Ron Karr is the incoming president of the National Speakers Association (2013-2014). He related the following story to me that involved his daughter, Amanda, whose softball team had a very unsatisfying experience.
Amanda and her team were playing for the league championship. The team lost 18 to 0.
The following year, the team again went to the finals, only to meet the same rivals that had devastated them the previous year. The team’s coach knew that Ron was a motivational speaker and asked him to say a few words of inspiration to the team before the game started.
Ron’s charge to the players was to think of what they wanted, rather than their negative experience the last time they played against this same team. He said, “When you come up to bat, think of where you want the ball to go.”
Ron was sitting close enough to the batter’s plate so that each time a batter came up to bat, the hitter could hear Ron’s voice charging, “Think of where you want the ball to go.”
The final score of the championship game was 8 to 3—with Amanda’s team winning.
Ron knows that one’s mindset is a major factor in success—as I also emphasize in my books and presentations. Ron had simply prompted a positive mindset through visualization.
People can discipline themselves to think in terms of what they want—rather than what they don’t want. Positivity beats negativity every time.
