YOGI WAS RIGHT

Ninety percent of the game is half mental.

—YOGI BERRA

You have to train your mind like you train your body.

—BRUCE JENNER

When Yogi Berra became manager of the Yankees, a reporter asked if he had enough experience to handle the job. “Sure,” Berra said. “I’ve been playing eighteen years, and you can observe a lot just by watching.” Closing his notebook, the writer walked away wearing the same look of faint bewilderment that the waitress had after she asked Yogi if he wanted his pizza cut into four slices or eight.

“Better make it four,” Yogi decided. “I dunno if I can eat eight.”

In working with elite athletes and professional sports teams, I often begin my counseling sessions and presentations by quoting Yogi’s wit and wisdom. A favorite line, one certain to get a laugh, is Yogi’s mathematical observation that 90 percent of the game is half mental.

But let me ask a question. Have you ever thought seriously about that famous Yogi-ism? How much of the game—your game—is mental?

Maybe I can lead you to an answer. Let’s begin with an exercise I introduced to an international group of sports psychologists, Olympic and professional athletes, coaches, musicians, dancers, astronauts, doctors, lawyers, and fire chiefs in Ottawa, Canada. After completing this exercise and answering the questions, I think you will discover what the world’s greatest athletes and the most successful people in other walks of life know to be true—that once you reach a certain level of competency, the mental skills become as important to performance as the physical skills, if not more so.

Now, sit back. Relax. Begin to recall the sights and sounds and feelings of you performing at your very best. In your mind’s eye, imagine your best day ever. Picture that time when you were at the top of your game, when every move and decision you made was the right one, when it seemed like every break went your way. Some athletes and performers describe their best-day experience as “playing in the zone.” I call those sweet spots in time “white moments,” which we will explore later.

Imagine you are watching your own highlights film. You feel no fear, no anxieties, and no self-doubts. Everything is flowing and going your way. Look around. Where are you? What time of day is it? What time of year? What are you wearing? Who is with you? Who is watching? What do you hear? Breathe in the air. If you are on a playing field, or a golf course, can you smell the grass? Visualize that pleasurable experience.

Now, let that image slowly fade, and in its place recall your worst performance. Think of the game, event, or experience when you felt weak and ineffective, when nothing went your way no matter how hard you tried. Now leave that memory behind. Fast-forward to the present.

With Yogi’s quote in mind, compare yourself competing at your best and at your worst. Then honestly answer these questions: What percentage of the difference in those performances had to do with your physical skills? What percentage was mental?

When working with a team of professional athletes, I have everyone in the clubhouse stand. I ask if the mental part of their performance was less than 10 percent. If so, I tell them to sit down. Those who think it was less than 20 percent are asked to take a seat. “How about those of you,” I ask, “who think the mental game was less than 30 percent? Sit down. How about less than 40 percent?”

At 50 percent, at least half the room is still standing. Would you be standing, too?

If the answer is yes, this is my next question: If you believe the difference between your best and worst performance was, as Yogi said, at least 50 percent mental, then how much time do you spend on the mental game? How many books about sports psychology have you read? How many lessons have you taken from a “head” coach?

As you demonstrated in the exercise, the mind is like a VCR. It records sights and sounds, and the tape plays continuously. The human body treats every vivid thought and image as if it is real and happening now. Everyone who has awakened from a nightmare knows this to be true.

Studies have proven that mental training will not only enhance performance and improve productivity but also add to your enjoyment. Whatever your age, whatever your game, you can learn how to use your mind more constructively. You can learn how to stay focused. You can learn to deal with adversity. Stay motivated during difficult times. Avoid fatal distractions. You can learn how to follow your dreams and live your life on purpose.

Achieving inner excellence is a process. Building mental muscle, like building physical muscle, requires time and effort. The more you work on the inside, the more it will show on the outside. First you must make a commitment. As Yogi supposedly said, when you come to the fork in the road, take it. By reading the first section, you are taking your first step.

Think of the book in your hands as your mind gym. Read the lessons, do the exercises, and answer the questions. If you do, you will acquire the skills needed to create the ideal mental state that will allow you to rise to the next level and perform at your best by choice rather than chance.

What you think affects how you feel and perform. Training your brain is as important as training your body.