North Star Mental Fitness

Is Mental Fitness for You?

Take Care of You.  Take Control of Your Life.  Think to Be Strong.  Think to Be Stronger Than Your Problems.  Organize and Empower Your Mind with Mental Fitness Strategies.

Life is full of changes, risks, disappointments and challenges.  Mental fitness training can help you find the strength, clarity of thought and confidence to successfully take care of yourself, even during difficult times.

The goal of mental fitness is to make you strong enough to achieve your goals and solve your problems.  The goal of mental fitness is much larger than solving specific problems.  You can be stronger than your problems.  You will find peace of mind and solutions for any and all of your problems by increasing your mental fitness.

At North Star Mental Fitness we believe everyone can improve their mental fitness.  We can all improve our mental fitness by concentrating and making our thinking more organized, efficient and powerful.

Just ask us how!

You can have the tools to turn your past failures and disappointments into successes by applying mental fitness strategies from the North Star Mental Fitness Program and the e-book, I Live within the Environment Created by My Choices.

Remember, You Live within the Mind, Body and Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

 

WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE

We are pleased to announce that www.northstarmentalfitness.com has replaced northstarmentalfitnessblog.com.  All of the posts from the former website can be accessed through northstarmentalfitness.com.

Please add www.northstarmentalfitness.com to your list of Favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wambach Never Doubted That They Would Win

"There aren't many moments in women's sports that are purely unbelievable sports moments, but Abby Wambach's perfect header off of Megan Rapinoe's perfect feed in the 122nd minute against Brazil yesterday was one of those moments. It is a play that makes your jaw drop and that you must watch repeatedly and studiously to grasp how it might have happened, and even then you can't quite believe that it still happened that way, because it was perfect." This was the picturesque description of the United States women's soccer team snatching victory from Brazil in the 2011 Woman's World Cup written by Emma Carmichael.

I was mesmerized by the unbelievable play. It was very clear to me that the win was not an accident. It was obvious that the team had confidence and unbelievable mental fitness.

Emma Carmichael presented numerous quotations from the players that demonstrated the effect of mental fitness, confidence and never giving.

"Rapinoe is praised for her aggression (for the ability to friggin' smack it, for example) but not necessarily for exemplary control. But it took an aggressive soul to retrieve a ball from the middle of the field and to have seen — just barely in her line of vision — Wambach's right arm pointing towards the right goalpost.

Any person who has played a sport and played it well knows that feeling when a play feels instantly right. In the replay angle that shows Rapinoe's delivery best, she gazes up after making contact with the ball and then, against her momentum, takes a few steps back, staring after it like she knows that it will go exactly where she intended it to go.

The "beast" in question was Wambach, who had been — for her standards — off the mark in group play, especially in her aerial game. She stands about six feet tall in spikes, and her height brings a threatening element to her game. But even with some faltering, and even in a contest that had pitched every possible setback against her squad, Wambach said later that she never doubted that they would win.

A lot of people today are attributing this to the American team's mentality, and to a certain kind of American spirit in sports. Sundhage, who is Swedish, said that she found the American attitude of "pulling everything together and bringing the best [out] of each other" to be "contagious," Solo called it "a feeling" that can't really be coached, and Wambach said that the team always felt that "all it takes is one chance."

Even Marta had previously acknowledged it. The Brazil star has been around for five consecutive losses to the Americans, and when a reporter asked her what made the difference, she pointed to her head and explained, 'It's the mentality."'

Wambach never doubted that they would win. This is the expression of confidence based upon mental and physical fitness. From a mental fitness perspective, there is a mentality that will not allow a person to give up. No matter how bad or pressing circumstances are, there is always a solution or a victory.

Remember, We Live within the Environment Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Expect Down Time

I know what it's like at home when the team boards the bus or plane to play an away game," Butch Woolfolk said. "You're by yourself. There's a lot of down time. I helped (Troy) through that. I told him what to expect before it happened, so when it happened, he was aware and could handle it."

This quotation from The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110706/SPORTS0201/107060355/Perseverance-saves-Troy-Woolfolk’s-Wolverines-career#ixzz1RhYNZatB

Butch Woolfolk played football for the University of Michigan and also eight years in the NFL. His pro career was shortened by injuries. In the third game in 1988, his football career ended because of a knee injury. Athough Butch is never seriously injured during his University of Michigan career, he had prepared his son, Troy, for playing football at Butch's alma mater.

I am quite sure that Butch Woolfolk was very happy when his son decided to play football for the University of Michigan. As his son went to play football at the Big House, Butch prepared his son psychologically for the realities of playing competitive football.

During the summer prior to this last year of playing football for the University of Michigan, Troy Woolfolk dislocated his ankle and broke his fibula. Troy missed his senior year, which was spent in painful rehabilitation

Troy felt like quitting, but he didn't. Troy verbalized, "I actually did, I actually started doubting myself at one point. It was after a while I started being able to put pressure on it, and once I did that, I thought I could hit the ground running, but it was still a slow process.

"I was getting frustrated. I would try to go in and try to run and it just wasn't there. I couldn't get a push off. And slowly but gradually it started coming. At one point, I was afraid, thinking, Maybe this football thing isn't going to work out, so maybe I should start thinking about other things.'"

Rather than quitting and changing his goals, he worked hard and is ready to play football again this year.

There will be times in all of our lives, when we will need to expect "down times". The nature of the down times will be different for each one of us. No matter how our down times appear in our lives, we need to expect down times, have courage and remain true to our dreams.

Remember, We Live within the Environment Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Relationship Momentum

Today I'd like to borrow a term from sports and apply it to relationships.  The word is

MOMENTUM!

Are Your Eyes Fixed on the Setting Sun or Rising Sun?

Living in the Now is the place of freedom.  If you want freedom from the past, live in the present!  It is impossible to be free by trying to live in the future.  We only can be free or not free in the present!

Carrie Muskat reported on how a baseball player feels about living in the present. Carrie wrote "When the Cubs players walked into the clubhouse Saturday, there were some words of wisdom on the message board."  The following message was left for the Cubs after another loss.

'You can't see the rising sun if your eyes are fixed on the setting one,' it read. "Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called present. Conquer the now."

Carrie reported "First baseman Carlos Pena was believed to be behind the message, but he said it was one of the clubhouse attendants.

Pena said "I like it,  To be able to turn the page, and I'm talking about every cell in your body detaching yourself from the past and detaching yourself from the future and focusing on the now.

If you think about it, you can handle the present moment. I can be totally present this second and give 100 percent this second, and that's doable. Sometimes when we try to take too much on, whether we're carrying some baggage from the past or thinking too far ahead into the future, then all of a sudden I'm absent from the present moment. So, focus on the now!"

You may not have had as much futility as the Chicago Cubs in pursuing your goals.  You may not have been focusing on the next year or the future as much as the Cubs.

Nevertheless, Living in the Now applies to all of us.  It is important to "Conquer the Now"!  We need to really detach from the past as well as the future.  Don't vacate the present.  Living in the now is doable for all of us.  Focus on the Now!

Remember, We Live within the Now Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Martina Hingis on Mental Fitness

I didn't have the same fitness or ability as the other girls, so I had to beat them with my mind. 

This statement was made by Martina Hingis.  Who is Martina Hingis?

Mental Toughness Questionnaire

Are you ready to take a mental toughness questionnaire?  I found this questionnaire at Competitive Advantage.  This questionnaire will assess your

1. "Reboundability or your skill at mentally bouncing back from setbacks and mistakes"
2. Your ability to handle pressure
3. Your ability to concentrate
4. Your confidence level and
5. Your motivation.

All of these skills are important for mental fitness as well as mental toughness.  Although the questionnaire is for athletes, you can apply it for coping with any aspect of your life.  You can take the mental fitness questionnaire by clicking on questionnaire.

After completing the questionnaire, you will have a better assessment of where you are in terms of mental fitness and toughness.  You will know if you need to engage in mental fitness training.

Remember, You'll Live within the Mindset, Body and Environment Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

 

When Life Gets Tough, Don't Get Stuck Trying Not to Lose!

Have you sometimes noticed that some football teams play to not lose, while other teams play to win.  Have you also noticed that when teams become extremely conservative, predictable and play not to lose, they end up losing.

There may be sometimes in life when you will be motivated to not lose.  When things go bad such as happened to our economy, what do you do?  One and will and

The Tiger Mindset

Tiger Woods has failed to maintain his elite status in the golfing world, since his return to the golfing circuit.  Mick Elliott at FANHOUSE called Tiger's current season his "winless season" in Mick's article "Tiger's Par-5 Game Still Isn't up to Par".

Tiger's golf game has been a disaster since his moral indiscretions and marital conflicts became big news. 

Mick showed how bad it has been for Tiger. "Ten times since 1997 Woods has finished in the top 10 on the PGA Tour on birdie-or-better conversions on par 5s. This year there are 53 players in front of his 43 percent conversion rate".

Tiger described his fall

Mindsets For Success

What motivates you?  What is your mindset?  Your mindset is important in every aspect of your life.

We have a very depressing economy.  The value of our property is depreciating due to the mortgage fiasco.  Many people are worried about maintaining their employment or have lost their employment.  Financial pressures magnify problems within marriages and families.

Your mindset determines your financial, interpersonal and psychological status in your life!  Today I would like to talk about three different mindsets.

When things go bad in life, many people often exercise the mindset of "not losing".  They seem to have a mindset that says "I don't want to lose".  Although this mindset may be appropriate at some times in our lives, it usually results in people becoming defensive and protective of themselves and their resources.  They try to hold on to what they have rather than increasing what they have.  They try to hold onto who they have been rather than growing and changing.  They are motivated to not lose rather than to win!

The second mindset is a mindset to win.  With this mindset a person is motivated and dedicated to win.  No matter how bad the circumstances are, this person is motivated to win at all costs.  You probably have heard the saying "when the going gets tough, the tough get going"!  With this mindset, people, often times, are obsessed with winning.  They view life as competition and they always have to win.  They seem to not enjoy what they accomplish and who they are.  They are devastated when they cannot win.

The third mindset is a mindset leading to self-actualization and growth.  Problems in living are perceived to be opportunities; opportunities for learning, changing and growing.  Dr. Alan Goldberg put it this way "You must let go of that obsessive need to win or beat others (which is actually limiting you) and instead focus on being the very best that YOU can be. Simply put you must make your goal improvement, NOT winning.

Steve Siebold writes about the differences in mindsets between the middle class and millionaires in his new book, How Rich People Think.   Steve wrote  "It's no mystery why 1% of Americans own 42% of the country's wealth. The good news is the rich are no smarter than the rest of us, they just think differently about money. The secret is to learn their thought processes, habits and philosophies and copy them. It's that simple, and this is what this book is all about."

In your relationships, are you:

1. Trying to not lose?
2. Trying to win?
3. Trying to grow and be yourself?

In your financial life, are you:

1. Trying to not lose?
2. Trying to win?
3. Trying to grow and be yourself?Remember,

Remember, We Live within the Relationship and Finances Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach