I just finished a spring season of Little League Baseball as assistant coach of my son’s team. Our coach often repeated his goal for us as coaches and players: have a great attitude and give an exceptional effort. We had a young team and were inexperienced; the season was a development year for most of our players.
However, coach regularly encouraged us to remember: If we had the right attitude and gave our best effort each game, then wins would follow. We didn’t win the league championship, but we made it further in the post-season tournament than we should have. We exceeded expectations.
That’s what I want for you. Milk prices aren’t great, but you can still exceed expectations, even your own.
I’m convinced our baseball success came from the kids buying in to what the coach was teaching. It wasn’t until after the season I discovered what our coach had preached to us: a power statement.
“A power statement is a tool to use when doubt comes at critical moments. It floods the mind with positive, strong thoughts and instantly squeezes out any negative thoughts and emotions.”
That’s how mental strength coach Craig Manning describes a power statement. Manning trains athletes, teams and companies on mental toughness and cognitive control. He says doubt and negative self-talk easily occupy our minds if we haven’t trained for mental toughness.
“Dwelling obsessively on what we do wrong is one of the greatest sources of interference to maximizing our potential. Self-doubt is dangerous. It is unimaginable, the damage self-doubt does to your hopes, dreams and hard-earned skills. Doubt is a mental habit, and it can – and does – spread to other areas of your life.”
Current milk prices probably make it difficult for you and your employees to stay positive, to have hope. Have you let doubt and discouragement become a mental habit? Is it spreading to other areas of your life? Is it affecting how you run your business? (Read how it might be silently impacting one aspect of your business. The hazards of a directionless market)
If you’re focusing only on milk prices, you’re not focused on what you can control. Get control again with a power statement.
Take a few moments and write a statement you can repeat to yourself when you find you’re talking negatively to yourself. A power statement is a punchy, positive one-liner that should get you focusing on opportunities, not errors.
An example power statement is: “I am brilliant, creative and resourceful; I make good decisions, and I achieve results.”
If it’s honestly how you feel about yourself, the statement should give you an instant pick-me-up.
To create a power statement, think of no more than a dozen words which you feel accurately define who you are. Then use half of them to create a statement that gives you hope and optimism every time you hear it.
Here’s another example: “I’m driven and work hard for perfection; my efforts are valuable.”
That’s the statement that motivates me. I encourage you to craft your own and exceed expectations. As I learned on the baseball diamond this spring, wins will follow as you do so. 
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Walt Cooley
- Editor-in-chief
- Progressive Dairyman
- Email Walt Cooley
