Coach’s Tip — Start Your Year with a Positive Mindset
By Buffini Coach Jim Rooney
“I can work with you, on one condition – you cannot negatively reinforce yourself – if you do, I’ll fire you.”
Ken Baum was deadly serious.
I had hired Ken, who was a seasoned professional in sports psychology, after my first NFL tryout had gone terribly wrong. My mindset was a mess.
It turns out, when you have a lifetime of beating yourself up, switching from negative to positive motivation, is a knock-down, dragged out thing.
But I knew if I could hire a coach for anything else, I could hire one to help me with this. So I reached out to him and after our first conversation, I put down a credit card for a 3-month retainer, and we got to work.
Now, as I’m coming up on my 20-year anniversary of that first conversation with Ken, I’m sharing some of those practices he “grooved” into me.
Fire Your Pattern of Negative Reinforcement
Focusing on the negative and what’s gone wrong (or didn’t happen in the way you had hoped) is what mediocre performers do.
The elite do the opposite. They emotionalize the positive and assess the negative with logic.
Here’s an analogy that Ken shared with me all those years ago:
“Think about driving to work. If you pull onto the freeway and a car cuts you off, you might cuss, tense your hands on the steering wheel, pout and yell. If it’s a bad day, that emotion will stay with you until the next exit, your next meeting, and maybe further into the day.”
“But now imagine that the opposite happens. You’re merging onto the freeway and that same car doesn’t cut you off, but waves you in. Do you shout with joy, clap your hands, smile, laugh, sing a song? Do you maintain a cheerful attitude of excitement until the next exit, your next meeting, and maybe further into the day?”
Chances are, the answer is no.
We “anchor ourselves in the negative,” Ken explained. But when it comes to the positive, we believe “it was supposed to happen anyways,” and then we just move on.
Create Your Own Highlight Reel
Take some time and ask yourself, “What were my greatest successes? My best and brightest moments?”
Then write out your highlight reel and play it on a loop in your mind. Sit in that positivity. Give yourself a fist bump and a healthy “YES, I’VE GOT IT!” This is what top tier special operators and Pro Bowl athletes do. Why not us?
Your Success Is Not a Fluke
Ken taught me to see that it was my failures that were the flukes, not my successes.
Use this advice when assessing your own life. Perhaps the last year (or the last 3 or 5) did not turn out the way you wanted.
Instead of ruminating in that negativity, do as the elites do. Learn from it, pick it apart, and capture the lessons logically. Then let it go. Burn the pages and move on.
Use your emotional energy to create an exciting, proactive future. And make a promise to yourself to commit to loving up your Sphere of Influence with the most positive mindset you can muster.
These tips will not only help you get your 2026 off to a great start; they’ll give you a solid foundation to help reach your goals throughout the entire year and beyond.
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The new year is right around the corner. Let us help you make it your best one yet!
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