Sunday, March 30, 2008

Should You Write Down Your Goals - by Lanny Bassham



This article was posted in our September, 2007 email newsletter called MENTALCOACH

How important is writing down your goals? Well. Linda Thom, Olympic champion in pistol shooting in the 1984 Olympics from Canada credits writing down her goal to win the gold as critical to her success. I had the honor of teaching her in 1983 and introducing the concept of the Goal Statement to the Canadian team in a seminar in Toronto. Here is an excerpt of Linda's article written after the 1984 games.

A turning point was a clinic which I attended in February 1983. The clinic was given in Toronto by Lanny Bassham, who is a World Champion rifle shooter from the U.S. Out of his own competitive difficulties, experienced at the 1972 Olympics; he had dug around and developed what he calls, "The tools of mental management." That man really spoke to me.

One thing he said was so important, "You've got to write it out. In this country and the United States too, we don't write our goals out." We're a very literate society otherwise, but we don't seem to write our goals out.

One of the most important things he found useful for himself was to write out the goal in the first person, present tense. "I am the 1984 Olympic Gold medalist in Ladies Match Pistol," in my particular case. And he said, "Write it out in your diary every night, every single night, and one of two things will happen, either you won't believe it and you'll stop writing it, or you'll keep on writing it and you'll succeed." But he said, "It really works."

Although I have a journalism degree, I don't like sitting down and writing and I have to make an effort, but I did make an effort to write my goals in my diary. For 18 months I wrote that I was the Olympic Champion, every single night in my diary, and it came true. It helped me grapple with myself and my image of myself as a champion.

"Imagine yourself on the podium," he said. "You have won. You know it's behind you now. The flag is going up and the anthem is being played. There are the reporters and they're interviewing you. Visualize all of these things, and savor them."

"Act as if you are going back over your life, the gods have given you the chance to relive this. You've won it. It's yours. You've got the gold medal. But the gods are giving you the chance to relive and savor your experiences." You can say, "Hey, I can enjoy this. I'm not just in a headlong rush." I can also notice the other things in life and enjoy the little steps along the way.


A Goal Statement is a sentence written in the first person present tense about something you want to have happen. Here are some other examples; I am debt free. I follow through on every shot. I recover well. I savor my successes and forget my failures.

Are you writing down what you want to have happen in your life? Doing it only one time isn't enough. Linda found that the real power came from repeatedly writing down her Goal Statement every day for 18 months. Think of the imprinting her Self Image received from these few minutes every day. She felt that it was worth it. How badly do you want your goals?

Monday, March 24, 2008

Freedom Flight Arrives!!

(Lanny after he received the book in the mail)

Today we received the shipment of Lanny Bassham's new book "Freedom Flight - The Origins of Mental Power". What an exciting day! Order your copy NOW and SAVE - Retail will be $21.95 - your price is $20 for 1 copy, $18 each for 2 - 9 copies and $16.50 each for 10 or more copies. Sale Ends April 15th! Click here for details

(Lanny taking his first look at the new book)

This is a small book with a POWERFUL message. Lanny released the Audio version of this book back in October of 2003. We have sold thousands of copies to people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Sometimes people assume that with Lanny having a background in shooting that our program will only help shooters or that since we work with PGA Tour players that our program and products are for golfers. Freedom Flight is good for anyone no matter their competitive outlet or reason for wanting to learn more about personal growth or the mental side of competition. This book is a wonderful introduction to our system and included are 15 principles of mental control.

Here is a list of sports and competitive outlets of individuals who have ordered the Freedom Flight CD from us directly to show the variety of who this product can benefit:

Golf
Business
Archery
Baseball
Basketball
Football
Tennis
Table Tennis
Running
Cowboy Action Shooting
Skeet
Sporting Clays
Trap
Ballroom Dancing
Barbershop Singing Competition
Pageantry
Dog Agility
Dog Obedience
Pistol
Rifle
Music
Bowling
Swimming
Gymnastics
Canine Freestyle
Figure Skating
Running
Equestrian
Sailing
Soccer
Wakeboarding
Cycling
Billiards
English Darts
Fly Casting
And many more...

"Freedom Flight" is our second best selling item next to the book "With Winning in Mind" and it is our most popular gift Audio - more people purchase Freedom Flight as a gift than any other Audio CD we offer. It is quite possibly more often loaned to friends than even "With Winning in Mind". We believe the book is even more powerful than the Audio CD version!

Only 3 weeks left to obtain the discounted price on your Book purchase. Here is the link once again to order http://mentalmanagement.com/a_freedom_flight_book.html

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Congratulations to Jerry Kelly for taking 2nd in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular:

Jerry Kelly takes 2nd place! Great job Jerry!

Kelly is one of our Limited Elite students.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Chris Smith attends another session with Lanny Bassham






(photos are of Chris and Beth Smith's first visit to Mental Management September of 2007 taking a look at Lanny's Olympic medals)



Chris is a professional golfer seeking the mental edge for competition. Like many of the Tour Players we worked with in 2007, Chris signed up for our Limited Elite Program. In this program the client comes for 2 days of intense training and then comes back 6 months later for an assessment. Limited Elite clients also receive a full year of consultation with Lanny and Troy Bassham. We encourage our Elite clients to bring their spouses at least to part of the training especially our golf clients. For many golfers their success is a joint effort and the wives like to be included in their success and growth. We feel that by having the wives understand the mental side of the game she can be even more of an asset to the team.

Chris came for 2 more days of training on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Lanny and Troy spent a day with him in the office working in a classroom setting and then spent Tuesday on the course helping him apply his new and improved mental system. He walked away excited about the tournaments that lay ahead. His performance analysis is strong, his mental system is solid, now it's up to him to execute on the course in competition. We look forward to his success. Good Luck Chris!! As always he was a joy to be around and an amazing talent!

Cowboy Action Shooter Thanks Lanny for his Success



Mr. Bassham, I'm glad to finally be writing this letter. I knew I would get to write it...I've written it mentally several times during my visualization and rehearsals.

I am a Cowboy Action Shooter from Anchorage, Alaska. Not exactly a hotbed for the sport but we have a pretty active shooting community. I have been the State and Territorial Champion 6 times and have had some success when I travel to the "lower 48" to shoot. A couple of years ago I attended an Evil Roy school in Bend, Oregon and bought your CD's and book. Gene and I became pretty good friends and he encouraged me to pursue my dream of becoming a National Champion.

After a couple of years of top 10 finishes, I was feeling like time was running out for me. I'm 50 years old and not getting much younger. Last October, I won our Regional in Washington and decided that it was time to get serious or get out. Using your system, I began working and pursuing my dream with a real passion. I spent countless hours alone in my garage dry-firing and doing gun-handling drills and sitting in the dark rehearsing in my mind every stage of the match. Winter in Alaska isn't very friendly for shooting outside but I still managed to make sure I was live-firing at least once a week and more when weather permitted. I never missed a day of reading my directive affirmation and writing entries in my journal. I even got up out of bed several nights when I had gone to bed and then remembered that I needed to make entries and read my affirmation. I knew my opponents were going to big matches and shooting every weekend throughout the Winter. I couldn't leave anything to chance.

Finally, March came and I was off to Phoenix and the Ben Avery shooting facility for Winter Range, the National Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting. I was smooth, fast and clean just like I had told myself I would be so many times. I just got out of my own way and let it happen. After three days and 12 stages of shooting, I was called to the podium to receive my trophy. I could finally say the first and last line of my directive affirmation after the fact, "I am the SASS 2008 National Champion in Frontiersman."

Your system worked for me and I just wanted to thank you and let you know that it made a difference in my life. It was the final piece of the puzzle for me.

Sincerely,
Michael D. Phillips

Thursday, March 6, 2008

North Texas Golf Expo - Lanny Speaking THIS Weekend

This weekend we will be at Market Hall in Dallas for the North Texas Golf Expo.

Click here for hours and ticket information

Lanny Bassham will be speaking at Noon on Saturday, March 8th and again at 4:15pm. He will also speak Sunday March 9th at Noon. Noon topics will be Mental Errors Golfers Make and How to Avoid Them. His 4:15 talk on Saturday will be on - Think Like a Tour Player.

If you are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Area please come out and see us. We will have a booth there with products available for purchase. Lanny and Troy Bassham will be available for questions as well.

Click here to our website for more information on our golf related products:

Monday, March 3, 2008

Vote for Lones Wigger for the 2008 US Olympic Hall of Fame!

Vote for USA Shooting's Lones Wigger for 2008 U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame




















Online voting to select the 2008 U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Class is underway.

Click this link and vote for USA Shooting's Lones Wigger:

http://www.usolympichalloffame.com/


USA Shooting's Lones W. Wigger, Jr. (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is among the 18 individual Olympian Hall of Fame finalists announced today by the USOC. Wigger, (70), whose career spanned 25 years, is a three-time Olympian, having competed at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, and the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where he won a combined two gold and one silver medals. In addition, he qualified for the 1980 Olympic Team.

Wigger also competed on five Pan American Games teams, where he won five silver and 13 gold medals. During his shooting career, Wigger won 111 medals and set 29 world records in international competition, more than any other shooter in the world. He is a member of the USA Shooting Hall of Fame and was also honored in 1996 by the USOC as a "Golden Olympian."

Message from Lanny Bassham:

Lones Wigger has won more national championships and more international medals than any other competitor in the history of this country, in any sport, that I can verify. I rank 3rd in medal count for shooters with 35, The guy in 2nd has 36 and Wigger has 122. These are International Championships, finishing in the top three in continental and world competitions. Unbelievable! He is without question the world's winningest athlete but because he is in a shooting sport he gets little media attention. Please give him the honor he deserves by voting for him. -Lanny Bassham

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Standing in the Shadows of a Champion by Helen Bassham

This is an important message from Helen Bassham on working as a team (husband & wife) to achieve your goals. This was posted in a past issue of MENTALCOACH

What do you do when your spouse is trying to achieve a big goal? Sometimes it is so hard to know exactly what to do. If you have a spouse that is trying to achieve something as big as the Olympic Gold Medal then you are in a very difficult spot. Lanny had this very goal and he was going to do all that he could do in order to make it happen. I could help or hinder him in his quest for the gold medal.

What was I to do? I decided that since it was a big burning desire for him and he had been preparing for this for many years I would support him in this effort. What does that mean? I thought that it meant to do all the things that any wife should do. But in fact it is much more than that. Being supportive is a great part of it. Many people think that if their spouse is working on their goal while they are busy working or doing something they want to do then that is enough. And sometimes it is but many times it takes time away from home and many extra hours working on their goal and this causes many problems. You better know what your spouse’s goal is and how much time and money it will take to accomplish that goal. Sometimes the time is more important than the money. If you are taking so much time away from the family then the family is going to do things without you and sooner or later there will be conflict. I have seen too many families broken up because they did not sit down and work out the details in advance.

I knew that Lanny would be able to train during the day because that was part of his job at the Marksmanship Training Unit. But I also knew that the trips were coming and many of them would be for several weeks at a time. Also Lanny would only be at the Unit for no more than three years. Not much time to achieve an Olympic Gold Medal. He originally thought that he had one shot and that would be 1972. So I was able to wrap myself around the idea that by the end of 1972 he would go on to other things and the goal would be accomplished. Of course that didn’t happened but it put a time limit on the goal that we both could see and work for.

After the Olympics in 1972 when Lanny came home with his Silver Medal he ask me if I would support him for the next four years so he could train and go for the Olympics again. I wish I could tell you that I jumped up and down with joy over the thought of four more years of hard work but I was not sure that I would be able to endure those four years. But after some thought and a lot of talking I decided to support him for four more years.

His time was up at the Marksmanship Training Unit and he was reassigned to an ambulance company as the company commander. I thought the unit was hard with all the trips, but boy was I surprised at all the mess that went on in the ambulance company. He would get calls during the night and many nights he had to be at the company. One night he was there and by the grace of God he just happened to walk out of his office and down the hall when a young solider came in and shot the back of Lanny’s chair off with a shotgun. If you think things are bad they just might get worse. Lanny was lucky. I was sure glad when he was reassigned back to the Marksmanship Unit.

He was sent to Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio for six months for career course. So we moved to Ft. Sam and had a very normal life for those six months except for Lanny. He would spend many hours in the middle of the night going to a range to practice. He spent many hours at night dry firing so his muscles would remember what to do. He was also spending time learning about the mental game. Whatever it would take to achieve his goal he would work on it. I think he also knew that asking for four more years after 1976 would not be as easy to get a yes from me.

Sometimes you need to thank the ones that support you and tell them how much you appreciate them. Lanny told me a lot that I helped him in so many ways and he still does it today.

I hope you have much success and happiness in your endeavor to achieve that goal you have set for yourself. Life is not easy but it worth the effort to achieve.

This is the sequel to that article that was included in our newsletter in October of 2005: Last month we had an article from Helen Bassham on her experiences as the spouse of a serious competitor. Here are some bullet points for you and your spouse on how to manage goals as a couple.

For the Competitor:

Always include your spouse - lay out a plan together on how you will achieve your goals - you may follow our goal setting system outlined in the book.

Together figure out a timeline of how long it will take to achieve your goals - this may have to be re-negotiated later.

Where ever you are be all there - if you are competing keep the home struggles out of your head - if you are home be engaged in whatever is going on that day. Make time for your family

Make your spouse feel special and know they are appreciated for supporting your goal - find a way to thank them often and keep the communication going - remember there may be a payback period after the goal is realized

For the Spouse:

Remember what the timeline is agreed upon and do your best to not complain about the competition, practice, etc leading up to that end competition where the goal will be realized

Stay Positive: Nobody enjoys time away from their spouse and it may be very stressful to be left with the kids and issues at home but try your best to keep the negative feelings and thoughts to yourself as much as possible while your spouse is on the road or competing.

Support: The day before he/she leaves and the day they return home should be amazing days - often times it's women who struggle with their husbands leaving for work or competitions, be as positive and uplifting about the time away as you can be. This is the time to be the most supportive.

Do your best to help make the goal a reality, do not be the reason they did not follow through. Afterall, part of why you love your spouse is probably their desire to win!

This is information coming from a women who spent years watching her husband live his dream and having to sit on the sidelines. This is what worked for them and after 40 years of marriage they are still going strong.

Even today Lanny is thanking Helen for all of his successes in his sport and for being his support system during those years. He bought her the "Furniture" we all know about and he dedicated his book "With Winning in Mind" to her. What you may not know is that 5 years ago he also wrote her a song for their anniversary. Another way to thank her for all the years she has put up with the madness of being Lanny's wife!

Our Limited Elite and Individual Application students are encouraged to bring their spouses to their training and it really has helped their growth for those who have been able to bring their wives/husbands to the seminar.

When Stage Presence Matters!

This is an article that appeared on Turn For The Judges Website - a website dedicated to helping pageant contestants, parents and directors find pageant related information. We have many clients of Mental Management who compete in pageants or are stage performers so this post is for them. Last night I attended a pageant where I noticed several girls not connecting in their performances and it reminded me of this article.

When Stage Presence Matters

My favorite pageants to watch are the ones that include a talent portion. I’m a singer and performer myself so watching others perform is a joy to me. Most competitors I have met who compete in talent say that talent is their favorite part of competition but that does not always show on the stage. What amazes me the most is the lack of stage presence knowledge. If talent is included in your pageant competition, please take the time to prepare for your performance. Do not just go through the motions on stage. Below are some key points I think every performer should take to heart in preparation for talent competition.

Practice! Practice not only your moves, your words, your notes but practice your performance. Pretend EVERY TIME you practice your talent selection that you are performing for 10,000 people in a sold out arena and the man on the 3rd row is about to sign you as an entertainer making you millions. Pretend for a moment that the little old lady in the last row is straining desperately to hear you or see you. Pretend that there is a depressed woman on row 6 who needs a little inspiration to make it trough the next few months and YOU are that inspiration. Forget about the judges, forget about the scores and think about the people you may touch. Put those feelings into your performance, not the feeling of winning but the feeling of changing a life through your talent. This will completely change the way you practice and approach your song, dance or music forever. Every day you practice talent practice it as if it is the day of competition. Whenever possible practice for an actual people. Family members, friends and neighbors make a great audience.

Remember Your Job as an Entertainer: Your job is not to simply sing or dance or play music. That will not impress judges or change any emotions or lives. Your job is to tell a story through your performance. To tell a story you have to let the audience into your performance. You have to include them in your movements, your eye contact, your tempo changes and your volume changes. Imagine that you have to get your message across to a person who doesn't want to listen....what would you change about your performance to reach that person?

Choreography is Key: You need to have set movements within your song - dancers already have movement obviously and this may be easier for them - make sure those movements include eye contact with as much of the audience as possible (judges included). Singers and musicians - have set movements and reasons for those movements. Practice those movements so they are embedded in your subconscious and will come out like or not on competition day. If you not practice set choreography you are likely to either not move or move without purpose on competition day.

A Performance Without Personality is Pointless: Bring the emotion of the song to the stage - use your eyes to tell the story. Your motions and eye contact should reflect the power of the message not your nerves or lack of emotion/feeling. You need to understand what message you are trying to send and do everything in your power to change the lives of those who matter - your audience.

Prepare Mentally For Competition: Most contestants do not have a clue how to mentally prepare for competition because it is typically not taught by pageant directors, parents or coaches. Confidence places a key role in performance of any kind. How do I prepare mentally for competition? What can be done to help ensure a more consistent performance under pressure? Mental Management Systems was founded by Olympic Gold Medalist, Lanny Bassham. He used the system to win his medals and has been teaching his mental training techniques for the past 30 years. The book "With Winning in Mind" and Audio CD "What Every Pageant Contestant Should Know First About the Mental Game" is a good place to start.

Written by Heather Sumlin. Heather spent 7 years competing in pageants as a teenager and young adult. Since 1995 she has been a director, judge, entertainer and volunteer in the Miss America System. Currently she volunteers as the Mental Management Trainer for the Miss Plano/Frisco Organization in Texas. She is the Director of Customer Relations with Mental Management Systems and is a certified instructor of Mental Management to pageant competitors and stage performers.