One week out of the year, you have to do this. Book your flight to Key West, and fish with the master coaches from CPC and fly guide Michael Pollack. Together, they both turn up the heat on your life, fish you out of your mind, and help find your inner soul. “Envisioning” is the key. Please let me explain.

Beautiful!!!

Day 1, arrive in the evening at Key West and check in to your hotel. Immediately walk 2 blocks to the Irish pub and eat, followed by a pint or two and possibly a shot of some of the oldest Irish Whisky ever known. Rest, because you will need all the energy you can muster for the next day/week. Envision yourself on the pristine flats with some of the most incredible fish at your fingertips.

6AM, meet Capt Pollack and ride to the outer reaches of the Keys - in the distance - the mysterious and yet approachable Marcaisis. Coaching is important in this event, because you need to understand the relationship between yourself and the environment in order to be successful. In this world of predator and prey, the Keys offer us the ability to see the reality of how the life scenario plays out. If you are a baitfish, your life is wonderful until you get eaten by a Jack. If you are a Jack, you live in paradise until you get eaten by a Cuda. If you are a Cuda, you rule the world until you get eaten by a 9 foot shark. If you are a shark, you are only limited by Man. I believe we all need to understand how the world works in order to be successful, and this was a perfect way to nail down that point. I learned a lot on this trip, about fishing, guiding, coaching, and life.

Envision yourself here!

The fishing part was easy. #1 - My fly casting is good, but needs some finesse if I am interested in catching 120 pound Tarpon!!! However, I am good enough to come close to the dream, and that just motivates me more. My casting was good enough to land numerous Jack Crevalle, Blue Runner, Barracuda, Snapper, and Shark. My goal was to land the monster Tarpon on the fly. This was no easy feat as I learned quickly. Casting distance must be pristine, and presentation is equally important.

Excellent Jack fishing in Key West!

Regarding the guiding, envision with me for a moment a quiet morning on the flats just outside Key West. Coffee is broiling in my stomach, Danish rolls are down, and we are approaching a sunken sailboat where the Tarpon are known to live nearby. “Be very quiet..” Mike said. “They can hear you from 1000 yards away…!!!!” Ok, now I am intrigued. So, we begin our quest to sight fish for the famous Tarpon. Hours and hours go by without a trace, until finally we see a few rolling in the distance. They look like huge prehistoric creatures luring us in with their presence. We are unable to get close enough before they sense us and all goes quiet on the flats. Then, as we are sitting quietly talking about our morning, we are surprised by a pack of 5 Tarpon approaching, the smallest is 100 pounds. “Cast 9 o’clock, NOW!!!!” Mike says. I can’t think straight, I can’t breathe, and I can’t cast. I just watch as the monsters of the flats cruise by. I desperately try to cast to the passersby at 3PM, but to no avail, they are gone. I saw the biggest fish EVER!!! Lesson number 1, listen to your guide and do not hesitate.

We went to a series of islands which create a waterway called the Basin, and came across many Tarpon opportunities. As we approached several rolling Tarpon, I made a perfect cast - two feet in front and two feet beyond the fish!!! They key to that cast was my ability to envision the perfect landing spot for the fly. The fish looked like an entire tree laying in the water. Now the strip and the wait is on. How does one capture the excitement of waiting for a 120 pound Tarpon to hit your fly….let me choose one word …unbelievable!!!! After a number of misses, this time the Tarpon chased my fly and I saw the entire chase end to end, but the smart creature saw me and the boat at the last second and tailed away from my fly. How disappointing.!!! We went on that day to catch many Jacks and Cuda, and only dreamed of nailing the monster Tarpon as the rain and wind were scheduled to pick up the rest of the week. This was sad and invigorating all at once, because I knew this would be a lifelong passion for me. The night ended with a wonderful seafood dinner and some rare bourbon, but left us wondering what would we do tomorrow..??

Nice marina!

Six AM again, here we go. Wind and rain is predicted, no Tarpon fishing, but we did get into some monster Cuda!!! We decided to switch over to spin gear. These Cuda eat everything except the Shark, so they are one of the dominant predators of the flats. We used long red tube lures reeled very fast and were able to land 10+ huge Cuda during the day!

Monster Cuda!

We also witnessed a 8 foot Lemon shark feeding aggressively on the flats in a foot of water and we kept our distance - that was so COOL!!! The next day was reserved for Snapper fishing, and we caught our limit and brought them back to the bar where they were wonderfully prepared and served with pints of beer. EXCELLENT!!!!

Final day, we went way out in to the flats, searching for the best Shark waters…We used Jacks as bait, and rigged a line with a huge hook and whole Jack. As we were able to land several more Jacks and Cuda while waiting, we were starting to get restless for the sharks to hit our bait. Finally, we locked into a 5 footer. It took an hour to bring it in, and it was the most beautiful sight ever! Pound for pound one of the most powerful fish in the sea, it was an honor to catch and release this fish.

NICE!

Careful catch and release!

Regarding the coaching, I learned that the coach and guide together are paramount and symbiotic. The coach sees the potential in people, and the guide sees potential in the environment. Combined, during any fishing experience, one finds the connection between potential in people and the possibilities offered by the environment. If those two facets of life can be optimized, one can find fishing as an avenue for personal healing, growth, and momentum towards future goals. Catch and release philosophy is a classic example of the need for synergy between man and the environment. Certainly, the majority of the time we practice catch and release because we love our sport and want it to thrive. We also love SEAFOOD!!!! Take care of the fish, let them go 99% of the time. When you want a perfect meal of the freshest seafood ever, keep a few for dinner and enjoy, that’s my policy. The relationship between the coach and guide is also important. They both feed each other with information and valuable stories with life lessons, and thus it helps the learning experience become more applicable to everyday life.

Jack on the fly!!

Life is interesting. When you combine the beauty of nature, the trust of a solid coach, and the skill of an accomplished fishing guide, the result is a magical level of appreciation for the simple pleasures in life. The sunrise can be overwhelming in the Keys because you are at the southern tip of North America and can enjoy the same view the early sailors witnessed. I find that fascinating and inspiring in many ways. The smell of morning coffee can be invigorating. As I reflect on this journey, my mind always drifts back to something Mike said as we were approaching the Tarpon…”You need to SEE yourself making a perfect cast.” That is the technique we should all adopt in life - using visualization (Envisioning) in order to achieve the perfect cast, the perfect job, the perfect balance, and the perfect life. Remember, we are not alone on this earth…

Dolphin cruising...

Please join us on our next adventure and envision yourself landing the big one!!!

Tom Scambilis

CPC, Leadership Development Manager

We all have been hearing about Change during this political season, since Change is the platform from which our President-elect stood. We found more people in our country were interested in change than not. I doubt it is a broad leap to suggest that our nation’s desire is for positive rather than negative change. Having officially been around for ten years, we at the Center for Positive Change take great delight in the fact that Mr. Obama has supported our call for positive change.
How would you like to have the new President’s job? Even with the power of such an impressive office, one can get frustrated and fail miserably. Luckily, most of us have a much simpler job with creating positive change in our own lives rather than the world. How do we go about making positive changes rather than negative changes? I would like to provide you with just two considerations at this time.
One thing to consider is to make the undesirable desirable. Does doing the “right behavior” bring people pleasure? If not, how do you get people to do the things they hate, find boring, insulting, or painful? How do you get a teen to clean their VERY messy room? How do we get ourselves to walk past the chips and dip this Thanksgiving? If we could find a way to make healthy behavior intrinsically satisfying or an unhealthy behavior inherently undesirable, we will have tapped into self-modification.

One powerful tool to help people change their reaction to a previously neutral or noxious behavior is to create new experiences. When was the last time you purposely tried to learn a new behavior? We often dislike it because we have inadequate information to judge it appropriately. In fact, most people imagine what the new behavior will be like, and they are often wrong. We are just outright bad at figuring out what would make us happier. Most people believe a $25, 000 increase in annual income would elevate their happiness. They feel equally strong that a 30-minute walk each day would do little or nothing for them. Daniel Gilbert, Ph.D. found that a 30-minute walk was far more likely to produce happiness than the extra money. Research tells us that if most people try new behaviors, they will like them.

Another way to create positive experiences is to make the activity a game. Almost any unpleasant activity can be made pleasant if it involves reasonably challenging goals and clear, frequent feedback. Those elements can turn a chore into a game. As an example, we know that our nation’s teens are out of shape and that obesity is a new problem with the young. Steady exercise would help them immensely. Imagine how successful you would be trying to get a dozen of them to run back and forth on a field for a couple hours at a time. It would be good for them, right? Good luck! But take those same teens and give them something called a football. Now construct a goal at each end of the field. Now establish a competitive point system…you get it.

So during this great historical metamorphosis let’s make our changes positive rather than negative. Consider striving to make the undesirable desirable through intrinsic satisfaction and by making pain pleasurable. Create new experiences by encouraging people to try something new and then making the new behavior a game.

Here’s to Growth,

Tim

Guo Jingin of China won the Olympic Gold on the 3 Meter Springboard event in Beijing. She started training for this event 12 years ago at the age of 14.  As it ends up, she is the most decorated diver in history. For 12 years she remained centered, fighting through life’s distractions.  Most of us would have moved way beyond that ability to focus. The research of one psychologist helps us understand how to apply the same powerful results to our lives. Anders Ericsson offers an interesting interpretation of how people become peak performers. He doesn’t believe their success has anything to do with luck or even superb mental or physical abilities. Rather, Ericsson has demonstrated that people advance to top level performance through something called deliberate practice.

Most of us have heard the adage that practice makes perfect. A refinement of the same adage is that practice doesn’t make perfect. Rather, Perfect practice makes perfect. Ericsson has spent most of his career proving this. His research suggests that excellence is not a matter of genetic gifts; instead it is a matter of knowing how to enhance your skills through deliberate practice. For example, Ericsson describes how dedicated figure skaters practice differently on the ice. Olympic hopefuls work on the skills they have yet to master. Club skaters, in contrast, work on skills they have already mastered. And amateurs tend to spend half of their time at the rink chatting with friends and not practicing at all.

Interestingly, Ericsson’s findings are true for most skills. This includes playing chess, excellence at the violin, other sporting events; and the evidence broadens further into giving speeches, interpersonal relationships, and holding emotional, sensitive, or high-stake conversations.

Isn’t it interesting how many people find little  problem in applying Ericsson’s theory to physical tasks like sports. (Many credit cards have been swiped hiring a golf pro to help with that nasty slice.) However, few people ever think of practicing with a coach to learn how to get along with board members or coworkers, motivate team members to improve their quality measures, emotionally connect with a troubled teen, or talk to a physician about a medical error. Most of us never think about finding a coach to help  improve our interpersonal skill sets.

However, that is precisely what would jettison many towards the personal goals they seek. Consider a common problem. Your very Type-A and dominant boss seems to be making comments which are at face value OK, but show technical imprecision. With time, this problem seems to worsen. You have taken a chance to tactfully correct him on a couple of occasions. Unfortunately, he becomes increasingly defensive as the problem worsens. At this point, you aren’t exactly sure what to say or how to say it. You lack confidence in such situations.  Speaking up to an authority figure requires skill, and skill requires practice.  Interpersonal interactions can be extremely complicated, and most individuals will improve their skills only after receiving concise coaching…which includes deliberate practice.

The good news is that many of the persistent challenges we face stem more from a lack of skill, which stems from a lack of deliberate practice, than from diluted genes, lack of courage, or a character flaw.

Here’s to Growth,

Tim

It would have been easy for Tiger Woods to have backed off at the 2008 US Open. Almost everyone could have identified with him. He was after all in significant physical pain from playing 72 holes in regulation and 19 more in the playoff with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee and a double stress fracture of his left tibia, the large bone in the lower leg. Had he lost that prestigious event it would also have been easy for Tiger to use his knee pain as an excuse. Might we have?

Likewise, it would have been easy for the young 23 year old kid from Baltimore with ADHD to have quit many times before. The bullying wasn’t fun. He must have hated having his over-sized ears flicked by guys twice his size. Having a couple of guys much larger than himself throw his favorite cap out the bus window was no cake walk. Who would have blamed that skinny kid from becoming angry and giving up on the cruel life which left him and his two sisters to be raised alone by their mother, Debbie. By all rights Michael Phelps should have been content with a life of stimulants and excuses. He should have joined the ranks of complicity. But as history will remember, Michael hasn’t used anything as an excuse.

For those who watched his performance in the 200 Meter Butterfly we became spellbound with yet another win from this amazing young man. The real amazement came, however, after the race began when we learned that shortly as the race began his goggles began to leak water. As he continued swimming they leaked worse and worse. Then, when with about 75 meters to go the goggles were completely filled. Michael was at that point essentially blind. His entire field of vision was blurry. He reported that the only way he knew where he was in the race was by counting his strokes. Again, who would have blamed Michael for losing the race.

But a person who wins eight consecutive Olympic gold medals doesn’t just learn to leave the excuses behind while at the Olympics. It was in his youth that Michael learned to leave the excuses behind. Being bullied in school or by other older swimmers could have provided ample excuse for mediocrity or worse. Somehow, he learned early that excuses simply wouldn’t do. Do you suppose his mother and coach had anything to do with it?

There are actually two types of excuses. External excuses are used to provide rationale to those around us for our poor performance. These are used in ample abundance. However, perhaps the more debilitating excuses are the internal excuses or rationalizations we tell ourselves. One might call these internal excuses or stories, our personal myths. Personal myth, is not as some might guess, a false or fairy tale belief. Rather personal myth is our understanding of reality put into the stories we tell ourselves. Rarely do we know that our reality is twisted. It is often not until we take a look at ourselves through the eyes of others that we even begin to understand our own reality. Hence the great value in having a caring mentor/coach.

Perhaps one of the most impressive parts of the Michael Phelps story is beyond his winning 8 gold medals. It is what he did with adversity. Time after time he has used adversity to spur him on to even greater performance. Even though we may be past the developmental mile posts of preadolescence, it is not too late to continue our personal life training. With the help of a trusted adviser we too can leave our excuses behind.

Here’s to Growth,

Tim