Topic: mental attitude

[bbtuna]

fun and interesting...i have done many of these over the years as well as left brain right brain stuff

most everyone will fit one better than the others and many will find a trait or two from one of the other types

for me, I am like a split personality...the left brain/right brain thing I will score way right one time way left another and most times like dead center...I am a strong mix of 2 of 4 personality types and bits of the others on everyone of these I have done

they say balance is good but when you are in the middle of it, it is more like multi-personality disorder

one minute I am very creative dipping into the artist part of me and the next minute I am into organizing in detail some series of things as you see in my writing sometimes...I love free association and random bits but love order and linear thinking...I like high-level long term vision and principle oriented thinking but often get caught up in the details of now and the tyranny of the urgent – I like people and can be very interactive and fun but I am a loner too in many ways and the list goes on

keep it coming

[zeek mullins]

Introduction to focusing mechanics.

Turns out this is not easy for me. I know this information, but telling it turns out to be another story.

The secret to life is what you focus your mind on. There are many books telling athletes what to focus on and why they should be doing it. But they do not tell you HOW the process works. Understanding HOW the process works is the secret that the “big boys” know.

Most of the information I have been talking about so far is what’s and whys. The “concepts” are ways of thinking designed to help you understand why you should “let whatever happens be ok”. But these words are just interesting information unless you actually experience what they are telling you. That amazing computer you call your mind exists for one reason, and that is to create for you whatever you ask of it. And it is really good at doing this. It takes whatever you instruct it to do and figures out how to create it. the “secret” is understanding how to ask! The process of focusing is how you actually experience the information and, thus, program your mind to create it.

Most people habitually allow their minds to run on automatic (unconsciously) 95% of the time. When things are going their way, they are running their minds consciously. But as soon as something happens that is not what they wanted, they habitually switch to unconscious mode. The problem here is that when your mind is running on automatic, unconsciously, sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don’t get what you want, and sometimes you get what you don’t want. The results you get when your mind is running unconsciously are based on programming you received when you were too young to have control of that programming. IMPORTANT: The next time you hear someone say that a successful person was born with their ability, either you have it or you don’t, understand that that person simply learned, at a younger age, how to run their mind consciously. You can learn to. And it’s never too late. I started when I was 50.

Next: the nuts and bolts (finally)

[Old Meister]

"When things are going their way, they are running their minds consciously. But as soon as something happens that is not what they wanted, they habitually switch to unconscious mode." Huh,, I thought it was just the opposite, you know, the control thing.

[zeek mullins]

The ultimate goal is to be consciously unconscious. Learn how to get out of the way and let your amazing coimputer do what it knows how to do. Hopefully this will make sense soon.

[MR.STEVE]

Ok grasshoppers I keep mess up my game by not thinking quick enough, to think.?? Help

[Old Meister]

I always tried to be a conscious observer of my subconscious at work, giving it suggestions from time to time.

[zeek mullins]

once again you hit the nail on the head meister. i like "instructions" instead of "suggestions". easy to say, not so easy to do.

[zeek mullins]

unless you understand how.

[zeek mullins]

its sunday 2:30. anyone watching tiger? see if you can figure out how he is thinking and acting.

[zeek mullins]

he da man

[papafoos]

John, I find myself floating among the personalities.  My biggest problem right now is focus.  If playing forward, I can't seem to focus for more than a couple of games at a time.  At goalie, I can maintain a higher level of play much longer, but I'm finding that I wear down much quicker than I used to.  I attribute this to not playing enough and just getting older.

Get your shrink couch out, I may have to hit you up for a session.

[zeek mullins]

Lets address this conscious / unconscious thing.

Like a modern computer, our biological computer has three components. Processor / unconscious mind, input device / conscious mind, operator / YOU-spirit.

Our processor / unconscious mind is thousands of times more powerful than any mechanical processor yet invented. It is capable of doing thousands of tasks every second of every day. it monitors our breathing, heartbeat, movements, speach, the movement of every part of our body, literally every cell in our body. At the same time it receives comands from us to accomplish what we ask of it.

Our input device / conscious mind sends messages to the unconscious mind telling it what we (you -spirit) want. This part of our mind can handle five, plus or minus two, bits of information at a time. We use our conscious mind to build the representations / pictures that tell the unconscious mind what we are asking.

YOU - spirit are the operator. You use your conscious mind to tell your unconsciuos mind to figure out how to create what you want.

I believe this is how we work. All my information is based on this concept.

When I refered to "going unconscious" in a previous post, i meant that we stop using our conscious mind to give instructions. Or we allow it to start making pictures of what we dont want, with the intention of avoiding it.

If we are trying to shoot a pull shot, there is no way we can do it with our conscious mind. There is no way it can handle all the movements and processes necessary to do the shot.

As I have said before, the goal is to learn HOW to run our conscious mind in a way that asks the unconscious mind for what we want. Then we have to learn to trust our unconscious mind to do its thing.

[zeek mullins]

Hey Mark, sup
  as you know, i am up there in age myself. But i still have the physical ability to be a top notch player. And here lately i find my self wanting to play again. And im having fun doing it. My desire is driving me to do what i need to do. I have watched you play enough to know that you have the ability to be a top player.

While age does have a role in our physical ability, I dont think it has affected my mental ability. To be a really top level player i will probably have to work some on my conditioning. But if my desire is strong enough, i can do that.

We have a tendancy to use our age as an excuse. But dont forget that with age comes wisdom, and we can use that to beat the flatbellies.

Check your level of desire. Be honest with yourself! If you want it bad enough, you will find a way to do it. You will find the old focus you had way back when. Note: (and understanding this stuff ive been talking about will give you a new weapon to work with) If you find that you dont want it bad enough, you have two choices. You can work at ramping up that desire. Or you can let it be ok. Either way, dont let this silly game get in the way of having fun.
 

[Old Meister]

Ah,, desire.  Good topic as it sometimes gets lost in satisfaction or appreciation of the art of our sport. When the testosterone isn't flowing unchecked as these youngsters seem to have, then it seems it is the sensible mind that has to motivate us, as in, "It is the most fun when I win so I will do what I need to to make that happen." Such it is with the boomers. I really enjoy the young players, their drive to be dominant and to deliver lessons of reality so as to them so they keep grounded.

[gitablok]

Ok grasshoppers I keep mess up my game by not thinking quick enough, to think.?? Help

Mr. Steve, try this. It has everything to do with this thread.

Have set and predetermined TRIGGERS for certain situations. In other words, you have already thought out solutions to problems you may encounter beforehand thus freeing your mind to go unconscious.

Ex., last Sat. I played against John twice in which I scored pretty well against him. I later told him what he could change to make his D better. What I told him about what he was doing wrong is what I used as a trigger to shot on him. I knew he was getting better blocking so I figured I would use my trigger reading method of reading his D. In other words, when I saw the trigger, I fired, I didn't think, there was no need to.... because I already have beforehand which in turn freed my mind and body to execute as one.

There is another form of practice I have never mentioned that I know John knows all about. I also practice situations mentally in my head so when they come up, I don't have to think about what to do. I have gone over it a million times in my head already. It's partly what happens when someone is in that unconscious ZONE. No matter what you do, they have an answer because they have been there mentally a million times. They have freed their minds of petty thoughts and just let the mind and body become as one.

Many years ago a study was done with one guy, three situations. First, he practiced free throws over a given period of time and then shot a predetermined number to get a percentage. 2nd, he did not practice at all and the shot the same number of predetermined shots for a percentage. Last, he spent the same amount of time practicing as he did the first time only he did it mentally without a ball by just visualizing it. The percentage he had when he didn't practice was terrible which was no surprise. However, the percentages of the first and the third were almost identical even though he didn't even touch a ball which was very surprising. In other words, his mind was free in the last trial and his body followed through with the execution.