June 26, 2023

"You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good." - Jerry West

Do you ever find yourself waking up each morning filled with excitement to tackle the day's work? If your answer is "no," you're not alone. In my personal experience, I have yet to meet someone who springs out of bed every day with an eagerness to work. The same sentiment applies to athletes; I have yet to encounter one who consistently yearns for daily practice sessions. It's a widely known fact that activities like hitting the gym or going for a rejuvenating walk offer numerous benefits to our well-being. However, despite this knowledge, we often fail to engage in these activities regularly due to our reliance on how we feel in the moment. It's high time we stop allowing our feelings to dictate our actions. There will inevitably be instances when we lack the motivation to work, exercise, or engage in practice sessions. During such challenging times, it becomes essential to embrace the ACE method, which stands for Acting Changes Everything. The ACE method signifies the transformative power of taking action. By mustering the courage to act, we create a positive shift in our mindset and approach toward our tasks. It's not about waiting for motivation to strike; it's about proactively choosing to act, irrespective of how we may feel at that moment. Here is a brief excerpt from my book that will be coming out in August about the ACE method... When Jake Arrieta won the Cy Young Award in 2015 for the Chicago Cubs, he wrote the letters ACE on his hat. This comes down to the idea of “fake it until you make it.” I prefer the phrase “Do it to become it.” The ACE method is about changing our body language to the feeling we want to have. The best way to illustrate this is with confidence. Confidence is NOT a feeling. Confidence is an action. The greatest communicators, leaders, performers, etc., all sometimes feel nervous, anxious, or overwhelmed. They understand that there will be days when we just don’t feel like doing something; our job, being a parent, being a significant other. Before we can use the ACE Method, we first must give ourselves permission not to feel confident. Confidence is NOT a feeling, so when we feel that, we have the ability to change it.