Thinking Outside the Box

As the St. Louis Cardinals entered the postseason in 2006,

a rejuvenated Scott Spiezio was more prepared for success

than he had ever been. Physically, he had spent countless

hours in the weight room and even more time working on

his hitting and fielding. From a mental standpoint, 10-MT

had successfully prepared him to manage the postseason

pressure.

Spiezio had learned to use centering breaths to control

his heart rate and arousal state. His performance statement,

“See it; short and compact swing,” helped him develop

and maintain pinpoint focus on staying calm, recognizing

the pitch, and then putting a powerful, short, compact

swing on the ball. Spiezio used his personal highlight reel

to train himself to believe in his ability to perform well

under pressure. He had visualized himself being calm,

confident, and successful countless times throughout

the season, which helped lead to his triumph in that key

eighth-inning at bat against the Brewers. To intensify his

work ethic and enhance his self-image, he repeated his

identity statement to himself in his daily mental workouts:

“I put the work in. I am a dominant major-league hitter.”

After defeating the San Diego Padres in the National

League Division Series, the Cardinals were down one

game to none in the National League Championship

Series against the heavily favored New York Mets. In the

seventh inning of Game 2, the Mets were ahead by 6–4

and appeared destined to take a commanding two-game

lead in the best-of-seven series. With two men on base and

two outs, Scott Spiezio once again found himself down

to his final strike with the Cardinals’ season seemingly

hanging in the balance. He had swung and missed on two

tough changeups by Guillermo Mota and was expecting

another off-speed pitch but instead saw a fastball, which

he pulled foul to stay alive.

With Mota keeping him guessing, Spiezio stepped out

of the box to regain his composure. “See it; short and

compact swing,” he told himself as he stepped back into

the batter’s box. The very next pitch, Spiezio put a short,

compact swing on another fastball and crushed it off the

right-field wall. He missed a home run by inches, ending

up with a triple that drove in two runs to tie the game.

The stunned New York Mets were unable to recover, and

Spiezio doubled in another run in the ninth inning.

The Cardinals went on to beat the Mets in a physically

grueling yet unquestionably memorable seven-game

series. Eventually, St. Louis would ride the momentum to

a World Series championship over the Detroit Tigers. The

so-called experts hadn’t given the Cardinals much of a

prayer against the Tigers, who were coming off a dominating

series sweep to capture the American League pennant.

Of course, there weren’t too many people giving Spiezio a

chance of such a career revival, either. For Spiezio and the

2006 Cardinals, numbers could not relate the entire story.

The team did not listen to what other people thought,

because that was not important. What is important for

athletes is to focus on the process of success and what it

will take to reach their goals. The 10-Minute Toughness

workout gives athletes the focus that they need to reach

their potential and beyond.

(From 10-Minute Mental Toughness)