The Mental Edge: Performance Trainer & Former DI Softball Coach Julie Jones… You’re Going to Fail in 2023! Now What?

BY Julie Jones

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We will all fail… it’s part of the human experience. How we respond and our mindset in doing it will make all the difference in the world!

Extra Inning Softball has partnered with former DI softball coach Julie Jones (Akron, Cleveland State) and current Mental Performance and Mindset Coach to help give athletes, coaches and others in the softball world the “Mental Edge.”

Julie spent 26 years leading Division I softball programs with her mission being simple: to build smarter students, stronger athletes and better people.

Today, she also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Ursuline College teaching well-being and performance, mindset training, athletic coaching and career development courses in both the undergraduate and graduate studies programs.

Continuing her work of helping student-athletes reach their goals on and off the field, Julie regularly sends Mindset Made Simple Tips to players and coaches across the country as well as posting them on her site, SSB Performance.

Today’s “Mindset Made Simple discusses how we ALL will fail at some point, but our mindset is key to a positive response and getting back on track!

Here’s this week’s Mental Edge if you’d prefer to watch it:

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Here we are. The year 2023. What are we going to do with it?

First, I hope you decide to implement a mental performance program as a part of your team or organization’s training and I would love to lead you in that endeavor! Whether you are defending or vying for a championship, trying to increase your bottom line or working to build the culture you desire, reach out. Let’s build something that fits your specific needs!

Why is this important for 2023? Because our mindset is EVERYTHING!

It affects the way we communicate. It affects our relationships. It affects our choices. And, of course, it affects our performance.

Thoughts become things and the more in tune we are with our thoughts, the better off we are in all these areas.

Your mindset will determine whether 2023 is a year in which you get better or bitter.

Your mindset will determine whether you stick to your New Year’s resolutions (and I hate to break it to you, but 80% of us won’t make it past the first 3 weeks of January!).

Come on! Even if you don’t believe in setting resolutions, you have thought of ways you want 2023 to be different than last year!

Because we often think about the changes we want to make at “new beginnings”, I was tempted to write this Tip about how to stick to your resolutions.

I changed my mind. Here is a message for you for 2023: YOU ARE GOING TO FAIL!

Welcome to the New Year! What a lovely way to start, right?!

Heck, 1/4 of us won’t make it through the week in our quest to start (or stop) something!

In High Performance Habits, author Brendon Burchard stresses that progress follows struggles in life.

As Brandon Burchard says, in his book High-Performance Habits:

“There are only two narratives in the human story: struggle and progress. And you can’t have the latter without the former.”

If we want to get better, and we know we are going to fail, what now?

As Murphy’s thirteenth law says, “every solution breeds more problems.”

We try to do something new, something good, something that will help make us better. We put together a plan to get started. We start.

Then we stop.

The question is, will we “stop” for one day or will we allow a one-day hiccup to be a hard stop?

What will we do when we fall off the proverbial horse?

This may be the most important question to ask ourselves before we start a new habit…or try to end one that isn’t working for us!

Think about it, the best systems have a fail-safe that employs when something gets off track. Your car now breaks when you get too close to the guy in front of you. Your circuits trip when they are overloaded. Traffic lights blink red/yellow to help keep traffic under control when they fail.

These systems are set up to keep things from imploding when something doesn’t go as planned. They make the next move easier. They allow for recovery!

No rear-end accident. No fire. No multi-car crash at the intersection.

It all comes back to our ability to assess what is in front of us and RESPOND.

Our success, whether it is in sticking to our resolutions, learning something new or working to get better at something we do daily, is dependent on our ability to RESPOND!

Someone asked me what I do as a mental coach and I boiled it down to this. I help people RESPOND better and that is my simple goal for this year… I am going to spend 2023 helping others, including myself, RESPOND BETTER!

We work in a continuous cycle of APPROACH –> ACTION –> RESULTS –> RESPONSE.

Our response is vital in setting up the next approach…it dictates what we will do next.

What is our FAIL-SAFE when your actions fail? There is no reason to quit after missing one day of following a diet or workout plan.

To be our best, we need to look forward to what we want…and to what can go wrong.

We need to get a very clear vision of what success… and failure… look like. Visualize it. Watch yourself do what you want to do. Then watch yourself miss a day, screw something up or feel disappointed.

Then watch yourself do what you want again…as if you stuck to your plan all along.

Remember, it’s not the one day you missed that matters. It’s the momentum you build each day in either doing what you want or building excuses for not doing it.

Who cares if you miss a day?

Do it the next time you get a chance.

Remember what your doctor says when you miss your medicine. Take it when you think about it OR skip the day and take it the next time it is scheduled.

You’re probably no worse for wear.

I don’t write in my gratitude journal every night. If I do it 85% of the time, I call that success. If I miss my morning workout (like I did today), I plan the rest of my week to make up for it.

It’s not perfect. But perfection isn’t necessary.

Striving for perfection makes for a dissatisfied and disrupted mind that keeps us from moving forward.

Building new habits, making positive changes and getting better aren’t about being perfect. It’s about stacking one small choice, one small movement and one small improvement on another.

One day off or setback isn’t going to tear it all down.

Even so, you need a plan (or some simple grace) to get back on the horse.

Decide how you will respond before you get there. You’ll get back on track sooner…and you’ll feel better about it, too!

Manage the moments…and your responses!

Julie

To learn more from Julie check out her social media sites below; to contact her personally, she can be reached via email at: juliej@ssbperformance.com