Positivity, Purpose and Meaning! Part One: Positivity – Inspired by MLB Pitcher Jamie Moyer

Heather Moyer

 

I have been so fortunate to have been able to attend two very powerful events in the last week that have inspired me tremendously! Three things that really hit home that I want to share with you all is the messages of Positivity, Purpose and Meaning and how to alter your way of thinking to create a life of happiness and success! I had originally planned to include all three in one article, but quickly realized that after writing the first one, it is best to make this a three-part series! Each week I challenge you to read these articles and focus on making one small change!

 

Positivity:

Last Thursday I attended a BCA event that Jamie Moyer (professional MLB pitcher) spoke at. His presentation focused on the impact that negativity has on one’s success, both professionally and personally. He told a reoccurring story about how he was told many times throughout his career, “you pitch too slow” and “you cannot throw a curve ball”. After hearing this time after time, he started to believe it and embrace it. Each time he took the mound, his brain kept telling him all of those negative things. His curve ball steadily declined and felt impossible to throw. He then told us that he was sent to a “Baseball Psychologist” named Harvery Dorfman who ultimately, Jamie credits for changing his life and his career. Harvey told Jamie that focusing on the negative and “the can’t” will never allow him to be happy or successful; he needed to change the way he talked to himself and the way he thought! Jamie began to change his way of thinking and looked at the “cant’s” as tasks instead. How can I complete this task? How can I prepare for this? What can I do better?  With just simply changing the way he thought, he noticed that his curve ball began to improve. He also realized, a slower fast ball was an advantage! How had he not realized all these years this could be used to his advantage? The batters were more accustomed to a fast ball coming in 8-10 MPH faster. They frequently swung way too soon in anticipation of a fast ball at speeds more common in MLB pitchers. Wow! How powerful! Change your way of thinking, make a “can’t” a task and use your differences to your advantage!

 

At the end of Jamie’s presentation, he challenged the room with two things:

1: spend 1 week and listen, pay attention to all the negativity you hear around you… in the grocery store, in your office, on the news, etc. Let me tell you something, it has been exactly one week since I heard this from him, and it is astounding at how much negativity surrounds us.

 

2: every single time you start to think something negative, let the thought process through your mind and then immediately shut it down and move on! Do not pay that negativity one more second! Every single time you begin to speak something negative, immediately stop talking. Do not let yourself continue to spread negativity to those around you or let it fester in your own mind.

 

So this week, I challenge you all with the same two things… pay attention to how much negativity is around you and be the person who spreads POSITIVITY instead! I am a firm believer that if we all can make small changes in ourselves, it will create a BIG change in the world!

 

Please like our page on LinkedIn: @MatchPoint Consulting Group and continue to follow our Blog: The Score! https://matchpointconsultinggroup.com/blog/ to read the next two parts of this series, as well as keeping up with our other amazing articles and blogs!