Week 3

Monday we began a program to increase our verbal and math skills. to do this we rely heavily on the various programs designed to increase one's SAT/ACT scores which one finds at any good book store. Zig's message this week is that "you have what it takes" already and that we only need to build on what is already there. The point that the test prep programs make is that they are skills tests not intelligent tests. What we are doing is developing and increasing the skills that are necessary to score well on the test. For example, it took a long time in my educational career to discover, realize and understand that math was rule governed behavior. I would spend the vast majority of my math study focusing on the problem and almost ignore the rules, not understanding that if the rule was mastered, then one could apply it to all similar circumstances.

The purpose for this skill development is to enable the students to do better on the tests they will face in the future. These tests are either state mandated or the SAT. Of course, we have a built in desire for our athletes to do well.

Note: We encourage our college bound athletes to take the SAT in June of their Junior year for a variety of reasons:

The first test date is in the middle of football season and no one wants to get up early on Saturday morning after a hard fought Friday night game and sit for 3 hours to take a test their future depends upon.

You are not going to learn that much more in Sept of your Senior year to make much of a difference in your test score.

You have all summer between your Junior and Senior year to forget lots of valuable test type information.

If you score poorly on the test in June, you have more time and chances to up your score by preparing and retaking the test.

Before any NCAA school can actively recruit you, a valid test score must be registered.

We've been completing the front plate for our class notebook this week. The plate is organized into the major ares of one's life: educational, financial, spiritual, family, etc. The students are to fill the blank area under each heading with icons/reminders of where they wish to be 10-15 years from now. We believe that you can go where you want to go, do what you want to do, be what you want to be and have what you want to have if you plan and work for it. You do not have to accept life the way it comes to you' you can design it to come to you the way you want it. The front plate serves as a positive reminder to what they wish to accomplish, to provide motivation, direction and meaningful purpose to their daily activities. Tues class, therefore, centered on clarifying the principles involved in completing the plate. We read from John-Roger and McWilliams book, Do It, focusing on the section which clarifies goal, purpose, dream, method, intention and explained why many people are not living their dream.

An important part of the reading focuses on how much a new born grows, develops and learns in his first 2 years of life. He learns how to walk, talk, coordinate, control communicate even manipulate his environment. An equal amount of growth and development can take place in any other 2 year part of your life. In fact, since you already are somewhat skilled in all these major areas of life, and even greater amount of growth and development can take place during any 2 year time period. the two primary things it takes are a willingness to learn and a commitment to doing it.

Remember, you have what it takes. As Zig states: You are born to Win, designed for accomplishment, engineered for success and endowed with the seeds of greatness. We believe that we are on a collision course with success, the only variable is time.

Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in 1-2 months but underestimate what they can accomplish in 2 years. For example, in the weight room this week we go for a 1 rep max. An athlete who benched 205 last month tried to bench 215 and did not get it. He tried again and again wearing himself out to a point where he could not even do the previous best of 205. We follow a general rule of thumb of 5# increase for upper body lifts and a 10# increase for lower body lifts. If the lifter would have put 210 on the bar, his chances of maxing it are far greater, giving him confidence to try for 215 and increasing his chances of doing so since he would not be "warn out" and be also pumped from his new max lift.

Wed's lift for the day and the Never, Never Quit reference both dealt with perseverance which served as a natural lead in to Hessel's chapter on the same subject. The discussion centered on the fact that we will all face adversity in the future; we just do not know when. When confronted with adversity, we must decide for ourselves if the effort which would be needed to overcome the adversity is worth it or not. This decision could be as big as ending a career or as small as doing our next math or English assignment. Everyday we make decisions that affect our future. We will either make the effort or not. The choice is up to us.

Good News Wed is catching on with the kids. Some indicated that since they know it is coming, they are paying attention to the Good News in their lives. We scored a Home Run today when a student who struggled heavily last semester said that he is passing ALL his classes at this time and after not having anything done for our class previously, all work was completed and ready to turn in today.

At the end of class we shared A. L. Williams' Magic Formula For Winning from his All You Can Do book. He states:

It's so simple that it's "revolutionary." The fact is, this formula, or principle, is misunderstood enough and overlooked enough that it can truly be called "magic" by those who understand it.

Ready? Here it is:

1. You beat 50 percent of the people in America by working hard.

2. You beat another 40 percent by being a person of honesty and integrity and standing for something.

3. The last 10 percent is a dogfight in the free enterprise system.

I find that this simple concept is the hardest thing to get people to believe. But I know it's true, I've seen it time and time again . . . you beat 50 percent of the people at any level just by working bard consistently over a long period of time.

We really share Williams' philosophy. After all . . . ordinary people do ordinary things. Average people do average things and not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down. It even applied in class today. Over half of the students (and these are players on the football team) did not have their homework ready for today's class. Unbelievable! But true. We certainly believe in M.A.G.I.C., i.e., Make A Greater Individual Commitment. When one or a team makes a greater individual commitment, overall performance vastly improves. People are lazy. They spend vast amounts of time just getting by or looking for a short cut. One of our quotes is: Most people while looking for a short cut to the system wind up short circuiting their performance. The truth is, there is absolutely no substitute for hard work. And hard work makes dreams come true. Let me share another motivational story with you about Peter Gregg who played for us at Estacada this year.

Peter Gregg will cap off his high school football career representing the Estacada Rangers in the East West Shrine All Star Game in Baker OR, August 8. Peter received his selection notice recently and was most excited.

During the season after a film session in my classroom, Peter noticed a picture Ii have hanging on the wall from when I coached the game in 1985. He asked me how one goes about being selected to play in the game, and I explained how the selection process worked.

Years ago when Peter started to play football his father, Kevin Gregg, said, "If you get good enough you could play in the All Start Game." Pete answered that kids from small schools like Estacada probably would not get picked to play in such a game not knowing that there are actually two games played each year. One game is conducted for the 4A schools while the Baker game features players from the AAA, AA and A ranks.

Peter told me during the season, "It's always been a dream of mine to play in that game." And that he dedicated himself this season to work harder than ever and try to make the team.

As previously reported in this paper, Peter's efforts paid off with All Conference and All State selections. When it came time for the selection committee to meet, selecting Peter was not a difficult decision. His 3.75 GPA, his associated Student Body Leadership activities, his 18-2 wrestling record are most impressive.

In Championship Training Class we stress that you must have long range goals in order to overcome short term setbacks. Peter's Ranger football career would certainly be an example of that. The Rangers struggled his Sophomore and Junior years and did not experience too much success during these seasons. Peter and his teammates kept the faith and vowed to work hard this year and make this a breakthrough season; which they did.

We also talk about dreams in class. Because if you do not have a dream, how can you have a dream come true? Peter's experience can serve as an example for all of us and demonstrates some of the key steps to success. Tale your dream and make it a goal to achieve. Work out a plan to make it happen. Put yourself together a winning team of helpers; implement the plan with massive action; adjust your approach along the way with positive feedback until you get what you want.

Yes, dreams can and do come true. Just ask Peter and watch his eyes light up.

Thur and Fri's classes centered on the idea of reprogramming a new view of reality at the subconscious level. We completed tapes 2 and 3 of Unlocking Your Potential and Zig's garbage dump stink'in think'in programs. We handed out our Positive Reminder Cards (there are 64 Daily Affirmation Cards) and went through how to use them.

They are effective if you flip through them reading them to yourself. They are doubly effective if you read them outloud. When you mind hear's the affirmations in your own voice, it helps cement them in your subconscious. They are quadruple effective if you make a cassette tape of them and play it in a quiet time before you drift off to sleep.

Jeff Davidson's Reaching Your Goals book has an excellent discussion on how the process works in the "It's all in the Wording" chapter. The cure for overcoming garbage dump stink'in think'in and our old vision of reality is to steep yourself in the positive. Your subconscious is no match for your ability to muster powerful positive programming: positive thoughts, positive deeds, positive outlooks, positive words, positive everything. Day after day (for a minimum of 21 days) you affirm you new vision of reality. When you stick to your positive goal long enough for your subconscious to get the message that this is the new you, it actually begins to support you automatically. It goes to work for you to find ways to make your days positive. Studies show that if you proceed for this length of time, you will begin to notice changes. You will feel different, and you will gravitate toward these affirmations you've been making so that even others will notice. It is productive and useful to constantly have positive reminders all around you of your competence, intelligence and resourcefulness so that you can tip the self-talk scales in favor of the positive.

Our room is awash in positive reminders, the walls are covered with them, and we hand out positive material everyday in class. Athletes (or anyone else) can go beyond just the positive reminders we have taken from class. One can add significant performance behaviors to the tape. Positive statements like: My 250 pound bench press gives me the explosive power and strength I need to be the blocker I CAN BE; I take great pride in knowing all my blocking assignments; I am a devastating blocker; I catch each ball at its highest point and tuck it away. There are hundreds of statements that you can think of that would make for great statements here.

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Copyright 1997-1998
by Roger A. Freeborn
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