Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Olympic Champion to Host Championship Habits Starting July 21

Former Tiger Paw student, Lac St Louis Tiger and now among man other things Gold Medalist at the 2014 Sochi Olympics will be hosting Championship HAbits for the Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School next week.

Lauriane, standing on the left, won a world campionship with Canada in Burlington Vermont, was a world championship finalist the year after, graduated from Cornell University in honors, won the ECAC best defensive defenseman three years in a row, was finalist her freshman ear and was a four time All American.

Should be a good week at the Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Former Stanley Cup Winner Ryan Walters Observing Eye, Preceiving Eye


The Right Perspective
(Through the Right Eye)



“I had my good eye to the dark and my blind eye to the sun.”
Bruce Springsteen, Good Eye 

Have you ever feared a situation that later didn’t turn out nearly as badly as you thought it would?

Our perspective of events often clouds or colours what actually happens, happened, or could happen. Many times our minds add a catastrophic element to the simple event that plants ideas like, “This isn’t going to go well!”

When I played for the Washington Capitals in the late 70’s and early 80’s our team always bussed from DC up to Philadelphia for Flyers games. Do you remember what the Flyers were known as in those days? “The Broad-Street Bullies,” with good reason. During my first season with the Caps, we encountered one of those very scary incidents… the bench-clearing brawl. Following that game, the next bus trip up to play the Flyers was one of the quietest trips that I had ever experienced as a player.

Why? It was because our players were not focused on winning or even playing the game. We were thinking about the brawl that had taken place last game and the potential that a brawl might take place again.

Interestingly enough, it didn’t. That next game against the Flyers (the event) was clouded or coloured by our players’ perspective of what had happened previously. Instead of being focussed on how to win the event, our minds were focused on surviving an event that wasn’t even going to happen.

This is a phenomenon that I like to call, "Losingbefore you Play."  I am amazed at how many people allow this to happen in their lives.

In his book, The Obstacle is the Way, Ryan Holiday relates the story of 16th Century Samurai Swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.  Musashi shared great wisdom around what he called, “The Observing Eye and The Perceiving eye.”The Observing Eye sees simply what is there.The Perceiving Eye sees more than what is there. The Observing Eye sees events without distractions, exaggerations or misperceptions.The Perceiving Eye sees insurmountable obstacles, major setbacks or even just issues. This Perceiving Eye brings its own issues to the event.

This concept presents a great way to view the events of our lives. Training ourselves to see objectively, only the unclouded event through the “Observing Eye,” saves us the emotional roller coaster ride that is often initiated by things that are not real. With that in mind, I would like to offer the following exercise to train your observing eye muscle:

·   This week, I encourage you to practice looking at events through the Observing Eye. Strip your thinking down to see only what happens, not what might or could happen. Deal with the facts. Remove the catastrophic thinking.

Ryan

Give me a call at 604 996 4446 if you would like to discuss this concept or discuss how I can add value to your team with keynotes and training that refresh your culture and grow leadership.