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Michael Anthony's
THE
MENTAL KEYS
To
Improve Your Golf
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Here are three
chapter excerpts from my book The Mental Keys.
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The Game Plan
Chapter 1: Desire
Chapter 4: Improve Your Chemistry
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View
the table of contents |
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| The
Game Plan |
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The objective of this book is to make you aware how your spirit,
mind and body function as a unit according to natural and universal
principles. This will help you understand why and how to change
your thoughts and actions to become more successful in golf,
sales or whatever you desire. |
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I have done many one-on-one consultations with elite and professional
athletes who cannot deny that when they are negative their performance
immediately suffers. In the game of business and life sometimes
it takes years before negative thoughts and actions take their
toll. This book focuses initially on golf so you clearly understand
the mind/body connection by illustrating why your negativity
in any degree adversely affects your performance. Once you understand
how these principles apply to golf, you can easily relate them
to sales or anything else. |
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Since I cannot talk in person to each and everyone of you, I
will use general explanations to relate The Mental Keys to you.
You can arrive at your own conclusions why and how to make the
necessary adjustments in your personal thoughts and actions
to become more successful. |
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The Mental Keys that I will be sharing with you make up The
Success Model which is a conceptual representation of why and
how your thoughts affect the chemistry of your brain and other
factors that influence your performance. The model helps you
to understand how you function and what you can to do to improve.
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This book takes a common sense approach to a very profound explanation
of what makes you tick as a human being. The secret to success
is to understand and know what works. Then, concentrate on doing
the work required to improve. Most of you do not want to do
the work. Instead, you keep looking for another book or method
for a short cut to success rather than doing the necessary work
required to improve. Think of it this way -- first you work,
then you get paid. Have you ever found it to be different? |
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This is not a conventional book that just informs you what to
do or gives you a quick fix. Rather, the information acts like
a mirror and gives you a solid foundation to build on. It shows
you where you are and what you have to do to move up to the
next level. |
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This mirror works by asking you to reflect on the principles
of The Success Model. You will see for yourself what changes
need to be made to increase your success. Rationalization will
no longer be an option, if you want to improve. Diagrams reinforce
the ideas we will cover. When we finish, you will have a graphic
representation of the model that you can quickly refer to as
your personal success guide once you understand it. |
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Before we begin I want to acknowledge that you are already doing
many things right. Otherwise, you would not have reached your
present level of success. What I do in this book is reinforce
the positive things you are doing and provide a mirror to show
you exactly how you can do better. |
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Chapter One: Desire |
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The first step in explaining The Success Model or undertaking
any journey begins with desire to reach a destination or goal.
Without desire you would not even get out of bed in the morning.
The greater the journey to success, the greater the amount of
desire required. |
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Before we talk about the amount of desire required to be successful,
ponder on these questions. Where do your desires come from?
Why do you want to improve your golf or increase your sales?
Why do you want to be more successful? |
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It is of paramount importance that you first be crystal clear
in why you desire a specific goal to increase your chances of
achieving it. The best reason for doing something is because
you love doing it, and it makes you happy. This seems to be
a very straightforward answer and one that makes sense, right?
Now, ask yourself, "Are there any constraints that limit my
desires?" If you lived in a vacuum, there wouldn’t be any limits
or barriers to interfere with your desires or goals. |
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Since we live in a very orderly universe, we must limit our
desires to stay within natural and universal laws, or suffer
the consequences that our misdirected desires create for us.
You will learn where your desires come from, and what constitutes
a positive or negative desire as you become familiar with The
Success Model. |
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At this point, assume that your desires are positive and in
proper alignment. Now, how much desire is required to reach
your goals? The strength of desire needed is in direct proportion
to the degree of success you wish to attain. If you desire to
be the best golfer or salesperson in the world, you need to
have the strongest desire. On the other hand, if you only want
to be mediocre, you only need a mediocre desire. |
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On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, your level of desire
must be a 10 plus if you expect to be the best at whatever you
choose to accomplish. |
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The following story will help you relate to what a desire of
10 plus is. |
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Once upon a time, a Zen student asked his master when he would
reach enlightenment. The Zen master replied, "When your desire
is strong enough, you will attain enlightenment." The frustrated
student, who had spent years studying under the master, felt
his desire was already sufficiently strong. The master, sensing
this frustration, led his student to a pond to teach him a lesson
on desire. |
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When they were waist high in the water, the master asked the
student to kneel down. Then, the master held the student by
the shoulders and submerged his head under the water. As the
seconds without air became minutes, the student desperately
needed to breathe. He tried to raise his head above the water’s
surface. The master relentlessly kept his student’s head firmly
under the water.
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After a great struggle, the student finally broke away from
his master’s steel grip and caught a breath of air. The student
grasping for breath cried out at his master, "Are you trying
to kill me?" The master sternly replied, "When your desire for
enlightenment becomes as strong as your overwhelming desire
to breathe was, you will find enlightenment." |
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When our lives are at stake, we use all our resources to stay
alive. Unfortunately, during our daily lives we use only a small
part of the energy available to us. Look into the mirror and
reflect on these questions. How strong is your desire to reach
your goals? Are you willing to pay the price required to succeed?
If you know of changes you can make to improve and are not making
them, your desire is not a 10 plus. Do not let that discourage
you. If you truly want to reach your goals, your desire can
be strengthened just like a weak muscle can be made strong with
exercise over time. |
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Is it possible to have a desire of 10 plus? Yes, but very few
people do. If you look at the individuals at the top, you will
find that they all share an extreme desire to be successful.
They are very focused, hard working and extremely driven to
reach their goals. |
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How to strengthen your desire will be explained in Chapter Five:
Your Tape, where you will be told what you are up against when
you try to change or improve yourself. Change is never easy.
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If you have the urge to jump ahead and read Chapter Five, I
recommend reading this book in sequence to get the most out
of The Success Model. However, if you wish to read ahead, I
will meet you at Chapter Two: Goals, which look at the two different
types of goals that help you improve your golf, increase your
sales, or be more successful in your chosen endeavor. |
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Chapter Four: Improve Your Chemistry |
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It is critical to conceptually understand that your brain actually
secretes chemicals corresponding to your positive and negative
thoughts. The resulting chemistry of your brain’s cranial fluid
influences all your natural abilities and functions. This, in
turn, determines how well you perform in everything you do because
your brain is a powerful computer. The power and efficiency
of your wonderful personal computer increases dramatically by
optimizing the chemistry of your brain’s cranial fluid, which
allows you to enter the "zone". |
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I am not going to explain the specific details of your electrochemical
nervous system and list the numerous biochemicals that affect
your behavior and performance. This book takes a common sense
approach to a very profound conceptual explanation of what makes
you tick as a human being. The details are not that important.
The concepts are! |
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How many of you know the chemical composition of the gasoline
that powers your automobile or how the engine in your car works?
You know that if you turn on the key and step on the gas pedal,
your car runs. If not, you take it to a mechanic to have it
fixed. You know that if you put water in the gas tank, your
car will not run. It is not necessary for you to become a chemist
or a mechanic to drive your car as long as you understand the
basic principles. It may be nice to know the details, but unless
you want to be a chemist or a mechanic is it worth the time
to learn? |
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The same is true of your electrochemical nervous system. It
may be interesting to know the details. However, do you really
have the time or desire to get a Ph.D. in neurobiochemistry,
like Doctor Michael Raleigh at the Department of Psychiatry
and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA School of Medicine in Los
Angeles, CA? Doctor Raleigh specializes in the neurotransmitter
serotonin. While he experiments primarily with monkeys, he did
tests with athletes and fraternity members at UCLA. His research
supports the findings that higher levels of serotonin in the
blood correlate to higher performance levels and changes in
behavior cause serotonin levels to change. |
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When I shared The Success Model with him in 1984 while I was
in Los Angeles for the Olympics, he agreed that my model made
sense and confirmed that I was going in the right direction.
Instead of doing my research in a medical laboratory, I field
tested The Success Model in the pragmatic arena of athletic
competition and business where the bottom line is measured by
tangible results. The model works! All you have to do is use
it and experience the results. |
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Your mind and body function together. You cannot deny that whenever
you are thinking negative while playing golf, your performance
immediately suffers. In the world of business, it may take months
or years before your negativity catches up with you, but, in
time, it will in one form or another. Once you understand the
basic concepts and how the model helps improve your golf, it
will be easier to apply the model to business and sales. |
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During 1983-84 while working with athletes at Stanford University,
I asked the late Dave Schultz, who was a world class wrestler,
what he was thinking while competing. A smile came to his face.
Then, he asked me whether I wanted to know when he was winning
or losing. I replied, "Both." |
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He told me, "When I’m winning, I’m not thinking." He was operating
on instinct. "When I’m losing, I’m worried and trying to think
what to do next." Negative thinking caused him to react much
slower than when he wrestled instinctively. |
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Since that time, I always ask the athletes who I work with:
"What are you thinking about when you are performing at your
best?" The answer is always the same: "I’m not thinking." They
are operating on instinct. If you ask yourself that same question,
I bet your answer is the same. |
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Athletes live and die by the performance of their bodies. They
easily relate to the concept that their negative thoughts cause
their brain to secrete chemicals that immediately impair their
performance. This awareness helps them to be more objective
and positive when dealing with challenges. |
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A good metaphor to help you understand the influence of your
brain's chemistry on your performance is a fine-tuned racing
engine. Those engines, designed to run on super high-octane
gasoline, sputter when using regular gasoline. |
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This is similar to what happens when you are negative. You put
low- octane chemicals in your brain, causing your performance
to suffer. When you are positive and operating on instinct,
your brain, metaphorically, secretes super high-octane chemicals
and your performance excels as you enter the "zone". |
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Your brain receives input through your five senses. Whenever
you ‘see’, ‘hear’, ‘feel’, ‘taste’, and ‘smell’ something (stimuli),
it enters your nervous system as an electric impulse through
a neuron (nerve cell). Once the electrical message reaches the
end of the neuron (called a synapse) the electrical impulse/message
converts into a biochemical (called a neurotransmitter). Then,
this chemical message converts back into an electrical impulse/message
when it reaches the next neuron. This process repeats itself
over and over until the message reaches the brain and is acted
upon. |
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In reality you have an electrochemical nervous system. As the
chemicals change, the messages change and your performance varies
accordingly. When you are positive and operating on instinct,
your brain, metaphorically, runs on super high-octane chemicals.
Your performance excels. |
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It is important to realize that your electrochemical nervous
system is an alternating electrical current that generates an
electromagnetic field. The strength and quality of your electromagnetic
field is felt by those around you. That is why athletes who
exude confidence intimidate and weaken their opponents, even
before the competition begins. This is true in all human interactions,
especially in sales. We will talk more about the importance
and power of the electromagnetic fields your thoughts generate
in this chapter and in Chapter Ten: The Law of Cause and Effect:
Theory or Reality? |
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You can increase your performance and success by consciously
adjusting the chemistry of your brain's cranial fluid. This
fluid is affected by your thoughts, diet/nutrition, exercise,
rest, environment and physiology. |
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Your thoughts, diet/nutrition, exercise, rest, environment and
physiology have a positive or negative impact on your brain’s
chemistry which affects how well you perform and function. To
become more successful part of the process is to consciously
work on increasing the chemistry of your cranial fluid so your
brain can perform more efficiently and at higher levels. |
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The next chapter explains what you are up against when you try
to change or restructure your thoughts and actions. Before moving
on, please note the graphic additions to The Success Model which
address the ideas presented in this chapter. |
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