By Mike Moritz
I created this idea today, November 21, 2012.
It's the idea that when you come to the realization that one of your close friends (one of which you tell secrets to) is really not all that trustworthy at all, you have a temptation, almost an addiction to telling them secrets even though you know that secret is going to get around. Surprisingly, it takes a lot of self control to keep the secret to yourself.
People might disagree with me, which is okay, but I believe that it's part of our human insecurity to spread secrets. We want to feel important and knowledge of facts is one way to temporarily squander that feeling and expressing it squanders it even more temporarily.
But as for the temptation for telling people things that we know will get spread around by that person, I am not entirely clear as to why exactly we do it but I can say that it's somewhere on the same spectrum as if Mom tells you explicitly and intimidatingly "You will never, ever drink alcohol until you are of age! Ever!", if you have the balls, well now your more tempted to try it.
If anyone has any ideas (or real answers) as to why we do what the idea states, please comment; I think this idea has good potential if I can get ahold of a defined answer.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Something I've learned
By Mike Moritz
Upon a recommendation, a week ago, I took the 31 minutes and 36 seconds of my day to listen to an audio book by Earl Nightingale called The Strangest Secret (click on the title for the link if you so dare). Many of you have probably heard of The Secret; different from each other albeit very similar ideas.
Now, understand this. What I am about to get into has the potential for a blog post like this to go in all sorts of directions. I could go anywhere with this because, well, there is just a lot to say.
One thing that Earl taught me to do was, on a note card, write down a goal; EX, I want to blah blah blah. Something that you can say in one breath. On the other side of the note card, write "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened". Fold the card up, put it in your wallet, pants, whatever and read it throughout the day, each day until the time comes that you complete that goal. Believe in it.
The more you believe in the card, the more you believe in yourself, therefore the greater your accomplishment will be. Visualize it and seriously believe in it. Mind over matter! If you believe in the card, yourself, you will succeed.....
As long as you are prepared.
Something I've learned in my quest to be the best baseball player I can be is that you just need to work your ass off.
Upon Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's new release- The Heist- there I have bestowed a lot of love on the album. The very first song, 10,000 Hours, speaks to me personally, as I am sure it does to others as well. I have read Outliers by THE Malcolm Gladwell. I am very aware of the rule that it takes 10,000 hours to be elite at something you love and strive to be. I remember making it my goal to reach 10,000 hours in baseball preparation when I first read the book (I, according to my in depth numbers crunching and math, am currently on pace to reaching the 10,000 hour mark around age 21).
Combine Mind with the Matter. You can be unstoppable if you prepare and you believe in your preparations.
Prepare and Believe.
Sometimes though, it's hard to believe in yourself and it's easier if we just get down on ourselves. The human race seems to be perfectionists, so it's natural to be prone to negativity that you create by listening to the doubtful voices in your head. But if you want to be successful, don't only rely on physical preparation. I can tell you from experience, it will only get you so far. Be mentally strong and believe that your goal will be reached and put reliance on the note card. That note card is your Holy Bible. So if you believe in the Bible, then you can believe in yourself.
A friend of mine brought to my attention: "the greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they paint a lot."
If you love the thing that you want to be amazing at, your in good luck. But if your not all in, well then look, I'm sorry but you won't make it. That's the truth. You want it? Well go get it. And if you take a liking to the note card, then rely on that and your hard work. Those two things will lead the way and I am confident that they will lead me in the way I want to go.
Upon a recommendation, a week ago, I took the 31 minutes and 36 seconds of my day to listen to an audio book by Earl Nightingale called The Strangest Secret (click on the title for the link if you so dare). Many of you have probably heard of The Secret; different from each other albeit very similar ideas.
Now, understand this. What I am about to get into has the potential for a blog post like this to go in all sorts of directions. I could go anywhere with this because, well, there is just a lot to say.
One thing that Earl taught me to do was, on a note card, write down a goal; EX, I want to blah blah blah. Something that you can say in one breath. On the other side of the note card, write "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened". Fold the card up, put it in your wallet, pants, whatever and read it throughout the day, each day until the time comes that you complete that goal. Believe in it.
The more you believe in the card, the more you believe in yourself, therefore the greater your accomplishment will be. Visualize it and seriously believe in it. Mind over matter! If you believe in the card, yourself, you will succeed.....
As long as you are prepared.
Something I've learned in my quest to be the best baseball player I can be is that you just need to work your ass off.
Upon Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's new release- The Heist- there I have bestowed a lot of love on the album. The very first song, 10,000 Hours, speaks to me personally, as I am sure it does to others as well. I have read Outliers by THE Malcolm Gladwell. I am very aware of the rule that it takes 10,000 hours to be elite at something you love and strive to be. I remember making it my goal to reach 10,000 hours in baseball preparation when I first read the book (I, according to my in depth numbers crunching and math, am currently on pace to reaching the 10,000 hour mark around age 21).
Combine Mind with the Matter. You can be unstoppable if you prepare and you believe in your preparations.
Prepare and Believe.
Sometimes though, it's hard to believe in yourself and it's easier if we just get down on ourselves. The human race seems to be perfectionists, so it's natural to be prone to negativity that you create by listening to the doubtful voices in your head. But if you want to be successful, don't only rely on physical preparation. I can tell you from experience, it will only get you so far. Be mentally strong and believe that your goal will be reached and put reliance on the note card. That note card is your Holy Bible. So if you believe in the Bible, then you can believe in yourself.
A friend of mine brought to my attention: "the greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they paint a lot."
If you love the thing that you want to be amazing at, your in good luck. But if your not all in, well then look, I'm sorry but you won't make it. That's the truth. You want it? Well go get it. And if you take a liking to the note card, then rely on that and your hard work. Those two things will lead the way and I am confident that they will lead me in the way I want to go.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
A moment of clarity
By Mike Moritz
To be honest, there have been times when it would never seem possible for me- to overcome the inability that has haunted me to keep my head straight without getting flustered, angry, tense while trying to stay confident and patient and to stop over thinking the most simple things. The mental aspect (and inexperience; I've playing baseball on the competitive stage for a little over a year as a junior in high school) has long kept me from harnessing my raw talent in baseball. I have struggled with staying calm and clear. I have trouble putting myself in the right mindset and when I do, I have trouble staying there.
Baseball has not been the only source. I find myself experiencing these "mental lapses" in school. And not just there either. Flag football with my friends.
Sounds corny but that's an area that I have had bad expirience with. And sometimes I like making this story movie like-just makes me feel cool.
Not too long ago-freshman year- I was a great flag football player. Speed. Strength. Agility. Stamina. And the ability to catch most everything that was near me. The combination made for a rather dangerous player (I was convinced). Yet, it must've been a bad day of some sort for later on, perhaps during sophomore year. A day where I just couldn't catch anything and I couldn't let it go because I had done, uncontrollably, the evil act that an athlete should never approach- I started over thinking it. I was over thinking how to catch a football. I became useless as my mental lapse in flag football became larger and larger and harder to get out of. When we picked teams, I quickly saw my draft value shrink to that of a last round pick. I had lost confidence and was still over thinking it.
And then I played flag football today. I was expecting to be a last round pick and as usual I was. Yet for some reason, I just stopped thinking. The first pass that I received in that game I wasn't thinking. I just reacted. The throw was a little high, so I jumped and caught it, as if it were no big deal. I continued to get more and more throws as the game went one. One throw to me was very high, so I jumped very high and grabbed it. When my feet landed, I turned, faked a defender out of my way and had a clear path to the touchdown, my first in more than I can remember. I got a throw low to the ground, so I got my hands low and snagged it. I didn't think, therefore I didn't drop a pass. My head was clear so today my talent was shown through.
Today, I overcame one more obstacle in my path to being the efficient and controllable thinker and baseball player I can be. The obstacle of over thinking happens to be one the hardest for me to overcome. But today I got on the field and played football, and I didn't think about what I was doing, I just did it. At some points, I found myself a little distracted by another social situation at hand and I welcomed it while I was playing and I found that it didn't bother me from succeeding at football, I was just going with the flow. A teammate of mine mentioned to me that I wasn't over thinking anymore BECAUSE I was being distracted by said social situation, which caused me to think about the act of catching a football. But I just put it to rest just as I have been taught and told to do, only this time it worked. After that? Well I still caught the rest of the passes that were thrown to me for the whole game.
The key is for me to be able to do that consistently. Today was great, but the thing that would make it better is to learn how to build off of it and send a spiral in the right direction, not downward (no pun intended).
To be honest, there have been times when it would never seem possible for me- to overcome the inability that has haunted me to keep my head straight without getting flustered, angry, tense while trying to stay confident and patient and to stop over thinking the most simple things. The mental aspect (and inexperience; I've playing baseball on the competitive stage for a little over a year as a junior in high school) has long kept me from harnessing my raw talent in baseball. I have struggled with staying calm and clear. I have trouble putting myself in the right mindset and when I do, I have trouble staying there.
Baseball has not been the only source. I find myself experiencing these "mental lapses" in school. And not just there either. Flag football with my friends.
Sounds corny but that's an area that I have had bad expirience with. And sometimes I like making this story movie like-just makes me feel cool.
Not too long ago-freshman year- I was a great flag football player. Speed. Strength. Agility. Stamina. And the ability to catch most everything that was near me. The combination made for a rather dangerous player (I was convinced). Yet, it must've been a bad day of some sort for later on, perhaps during sophomore year. A day where I just couldn't catch anything and I couldn't let it go because I had done, uncontrollably, the evil act that an athlete should never approach- I started over thinking it. I was over thinking how to catch a football. I became useless as my mental lapse in flag football became larger and larger and harder to get out of. When we picked teams, I quickly saw my draft value shrink to that of a last round pick. I had lost confidence and was still over thinking it.
And then I played flag football today. I was expecting to be a last round pick and as usual I was. Yet for some reason, I just stopped thinking. The first pass that I received in that game I wasn't thinking. I just reacted. The throw was a little high, so I jumped and caught it, as if it were no big deal. I continued to get more and more throws as the game went one. One throw to me was very high, so I jumped very high and grabbed it. When my feet landed, I turned, faked a defender out of my way and had a clear path to the touchdown, my first in more than I can remember. I got a throw low to the ground, so I got my hands low and snagged it. I didn't think, therefore I didn't drop a pass. My head was clear so today my talent was shown through.
Today, I overcame one more obstacle in my path to being the efficient and controllable thinker and baseball player I can be. The obstacle of over thinking happens to be one the hardest for me to overcome. But today I got on the field and played football, and I didn't think about what I was doing, I just did it. At some points, I found myself a little distracted by another social situation at hand and I welcomed it while I was playing and I found that it didn't bother me from succeeding at football, I was just going with the flow. A teammate of mine mentioned to me that I wasn't over thinking anymore BECAUSE I was being distracted by said social situation, which caused me to think about the act of catching a football. But I just put it to rest just as I have been taught and told to do, only this time it worked. After that? Well I still caught the rest of the passes that were thrown to me for the whole game.
The key is for me to be able to do that consistently. Today was great, but the thing that would make it better is to learn how to build off of it and send a spiral in the right direction, not downward (no pun intended).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)