Photos of Jerry Kelly in Iraq in 2006

On Thanksgiving, Kelly spent his fortieth birthday November 2006, with the troops as part of the PGA's "Operation Links Handshake Tour." Here's a "slice" of the report:

"It was a life-changing experience," Kelly said in a telephone interview. "It was the coolest thing I've ever done."
The golfers visited 14 bases in Iraq, entertaining the troops with golf exhibitions and swapping stories with soldiers in conversations that stretched into the early morning hours.

"We hit balls off of Saddam's palace, off the back of a tank, off the wing of an Iraqi MIG fighter," Kelly said. "We stopped a soccer game in the Kurd region and hit balls off the field into Turkey. We hit balls in Mosul.

"We did a ton of stuff. We wish we could have spent more time with the guys. They were like, 'Thank you so much.' We were like, 'Are you kidding me? We're the ones who are thankful.'"

Jerry Kelly had a great 2007 season on the PGA tour with 7 top-10 finishes, 3rd in the Byron Nelson, his best ever finish at the Masters (5th), a great US Open (7th) and winning over 1.9 million on tour.

Freedom Flight - The Book?? How you can help make it happen!

Freedom Flight on Audio CD is our 2nd most popular product next to the book "With Winning in Mind". Our goal is to have the book "Freedom Flight" available for purchase by March 2008. Lanny Bassham has been working on the layout and the text over the past few months. We are steadily working on a cover. It will be a hard cover book and we expect it to be sent to print by January 2008. We have had many requests over the past 4 years for this audio to be in book form and it's finally happening!! We are so excited!

One thing we are missing is testimonials and endorsements to put in the book and to use on our website and marketing materials. If you have listened to the Audio version of Freedom Flight or have watched Lanny tell the story live and loved it please let us know! We would love to put as many comments as possible from our clients in our book and on our website. You may email endorsements to heather@mentalmanagement.com if you are interested in being included.

If you would like to be added to a list to contact as soon as we start taking pre-orders please send an email to heather@mentalmanagement.com. We are starting a list of those who want to pre-order the book. As soon as it heads to the printer and we have a good idea of when it will be ready to sell we will take pre-orders.

Realtors seek "Mental Edge" from Lanny Bassham

Yesterday we had the pleasure of working with the sales team for Buehler & Associates, a realty team in Flower Mound, TX. Darla & Kurt Buehler have been in the real estate business for decades dedicating their lives to helping others find and sell homes. They have a large sales team to motivate and inspire each day.

9 members of the Buehler sales team attended a 3 hour Mental Management Business Sales Application Seminar with Lanny Bassham at our offices. The pressure of sales & business is much like that in the sports world. Lanny has spent the past 30 years teaching Mental Management to those who have to control their minds under pressure which includes business executives, managers and sales teams like those we met yesterday.

What a wonderful group of people who are focused on changing lives one home at a time! We thank Kurt & Darla for bringing their team to the seminar and we hope they gained much knowledge and strength from the course.

If you are interested in having our instructors work with your sales team please call 972-899-8940.

Are Elite Performers Born or Made? by Lanny Bassham

Elite performers are ordinary people with extraordinary traits.

In my profession I meet elite performers daily. I'm sure you know some as well. They look very ordinary on the surface and in most things in their lives they are quite ordinary. So what separates them from the non-elite in their sport or performance area? It is an extra-ordinary trait or two. These traits are acquired by the performer by making a conscious decision to excel. I will give you an example; work ethic.

Work ethic is defined as a set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. Elite performers work harder and longer than ordinary folk. You have to pull them off of the field. Given the opportunity they would gladly work at their craft 24/7. Why? I believe that they do not see the effort to advance them in their sport as work. It is who they are and what they were put on the planet to do at this time in their lives. Is this an acquired trait or are they born with this idea? What do you think?

If it is acquired then elite performances are open to all of us but if the only way you can attain these traits are to be fortunate enough to be born with them then you either have it or you don't. It is like being tall or short. It is in the genes. Are there genes for success? I am inclined to believe not. All of the elite performers that I know have had times in their lives when the doubted that they had any gene-born talent for their sport. Now, I am not saying that talent does not exist. I know people that are talented because they can do things with less effort or with less time than it takes others to do the same things. I was not talented for baseball but I seem to be able to shoot a rifle. My point is that I never thought I had a talent for shooting. It did not come easy for me but I found a way to succeed at it anyway. How? I worked hard at it. Overcoming obstacles is never easy but it is always rewarding. The more difficult the obstacle is to overcome the more rewarding it seems. Maybe it is a good thing if you are not so talented because when you can do extraordinary things you will experience an extraordinary elation.

With Winning in Mind - ON SALE for only $10

SPREAD THE WORD!

"With Winning in Mind" is on sale until November 30, 2007 for only $10 each! (this is a perfect Holiday gift and can be autographed at no extra cost!)

Click here to order!!

Dogs Can Read??

We asked recently for photos of dog's competing in different dog sports for covers of new products. These photos are too adorable not to share. Raef as a puppy has his nose buried in the book "With Winning in Mind"! Classic!

Today we received this email:

Hi Heather,
Here are a couple of pics. you may like. The first is puppy Raef about to tear the book apart, but I got a good shot before I took it away.
The others are Raef one year later successfully competing in agility! Yes, I listen to the tapes and read the book too!

Thanks,
Noreen

The Keys to Success

(This is an article from a past archery newsletter written by Mental Management instructor, Troy Bassham - the article was written for archers but the information is good no matter your sport)

The Keys to Success

In the Archery Audio "Improving the Self Image" (which is part of the set "Mastering the Mental Game of Archery") I talk about a five step plan that will improve your success. In this article, I will focus on two of those steps. First, champions focus and build on their successes. Second, it is important to stay solution oriented in your thinking.

You should find it rare that champions are complainers. Most of the time, champions talk and think about their successes. The reason why this is so important is that they are building a bigger and better Self Image by focusing on their good performances. In archery, we may not always have a good performance; but that doesn't mean we don't have some success that day. Every time we shoot, we experience short periods of great success. Focusing on these successes will help build your Self Image and therefore improve the likelihood of better performances and higher scores in the future.

Second step is that you must be solution oriented. Champions focus on solutions and do not dwell on their problems. It puts a different mind set on how you handle tough situations. Take a shooter who has a hard time finishing strong in competition. The average competitor will point out that if they finish like they started, than they would win more events. The average competitor’s focus is, "Why can't I finish strong? I never end good!" They focus on the negative and the problem not the solution to that problem.

The Champions focus is different. They make statements like, "I'm looking for a solution to finishing strong in competition!" They focus on one solution at a time and confide in one person about their situation, not everyone who will listen. This is important in building the Self Image of a champion. It is easier to win matches with the Self Image of a Winner. This way of thinking aids in the building process and generates better results in the future.

By Troy Bassham
Author of the Mastering the Mental Game of Archery Audio CD Series