Dr. Rob Bell

During Tom Glavine’s bid for win number 300, he was spotted a 6-0 lead even before taking the mound in the first inning. Ideally a perfect situation for any pitcher, yet Glavine stated, “you get a big lead, you say to yourself, ‘don’t change the plan; pitch like you would normally pitch.’ Of course the minute you do that, you aren’t thinking the way you normally think.” (Feinstein, 2008).  The way our thoughts enter our stream of conciousness is similiar to that of email.

One characteristic of plants, shrubs, and flowers is hardiness. A plant’s hardiness includes its ability to withstand drought, wind, cold, and heat.  The common trait among all hardy plants, however, is the presence of a taproot.

Gardeners’ attempts to develop strains of beautiful plants and shrubs involve the process of “hardening.” As can be done with plants, we can develop a hardiness factor in ourselves—an ability to survive and thrive in adverse conditions. The concept of hardiness is most akin to resiliency, or mental toughness. Whereas 82% of coaches have rated mental toughness as the most important psychological skill, only 9% of coaches reported effectively Developing this trait.

 I recorded the greatest tennis match ever, the 2008 Wimbledon final. Unfortunately, I walked in during the ending! Since sports honks everywhere the following day were talking about the greatness of the match, I realized that I had missed watching a piece of sports history. However, I had an incredibly tough time watching the tennis match for the sheer process of the points, the competitiveness between two “greats”, or the pageantry of Wimbledon. I wanted to WATCH THE UNPREDICTABLE ENDING.

 The first scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a young Indiana (Junior). He (River Phoenix) classically battles with some thugs over an artifact he feels belongs in a museum. At the end, he is forced to hand over the artifact to the “bad” guys and is told by the leader that “you lost today, but that doesn’t mean you have to like it.”

 It is what it is, is hardly uttered when we get the feedback or results we want. While we wouldn’t stand for someone else basically telling us to “get over it;” it may be the language that we need to tell ourselves. “We must accept where we are in order to progress.” We should perceive these words as both a reminder and powerful motivator to accept our current situation and make our situation better.

At the 2006 Chattanooga Classic, I had the privilege of speaking at length between rounds on the practice green with Boo Weekley. Prior to first meeting him a year earlier in 2005, Boo Weekley was a journeyman who fluctuated between the PGA and Nationwide Tours. He has since risen to the top 25 in the world. Yet, at this time in his career, he had JUST begun his accent and stellar play.

Since Boo had started to play so well, I ventured to ask him one of the most important questions; “how?” He became quite serious while answering and talked about his re-dedication to practicing (Boo was known to utilize his fishing equipment on the practice rounds prior to the tournaments). Yet as we talked, he was specific about what he did to improve his play.