by Garret Kramer
Recently, New Jersey Devils Coach Jacques Lemaire became the team’s head coach for the third time. He returned, for this season only, apparently to rescue a slumping team. Last week, he made the following statement about his players: “It’s funny. They know I’m not here for a long time, and they respond better this year”—as opposed to last year.
Living and working in New Jersey, I am fairly well acquainted with the team’s struggles. But, in spite of his hard work and good intentions, Lemaire’s remark gave me pause and made me wonder about the ultimate fate of his team.
Your reality and experience is created by your state of mind—never the world around you.
Knowing the psyche of athletes, I can assure you that the Devil players are (for the most part) responding in the same way as they did last season. It is the coach who is different. In other words, a person’s perception of life is 100 percent determined by his or her state of mind at that moment. Last year, with expectations high, Lemaire was feeling the heat—under the gun, so to speak—this year he is looser, freer, and more relaxed. So, he is seeing his players in a different light; his level of well-being is elevating his perception of those around him.
A good example of this paradigm is sitting next to someone on a lengthy airplane trip. Because there are no strings attached to the conversation, fellow travelers can simply be themselves—at ease, open, and free. As a result, it may seem as if you have just met the greatest guy or gal in the world, someone who is pleasant and easy to talk to. In truth, however, what you’ve done is come face to face with yourself. It is you who has just let the conversation fly; it is you who is not concerned about outcomes. No matter who you are conversing with at that moment, from this state of mind, that person will appear to be your long lost soul mate.
If you fail to understand this principle, the quality of your decisions and performances will be totally dependent on your moods.
Why, then, is this understanding essential for a team’s success, and for yours? In short, a person’s state of mind, and his ability to succeed, exists totally independent of external circumstances. Often, when a team is in a slump and feeling low, players will blame outside sources—it’s the coach, management, their age, their contracts—when these external variables have no power to determine outcomes. As a result, the players’ thoughts about these variables and their moods take control—not the players’ inner wisdom. For example, just imagine if the guy on the plane failed to grasp that his feelings for the “perfect” woman he had just met were simply the by-product of his mood at that moment—and had nothing to do with the woman. He might be tempted to leave his wife and run away with this total stranger!
In effect, this is exactly what happens to slumping athletes and individuals who routinely struggle. They buy into their errant thoughts and feelings with no recognition that these thoughts and feelings are merely the result of their current state of mind. Or, said another way, without the knowledge of how one’s reality is truly formed, these individuals play victim to whatever their minds create at that particular moment. If a player has a negative thought such as, “There is no way we are going to make the playoffs—this entire season is a disaster,” then these thoughts must be true. So, of course, this player has no chance to perform up to his ability.
My suggestion, therefore, is for coaches, players, and all of us to recognize that our state of mind is the source of our reality; not the effect. Once an individual allows his state of mind to ascend, his view on life—and performance level—will rise, too. Again, to Coach Lemaire, the players may “seem” different this year, but, if he fails to see that this judgment is created solely by his own thoughts and mood—external forces will be steering the ship, not him. And, unfortunately, the losses will no doubt continue.