Dr. Jack Curtis has been working in sport psychology for close to thirty years and has worked with multiple MLB teams. He is a great person who I had the privilege of watching a game with a while back when I was trying to figure out what to do to pursue sport Psyc. Dr. Curtis was incredibly generous with his time and knowledge. Anyway, a concept Dr. Curtis discusses in his book Baseball's 6th Tool: The Inner Game is the idea we never really reach our full potential because of false ceilings we create for ourselves. There is a simple but solid chart going along with the concept that shows the tremendous gap between the false ceiling and our potential. We have beliefs about what we are able to do or not, and those beliefs likely place limits. This is something we are probably all guilty of in one capacity or another. We aren't smart enough to do this or have enough ability to do that. Maybe the beliefs have come from the expectations of others. We all love the scouting reports and projections of young athletes as four and five star prospects, and they certainly have their place in today's sports world. What we probably love as much, if not more, is the guy who somehow goes from being poorly rated to a star. Players who exceed those rating expectations do so because the thoughts of others either fuel their fire or are irrelevant. They don't allow the limiting beliefs to become their own. It's easier to play it safe and not risk failing. What's easy isn't what is best when you're trying to be an elite performer though.
What I would challenge you to do as the New Year gets started is consider two things. How big of a gap is there between your potential and the false ceiling you have created for yourself? Then, what can you do to narrow the gap? Understanding where you're at is only as valuable as the work you do to improve. Narrow the gap, and make gains that last.
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