Rob Bell's Blog, page 18

10 Outstanding Hacks About Disney That You Can Instantly Use.

10 Outstanding Hacks About Disney That You Can Instantly Use.

Disney World opened in 1971, five years after Walt Disney died in 1966.

At the opening, someone said ” It’s too bad he wasn’t here to see it.” A reporter who spent time with Walt Disney replied ” He saw it before any of us ever did.”

I’m a strategies and tactics hound, I love inside information.

Here’s 10 Outstanding Hacks About Disney. 

1. Smells & Tunes

As you enter Disney World, you may slightly notice smells, In the morning, the smells pumped out on main street are vanilla. Throughout the day, the smells change to popcorn. The music in the morning is upbeat and lively. During the evening, the music is much more somber and calming…. As you leave Magic Kingdom, you’ll get an urge to buy something!

HACK: If you want to avoid the crowd at the end of the day, the stores on the right are all connected, breeze through there to leave.

2. Ask a Cast Member

Everyone is a cast member, and there isn’t much better customer service in the world than Disney. Here’s proof. If you ask any cast member for directions, they don’t point and tell you, they will walk you to where you want to go.  I test it by asking cast members who are sweeping the streets or cleaning up.

3. Trashcans

Walt Disney designed closed trashcans so the bad smells didn’t escape. They all have two sides on them so someone can use it walking in both directions. Also, he researched how long it took people to finish their food while walking. If you check, trashcans are 30-40 feet away from each other.

4. Eats

At Magic Kingdom, eat at Liberty Tavern, It’s an all-you can eat family style dinning. Eat a late lunch, and you’ll be satisfied all day. Ask for servers Chris or Selina.

Want some character dining? Eat breakfast at the Crystal Palace. Desire Mickey & Minnie and friends by eating an early dinner at Hollywood & Vine.

At HollyWood studios, make reservations at SciFi Dine In theatre.

5. Dinglehopper

During the Magic Kingdom festival of fantasy parade at 3:00, you’ll want to watch it in front of the Liberty Tavern. (eat and walk out front). Take a fork outside with you, when Ariel goes by, if you show her your “dinglehopper”, she’ll take hers out and wave it back to you!

6. Gaston

Outside of Gaston’s place in Magic Kingdom, challenge him to push-ups and he’ll drop and go! One of my favorites. He’ll bust out one handed push-ups though.

7. Tower of Terror

There become two lines at the Tower of Terror, when it splits near the ride entrance, go straight! You’ll get an extra drop! This is one of my favorite 10 outstanding hacks about Disney. Who doesn’t love more ride?

8. Best Ride Ever

Toy Story Mania. end of story! Fast Pass this ride early and ride it often. Waits are 90 minutes later in day for a reason! Youtube it on scoring secrets.

9. The Lion at Animal Kingdom

My man, Coach Bru told me about this one. He asked “was the lion on the rock during the safari at Animal Kingdom?”  It was! The rock is climate cooled! Cool in the summer and warm in the winter so everyone will most likely see the lion.

10. Fantasmic

Don’t miss this show! Eat at Minnie’s Hollywood & Vine and you’ll also get seating in the center of the show. No need to wait for seats off to the side.

Hope you enjoyed these 10 outstanding hacks about Disney. Can you share some of yours?

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

10 Outstanding Hacks About Disney That You Can Use.

10 Outstanding Hacks About Disney That You Can Use (on vacation or life). 

Disney World opened in 1971, five years after Walt Disney died in 1966.

At the opening, someone said ” It’s too bad he wasn’t here to see it.” A reporter who spent time with Walt Disney replied ” He saw it before any of us ever did.”

I’m a strategies and tactics hound, I love inside information.

Here’s 10 Outstanding Hacks About Disney. 

1. Smells & Tunes

As you enter Disney World, you may slightly notice smells, In the morning, the smells pumped out on main street are vanilla. Throughout the day, the smells change to popcorn. The music in the morning is upbeat and lively. During the evening, the music is much more somber and calming…. As you leave Magic Kingdom, you’ll get an urge to buy something!

HACK: If you want to avoid the crowd at the end of the day, the stores on the right are all connected, breeze through there to leave.

2. Ask a Cast Member

Everyone is a cast member, and there isn’t much better customer service in the world than Disney. Here’s proof. If you ask any cast member for directions, they don’t point and tell you, they will walk you to where you want to go.  I test it by asking cast members who are sweeping the streets or cleaning up.

3. Trashcans

Walt Disney designed closed trashcans so the bad smells didn’t escape. They all have two sides on them so someone can use it walking in both directions. Also, he researched how long it took people to finish their food while walking. If you check, trashcans are 30-40 feet away from each other.

4. Eats

At Magic Kingdom, eat at Liberty Tavern, It’s an all-you can eat family style dinning. Eat a late lunch, and you’ll be satisfied all day. Ask for servers Chris or Selina.

Want some character dining? Eat breakfast at the Crystal Palace. Desire Mickey & Minnie and friends by eating an early dinner at Hollywood & Vine.

At HollyWood studios, make reservations at SciFi Dine In theatre.

5. Dinglehopper

During the Magic Kingdom festival of fantasy parade at 3:00, you’ll want to watch it in front of the Liberty Tavern. (eat and walk out front). Take a fork outside with you, when Ariel goes by, if you show her your “dinglehopper”, she’ll take hers out and wave it back to you!

6. Gaston

Outside of Gaston’s place in Magic Kingdom, challenge him to push-ups and he’ll drop and go! One of my favorites. He’ll bust out one handed push-ups though.

7. Tower of Terror

There become two lines at the Tower of Terror, when it splits near the ride entrance, go straight! You’ll get an extra drop! This is one of my favorite 10 outstanding hacks about Disney. Who doesn’t love more ride?

8. Best Ride Ever

Toy Story Mania. end of story! Fast Pass this ride early and ride it often. Waits are 90 minutes later in day for a reason! Youtube it on scoring secrets.

9. The Lion at Animal Kingdom

My man, Coach Bru told me about this one. He asked “was the lion on the rock during the safari at Animal Kingdom?”  It was! The rock is climate cooled! Cool in the summer and warm in the winter so everyone will most likely see the lion.

10. Fantasmic

Don’t miss this show! Eat at Minnie’s Hollywood & Vine and you’ll also get seating in the center of the show. No need to wait for seats off to the side.

Hope you enjoyed these 10 outstanding hacks about Disney. Can you share some of yours?

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

How to Get Your Second Wind in Life!

How to Get Your Second Wind In Life

When I was training for one of my marathons, I HAD to get my run in late one evening. 

It was dark, I was tired. I wanted to rest, but I went anyway.

I’m so thankful I did!

I ran 5 miles and I experienced the runner’s high.  It’s like jumping out of an airplane, it’s tough to describe. I was moving so quickly, so effortlessly, and so fast. I was overcome with so many feel good emotions that I almost cried. It was the best feeling in the world and one I can still remember today!

After 15 years of running, I’ve had great runs of course, but hitting the runner’s high is special, like an eclipse, it happens only ever so often.

I’ve experienced the greatest phenomenon twice. Just twice!

On the other shoe, almost every run I currently do, I rely on my second wind… In the first 800 meters or mile, I am slow, heavy, and my breathing is labored!  I actually start to wonder, what’s the matter?

Before you get your second wind, there’s a little bit of panic, anxiety, stress, and discomfort.

Soon though, the second wind kicks in.

In everyday life, we rarely operate in the space where EVERYTHING just flows perfectly and doves fly around when we enter the room and the trumpets roar!

Nah, it’s a struggle. We are training, preparing, and focusing on the details on our craft. We are advised to EMBRACE THE SUCK!  The suck is the farthest thing from a peak experience!

Here’s how to get your second wind.

1. Know Your Why-

If we are running and we start to walk, then walking becomes easier later on. If quitting is an option, then we take it. Quitting then becomes easier later on. We must know our own why! If we know our why, then we can come up with any how. It begins each day with a check-in with ourselves. What’s your goal? What’s your purpose? Who are you connecting with?

2. Don’t Stop- 

My wife was going to break 2 hrs for a 1/2 marathon. I was running with her, pacing. It was going to be close! On the very last slight up-hill, 300 yards from the finish, SHE STOPPED! I screamed at her to get going! She finished in 1:59:52.

No matter how bad something hurts in our life, there is an end point. Every workout ENDS! Every pain period we are going through will stop! Hard times do not come to stay, they come to pass!

Remember, even slow walkers arrive!

But, IF you STOP, then all bets are off. How often does someone start college, take a semester or year break, THEN comeback. RARE!

You have to keep moving to get your second wind!

3. Find Your Rhythm-

Everything has a rhythm!

Life has momentum!

In the court room, the best defense is to “object.” It gets the other lawyer off their rhythm! Tennis players go back to their towel, Baseball hitters step in & out of the box. All intended to get you off of your rhythm.

Find your rhythm, breath, get back to your routine. Breath, get back to your routine. Breath, reset, re-focus, get back to your routine. Oh yes, and breathe.

4. Patience- 

We want our second wind NOW. And sometimes we get it.

But, we just don’t know when our second wind will come. We can’t know. All that is certain is that if we go through the motions, if we check-out, if we start looking for the exit, then, our second wind won’t happen!

I had an athlete tell me, “I can’t wait to be patient.”

I get it.

Patience a higher-order skill and one in which we do not practice today. I can guarantee you that your second wind is coming, if you just hang on long enough.

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

Mental Toughness is a Voicemail Away

Mental Toughness is a Voicemail Away

One speaking event at my alma mater, Shepherd University, I made sure to invite my professor, Dr. Joe Merz. He made such an impact in my life. If not for him, then Sport Psychology and the passion I live out everyday would not have happened.

I received a voicemail from him after the event.

The voicemail was about a minute long and went in-depth about and what an amazing job I did and how proud and impressed he was. 

It felt good. I saved it. It built up my Mental Toughness. It’s still on my phone today.

That same week though, I probably left a dozen voicemail and text messages to various people. But, I could not begin to tell you what I said or wrote.

We can listen to all of our voicemail messages right now on our phone. But, we have no idea that messages we left during that same time.

Life is the same way.

We remember the most impactful people in our lives. But, we often have no idea the impact we made on someone else. We can’t know.

On a much simpler level, perhaps we remember the person who waved to us today or held the door. But, we don’t know the effect of our own kind gesture today.

We are literally and figuratively leaving voicemails all the time for people and it makes a difference, good or bad.

If we want to KEEP our mental toughness, we HAVE to give it away.

Every transaction we have with someone has the potential to be transformative. We can’t know who or what will be the hinge. People will remember how we made them feel even for an instant and it has the potential to connect them to someone else.

So are we intentional about our messages?

We give away what we possess ourselves. All of us has fired off an angry email or perhaps left a not-so-friendly voicemail. If we are filled with resentment, contempt, hatred, or lack of confidence, then that is the message of our transactions. It usually effects those closest to us as well. 

However, if we can be deliberate about leaving messages that are encouraging, positive, filled with confidence and hope, then a miracle occurs. We actually start to leave ourselves a message. If we act and behave in ways that are focused on others and building their own mental game, then we act our way into right thinking and our own mood and outlook changes.

That’s how Mental Toughness works. We have to give it away to keep it. 

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

Why Unemployment Motivates Me

Why Unemployment Motivates Me

There is a folder on my desktop with unemployment as the title.

My wife and I were both employed at the same University. I left my professorship in 2011 to catch up with my passion. So, I started my own Sport Psychology company helping teams and leaders build mental toughness.

My wife stayed on teaching and mentoring. If it weren’t for her support or God, I would have had to ask my dreams where they were going, because I was staying. 

I would have had to ask my dreams where they were going, because I was staying.
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God was huge because leaving my position was a leap of faith, so I asked God for a sign if this was correct. A real sign! Yes, I asked. Now, this is my experience, but I audibly heard “It’s going to be okay.” I’ve only heard this one other time and in both situations, God was right. 

I cut bait at the University and in the first few months of my new business, I was at The Masters for the entire week with one of my golfers, riding up Magnolia Lane every day, and enjoying the best event ever. It was my favorite week up to that point professionally. 

Less than two months later, I was fired.

See, I didn’t know this at the time, but I’ve been fired MORE times AFTER my teams or athletes have had success than when they failed. Huh? Think about it, helping professional athletes reach success means they’ve reached their goals; so you’re no longer needed on retainer. Not always of course, but it happens. 

Later that summer just two weeks before the college semester began, my wife received an email stating that her position was no longer needed. Fired. Bam. Done.

Two weeks before college classes started was a problem. No one was hiring educators at that time of the year. Seven years at the University and abruptly let go was not a good spot to be.

I hadn’t built up the business enough to sustain both of us, we had two kids under four, and we also needed the health insurance.

Faith isn’t really faith until it’s all you’ve got.

I tried to hire her for my business, but I couldn’t afford her full-time. I did the only thing I could which was stay hustling.  My pride was severely hurt and the evil head trash began “ Aren’t you supposed to provide?” “Are you good at what you do?”  “What are we going to do?”

But, that wasn’t the hardest part.

She was the one who went through the suck.

The unemployment office.

Here was an educator with a Masters degree, almost twelve years in higher education, forced to take a class on how to write a resume and apply for entry-level jobs.  She felt like a criminal because she had to prove her position was absolved and not trying to “work the system.”  It was the most humbling experience of her life. 

Faith isn’t faith until it’s all you’ve got.

A few months later she found a new online position mentoring students, but it was massive transition.

The unemployment folder remains on my desktop. 

It’s a reminder. A nudge. Motivation that someone else is working right now, so you can either get better or stay bitter.

Funny how many successful people I’ve met that have been driven stronger by fear than success.

I’ve always grinded because I had a fear of what exactly happened, losing a position.  Now, we can’t live or operate out of fear  because that is suffocating and not joyful. But occasionally peaking at fear adjusts our focus to dig deep.

That’s why unemployment motivates me. 

That’s why failure drives me. 

I am blessed that business thrives today and we get to coach so many lives. God provided along this entire journey. 

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

Everyone is an Athlete, BUT Our Office is Different

Everyone Is An Athlete, BUT Our Office is Different

 

I was caddying for one of my golfers at a PGA Tour event at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. During a practice round, we played with Tom Watson for the entire day. What a treat! As we were walking down one of the fairways, he put his arm around me and said, “This is such a nice office.”

I’ve been borrowing that line ever since because it is true.

       —

Everyone is an athlete our office is just different. Some of us are corporate athletes or entrepreneur athletes. Being an athlete is an attitude and awareness. It means looking through our own lens of life as an athlete.

First, as an athlete, we compete.

Competition has always been part of humanity, ecology, and biology and at its basic level, competition for space or resources. Some are drawn toward this type of competition while others often shy away from it.

However, true competition is me vs. me.

Too often is only viewed as an “I win and you lose” concept. This viewpoint of competition has been easily perverted into trying to beat someone else, which turns into a mindset of there can only be one winner. We confuse competition only against some other opponent and thus create a mindset of scarcity, fear, and isolation. See with the “I win, you lose game”, the opponent can become anyone outside of ourselves, even our own teammates or co-workers. The scarcity is born from there can only be one promotion, one president, one “winner”, so it must be me.

Competition against ourselves isn’t easy. It is easier to focus on beating others rather than ourselves, because competing against ourselves is much slower and deliberate. We are quick to improve our circumstances or our situation, but not ourselves.

Competition against ourselves is the most difficult part because we already know everything about…
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Competition against ourselves is the most difficult part of being an athlete because we already know everything about our opponent.

Competition is especially difficult because we can compete in everything we do.

We compete against ourselves is most all that we do. When waking up in the morning and rising as soon as the alarm goers off to letting go of a resentment we have against someone else. It’s a competition against ourselves if we will refuse that piece of cake or get that workout in or wake up when our alarm goes off or help out someone else.

We can compete in our job, our relationships, and our physical endeavors. We can compete in being a friend, a spouse, father, mother, teacher, etc. We do not always compete against others, but against a much tougher opponent, ourselves. Competition is about challenging ourselves about how good that we can become

When we focus on becoming the best version of ourselves, it means that there are setbacks, pain, adversity, suffering, struggle, and learning. However, there will also be growth, joy, thanksgiving, satisfaction, and true success.

Second, being an athlete means being in shape.

When we show up to our office, we need to be conditioned. Yes, there is some physical fitness to our lives, and an over all well-being. But, obviously, “everyone is an athlete” mentality doesn’t mean that we need to be able to play 90 minutes of a top-level soccer game.

Being well-conditioned means that we show up early, are able to be present, deal with others in effective manners, commit and contribute to the overall mission, and simply be other person focused.

Third, as an athlete, we are are always training, practicing and preparing.

A funny thing about competition and practice is that we will practice WAY more than we will ever actually compete.

How many tennis balls have a Wimbledon champion hit in their entire life? How many mountain climbs has someone done before a successful first ascent? How many range balls or simple practice rounds has a Masters champion finished, or practices has an NCAA Volleyball champion completed?

An athlete competing in the Olympics will have just one event or at most maybe a couple events. Thus, 99% of their time invested in the previous four years has been in preparation.

We will practice more than we will ever actually perform. Thus, our preparation is in many regards more important than our actual competition because when our moment arrives, it’s too late to prepare. We will need to be ready because we do not know when or who will be our hinge moment. That’s why everyone is an athlete.

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

 

Are you a CRAZY relentless competitor?

Relentless Competitor

You don’t need to be crazy about your preparation, but you need to be consistent!

Coaches look for signs of toughness. 

However,  Many athletes do not truly max out their effort until they think it is an “important” game, opponent, or audience.

Some “gamers” coast along early and only perform their best effort when they fall behind or the contest is close. They believe in the light-switch mentality! Others quit working hard and believing when behind, subconsciously thinking that a comeback is too unlikely to deserve their best effort.

However, Coasting is not the only reason athletes fail to be a relentless competitor!

“Normal” competitors have trouble staying confident when things are NOT going well, and they do not perform as well.

Some athletes are negative at external conditions–when it is too cold, hot, steep, bumpy, far, dry, wet, or dirty.

Many lose intensity in particular situations when they perceive their teammates are putting forth less than ideal effort. All of these examples represent a lack of mental toughness, a lack of grit, and a missed opportunity.

Are you Relentless?

Describing a competitor as relentless is high praise.

They work hard all the time!

To be relentless, you must get to know your own strengths and weaknesses. They make adjustments continually. Staying within their comfort zone is not important to them. Winning is.

They have the will to win, but they really have the will to prepare! There is a big difference between saying they want these things and acting it out. Andrew Carnegie said, “The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world tips its hat to those who devote more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.”

The relentless competitor motto is, “best effort – one play at a time.”  They bring their best at practice!!  Their best effort is what is expected– Not any less. Leaders appreciate the importance of practice, the importance of now, the importance of habits. Therefore, they take care of their bodies with good nutrition, weight training, flexibility work, stress and time management.

Relentless competitors hang out with each other. We are the average of the five closest people we hang out with. A teammate, competitor, friend, supervisor, colleague, coach, or family member and they go out of their way to spend time with that person. Confidence is contagious and so is relentlessness. Some teammates hate these type of grinders, because it exposes how hard “they” work.

Relentlessness gets an athlete to their goal, but a lack of persistence keeps them from it. “Relentlessness is a good quality. I don’t care what you do for a living,” said Hall of Fame baseball manager Tony LaRussa.  

Self-assess your relentlessness

At the end of each day, give yourself a relentlessness grade on a scale of 1-10. Then, at the beginning of the next day, set a goal that is higher. Who is it that you want to “be?” Relentlessness takes commitment and being able to measure your progress is crucial.

Aaron Weintraub is a mental skills coach, author, and speaker based in Grand Junction, CO, where he lives with his wife, Nicole, and their five children. He was a college baseball coach for a dozen years before turning his focus exclusively to training mental skills in 2006. He has spoken at national baseball, softball, and football conventions and authored three books, including Leadership Training for Softball. For more information, please visit his websites: www.CoachTraub.com, www.SmileNowCoach.com (blog), www.BaseballMentalMaster.com, or www.SoftballMentalMaster.com.

Turn Your Excuses into Your Reasons WHY

I completed a 1/2 ironman with less than 2 weeks of training. So, I ended up writing a book about it, only to chop it up and sell the parts. The book How to Crush a 1/2 Ironman in Less Than 2 Weeks was a few weeks from completion when I realized, who is going to read that book?!?  I went totally overboard with the book-  So, I immediately got to working on the next book to cater to every corporate athlete. Title- NO ONE Gets There Alone. It was painful.

In order to complete a 1/2 ironman with less than 2 weeks of training, I needed to develop my “why.” Just like you, I had excuses, but did not choose to use them. I focused on my excuses and turned them into my actual reasons why!

Turn Your Excuses Into Your Reasons

“If we literally did all the things that what we were capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”-  Thomas Edison

All of us have head trash that consists of limiting beliefs that keep us from our true potential. We hold onto old ideas like they actually help us, and we do this because it is more comfortable than exploring our true possibilities and developing new patterns of thinking. It is difficult and uncomfortable to combat the old ideas that we “can’t do something.”  It is far easier and less taxing mentally to simply hold onto limiting beliefs.

An old idea could be “there is only one winner, and everyone else is a loser.” It’s a comfortable belief and can be effective, but it comes from a source of scarcity (there’s only one winner, so it’s me vs. everyone) rather than abundance (I’m confident I’ll reach my goals, who can help me and how can I help others?)

If we look for excuses not to something, we will find them; however, if we search for reasons to do something, we can find those instead.

These excuses and limiting beliefs always involve people, places, or things.

We grasp onto the times that we failed and were embarrassed and allowed those moments to define our identity. We focused on our deficiencies rather than our strengths. Or we compared ourselves to someone else who was better than us.

Most of the negativity is about not being good enough to do something, which allows us to then create excuses for not being good enough.

It’s a vicious negative cycle.

So, we play it safe and avoid taking the necessary risks for success. The reality about life is that we don’t get credit for being safe! The only way to find out what we are capable of is to take a chance, go for it, and just do it. The scary and difficult part about taking chances is it means challenging our old ideals that have kept us safe.

Each of us has a story with experience, strength, and hope. We all have excuses why, and the tough part is to be able to identify these excuses and use them to our advantage. We need to be able to use our limiting beliefs and turn them into our empowering reason, our why.

We will have an excuse or a reason. The excuses exist for a reason; they are there to see who really wants it.

Here are four common excuses, mine included. At the same time, all of my excuses became my reasons why.

Excuse #1: Time

We are either wasting time or investing time. It is the most precious resource!

Time is the number one excuse for not starting. Discipline is the number one excuse for not continuing.

Yes, time is the biggest limiting factor, but it also is an excuse. We all have the same number of hours, if we don’t create the time for ourselves, then we simply do not want it bad enough.

We either make time, or we make an excuse.

Can we examine our actual time commitment? Are we hiding behind our kids schedule, our spouses’, weekend drop-offs, work, or is it that we are just too tired? Do we waste time on netflix ® binges or making sure we watch the big game?

John Grisham would write in the early morning before starting his day job as an attorney in the courtroom. It took him four years to write his first best seller, A Time to Kill.

A friend of mine preparing for a race would get his long run in on the way to and from both of his kids’ weekend soccer games.

It is about making time and getting creative with our lifestyle.

In my life, time was an excuse as well. I’m a business owner, husband, father of two, golfer, and I travel a lot with my athletes and teams, so making the time to train for a ½ Ironman was difficult.

In order to do your best at ½ Ironman or Ironman distances, 6 months to a year of training is ideal. I hadn’t previously signed up for longer races before because training for a ½ Ironman for six months wasn’t appealing. I didn’t want it bad enough.

Now, time was a major factor to prepare because I only had two weeks to train. It could have been a good excuse.

Reason Why #1: Time

Time in my case became an advantage!

If time was an excuse for not doing the race, I realized that I could devote less than 2 weeks to prepare for a ½ Ironman. My focus and life could accommodate this challenge. My first excuse turned into my why.

Excuse #2: Fear

Remember as a kid when coach would tell us that if the baseball hit us, it wouldn’t hurt? LIE! It hurt, and my broken nose can attest to that fact.

Well, I’m not going to lie here either because attempting your goal will hurt. But, that is actually what makes it great as well. If it were easy, then everyone would do it.

If we don’t commit to setting a goal, then we will not fail. Boom; problem solved! However, it also ensures that there is no way we will become who we want to become or crush our goals.

We then create a habit of not committing, or starting something, but never finishing.

My second excuse was fear. It was an unknown if I could finish the race or not get injured. But I was also scared by the commitment it takes for successful races. I’ve accomplished marathons, half-marathons, Masters swimming, and the random road 5k or 10k, here and there.

I’ve also trained with elite athletes and I’ve see those people who simply kill the workouts and crush those types of races. I’ve also worked with professional athletes. The mind-set, the dedication, and the attention to detail are paramount. It takes a lot of sacrifice both individually and family- wise. Having been a part of that culture, I know full well what it takes.

They are all-in!

These professionals are what the pig is to breakfast, while I was more of what the chicken was to breakfast. See, the chicken is invested in breakfast by supplying the eggs, but the pig is fully committed by providing the ham or bacon.

Reason Why #2: Commitment

While I realized the sacrifice and dedication necessary for greatness, my goal was important; finish. Heck, at least the chicken still contributes to breakfast. I know the intricacies about what it takes to compete. I could do this. All I have to do is commit and just keep moving.

Part of the fear exists because we allow an “out.” When we burn the ships, we make the commitment.

Excuse #3: Expectations

Tiger Woods used to say, “ I expect to win the tournament.” Expectations are not confidence, but we confuse the two. Expectations and confidence are just cousins.

We can have confidence in the things we can control, but we hold no control over how we want things to work out.

Expectations are out of our control and often involve other people’s opinions of ourselves. They also turn into tomorrow’s resentments. Continuing to have the highest of expectations means we will struggle when we have to mentally trouble-shoot and reboot.

We basically only control, our effort, our attitude, our confidence, and how well we let of mistakes and re-focus.

While I haven’t been willing to commit the vast amount of time to training for a 1/2 ironman, I also suffer from a disease called “just don’t suck.”

This attitude of “just don’t suck” is actually a cousin to perfectionism. I don’t have to be perfect at things, but I find it unacceptable to not be “good” at everything. It’s the reason why I play chess, ping-pong, golf, poker, run, swim, ski, write books, and can play most any sport.

The obsession drove me to accomplish some okay athletic activities (back in the day), like running a sub 20:00 5k, breaking 1:00 in the 100 Freestyle, bench pressing 300 lbs, completing a marathon in 3:20, making a hole-in-one, and completing a tough mudder.

However, the “don’t suck” disease is also the reason why I have never been the best at any one of these skills. My attention, passion, and intention get drawn toward other endeavors. You can’t be the best at one thing, if you’re trying to be the best at everything.

That’s insanity.

That’s the disease.

Why #3: Past Performance

How do we know that we can do something? We’ve done “it” before. Our experiences no matter how small must serve as confidence, not build expectations. There is only one expectation for the race, just keep moving.

My past experiences of having raced and competed before have served as reasons why I could finish a ½ Ironman in less than 2 weeks.

My Excuse #4: Age

Every Thanksgiving, as a family, we run in a local 5k and I not only got smoked in my workouts leading up to the race, but I was also passed in the 5k race by a guy who was having knee surgery immediately after the race. This was a guy I went to the gym with and so I knew about his injury.

That sucked. Was I really getting that old?

Also, my body has started to break down on me. I’ve always had back issues since my near death experience of falling off of a cliff. Now, my knee pain has gotten progressively worse and it hurts walking up stairs sometimes. I’m much more sore nowadays.

My age was an excuse for not signing up.

Why #4: Age

We have never been older than today and we will never be any younger than today.  None of us are getting any younger.

Before the movie, The Bucket List, was released, I wrote out 100 things I wanted to do before I die. As a former college professor, I would have all of my students perform this goal as well.

Complete a full Ironman was on the list.

Since nothing is guaranteed in life and tomorrow certainly isn’t, I asked myself, “if not now, when?” “If not you, then who?”

My age now became my why, if not now, then when?

Most likely your “½ Ironman” is a different challenge altogether. Maybe it is running a 5k, writing a book, hiking the Appalachian Trail, losing 10 pounds, finishing your Masters degree, or becoming a professional in your field. Whatever your goal is going to be, building mental toughness will be key.Mental toughness will be the deciding factor in our success. 

For everyone, these struggles are different.

What is interesting is that we do not need to be mentally tough in order to be comfortable in today’s society. We are already comfortable in our lives, so there is not always an immediate need to push ourselves.

However, we don’t thrive in mediocrity; we survive.

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

If You’ll Watch 1:00 Minute Mental Toughness Video for Sport Parents- Watch This

1-Minute of Mental Toughness for Sport Parents-

Here are three (3) tips that will help you help your young athlete!

Check out the book ON SALE  Don’t Should on Your “Kids” Build Their Mental Toughness 

A change has occurred — youth sports have been professionalized and there has been a perversion of potential. It has become scholarships over development, trophies over toughness, and talent over tenacity.

 The professionalization has created an environment of externally driven, perfectionist, and stressed competitors. Parenting athletes also require such a vast amount of sacrifice both emotionally and financially.

Are we doing it correctly as a sport parent?

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness 

Top 7 Mental Toughness Books of 2017 (So Far)

Top 7 Mental Toughness Books of 2017 (So Far)

When No One Was Watching- Carli LLoyd

I always enjoyed watching her compete for the US Women’s Soccer team. You could see her passion and effort in her play. Besides, she had one of the coolest goals of all time from mid-field no less. This story discusses the long journey for her and her super-intense work-ethic.  She was always passed over and that is what drove her to be successful. My favorite line from the book- If you empty the bucket in practice, it’ll never be empty for you in the game. 

 

 

Find A Way- Diana Nyad

Probably one of the most sickest feats in all of sports! Swimming from Cuba to Florida Keys. Over 110 miles and over 50 hours of non-stop continuous swimming fighting off boxed jelly fish, sharks, hypothermia, you name it. She began this epic journey when she was 25 years old, but completed it on her fifth attempt at the age of 64. Her mantra- you guessed it “Find A Way.”

 

 

 

Living With A Seal- Jesse Itzler

Any book that makes you want to tweak your own work-out is a perfect one for me. A hilarious, yet inspiring story about how A Navy SEAL came to live with Jesse and his wife Sara Blakley (founder of spanx). It is a no-nonsense book on simply getting better and the entire mission is about getting better every single day. “Seal” trains Jesse with such an extreme vigor that there is frankly little time or regard for anything else in life. Jesse a marathoner to begin with ends up performing feats he didn’t think he’d do and getting tougher in the process.

 

 

How the Mighty Fall- Jim Collins

I thought Good to Great was well, great. This book made the top 7 mental toughness books because in many ways, this book was even better than Good to Great! One of the lines from the book is all successful teams are successful the same way, all unsuccessful teams fail in their own way. It delves into the five stages of how the mighty businesses simply failed. This book is a must read for any coach, entrepreneur or c-level executive. It is an extremely fast read, so be prepared to read it twice for steps your business can take to avoid the downfall.

 

 

Surfacing- Siri Lindley- 

There is something truly special about a coach. A coach is someone who takes you someplace that you want to go. Siri is known as one of the best triathlon coaches in the world. This biographical account begins with her childhood, the hinge moment of competing in triathlons and her epic international wins and place atop the sport. Her story also includes her courageous act of coming out as gay and her journey of transitioning into coaching. An excellent read for any coaches or athletes.

 

 

Legacy- James Kerr

The story of the all-blacks! What the All Blacks can teach us about the business of life. It’s a must read for ANY LEADER. How you develop leadership, ownership, and accountability. Basically, can you leave the jersey in a better place than how you found it, because Better Men make Better All Blacks! 

 

 

 

The Mindside Manifesto- Dr. Bhrett McCabe

“Manure may not be pleasant, but before fertilizer, it was the go-to solution for crops. So for growth to occur, success has to push through layers of crap.” Love this line amongst all of the nuggets of training the mental game and developing a competitive mindset. I’ve known Dr. McCabe for several years now through the PGA and web.com tours and we agree on many aspects of the mental preparation. Except, he takes it way beyond general sport psychology books in challenging the reader to create your own manifesto. This book makes my list for the top 7 mental toughness books. A solid read for athletes.

 

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. His company DRB & associates is  based in Indianapolis.  Some clients have included: University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. Check out all the books on Mental Toughness