Page 12 - Fully Equipped Playbook

MINDSET
Until I got to the root of the problem I secretly, and sometimes not so secretly struggled. I needed to change my mindset. I had to flush out the negative thoughts flooding my mind, have fun again, and truly believe that I belonged. Only then did the fear go away. It wasn't a fix-it-all solution, different fears still do creep in from time to time, but I now feel equipped to face and conquer them. Some are easier than others to overcome, but if you can consciously work to alter the thoughts in your head, it will make handling fear much easier.
Knowing you put in the work to prepare, and consciously believing no one has outworked you
This is the next key to a confident mindset. Imagine you have to give a speech on a subject you don’t know much about and you didn’t spend any time preparing. Would you feel confident giving that speech? NO CHANCE. Now, if you researched the subject and did everything you could to prepare and practice the speech, would you then feel confident during it? HECK YEAH! Now apply that same line of thinking to sports. In baseball if you rarely worked on your swing, I’m talking learning correct mechanics, taking reps off a tee, regular batting practice, and instead just went through the motions, would you feel good going into a game? If yes, then you must have super powers! Most would say no, you wouldn't feel your best going into a game having not properly practiced. But if you work consistently on your swing, on your arm, and on your mental game, you better believe you would go into that game with total confidence.
Laziness was not a characteristic of my family growing up. My dad was a hustler in his business and it rubbed off on me. If he ever caught me being lazy he’d casually mentioned that some kid was out there getting better, while I was sitting around. That stuck with me. No one was going to out work me, my mindset had been changed forever. I did everything in my power to make sure I did enough on my end to prepare. That gave me a confident mindset which was crucial for performing at a high level on a consistent basis.
Here’s one example, and thanks to my wife for understanding. As you can see
to the left, I took a bat, two gloves and a ball to Turks and Caicos for our honeymoon. Sure it was only a few days, but in that time I was able to do dry swings and play catch on the
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