PART 3
Example #1 (The Pleasure Priority)
Even though Michael Jordan obviously had an enormous amount of talent and technique, perhaps it was his pleasure priority, in the form of relaxation, energy, focus, confidence and faith that enabled him to rise above everybody else in the National Basketball Association when important shots and games were on the line.
Example #2 (Precise Actions not Results)
I once saw a picture of Mark Macguire hitting his 61st home run and surpassing Babe Ruth’s record. The photograph was incredibly educational because it captured his exact moment of contact. By the look of MacGuire’s still head and laser beam eyes, which were focused in on the moment of contact, it was apparent that MacGuire’s attention was focused on attempting to have his bat contact the ball (by using specific actions) rather than attempting to hit a home run. The result of those successful “contact actions” was his 61st home run.
Example #3 (Precise Actions Not Results)
It is interesting to note that John Wooden, the “winnings” coach in college basketball history (10 national titles),? never once talked to his players about “winning the game.” What Wooden did talk to his players about was remaining confident and executing specific actions. Wooden was a great example of someone who practiced the pleasure and precision principle. He knew that if his team could remain in the pleasure priority zone and execute enough specific actions (both offensively and defensively) during each game, that they would accumulate more points than the other team.
Performing masters know that being consumed by results will distract you, cause you to slip out of the pleasure priority mode and into a result oriented egotistical mode. The result being that you will compromise the execution of specific actions.
Conclusion While many amateurs will incorporate tension in order to produce results, professionals will refuse to be lured into a survival based mode of tension, stress, panic, and terror in order to create results. Pleasure (on a conscious or unconscious level) is so much a part of the professional’s performing mix that they will not drop their pleasure priority foundation in order to produce the desired outcome.
In addition, while a pressure filled environment may be calling upon them to use tension and terror, professionals do not permit circumstances and/or time restraints to cause them to press the panic button and produce results from a survival based mode of operation. Instead, the professional is willing to drop the ball, hit the wrong note, strike out, forget the line, hit the ball in the rough, rather than calling upon and using tension, fear, doubt, concern, and/or terror to produce results. While a professional occasionally may veer off course by tightening up and producing an action from a base of fear, most of the time he/she is able immediately to switch back into creating from an open, trusting, doubtless, and Unstoppable production center.
