Consistency

Prompts:

• What can I do daily to grow closer to my goals?

• Am I doing these things 5-6 times weekly?

• What can I do today, to build for tomorrow?

• How can I create a routine or a habit of doing that task?

Visualizations:

Visualize Yourself doing the tasks, over and over and over. Daily. Envision how hard it is. Envision the feeling and benefit you will get from accomplishing the task over and over. Envision yourself using those small steps to climb the staircase. At the top of that staircase are the results you desire.

Failure

Prompts:

• Is the failure final?

• Is this failure a setback or permanent?

• What can I learn from this moment of failure?

• How did this failure help me in baseball and outside of it?

Visualizations:

Visualize yourself failing. Visualize yourself rewriting the moment. Visualize the success you created.

Ex. if you let up a home run, visualize the changes you would make to strike the batter out. Watch yourself strike the  batter out in your mind, fixing the mistake.

Plateau

Prompts:

• Why am I in the same spot?

• What could I be doing differently to move the needle forward?

• What areas do I need to improve in (life and baseball)?

• What action will I take to change the steadiness?

Visualizations:

Visualize yourself getting the smallest bit better.

Visualize yourself throwing .1 MPH harder, running .1 second faster, etc. Visualize the feelings and the sensations that accompany them.

Nervous/Anxious

Prompts:

• What is the deeper thought worrying me?

• Am I afraid of losing, or looking stupid? Why?

• Can I embrace the nerves, rather than run from them?

• Understand that  the nerves are getting you ready to pitch and play at your highest level.

Visualizations:

Visualize your pre-game routine. Visualize yourself going through your drills, mobility, exercises. Visualize your heart rate going up. Visualize your nerves starting to worry you. Visualize yourself embracing them.  Visualize yourself about to step on the field. Visualize yourself getting anxious, visualize you embracing again, taking control and excelling with it.

Confidence

Prompts:

• What do you need to do to succeed?

• What have you done in the past, when have you excelled or succeeded?

• Confidence comes from past wins, what are your biggest wins?

Visualizations:

Visualize your past successes, Visualize how they came, the processes you took to win them. Visualize your past self overcoming obstacles, unbeatable, cannot be stopped. Understand you are the same person. Carry that momentum.

Out of Whack Mechanics

Prompts:

• What do you feel when your throws and delivery are going well?

• How can you relax the body when you are on the mound?

• How did you throw when you were a kid? When everything was going well? From a mental side? Can you replicate that now?

Visualizations:

Visualize and feel your throw, from start to finish. Visualize the ball leaving your perfectly, the athleticism and rhythm your body moves with. Visualize a well executed throw, visualize your mind blank, and your body making the throw without you telling it what to do. Visualize your body being athletic, fluid and in rhythm. Effortless velocity. Watch yourself do it in your mind.

Pressure

Prompts:

• Is the pressure real?

• What can I do to release the pressure?

• Is this the same game I have always played?

• Have I succeeded before  by doing what I do? Why can I do it again?

• Am I putting unrealistic pressure on myself?

Visualizations:

Visualize the pressure as a tightness through your body and brain.  Breathe into the tension, release it. Start at your toes, work to the top of your head. Releasing tension of every muscle in between by focusing on the body part, and breathing in and out to release it. Watch the tension melt away from your body.

Coach Doesn’t Like Me

Prompts:

• What reasons have you given for this to be true?

• Can you fix them?

• Is this even true? Try to view from an outside perspective, are you taking it too personally?

• Can you work harder and be more responsible to fix any arguments or issues?

• Can you reach out and talk to him?

Visualizations:

N/A

Velocity is Down

Prompts:

• Is my strength where it needs to be?

• Is my mobility where it needs to be?

• Am I fast? Explosive, Powerful?

• How can I move forward in those capacities?

• Am I loose, recovered, sleeping well?

• Am I prepared to throw mentally and physically?

Visualizations:

Visualize yourself throwing harder. Visualize the ball coming out clean and hard. Visualize yourself looking up and seeing the radar gun light up with numbers before. Repeat.

Off-Speed Issues

Prompts:

• What shape am I looking for?

• What does my fastball do?

• How can I play off of my fastball?

• Where do I want my off-speed to start, where do I want it to end?

• Is my grip comfortable?

• Am I trying to make it move too much instead of letting it work?

• Do I change my arm/hand speed?

Visualizations:

Visualize the ball flight, from hand to catcher. Visualize executing the perfect off-speed. Visualize the pitch moving like a fastball, then stopping, moving  and making the hitter look foolish.

Visualize the exact tunnel or line you want the ball to follow from your hand to the end of the pitch. Visualize the ball traveling along that line.

Nobody Recruiting Me

Prompts:

• Am I good enough right now?

• What can I do to raise my performance?

• What are my strengths and weaknesses?

• Am I reaching out to the right schools that fit me?

Visualizations:

N/A

Fear

Prompts:

• What am I fearful of, list them?

• If I am afraid of what others think, they don’t care.

• If I fear for my spot on the team, why? I have a better chance making the team by letting go and just playing.

Visualizations:

Visualize yourself making the team, visualize yourself overcoming the fear or issue you think of in your head. 

Visualize your fears floating down a river away from you.

Academics

Prompts:

• Have I been studying enough?

• Am I taking my studies as seriously as baseball?

• Is my lack of focus on studies bleeding into my performance?

• How can I become a more well-rounded athlete?

Visualizations:

N/A

Friends/Teammates

Prompts:

• Do I have a close group of friends and teammates to grow with?

• Are the actions around me in line with where I want to go?

• Is my environment cultivating growth?

• Am I serving others and giving them the energy I wish to receive?

• How can I change my environment and actions to align with where I want to go?

Visualizations:

N/A

Family

Prompts:

• Am I giving my family the support they have given me?

• Am I telling them my dreams and aspirations?

• Am I following their ideas word for word or formulating my own?

• What’s one actionable step I can take to help my future family today?

Visualizations:

N/A

Belonging

Prompts:

• Do I have a group/team that fits me?

• Do I need to transfer to access that feeling?

• Can I create that feeling where I am at?

• Have I been holding myself back from experiencing those feelings? Why?

Visualizations:

N/A

Love For the Game

Prompts:

• If I fail, do I still have love for the game?

• Why do I love the game?

• Am I grateful to suit up daily?

• What daily actions can I take to remind myself that I love the game?

  Visualizations:

  Visualize yourself falling in love with the game as a kid. Visualize yourself being grateful and enjoying everything baseball has given you. 

Scarce Resources

Prompts:

• Why can’t I excel with the resources I have?

• Can I be creative in my training?

• Do I have access to a fence, a field, and weights?

• Do I really need top-notch facilities to become a beast and better than I was  yesterday?

Visualizations:

Visualize yourself doing the gritty work. The lifting, running, and throwing with less resources. Visualize the advantage you get from the simplicity and responsibility you have given yourself. Visualize yourself becoming that guy.

Routine/Process

Prompts:

• Do I enjoy the process of my  work or just the result?

• If I don’t get the desired result, was the work worth it?

• Am I committed to the small tasks I do daily?

• Do I have a process in place to go about my daily training and life?

Visualizations:

Visualize the order and steps in which things get done. From when you get to the f    ield, to when you step on the field. Go through your routine, solidify it, and feel it. Enjoy it. Now watch yourself perform and execute due to  that process.

Future Self

Prompts:

• Do I have destinations to reach for?

• How will I get there?

• Is my behavior lined up with those goals?

• Are the actions I am taking today going to help me become the person I want to be? Why or why not?

Visualizations:

Visualize the player and person you want to be. How does that person act, think, play, and go about their daily business? Visualize yourself becoming that person and changing your actions to align with your ideal future self’s actions.