Early in my career as a professional athlete I maintained the simplistic approach that sport and competition were all about physical ability. He who was the biggest, fastest and strongest was bound to win. After several years of chasing my dream of Major League stardom with that elementary mentality, I finally began to realize that much more was needed to achieve and sustain success at a high level.
It took a few years of getting knocked around and running headlong into what seemed to be an immovable wall that I began to understand that being the biggest, fastest and strongest was only a part of the formula to achievement. Slowly but surely, I began to grasp the notion that the intangible characteristics that make up someone’s mentality (i.e. perspective, mental fortitude, congruency, etc.) were nearly as important as physical prowess.
The recognition that such a deficiency exists is a great and necessary first step, but it’s only a very small part in filling that void to the point where one is able to turn such a deficit into an asset. So where does one begin curing his lack of mental aptitude necessary to achieve the outcome desired?
As a man barely beyond my teenage years, I sought out many sources, from modern-day self-help books to the teachings and theories of ancient philosophers, with limited results. Most offered great bits of advice, but I needed an overall adjustment in the way I thought, the way I saw myself and the way I saw the world. Just as I had always had a workout regimen for my body, I needed a workout regimen for the mental process as well.
Well, as the old saying goes, “Ask and you shall receive.” I soon found Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP), which would not tell me to “ask” and then “receive”; it would teach me to “create” the outcome I desired.
Some 20-plus years later, I’m still a student of NLP and the array of mental processes it trains the individual to base their mental perceptions on. Foundational aspects such as “reframing one’s situation,” “the five degrees of understanding,” “state management” and the theory of “congruency” were major factors in transforming my flimsy mental approach into one that could withstand the rigors of closing Major League Baseball games on some of the biggest stages possible.
To this day NLP still fascinates me greatly. I spend much of my free time in an effort to further learn and apply its principles. In addition I often find myself attempting to project many of NLP’s teachings onto others, seeking to fortify the mental aptitudes of those around me. I try to encourage individuals to see the value of learning how to reframe their situations and understand how that mental adjustment can positively affect the perception of the conditions that surround them. I try to help people accept the fact that nearly every situation one faces has generally come about in some way due to his or her own thoughts and perspectives.
But perhaps the area of NLP that most intrigues me, specifically when viewing the beliefs versus the desires of others, is congruency. If I want to do something/achieve something, the single most important thing to seeing my outcome reached is found in my belief. For several years I wanted to be a Major League pitcher, but looking back now my thoughts (belief) were not congruent with my desires, which time and time again resulted in outcomes that were anything but consistent. When I was able to train my belief to be congruent with my desires the realization of my outcome was all but a formality.
Fast forward to the present day. As I’ve previously stated, I still spend a moderate amount of time studying NLP and observing the use or lack thereof regarding NLP’s principles within the world around me. Take left-wing ideology and behavior, for example. For many years I’ve been moderately fascinated with the origin and application of many left-wing philosophies.
It’s obvious to me that most left-wing ideology is derived purely and simply out of pity. Whether these doctrines are of a fiscal, social or environmental nature, most principles of left-wing thought work fantastically in theory, but wither and die quickly when exposed to the oxygen of reality and can often take on an air of incomprehension because of a their lack of congruency.
Gun control, for example, is a favorite soap box at the top of the left-wing agenda, one that never misses the opportunity to resurface when a tragedy of national proportions hits the media. Two years ago at Sandy Hook Elementary, an unbelievable act of violence was committed by a lone gunman, which involved the shooting deaths of 20 children. In typical fashion the liberal media and left-wing mouthpieces immediately seized their opportunity to use these innocent children as pawns to fuel their gun control debate. Yet as I observed the fanaticism over gun control rage from these left-wing zealots, I couldn’t help but see the obvious incongruence.
The left tied their vehement argument squarely to the back of these “innocent children.” “The children, the children, these innocent children!” they kept pleading week after week as they basically demanded a repeal of the Second Amendment. After listening to the debate day after day, I couldn’t help but see the incongruence in their agenda and thought to myself, “Where would these same left-wing ideologues be if any of these precious children had received the same fate of death just 72-84 months earlier?”
Death is death, and life is life, and incongruence in the left-wing agenda is rampant. From using children as pawns to promote gun control, but ignoring them when their death doesn’t coincide with an agenda, to ignoring the plight of American Muslim women because of a perceived offense that may be directed at a special-interest group, such thinking is the definition of incongruence – which I, as a student of NLP, can say amounts to nothing more than tug of war with oneself, undermining the very foundation that needs to be taken seriously.
Media wishing to interview John Rocker, please contact [email protected].
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