They say the hardest thing to do in professional sports is hit a fastball thrown by a Major League pitcher. Which makes sense. Using a round bat to hit a round ball that’s traveling in excess of 90 miles per hour sounds like a pretty hard thing to do. Now consider that it takes about .4 seconds for the average fastball to reach home plate, and it takes about .15 seconds to swing a bat. That leaves about a quarter of a second for the batter to see the ball, track it, and decide whether or not to take a swing. And that sounds downright impossible. Yet it happens, multiple times, in just about every Major League baseball game that is played. How do they do it? Natural talent certainly plays a part, but even the most talented players need to nurture their inherent abilities by developing skill. And developing skill requires practice. A lot of practice.
Most of us will never find ourselves facing down a Major League pitcher. But all of us, from time to time, will find ourselves feeling the pressure of a batter, standing at home plate, with the game on the line. It might be in the form of staring down the barrel of a deadline, dealing with a health crisis, or managing the ups and downs of a relationship. Whatever the case may be, you can face any challenge when you have the right tools at your disposal. At IMS we offer you those tools and, maybe more importantly, we offer a comprehensive program that teaches you how to access and use those tools without even having to stop and think about it. Our training program is not based on a one-off experience or reliance on an individual, but a process that creates self-reliance in your growth.
Our Training Process consists of our 4-step Magic Equation for self-reliance:
1. Understanding
We have to understand what we are doing and why. When our baseball player (let’s call him Frank) steps up to the plate, he knows exactly what his job is at that exact moment. He knows the current status of the game, how many outs there are, if there are runners on base, where the players on the other team are positioned. He also knows as much as he can know about the pitcher. How many pitches he’s thrown so far, the types of pitches in his repertoire, and which pitches he’s likely to throw based on prior experience. When he plants his feet in the batter’s box, Frank knows exactly what he is going to do, and more importantly, why he’s going to do it. All that’s left is the execution. Similarly, the first step in our Training Process is to explain what we’re about to do and why we’re doing it. Because if you don’t know the What and the Why, you’re going to have a pretty hard time getting yourself to do it.
2. Experience/Execution
We’ve got to actually experience and execute the thing we’re trying to accomplish in order to make it real within us. Otherwise, it’s just theory. Frank can watch other guys hit fastballs all day. He can read about the science and physics of a ball traveling at 90 miles an hour. He can have a coach tell him everything there is to know about how to hit the ball. But he’s never going to be able to do it himself until he stands up there with a bat in his hands and sees that rocket racing towards him. The same holds true for IMS tools, techniques and strategies—you’ve got to actually execute them and experience them to make them real. You could read an inspiring book or attend a rousing weekend seminar where you learned a set of tools and techniques that will help you take your life to the next level. But come Monday morning, that book is on the shelf and you’ve forgotten all the great ideas that were shared. Our Training Process includes practical application in the form of execution so that you have the experience of what our tools and techniques feel like, and what they create within you.
3. Confirm proper execution
Contrary to what you may have learned in elementary school, practice does NOT make perfect. Rather, PERFECT practice makes perfect. If we’re doing half-assed (or worse, incorrect) practice, then all we’re building are half-assed (or incorrect) habits. When Frank takes batting practice, he doesn’t think of it as a chore. He’s a professional, after all. He’s being paid millions of dollars to play a game, and he’s not going to take that for granted. Every chance he gets to improve his ability to hit a fastball, he’s going to treat as an opportunity to take his game to the next level. And he’s going to do it with proper execution every time. Our Training Process includes this very important step of confirming proper execution, so you get aligned and stay aligned with the proper execution that is going to get you results.
4. Repeat until it becomes a reflex
Think about anything you’ve ever gotten good at, whether it’s something highly skilled, like tap dancing, or something as mundane as folding laundry. In the beginning, you had to think about every step, every motion, until, eventually…you didn’t. At some point you reached a place where you could execute without thinking about it. (You even figured out how to fold that goddamned fitted sheet without it looking like a small explosion.) Swinging a baseball bat seems simple enough, but if you’ve ever seen someone who’s not used to it, it can look stiff, awkward, and completely unnatural. Because it’s actually a complex mechanical maneuver that requires pivoting hips, shifting weight, turning wrists, and hand-eye coordination that ensures the barrel of the bat will meet the baseball in the exact right spot, at the exact right time. Frank has spent years perfecting his swing, so that when it’s his turn at the plate, he doesn’t have to stop and think about any of these things. For Frank, swinging a bat is as effortless as breathing. The same is true for training IMS tools and techniques, focusing on each step and repeating them until they become a reflex.