If You Feel Successful, You Become Successful

[GregoryBowen]

On Feb 11th, 2014 Published By Smokey
 

When I was a very little boy, I used to watch my dad play baseball…..I didn’t know or care at what level of a Baseball league it was…..but my dads team impressed me…..I was so young, I didn’t really understand what was going on….but I got to sit in the dugout while his team played….I really remember the night games ….The field was all lit up with those tall light poles….The field was beautifully trimmed …..May as well have been the home of the Boston Red Sox to me…..I remember watching my dads team out in the field …and watching the pitcher throw the ball so gracefully……my dad played Third base …. I hoped the batter would hit the ball to him every time ….just so I could watch him take those side skip hops to snag the ball and fire it to 1st…..I remember the uniforms all the players wore….The league he played in, had some very nice uniforms that would have rivaled any pro team……One afternoon …I was watching my dad get ready for the game…he was ironing his uniform….even those weird socks with the little stirrups instead of feet….and they went up to the knee…..I asked him “why do you iron your uniform so much?”…..He kind of jerked a glanced at me…I think he forgot I was there……then he said “Well, when I iron my uniform,….I use that time to think about the game……and when I’m done, I feel like I can really hit the ball a long ways!”……I asked him  “Does it work?”…..All he said was “Yup”

The point  I’m getting at, is that he was putting himself in a positive mind set to succeed…..Hours before the game started he was getting that special look when you see someone in the zone….that look of complete focus ….to do the best he could at what he was doing…..and the end result of that time of ironing his uniform so meticulously, gave him a way to visually get a little reminder every time he dug in with his feet in the batters box and he adjusted his shirt as he looked down, he would notice his pants and the crease he put in them……Then you would see that look come over his face, as he turned his head toward the pitcher and raised his bat with both hands behind his ear……he told me in later years his batting average was in the mid three hundreds, ( aint bad), and he was playing for the local community college…..I didn’t care ….seemed like the pros to me!

  Now…. I use some of the same things with to get in the zone and to get my students to focus…..I tell them……”If you feel successful, You become successful!”…..Adult learners have to picture in there mind the things they are learning…and they struggle with feeling successful with something so new, they have no idea what to envision…..so first I just make comments like ….”You look like a natural in that truck”…Every time they get back in the truck, they do it with a little more confidence…. I look for something  positive, in every backing maneuver they make….even if they weren’t able to complete it … “great effort, you almost had it …and it was all you”….Sometimes (after they are more comfortable with backing a 70 ft. long semi)…All they need is a little re assurance that they are ok….or doing fine……sometimes they just stop and look at me (I’m on the ground watching and close enough they can hear me from their open window)……”Come on Driver Your Doing Good!”…..they get that look and just do it…..I love it!…..I Know it isn’t rocket science ….but it is tougher than it looks!

Myself, I use my commute in the morning for my ironing time……I use that time to envision the things I will be working with my students on and how I’m going to verbalize it….I even think of ways to say the same thing, only differently, to help that student get that picture in their mind….and then it happens I’m in the zone……..On my commute back in the evening ….I’m Ironing my uniform again….This time on what I’m going to blog about ….or how I’m going to verbalize what I need a client to learn for his foundation on the internet….or a marketing strategy I’m trying to master….so when I get home I can go in my office and already be on the way to success…..because I feel successful…….

How do you get that successful mind set ….Does it have to be in a monetary manner to feel successful?…..or is succeeding being productive with your time and working toward a goal that is getting closer as you work?……Let me know what you think….leave a comment below…….Thanks for reading…..Motivating others by serving others…..You can too…..Smokey