Rocky speech to his Son

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you’re hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!" - Rocky Balboa

Witness the Miracle on Ice

“Success is won by those who believe in winning and then prepare for that moment. Many want to win, but how many prepare? That is the big difference. A sound value system held water then, holds water today, and will hold water in the future.” - Herb Brooks 

Cool Nike Motivational Quotes

If you are looking for a little motivation, these Nike quotes are sure to deliver. Enjoy!

“Success isn’t given, it is earned. On the track, on the field, in the gym. With blood, sweat and the occasional tear.” – Nike

The road to athletic greatness is not marked by perfection, but by the ability to constantly overcome adversity and failure.” – Nike

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’re been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.” – Nike

“We’re out there. The ones who push you. Then try to push past you. Get you up before the alarm and out sweating. Dark or rain. We give you our best to get the best from you. Scoring against us tastes sweeter. Fighting us makes you fiercer. We’re not the many, but the few close enough to get under your skin, and that’s exactly why we take you further. Move with us or against us. Together we will make it count.” – Nike 

“Quit making excuses, putting it off, complaining about it, dreaming about it, whining about it, crying about it, believing you can’t, worrying if you can, waiting until you are older, skinnier, richer, braver, or all around better. Suck it up, hold on tight, say a prayer, make a plan & just do it.” – Nike

4 Tips to Becoming a Winner

1. Winners never make excuses

2. Winners are consistent

3. Winners learn from their mistakes

4. Winners have a “can do” attitude

Cool Motivational Workout Shirts

Great Motivational Sports Quotes

“You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.” - Wayne Gretzky

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” - Michael Jordan

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’.” - Muhammad Ali

Maybe It's My Fault - Michael Jordan

“Maybe it’s my own fault. Maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t. Maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free throw line, and not in the gym. Maybe I made you think that every shot I took was a game winner. That my game was built on flash, and not fire. Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength; that my pain was my motivation. Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift, and not something I worked for every single day of my life. Maybe I destroyed the game. Or maybe you’re just making excuses.” - Michael Jordan

Friday Night Lights Speech

Well I want you to understand something. To me, being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It’s not about winning. It’s about you and your relationship to yourself and your family and your friends. Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn’t let them down, because you told them the truth. And that truth is that you did everything that you could. There wasn’t one more thing that you could have done.

6 Rules of Success

6 Rules of Success

1.Trust Yourself
2. Break Some Rules
3. Don't Be Afraid to Fail
4. Ignore the Naysayers
5. Work Like Hell
6. Give Something Back

Take 5 Minutes for Your Daily Jolt of Optimism

I’d like to share a little mental exercise that I like to do when I need a jolt of optimism.

1) Read the following quote and comments.

"The reason why people give up so fast is because they tend to look at how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have gotten." ~ Unknown 

This quote demonstrates a pattern of thinking that many people fall into. There is so much truth to this quote because me like many others have started out with certain goals or objectives in our minds only to find that at the end of the day we place more focus on what still has to be done as opposed to what we have already accomplishment. 

2) Now, for the Jolt. Re-write this quote and make it personal to you :

"The reason why I don't give up so fast is because I tend to look at how far I have gotten, and not on how far I still have to go." ~ Kyle Bingham aka The WildChild #WildChildStyle

Even as I read it right now I feel a Jolt of positive thoughts like:

- Optimism
- Confidence in my abilities
- A "Can Do" type of attitude
- Re-committing myself if I've lost focus
- Regaining trust in myself and not in what others say.

I know that this is a super simple exercise but you will be surprised how quickly it can affect your attitude. Next time you're feeling a bit down, find your favorite quote, saying, etc; Make it personal to you and then read through it several times for that jolt of optimism that you need! Good luck!

Picture courtesy of: www.migravent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ID-10021571.jpg

3 types of people you should have in your circle

 Let's face it, we are drawn to people like us, to remain in our so called "comfort zone." While I think that this is great and that most of these "comfort zone friends" will be some of your very best friends while other may not, is it possible that they may be holding you back from reaching certain goals in your life?? Kind of a tough question to answer, huh?

Well, take a moment to think about your closest friends, work colleagues, etc. Now, do they fall into one of these 3 categories?

1. Dreamers and the Doers

2. Believers and Thinkers

3. Those who see greatness within you, even when you don't see it yourself.

I'm glad to say that some of my friend would definitely fall into one or more of these categories and I can confidently say that these people are the one's that have had the most positive impact on me and my family. I've got to admit, there's nothing better than a true friend! 

Remember: "It's very important to surround yourself with people you can learn from." ~ Reba McEntire

Keep the dream alive #WildChildStyle ~The Wildchild

Learning to Leave Your Comfort Zone

Written by the Wildchild

Over the years, having worked and participated in the action sports industry I've had an opportunity to meet a lot of great athletes both Professional and Amateur. I've learned so much in terms of the mindset behind how these athletes become so successful in such a variety of very difficult sports to master in the way that they have. What’s even more interesting is what we all can learn from these athletes by applying some very similar concepts in our own lives regardless of our endeavors.

It all starts with stepping outside of your comfort zone and trying to accomplish something that was initially intimidating or scary for you or maybe even seemed impossible at one point in time. By testing those limits you are able to push yourself to a new level and in many cases discover talents and abilities that you never thought possible.

You must also have a passion for that pursuit of progression in an effort to move towards mastering your skills or reaching your goals. Without that passion it would be nearly impossible to ever have the courage to step out of your comfort zone and even more difficult to step out again and again if you encounter failure. But remember that failure is feedback and strength can be drawn from that source as well.

Lastly, remember that whether or not you succeed or fail, the only way to go forward is by taking that next step. Thomas Edison summarized this concept perfectly. I quote, “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

So the next time that you are faced with a situation requiring you to step outside of your comfort zone, what kind of outlook and attitude will you have? Will you try to apply these concepts in an effort to have the strength to take that step forward and possibly enter into a new world of opportunities that you had previously never thought possible? Or will the fear of the unknown or the path less traveled be too overwhelming for you to see what could have been? As always, I wish you the best of luck with your passions, goals and endeavors but most importantly the strength to continue to move forward in a positive way in whatever you do!

Image courtesy of: seodesignpictures.blogspot.com/2012/05/action-sports-icons.html
Quote courtesy of: www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed109004.html

The Nine Mental Skills of Successful Athletes

Well, when it comes to trying to be successful in life and action sports, I always look at the different ways to gain a mental edge over my competition  Clearly, successful athletes have mental clarity but more importantly have developed ways to constantly improve that mental edge needed to step outside of their comfort zone. Take a look at these suggestions by Jack Lesyk and see what you think. 

1. Attitude

Successful athletes:

• Realize that attitude is a choice.
• Choose an attitude that is predominately positive.
• View their sport as an opportunity to compete against themselves and learn from their successes and failures.
• Pursue excellence, not perfection, and realize that they, as well as their coaches, teammates, officials, and others are not perfect.
• Maintain balance and perspective between their sport and the rest of their lives.
• Respect their sport, other participants, coaches, officials, and themselves.

2. Motivation

Successful athletes:

• Are aware of the rewards and benefits that they expect to experience through their sports participation.
• Are able to persist through difficult tasks and difficult times, even when these rewards and benefits are not immediately forthcoming.
• Realize that many of the benefits come from their participation, not the outcome.

3. Goals and Commitment

Successful athletes:

• Set long-term and short-term goals that are realistic, measurable, and time-oriented.
• Are aware of their current performance levels and are able to develop specific, detailed plans for attaining their goals.
• Are highly committed to their goals and to carrying out the daily demands of their training programs.

4. People Skills

Successful athletes:

• Realize that they are part of a larger system that includes their families, friends, teammates, coaches, and others.
• When appropriate, communicate their thoughts, feelings, and needs to these people and listen to them as well.
• Have learned effective skills for dealing with conflict, difficult opponents, and other people when they are negative or oppositional.

5. Self-Talk

Successful athletes:

• Maintain their self-confidence during difficult times with realistic, positive self-talk.
• Talk to themselves the way they would talk to their own best friend
• Use self-talk to regulate thoughts, feelings and behaviors during competition.

6. Mental Imagery

Successful athletes:

• Prepare themselves for competition by imagining themselves performing well in competition.
• Create and use mental images that are detailed, specific, and realistic.
• Use imagery during competition to prepare for action and recover from errors and poor performances.

7. Dealing Effectively with Anxiety

Successful athletes:

• Accept anxiety as part of sport.
• Realize that some degree of anxiety can help them perform well.
• Know how to reduce anxiety when it becomes too strong, without losing their intensity.

8. Dealing Effectively with Emotions

Successful athletes:

• Accept strong emotions such as excitement, anger, and disappointment as part of the sport experience.
• Are able to use these emotions to improve, rather than interfere with high level performance

9. Concentration

Successful athletes:

• Know what they must pay attention to during each game or sport situation.
• Have learned how to maintain focus and resist distractions, whether they come from the environment or from within themselves.
• Are able to regain their focus when concentration is lost during competition.
• Have learned how to play in the “here-and-now”, without regard to either past or anticipated future events.

For the full article visit: http://www.sportpsych.org/nine-mental-skills-overview

Strengthening Your "Want To" as an Extreme Sports Athlete

Make Simple Tricks Look Cool

I really like this recommended ingredient for success which is referred to as strengthening your "want to." Everyone has a want-to list. If you are an extreme sports athlete your "want to's" probably include "I want to land that new trick" or "Win my first competition." Most times people's "want to's" are just lip service. They just say they want something but they don't work as hard as they can to get it. Plus, when they encounter a obstacle, they don't have the right attitude to view this setback or failure as feedback! I'm sure that we can all relate to this feeling or attitude at some point in time.

So do you think your "want to" is strong? Let's say your goal is to land a Tantrum to Blind on your wakeboard over the summer. One way to gauge the strength of your "want to" is by seeing how many times you give in to the little voice in your head. The voice that says, "I am too tired to hit the lake today. I don't want to get up early. My legs and arms are too sore to land such an advanced trick." If you let that little voice win, your "want to" is not strong enough. I know that this concept of mental toughness almost sounds too easy, but trust me it's not at first. But once your "want to" becomes part of your every day routine, you're just turned a huge mental road block that most never overcome and thus never truly reach their goals as amateur or professional action sports athletes.

So let me leave you with this.... "How strong is your "want to?" Do you really want something or just say you do?"

Quick mental tricks to keep you from burning out.

Let's face it, he all get burnt of from time to time, even in the awesome world of action sports. Check out these tips to help you to stay motivated an ulitmately help you to avoid burning out out which would significantly diminish my day to day progression whether it be skateboarding, wakeboarding, snowboarding or whatever action sport you participate in on a regular basis. Upping your skills to the next level drop dramatically the minute that you let burn out set in for too long.

Don't Let Burnout Take You Off Your Game!

Sometimes, you’re tired after work. Or you want to hang out with your buddies instead of team practice. All athletes—from the weekend soccer player to the pro action sports athelete—need motivation to remain engaged when it comes to training, practice and a full season of competition. Try these tips to keep yourself in the right frame of mind:

1) Set up a schedule: It’s simple physics—objects in motion tend to stay in motion. If you have a routine, the momentum of that routine is bound to keep you going. “In advance, set up a schedule for what you’re going to do that week. And check in with yourself, honestly, to see what you've accomplished,” says clinical health psychologist Dr. Jayme Albin. Commitment and motivation will come from holding yourself accountable. It’s that whole you-have-to-look-at-yourself-in-the mirror thing. 

2) Keep your eye on the prize: If you want to run a five-minute mile, it’s not going to magically happen after a few sessions. “You’ll need to remind yourself of the overall goal so you don’t get discouraged,” says sports psychologist Dr. William Wiener. Some professional athletes post motivating statements in their shower wall. Try writing down your ultimate goal and keep it in your wallet so you’re reminded of it every time you pay for something (like donuts). “You also want to make smaller goals so you can reach them and measure them in a timely manner.” So, make a smaller goal to run every day after work this week. Then, when you've done that, make another smaller goal that will help you reach that five-minute mile. 

3) Recognize you’re not perfect: “It’s hard to maintain perfect motivation,” says Dr. John F. Murray, a clinical and sports psychologist and author the Mental Performance Index. You may miss practice or skate sesh due to something out of your control but don’t let that stop you from getting back into it. “Most people do things to avoid failure or achieve success,” Murray points out. Recognizing that falling out of your sport could be a failure and getting back into it could bring you success. 

4) Make sure you’re happy: “You have to enjoy the sport, if you don’t then why are you in it?” challenges Dr. Michael Fraser, a clinical psychologist and chief of staff at Behavioral Associates in New York City. “If you’re doing it to meet someone, that’s fine, but make sure you’re being social. If you’re doing it for athletic reasons, measure the league and make sure the team’s ability matches yours.” You’ll be more likely to blow off practice if you’re in the wrong sport or league. 

(Portions of article courtesy of Lisa Freedman)