduces anxiety and increases performance. Plus, they had fun along the way: each successful step was celebrated; each misstep was evaluated, adjusted, and improved.
If the Cubs don’t win, they will certainly feel the pain, then resilience will take root, then they’ll get up and forge ahead. A setback is a setup for a comeback.
In Cleveland they will need to win two games in a row as a visiting team. I know what they will be thinking. Focus on one game at a time, on one inning at a time, on one pitch at a time. They will need to be present not perfect.
