The white elephant

I'd love to hear what the White Elephant story is if you've got the willingness.

The White Elephant story is right out of H.A. Dorfman's "The Mental Game of Baseball."

I begin by telling the kids that I'm going to tell them a story about a White Elephant, but while I tell them this story they can't think about the White Elephant. They CAN'T picture a White Elephant, I DON'T want them to see a White Elephant. Now right after I tell them not to, I ask if any of them thought about it. Most of them say yes they did.

The moral of this is that your mind doesn't picture NO, DON'T, CAN'T. So when you tell yourself, "DON'T throw a ball" or "I CAN'T strike out here" or "I hope I DON'T throw the ball away", your mind only pictures the action happening, it doesn't picture not doing the action.
So instead of saying to yourself, "Don't throw a ball" we want them saying "Throw a strike." These are the exact same goals, but our mind interprets them differently.
I can't strike out = I'm going to make contact
I hope I don't throw the ball away = I'm going to make an accurate throw

This is all positive self-talk vs negative self talk. Also, it can and should be utilized in goal setting.

I do remember that story now that you jog my memory. It's been a while... Maybe that explains why I rode my bike into that telephone pole when I was a kid. I was trying to avoid it so hard!!!

That's interesting; I am going to try and use that now.Thanks for that.

We talk about those things with our players, but I also talk to our coaching staff about the words we use and our actions...so that the players get that positive mental picture.

I'm guessing you read "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne? Whenever I am struggling, I always think back to this same thought process to clear my mind of all negativity.

Very good stuff guys!

Teach your players to focus on what they want! So when I say - don't think of a white elephant, instead think - grey elephant! You may still think a little white, but mostly grey will dominate.. In baseball rather than say don't swing at the high one right after a guy blows you away with high heat - say what you want! "look for the ball down" or something like that.. lots more to this (right brain vs left brain) topic in my video series! www.baseball-cap.net

Best
Rick