Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence

by Gary Mack

The sign was titled “The First Rule of Holes” and it read, “When you find yourself in a hole, the first rule is to stop digging.”

Don’t just do something—stand there.

Some well-meaning instructors make the game too complex. The old joke is that if golf instructors taught sex education, it would be the end of civilization as we know it.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. —WAYNE GRETZKY

To perform consistently you must prepare consistently. Act the way you want to become until you become the way you act.

Working on the inside shows on the outside. What lies ahead of us or behind us is of little matter to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A hero is no braver than the ordinary person. He is just braver five minutes longer.”

Americans are obsessed with winning. In our society, if you don’t win then you’re a loser. Fans are unforgiving. In Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, sports fans are said to be so tough that when the local teams aren’t in town they go to the airport and boo bad landings.

A poem I like says, in part: When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day Just go to the mirror and look at yourself And see what that man has to say. You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years And get pats on the back as you pass But your final reward will be heartache and tears If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

Don’t let competition kill your sense of fun.

The greatest victory is the victory over ourselves. Remember, it’s always too soon to quit.