“Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire!”

— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
French Jesuit Priest and Philosopher

Have you noticed how the energy at tournaments or games is fearful and highly charged? If you are a player, coach or a parent coming into this energy it can affect you. Fear is contagious. Even if you arrived at the competition in good spirits you may find your mood and your energy shifting.

Be aware of the energy around you. Does it feel heavy? Does it feel scattered? Or does it feel light and flowing?  When you are in the zone you feel weightless and timeless. It is a wonderful feeling. One worth learning how to achieve.

In my book, Yes, God Speaks to Women, Too! you can learn how to live and play from a place of love. Banish fear! Banish doubt! Banish frustration! Banish anger! Feel the joy! Feel the passion! Feel the love! Live the life you are meant to live! 

"I'm visualizing with my eyes open!"

Have you noticed how much more grandparents are involved in the activities of their precious grandchildren? Thanks to his baseball playing  grandfather, little Alex pictured above  is  introduced to a wonderful sport before he can even sit up! Grandparents (and parents) all over the world are enjoying sharing their expertise with their grandchildren. If you are one of them, be sure to teach them to use confidence from the beginning of their introduction to sports and other activities. Look for tips on how to do this in my new book, The Confidence Factor.

Todays Peak Performance Training Tip:

Just for today, keep your thougths focused on what you want to achieve. Cast aside any thoughts that are fearful or about what you don’t want! For instance, if you are a baseball player wanting to increase your batting average, think only about hitting the ball. Replay images of yourself up to bat, feel yourself hitting the ball, see the ball land where you want it to, and finish with seeing yourself running like the wind making it safely to base. Be sure to feel the smile of  satisfaction on your face!

Remember: What you visualize, you can realize!

For more on using visualization to increase your performance go to our Products page for information on all our visualization CDs.

If you have already read my work on Energy Traps in my new book, The Confidence Factor you will have noticed that Roger Federer is caught in his Energy Traps. He is in Arrogance and Stubbornness.

This is a mighty duel. The Arrogance tells him he can do it alone.   He doesn’t need any help. After all, he was at the top of the world for a long time. The Stubbornness tells him to keep doing what he is doing. It pushes him to make the same mistakes over and over again. Only now these mistakes  get louder and louder, uglier and uglier.

This is exactly how Energy Traps block us from achieving our goals and dreams. Remember, we are most vulnerable as we get closer and closer to our goals.

The longer he is trapped the more he begins to doubt himself. He stops doing the things that got him to the top. He stops thinking the way he thought when he was at the top of his game. He stops using Confidence. Instead he uses doubt, impatience and frustration. Everyone else can see it. But, because he is stuck in his trap he can’t see it.

Have you noticed his eyes in his interviews. They hold doubt and confusion. They even hold a little bit of shame. That is what the Energy Traps do to us. As long as he is caught in his traps he will continue down this same path of destruction.

I do see some good in this. Since Roger is so well known, we can all learn from his experience. He is demonstrating for us in vivid style how destructive our Energy Traps are and how important it is to be aware of them and to know how to escape them.

Even though I like the idea of using him as an example, I’d much prefer seeing him escape his traps and achieve his dreams. He is too fine of a man to stay trapped and just miss out on achieving his dream because he didn’t know how to escape his traps.

When you feel out of sync mentally and emotionally one of the bridges back to center is appreciation. Refocus your thoughts on what you have and what you appreciate in your life. Remind yourself of your mission. Then take a deep breath and tell yourself that you are stronger than ever.

Most people give up on their dreams. The people that make it do so because they never gave up. You are in charge of deciding the kind of person you are. When someone gives up they don’t just all of a sudden give up one day. They give up little by little until they no longer do what they need to do to achieve their dreams.

Read more about how to achieve your dreams in The Confidence Factor. Live the life you are meant to live!

How do you know if your ego got in the way of your performance? One way is to notice where your mental energy is focused. Are you thinking about what other people are thinking about you? Is your mental energy going towards impressing other people? If you notice that you are thinking more about what others are thinking than on the process of your performance, your ego is probably getting in the way of your higher level performance.

If this happens to you, simply take a deep belly breath and bring your mental energy back to focusing on the Energy Fundamentals. That is, focus on your breathing, moving your feet, exuding confidence from your eyes and keeping your thoughts short, simple and positive.

Don’t let your ego lower your performance. Learn how to keep your focus on what raises your performance! Read more in The Confidence Factor. Go to our Products page to order your copy today!

What would you do differently if there was one thing you could do that would make a difference in the quality of your life?

You make a difference in our lives!

 “Ah, but one’s reach should exceed one’s grasp, or what’s a heaven for?

— Robert Browning
British Poet and Playwright

I love this quote from Robert Browning. How often do you reach only for what is easily in your grasp?

“I don’t know what happened to me. I didn’t start out playing very well and then before I knew it,  my confidence was gone!” Have you heard yourself say or think that? Well, the next time you say that or think that, I want you to take a deep breath and tell yourself. Wait a minute, Linda said I could never lose confidence, I could only choose not to use it! I am going to use more confidence now, not less.

How do you do that? First of all, stop using doubt energy and start using confidence energy! You were choosing the wrong Energy Tool for the job you wanted to do!

Activate confidence by starting with your physical body. Change the way you are moving. Walk with more power behind your step. Make your shoulders strong. Take deep belly breaths. Quiet your head. And most important, exude energy from your eyes. Exude confidence from your eyes. Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Stop acting like a victim. Stop doing what isn’t working for you! Stop thinking you can’t do it!

Then go to your mental energy. Start choosing thoughts that empower you. Thoughts as simple, but powerful as “I can do it.” Next add emotional fuel by reminding yourself how much you love what you’re doing. Find the joy and express it. Last but certainly not least, add your spiritual energy. Tell yourself that you are on a mission. That you belong here. That you are doing exactly what you are meant to be doing in this moment. That you matter. Believe it. You do matter.

To learn more about how to activate your energy tools, especially confidence read The Confidence Factor. You can order it on our Products page. You’ll learn how to activate a confidence you can count on, a confidence that you can use when you really need it!

"I won't pull my sister's hair today."

One of the best things about life is that you get to start each day anew. No matter how badly you acted yesterday, you can choose a different course today. No matter how badly you performed mentally and emotionally in your sport, you can make the choice to do better today.

I used to love that about teaching. Every semester or year when I got a new class, I knew I could start fresh with that class. I could be a better teacher than I had been the year before. That’s how life is. I can be a better person today than I was yesterday.

When I awake in the morning, almost always, the first thing I think about is how I can make this an awesome day. I think about how I can express love instead of fear in all of my interactions with people as well as with the challenges that arise during the day.

Set a clear intention for how you are going to live today. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how those awesome days start turning into a regular occurrence.

Learn more about how to turn everyday into an awesome day in my book, Yes, God Speaks to Women, Too! A Message of Health, Healing and Hope.