Take Out the Head Trash
Do you want your athletes to believe in themselves? Easier for some than 
others. Why is this such a struggle for some of us?
I’m re-reading Noah St. John’s book The Secret Code of Success. St John talks about our “head trash” or the subconscious roadblocks that keep folks from acting on their real hopes and dreams. His “fun-house mirror” concept explained why some of my most talented athletes unconsciously sabotaged their own success.
Remember what it is like to look into a fun-house mirror? What happened? You’d see a weird, distorted view of yourself. It kind of looked like you, yet it wasn’t you.
Looking back at my coaching career I now see how some of my players were raised with fun-house mirrors. The self-image reflected back to them growing up was distorted. They failed to receive accurate information about who they really are. This negative reflection formed the basis of the “head trash” they are still carrying around.
It’s the little voice in their head that says things like:
“You’re not good enough”
“If only you had more talent”
“What were you thinking?”What’s missing for these athletes is a true reflection of their real self or what St. John calls a “Loving Mirror.” A loving mirror is a person who gives unconditional support – sounds like a good coach to me. Nearly every successful person has someone in their life who believed in them when they didn’t believe in themselves.
St. John summarizes the evolution of success into the following stages:
- Someone believes in you.
- You believe in someone.
- You believe in you.
So instead of telling our athletes to believe in themselves, we need to start with believing in them! Look for greatness within each of your athletes, find the things they may never see in themselves. Encourage them: “I know you can do it,” “I see a great leader inside of you,” etc.
Remember, according to St John:
Human beings perform best in an environment of unconditional support. That happens when someone looks at you and sees your full capacity, potential, and greatness. That person knows that you can do it, and holds you to it.
Subscribe in a reader OR 
Thanks Kathy! This is Noah, the author of The Secret Code of Success.
You nailed the point of the Loving Mirror Principle: no one ever became a success by “believing in themselves”. They had someone believe in them FIRST.
So if you’re an athlete, find someone who believes in you.
If you’re a coach, believe in your players MORE than they believe in themselves.
And if you’re a human, do both of those steps for the people in your life.
Just one question, Kathy…
How come The Secret Code of Success and The Book of Afformations aren’t on your “Coach Toon Recommends” list?
Very best,
~Noah
http://Afformations.com
Dear Coach Toon-
Love the post on Head Trash and the reference to Noah St John’s book – just ordered it on Amazon.com to check it out.
You might also enjoy a blog post I put up last week on “Top Performers Dump Their Head Trash”. The post is geared to educate business leaders on different ways top performers use Energy Psychology to dump head trash and makes a couple sports references. The sports references include Oregon State University Baseball pitcher Jorge Reyes using EFT as a “stress-reliever thing” to calm the nerves before games and Apolo Ohno’s yawning before races.
Incidentally, Reyes and his teammates (who also use EFT) won the College World Series in 2006 and 2007, the year Reyes was voted MVP.
Visit http://ow.ly/1GWFk to read more about the team’s success and watch a local news interview with Reyes talking about EFT and Oregon State Beavers baseball.
Cheers-
Noah Brockman, MBA
Executive Business Coach
http://www.PointmanConsulting.com