Category: Blog

Harry Lorayne, the authority on memory training, made a statement that has stuck with me for years, “Memory is the stepping-stone to thinking, because without remembering facts, you cannot think, conceptualize, reason, make decisions, create, or contribute. There is no learning without memory.” Yet memorization is not taught in school. No wonder the bystander effect runs rampant in business and only a few athletes are successful when the game is on the line …without remembering facts, you cannot think, conceptualize, reason, make decisions, create, or contribute – without knowledge we are afraid of failing; we are afraid of embarrassing ourselves, but have no problem letting someone else try. It’s as if we are contented with our inability to make decisions due to our lack of understanding of the benefits of creativity and innovation.

Not true, we just lost our imagination!

A psychiatrist I spoke to about memorization stated, “we are brought into this world with a creative imagination but, in her opinion, our imagination is smothered by the educational system insisting memorization is bad!” Thereby suppressing imagination and making it difficult to ever ask, “What if?” and reducing our ability to become creative and innovative. Never taking a chance because, without imagination, we find it difficult to dream about where we would like to be. We are contented to stay the course and perform the same way repeatedly, even if it is failure. We are happy letting someone else try.

It’s easy to turn it around, but first we must deal with what we know and use our imagination. Start by increasing our knowledge of whatever we are trying to accomplish in business or as an athlete, then expand our imagination using what we know. Examples:

• Use our Imagination to Memorize individual faces, their names, their phone numbers, and emails, then recall them instantly when you run into them at the airport, at a conference, or during a meeting
• Use our Imagination to Memorize what it takes to hit a baseball, sink a putt, or shoot a basketball, then visualize hitting a bomb, sinking a 40’ putt, or shooting a three at the buzzer.

As George Elliot said, “It is never too late to be who you might have been!” So, let’s use our imagination to increase our creativity, to become more innovative and to be a difference maker versus sitting back and waiting for someone else to try!

To revitalize our memorization, let me recommend  Harry Lorayne’s and Jerry Lucas’ book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Classic-Improving/dp/0345337581

Just Imagine the next Blog,

Al McCormick

Working hard and striving for perfection seems to have been overtaken by ’having fun.’ In fact, we are called A weird psychotic overachiever if we are motivated to try and be flawless with everything we do. All because we view failing as the opportunity to improve.  In fact, I agree with John Bowers who said, “Stop fearing failure and stop living in a world filled with consequences of good enough.”

We are so afraid of being tagged an overachiever in this kumbaya good enough world that we identify failure as not achieving the result versus mentally understanding what caused the failure in the first place; e.g., We lost this opportunity because our marketing staff never really briefed us on the prospect.

This was evident in the 2018 Baseball College World Series where everyone blamed a missed pop-up as the reason Arkansas lost the College World Series. The headlines read, “Missed Foul Ball Cost Arkansas the World Series.”  Every newscast played the clip repeatedly, quickly to point out it Arkansas would have won the World Series if one of the three baseball players would have caught it. Which is true, had they caught it! Unfortunately, they didn’t, which gave Oregon State’s batter a second chance. A chance where he singled in the tying run, that was followed by another player who hit a two-run homer. Again, according to the reporters and the hall talk, costing Arkansas the game and the 2018 College World Series.

No, it didn’t.

I agree one of the three players should have caught the foul ball, but what we fail to show, what we fail to discuss, is he still had two strikes why didn’t Arkansas get him out, and with what happened, they still were the home team with last at bats. Okay I agree scoring two runs to tie, three to win in the bottom half of the last inning with only three outs is a lot to ask…wait a minute, Oregon State not only did that with two outs, but the batter had two strikes?

For whatever reason Arkansas failed to get the third out and Oregon State won, tying the series and giving them a chance in a third winner-take-all game. A game Oregon State won and became the 2018 Baseball College World Series Champion. No matter how you play it, missing the foul ball did not cost Arkansas the game, nor did it cost Arkansas the 2018 College World Series. It was either Oregon State’s perfection or Arkansas’ lack of perfection.

Going forward the question we need to ask ourselves, “Are we aiming for perfection at the risk of becoming an overachiever, or are we contented with good enough?” Michelangelo said, “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high, and we miss it, but that it is too low, and we reach it.”

https://youtu.be/8nazUHZaOgc

Until next Blog, be a Perfectionist!

Al McCormick

What do we do when we are faced with a problem?

• As an athlete you have gone “0fer” for longer than you believe you should
• A Company ops out of a teaming arrangement shortly before the bid is do

Too often we let the wrong things affect how do we react?

Picture you are given a Candle, a Box of Tacks, a Book of Matches, then asked to fix a lit candle to the wall so that it will not drip wax onto the table below. What would you do?

Karl Duncker (member of Gestalt school of psychology) used the the Candle Problem to prove people fixate on their ‘same-o, same-o‘ idea of an object-as-concept, rather than the many possible uses of the object. It’s what I like to call, “Do it the same way you did it yesterday!” The only problem is with the outcome – “If you change nothing, nothing changes.” ~ Dr. Joyce Brothers

This ‘do it the same way‘ reared its ugly head more when the Candle Problem was given to a group of individuals, each offered a financial incentive to have the fastest time, while in parallel the problem was given to another group who was not offered an incentive. Individuals without an incentive solved the problem faster. Proving, adding an incentive (especially one that has nothing to do with solving the problem) when we are faced with a problem blocks out what we know and blinds our creativity in our attempt to resolve the issue. We end up focusing on the incentives versus the Problem at Hand.

We end up focusing on;

• what our failure is doing to our batting average (e.g., incentive) and what others are saying or thinking versus resolving why we are going “ofer.“
• the fact the company left at the most inopportune time, causing us to believe we have lost the bid (e.g., incentive) versus replacing the company with an equal or better one to ensure we submit a successful bid.

Until next blog,

Focus your efforts on UNDERSTANDING and FIXING the problem versus what happens to your Incentive if you FAIL.

Start thinking “outside the box?”

Al McCormick

If you haven’t looked it up yet, slapdash is when we don’t want to waste time trying to understand, it’s easier to ask someone else. We blur looking for a mentor with really looking for the Shell Answer Man. In the end we really care less about the future and more about the present; We want the fish, versus learning how too fish.  Too often we never really understand anything, we only remember the person who gave us the fish.  Research is hard; it means we have to come up with the right questions. We want answers versus understanding.

“Sometimes questions are more important than answers” ~ Nancy Willard

Here’s ten (10) research tips Danielle Thomson shared to help UNDERSTAND Anything!

1. There are no new questions. If you have a question it has been asked before so type it in.
2. Didn’t get your answer – Try working backwards. Type in chunks of the question to get going in the right direction
3. If searching for something less specific, channel your inner writer – Use phrases when searching for something with multiple answers (e.g., how many hitters ended their career batting over 300? When looking for a specific player whose lifetime batting average is over 300)
4. Nexis is nice, but Google is great
5. Google doesn’t have your answers? Google Books might.
6. Follow your leads – even if they don’t feel like leads!
7. Message boards aren’t just for sports fans and gossip – There are many people with expertise in your subject to put you on the right track
8. If it feels creepy, it means you’re close – The more you know that you didn’t know before just means that you are putting the pieces together
9. Use multiple sources that appear to offer the same information – Knowledge can be created by extracting a small line from each source and in the end, you completely UNDERSTAND
10. Need someone’s email address? You can probably guess it.

Instead of understanding Distance = Rate * Time formula we could take the Slapdash approach seeking help from the Shell Answer Man.

Keep it simple, use Questions to understand and find the answers, Nah, it’s easier to buy a car with Brake Assist. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” ~ Elbert Hubbard

Until next blog, Now how do I make lemonade?

Al McCormick

Too often ‘Lesson’s Learned‘ is something we discuss at the beginning of a project or an opportunity, but in the end we spend, well let’s be honest, we WASTE time justifying “why” we failed.

It is easier to rationalize with excuses and blame versus taking the time to understand what went wrong and why. Lesson’s learned are the time spent focused on ‘who screwed up‘ versus supporting a corporate mindset based upon how our brains work. Viewing “Failure as an opportunity to grow!” Viewing failure as the prospect of improving every aspect of our business. Interacting and establishing Corporate Culture to winning proposals.

Psychologist Carol Dweckthe calls it, establishing a “Growth Mindset.” Letting our brains change and grow in response to a challenge. A mindset where we welcome challenges as an opportunity to prove we can do anything we want.

Bill Gates said, “Once you figure out one thing, helps you understand the next thing, then the whole thing makes sense.” while describing his observation of how Leonardo Da Vinci was able to address so many different disciplines (e.g., painter, architect, inventor).

Leonardo used his imagination and understanding in a world without Google to create the bicycle, the helicopter, and airplane just through the observation and the physical make-up and flying capability of a bat.

You have to believe Leonardo had failures, had hiccups, but never pointed the finger. Conscious that hiccups may occur with one goal in mind; figuring out one thing, then the next thing until the whole thing makes sense. 

Leonardo had what Angela Lee Duckworth would define as GRIT…She said,  “Grit is either unrelated or inversely related to talent,” eliminating blame and dispelling the myth, I’m not good enough, but it also uncovers the truth. Grit makes you determine what it takes to move to the next thing and how our role fits in the larger scheme of things.

What we need is Grit.

Until next blog, increase your Character by being brave, having backbone, and perseverance!

Al McCormick

Plato said, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is I know nothing.”

Most are shaking our heads in agreement; that is until…someone asks our opinion. Our heart starts to race and our mouth engages, saying stuff. Maybe it is based upon emotion; maybe on a previous experience, but seldom is it based upon thought! Ever notice there is a direct correlation between the length of your answer and whether you have a clue to what you are talking about?

Especially when we are judging others.

You see, it has been proven we form an opinion of a person in less than a minute after meeting them. Something we do daily in our interactions with people in business and in sports. Which, in most cases, our observations, our opinions are WRONG!

The late Paul Richards’ (Orioles Manager and Houston General Manager) opinion/observation of Nolan Ryan is a perfect example. He described Ryan as a six-foot-one, 155 pound high school kid as “chicken chested.” Who cares whether he has a strong upper body and skinny legs in high school; the pressing question is whether he has a chance to be successful in professional baseball.

Unless you did your homework and knew what to look for, most would claim Nolan Ryan was a mediocre pitcher. No different than one Alvin High School fan who stated, “Nolie was wilder than a March hare” [Translation – he hit a lot of backstops]! 

On the surface you may draw the same conclusion from his professional career. After all

• He never pitched a Perfect Game
• Nor did he ever win the CY Young
• He allowed 10 Grand Slams
• He holds the Major League Baseball (MLB) record for Wild Pitches: 277
• And he also holds the record for Walks given up: 2795

Mark Twain said, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

You see to Red Murff‘s credit, he saw what others missed. You can be Wild as a “March Hare” and still amount to something, or at least become an eight (8) time All-Star and elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Over his 27-year career

• Nolan Ryan struck out Seven (7) pairs of Fathers and their Sons
• Nolan Ryan’s uniform number is retired by the Angles, the Astros, and the Rangers [only other player to achieve this was Jackie Robinson].

Ole Chicken Chest threw 222 complete games, had 14 seasons where he threw at least 200 innings and two years where he threw 300 innings. That’s not all!  This 6’1”/155 RHP holds the following records in Major League Baseball:

• No Hitters: 7
• Strikeouts: 5714
• Lowest Batting Average against: .204
• Fewest hits per 9 innings – career 6.56
• Fewest hits per 9 innings – season 5.26

The icing on the cake is his twelve (12) one-hitters and 18 two-hitters.

It is easy to understand why our judgements, especially about people, say more about who we are.

Until next Blog, Be like Red and focus on FACTS,

Al McCormick

Character is an interesting word.

• It’s easy enough to define.
• It’s recognizable when we witness it.
• And, Character makes us feel good when we describe someone who has it.

Yet, in business it is one of those traits that is unfortunately UNIQUE.

WHY?

Is it because Character describes traits associated with mental and moral qualities that are distinctive?  Traits associated to being ethical? Why is that so tough?

Why is CHARACTER a label we only use to define… another person?

Why isn’t CHARACTER a title we use to describe people we work for?

Why isn’t CHARACTER a title we use to describe people we work with?

Why isn’t CHARACTER a title we use to describe US?

I argue it is a sign of insecurity. After all humility is a tough pill to swallow when you are insecure. It’s not due to lack talent. It is more about our inability to share or reveal what we are thinking. We are scared to death someone may have a better idea or we don’t know something.

We do not trust the individuals that we should have the greatest trust in. A lack of trust that has evolved due to lack of caring. Think about it. We spend zero time getting to know our colleagues. Sure, we know what we expect, almost demand from them, but we really don’t know them.

We don’t know where they come from, what is going on in their life today or in their dreams; their hobbies or what’s in their bucket list. Heck, try and identify exactly where the majority of your colleagues live, how many kids they have, their parents, … the list goes on-and-on. Without that, how can we ever expect to get their best.

We have created a workplace filled with uncertainty just because we are scared. Too scared to show humility and take the time to ask for their opinion, share what is going on, ask what if? A workplace defined by our actions. Actions that promotes the philosophy, ‘you don’t care what they think, then why should they ever give more than what you ask for?’

Life is too short to be defined as someone who is INSECURE.

BE that someone who is defined with CHARACTER!

The choice is YOURS.

Be like Ric Elias is today; you may not be given a second chance.

Until next Blog, be accountable, be humble, be kind and you will always be identified as someone who has CHARACTER.

Al McCormick

One of the greatest stories about luck…well, wasn’t exactly true. It’s almost as if we refuse to believe we make our own luck as Roman philosopher Seneca stated, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” In business and in sport, we want to believe someone was lucky, as if we want to blame someone for success. After all they certainly did not deserve that promotion or victory. The Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig replacing Wally Pipp for the New York Yankees is one of those ‘lucky’ stories that in the end; actually validated Seneca’s quote.

One story, not sure who started it, claimed Gehrig got his big break when Wally Pipp, the Yankees’ regular first baseman since 1915, sat out a game with a headache. 

Wally, maybe upset, embarrassed, or wanting to justify failure claimed he was hit in the head by Charlie Caldwell during batting practice, lost consciousness and rushed to the hospital. As if that was not enough, Wally insisted the concussion was so severe he was in the hospital for two weeks and by then it was too late. Lou was on fire and had already established himself as the new, ten years younger Yankee first baseman. Now that is some LUCK, but…unfortunately it is not true.

As with most ‘luck-stories’ the truth is not as compelling, just factual. How boring is that!

As my grandmother would say, “truth be-told” Manager Miller Huggins decided to shake up his line-up and replace some of his slumping veterans with younger players during the middle of the 1925 season (Yankees Win/Loss record was below 500 and they were falling drastically in the standings). You guessed it, Wally Pipp was one of those slumping veterans! Snopes.com stated, “In the case of Wally Pipp there was no inopportune headache, no “delightful and romantic story” — just a case of a slumping player who lost his job to an up-and-comer and never got it back.” As what often happens, we avoid reality and feel better transferring blame!

Regardless of which story you want to believe, there was a definite drop in his production. In 1924 Wally batted .295, had 19 Triples and was 14th in the MVP voting, but in 1925 he had dropped considerably.

Games	At Bats	Hits	Triples	Batting Average
62	178	41	3	.230

Simply put, Lou Gehrig was given the opportunity and took advantage. In fact Wally Pipp, a player overshadowed by Lou Gehrig was actually a very good player. When he was traded to Cincinnati, Wally return to his talented ways, but in the end validated Seneca’s quote. 

Even though the Iron Horse became part of a legend that mixed fact with fiction, Lou Gehrig was lucky inasmuch as he was prepared and when the opportunity presented itself. He took over the position and never looked back! That is, until May 2, 1939 when Lou Gehrig benched himself for poor play, only to find out he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) now known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” calling himself the Luckiest Man on Earth, dying two years later. Yet, in his farewell speech he claimed he had a lot to live for.

 

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Al McCormick

German philosopher Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you said was thank you; that would be enough.”  Yet I believe James Clear is correct when he said, “Thank You is the most under-appreciated and under-used phrase on the planet.” Sure; most of us remember it after something good happens, but how many of us take the time to say Thanks before something occurs?

• While preparing an important presentation or proposal, someone recommends an approach or an idea;
  • That is a great idea, thanks for sharing!
• Athletes stepping into the batter’s box kissing their crossed thumb and index finger in an acceptance of what they perceive as their own cross;
  • An act of being humble and validating Mahatma Gandhi’s statement, “[Prayer] is daily admission of one’s weakness.”

A humility Jimmy Guilford helped me see. Jimmy was a very talented athlete who was overshadowed by another player, even to a point his coaches very seldom mentioned his name when speaking to college coaches. Yet, instead of complaining about his coach, he let me know how important his parents and grandparents were in his life. Thank you, Jimmy!

So, at the start of each day, before a big meeting, or before participating in an athletic event take a few minutes and say thanks for all the successes you already have in your life! Be like Jimmy!

Until next Blog,

“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” ~ John F. Kennedy

Al McCormick

Ask yourself; what picture does your mind create when you hear the word Hacking?

• Do you see a vision of someone from far away stealing passwords, accounts, …?
• Or do you view hacking as making things work better; seeking shortcuts that make things easier; shortcuts that make things better?

Most of us are blinded by the ‘Hacking is Bad’ vision and refuse to believe there is value in being HACKED! Unfortunately our short-sightedness goes well beyond computers. Too many of us live in a business or sports vacuum where we robotically perform the same way we did yesterday, but have no idea WHY! That is how we did it yesterday…It’s my-way or the highway…I am sure there are others, but the only explanation, as we are shrugging our shoulders, is Because.

• Because we are contented, but we really don’t know why
• Because we accept without truly understanding
• Because we are contented with mediocrity

No wonder so few of us are Stoked about anything. We need to change. We need to understand. We need to accept nothing but our best, then we will begin to see Hacking creates innovation. In sports and in business.

We can all learn from this 13 year, Logan LaPlanteu, who describes nurturing Creativity through Hackschooling! Certainly not the norm, but after you watch the video I am sure you will agree, Logan has a grasp of this world well beyond his years.

End result, he becomes truly stoked about something.

 

Until next Blog, lets challenges ourselves to understand, to be happy, to be healthy, and be stoked about something!

Al McCormick