Hockey Program Updates

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! Santa was nice to me and got me a new visor and stick! Just wanted to give some updates as to pond hockey and other events that are happening.

If you're in the Midcoast Maine area, Midcoast Pond Hockey has it's own Facebook Group!!! This group will be used to post times, ponds, and people to play. It will be used as a medium to gather people together who are interested in playing the game of hockey in its most natural condition. Please be safe out there and make sure that you use the proper equipment suited to your ability. Follow this link to join the group! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_143608449025834

Off-Ice Stick-handling clinics Every Wednesday at Maine Sport Sessions are $10 and 4 days of participation will get you a free Smart Hockey stick-handling ball!! These are 30 minute sessions that are divided into the following groups:

Mites and Squirts : 5pm
Peewee-Adult : 5:30pm

Private and Group Lessons are available for everything from Skating and Stick-Handling to Goal Setting and Leadership. If interested call or email me at 207-991-0244 or Jesse@envisionbalance.com

Anyone interested in Light-Weight High-Performance Socks can also get in contact with Jesse.

If you have a request for a topic that you'd like to see covered more in depth on the Envision Balance Blog just let me know! Post your ideas in the comments section below.

If you haven't had a chance to check out the new HBO series 24/7 Road to the Winter Classic, it's worth a look! A great dive into the behind the scenes of the NHL and some of the greatest players. http://www.hbo.com/sports/24-7-penguins-capitals-road-to-the-nhl-winter-classic/index.html Not sure how long this link will work but you can find the episodes on Youtube as well but in a lower quality format.

Finally, Andrew's Hockey has released their dates for the 2011 summer season and they are accepting registrations. You can check them out on www.hockeygrowth.com and Hope to see you up in beautiful Prince Edward Island this summer!

All the Best,

-Jesse

Hello everyone,

As a follow up to my last post on dealing with failure. This article takes the progression a step further. Once you've dealt with failure or if you haven't reached your peak performance level of confidence and want to feel better about yourself and your skills. The following article, also from wikihow is a great place to start thinking about how you can gain or bolster self-confidence. Below, I've put some questions and food for thought in some of the upcoming posts.

How to Build Self Confidence

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit


You want to be confident and feel confident, but what if you're starting with little or no confidence? How do you get from Point A to Point B? True self-confidence isn't an overnight acquisition. It takes dedication to realize you are a good human being that is worthy of respect and love.

Steps

1. Recognize your insecurities. What does that voice in the back of your mind say? What makes you ashamed of yourself? This could be anything from acne, to regrets, or friends at school. Whatever is making you feel unworthy, ashamed, or inferior, identify it, give it a name, and write it down. You can also tear these written pieces to start feeling positive on those points.
   
2. Talk about it with friends and loved ones. Wear it on your sleeve. Each day you should chip away at it; wear it down. There's no quick fix. Get to the root of the problem; focus on it and understand that you need to resolve each issue before you can move on. And that doesn't mean you have to get rid of whatever makes you feel bad (many times, you simply can't). You need to learn to accept yourself, your past, your circumstances as they are, without necessarily thinking of them as "bad".
   
3. Remember that no one is perfect. Even the most confident people have insecurities. At some point in any of our lives, we may feel we lack something. That is reality. Learn that life is full of bumps down the road.
   
4. Identify your successes. Everyone is good at something, so discover the things at which you excel, then focus on your talents. Give yourself permission to take pride in them. Give yourself credit for your successes. Inferiority is a state of mind in which you've declared yourself a victim. Do not allow yourself to be victimized. Express yourself, whether it's through art, music, writing, etc. Find something you enjoy. Everyone is born with talents and strengths. You can develop and excel in yours. If it's difficult to name two or three things you have some ability in or just plain love to do, think about things others do that you would like to do too and take some lessons or join an enthusiasts club. When you're following your passion, not only will it have a therapeutic effect, but you'll feel unique and accomplished, all of which can help build your self confidence. Plus, adding a variety of interests to your life will not only make you more confident, but it will increase your chances of meeting compatible friends!
   
5. Be thankful for what you have. A lot of the times, at the root of insecurity and lack of confidence is a feeling of not having enough of something, whether it's emotional validation, good luck, money, etc. By acknowledging and appreciating what you do have, you can combat the feeling of being incomplete and unsatisfied. Finding that inner peace will do wonders for your confidence.
   
6. Be Positive, even if you don't feel the same way. Avoid self-pity, or the pity and sympathy of others. Never allow others to make you feel inferior--they can only do so if you let them. If you continue to loathe and belittle yourself, others are going to do and believe likewise. Instead, speak positively about yourself, about your future, and about your progress. Do not be afraid to project your strengths and qualities to others. By doing so, you reinforce those ideas in your mind and encourage your growth in a positive direction.
   
7. Accept compliments gracefully. Don't roll your eyes and say, "Yeah, right," or shrug it off. Take it to heart and respond positively ("Thank you" and a smile works well).
   
8. Look in the mirror and smile. Studies surrounding what's called the "facial feedback theory" suggest that the expressions on your face can actually encourage your brain to register certain emotions. So by looking in the mirror and smiling every day, you might feel happier with yourself and more confident in the long run.
   
9. Fake it. Along the same lines of smiling to make yourself feel happy, acting confident might actually make you believe it. Pretend you're a completely confident version of you; go through the motions and see how you feel!
   
10. Stick to your principles. It might be tough, but if you don't have something you can believe in, you don't have anything. If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. No matter what's happened in your life, you can always lay claim to the fact that from this day forward, you've followed your principles to the best of your ability.
    
11. Help others. When you know you're kind to the people around you, and are making a positive difference in other people's lives (even if it's just being kinder to the person who serves you coffee in the morning), you'll know that you are a positive force in the world--which will boost your self confidence. Just recognizing who or what you're like inside will help you become that on the outside. Exercise helps you build strength and confidence, increases libido, and has many other positive effects.
    
12. Always keep a smile on your face, that will build a lot of self-confidence
    
13. Share your knowledge & your experience with others
    

Video

Tips

• Exercise and eat healthy. Exercise raises endorphins and makes one feel happier and healthier. It is certainly an easy and effective way to boost your self-confidence.
  
• When you are feeling terribly insecure, write down your positive traits and read them back. This feedback would give you surprising results.
  
• Do not be afraid to push yourself beyond your physical or mental limits. Such a pressure would help you see how easily things can be achieved and thereby helps you hone skills. Step out of your comfort zone.
  
• Condition yourself to talk positively about yourself. Every time your mind wanders and say you are not apt at it, pause for a minute, undo those negative vibes and say you can do it. At least you should make an attempt to accomplish that daunting task. With that, you will learn more about yourself.
  
• Avoid perfectionism. Perfectionism paralyzes you and keeps you from accomplishing your goals.
  
• You can provide yourself with an extra dose of confidence by using the Best Me Technique of self-hypnosis to pre-experience the rewards of a long-term goal, thereby reducing the stress.
  
• Have a good group of friends that will support you in any decision making
  
• Look forward to what lies ahead in the day or the future: try not to express any bad feelings in any way.
  
• Most people lack self confidence because they worry how others view them. The first thing you have to do is be happy with yourself and your abilities. Focus less on how others see you because you only get back what you dish out. If they see you're self assured your self confidence will rub off on them.
  
• If you are religious in any way, pray about your insecurities. Pray that you will overcome these feelings and that you will be thankful for what you have.
  
• Write a list of the good things about you and the bad things. You should end up with loads of good things and only a few bad things. This will give a huge boost to your self-confidence
  
• Be contented.
  

Warnings

• Do not get wrapped up in your mistakes and dwell on bad points. They could turn out to be a healthy juxtapose to your good points or even give you something to improve. There is no feeling like being good at something you were really bad at.
  
• Do not mistake being loud for confidence. Some loud people cover their insecurities. If you are happy with yourself, you are confident.
  
• Don't rush yourself; take your time and seek the pace that is most comfortable for you.
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Build Self Confidence. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Back to Envision Balance

In doing my research on the connections between task specific confidence and self-esteem in hockey, there was a correlation between how children felt about themselves and what they rated themselves in confidence. Look forward to future posts where we'll be exploring the connection between self-esteem and it's effects in sport.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT : What are some things that have boosted self-confidence for you personally? At what point do you think self-confidence can be a bad thing? Do you think self-confidence can be a bad thing?

Learning and/or Teaching how to Deal with Failure

My wise father sent me a link that I thought was definitely worth sharing with you. The article holds some key steps in dealing with failure and takes a well-rounded approach to how you can help someone deal with failure. If you're dealing with failure right now and haven't had the guidance as to what to do then reading through the steps and try to learn from their wisdom will be greatly beneficial.

How to Offer Encouragement to Someone Who Has Failed an Exam or Test - wikiHow
How to Offer Encouragement to Someone Who Has Failed an Exam or Test - wikiHow

Grounding, Perseverance, Positivity, Sensitivity, Understanding, Encouragement, Commitment and Envisioning were the major values for me in this article. Reminding myself as a teacher and relating these values to the success I've seen in my own life is what I feel like I can personally take from the article.

Does this article inspire or enlighten you in any way? What did you take from the article? How do you see this happening in your own life?

I'd love to hear how you relate to these things personally, feel free to leave your comments below.

Reaching Success With John Wooden

In the search to become a better instructor, teacher, human...a talk with John Wooden really grabbed a hold of me. The wisdom rolled off his tongue so quickly that I had to keep stopping and going back to listen to the waterfall of knowledge that was spilling out from his mouth. Like a musician trying to learn a new song I was writing down each of the sentences that grabbed a hold of me and resonated with me. These are some of the phrases that I noted starting with John's definition of Success.

Success - "Peace of mind, attained only through self-satisfaction and knowing that you made the effort to do the best of which you're capable." - J.W.

"Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others, and never cease trying to be the best that you can be. That's under your control, if you get too engrossed, involved, or preoccupied with the things that you have no control, it will adversely effect the things over which you have control." J.W.

"If you make the effort to do the best that you can do of with which you're capable and trying to improve the situation that exists for you, then I don't think that other people can judge that. It's a lot like reputation. Reputation is what other people perceive you to be. It's your character that is what you really are." - J.W.

"Character is much more important then what you are perceived to be. You'd hope that they'd both be good but doesn't always happen that way." - J.W.

"No written word, no spoken plea, can teach our youth what they should be. Nor all the books on all the shelves. It's what the teachers are themselves." (Use this in a teaching guide)

"Education first, basketball second, little precedence for social activities cause otherwise if you let the social become more important than the other two then you'll not have any for very long." -J.W.

3 Rules for his teams
1. Never be late.
2. Had to be neat and clean, no profanity.
3. Never criticize your teammate.

We must Believe that things will work out as they should providing that we do what we should. Often times we don't do the things that are necessary to make those things become a reality.

According to Coach John Wooden, this poem was written by George Moriarty, a former major baseball umpire.

Sometimes I think the fates must grin as we denounce them and insist,
The only reason we can’t win is the fates themselves have missed.
Yet, there lives on the ancient claim - we win or lose within ourselves,
The shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow’s game.

So you and I know deeper down there is a chance to win the crown,
But when we fail to give our best, we simply haven’t met the test
Of giving all and saving none until the game is really won.
Of showing what is meant by grit, of fighting on when others quit,

Of playing through not letting up, it’s bearing down that wins the cup.
Of taking it and taking more until we gain the winning score,
Of dreaming there’s a goal ahead, of hoping when our dreams are dead,
Of praying when our hopes have fled. Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,

If bravely we have given all, for who can ask more of a man
than giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from - Victory.
And so the fates are seldom wrong, no matter how they twist and wind,

It’s you and I who make our fates, we open up or close the gates,
On the Road Ahead or the Road Behind.


Another set of 3's
Don't Whine, Don't Complain, Don't make excuses...just do it the best to your ability cause nobody can ask more than that.

You can lose when you outscored somebody in a game and you can win when you're outscored.

As a player..."When you see somebody and they didn't know the outcome I hope that they can't tell by your actions whether you lost or won."

"If you make the effort to do the best you can, regularly, then the results will be about what they should be. Not necessarily what you'd want them to be but they'll be about what they should. Only you will be able to know if you can do that. Score is the biproduct of the other things, not an end within itself." -J.W.

The journey is better than the end.

Assume that a rebound is coming off every time.

http://tobefree.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/pyramid_lg.jpg

These are principles that worked for John and mostly deal with character development. It's a belief of mine that as people develop in their life they become a reflection of themselves in their playing. The connection between who they are on the ice and who they are off of the ice is too strong to ignore. The trick is finding the best ways to inspire, educate, relate, and connect with each other as we are coaching or playing.

What are your thoughts on some of John's words of wisdom? Do you feel like there is a link between personality and how people perform in sport? I love to hear feedback and I'll make sure to check and respond to your comments as they come.

A Knowledge Building Youtube Playlist

Hey Everyone,

I've been trying to get my website www.envisionbalance.com a little more updated, organized and more connected with the rest of the social media that I've been experiencing. This post is one of my personal development playlists that I created in youtube from some of my favorite talks I've seen over the past years. I'll try and update this more as I continue to find and refine content.



Hope everyone is having a great holiday season. If you're feeling stumped with what to get someone for a gift, check this one out, as I'd like to receive this one for a gift.... https://www.23andme.com/ They do genetic testing and test to see what kinds of diseases you're genetically predisposed to and much much more.

Happy Holidays,

-Jesse

Being An Outstanding Team Player

Hello again everyone and hope you're having a wonderful season. Today's post is about building team cohesiveness. There are too many times that I've watched very talented teams with talented individuals fall short because they weren't supporting each other well on and off the ice.

Being part of a team, whether it's hockey or elsewhere in life, can be challenging but knowing what is being expected from you by your teammates can help keep you moving in the right direction. Scouting Solutions teamed up with Andrews Hockey Growth Programs to provide a great resource for players and coaches to learn about all aspects of personal development. The Andrews philosophy is driven by "the understanding that successful development as a hockey player is the product of complete personal growth" and the Interactive Hockey Trainer is a great resource to know how to reach your peak performance.

After having asked permission they've been kind enough to include the following article from their Interactive Hockey Trainer to give some tips in how to become an Outstanding Team Player.:

10 Things I Want in a Teammate,
10 Things a Teammate Wants in Me

When players join a team, they often get instructions from a coach about what is expected of them, but, players rarely get a similar set of instructions from their teammates. However, learning what is expected from teammates can be a fairly simple process. All players need to do is list what they want from their teammates, and then work to give those things first.

Here is a common wish list for teammates:

1. Talks to me - Someone who is in a good mood and goes out of the way to say hello and talk to me.
2. Helps me - Someone who practices and learns about the game and then helps me learn too.
3. Gives me a chance - Someone who shares the play with me by passing.
4. Encourages me - Someone who always tells me to keep trying when something I do isn't working out.
5. Congratulates me - Someone who is the first person to congratulate me when I do something right.
6. Sticks up for me - Someone who I can count on when I'm challenged by someone on the other team.
7. Shows confidence - Someone who is positive about our abilities to win contests.
8. Never quits - Someone who always plays hard no matter the score.
9. Never pouts - Someone who is always upbeat even if something doesn't go the right way.
10. Never boasts - Someone who thanks other players for their help after scoring a goal.

Being a good teammate takes work and thought. Players who make the effort will see the reward long past their time on the team.

Thanks again Andrews Hockey (www.hockeygrowth.com) and Scouting Solutions (www.scoutingsolutions.com) for providing some great insight into being a solid team player!

Hockey Programs Lighting Up December!

With the holiday season upon us, Christmas lights aren't the only things that are going to be lighting up around the Midcoast area. Maine Sport and the Midcoast Recreation Center will be having their hockey programs going full swing supporting the kids and adults who are lighting up the nets with goals this year.

There are opportunities available every Wednesday for OFF-ICE STICKHANDLING clinics. These will be 30 minute sessions that will be divided into the following:

Mites : 5pm
Squirts : 5:30pm
Peewee-Adult : 6pm

The duration and skill levels are open to change in order to best balance the groups. Sessions will be $10 and 4 days of participation will get you a free Smart Hockey stick-handling ball.

Private and Group Lessons are available for everything from Skating and Stick-Handling to Goal Setting and Leadership. Please call or email Jesse at 207-991-0244 or Jesse@phantomwear.com

Anyone interested in Light-Weight High-Performance Socks can also get in contact with Jesse.

Stay tuned for Off-Ice Training Sessions and Pond Hockey Postings.

How we might look at talent in the future...

Daniel Coyle is the author of the new book The Talent Code. He provides insight into how top performing athletes differ in their brains to gain a competitive edge. He uses the latest findings in psychology to make his argument of just how people become excellent athletes outside of old ideas on natural talent and physical training. Online he has a blog that highlights his ideas and new findings which is a great read for anyone looking to learn more about fostering more talent in themselves and those around them. His book and blog is an excellent read for coaches and anyone in the athletic field who has an interest in getting the most out of their athletic performance. I've included the link below to an interesting article he has posted on how talent could be determined more by mindset than immediate physical skills in the future.

http://thetalentcode.com/2010/05/05/identifying-talent-what-really-matters/

Being able to make sure that your physical training is balanced by a strong mental training seems to be the way of the future when it comes to the next generation of athletes. Stay tuned for more information about how to stay balanced while pursuing your goals.

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

I've taken a little time away from updating the blog to learn and figure out my priorities. Essentially, to figure out why I'm doing what I'm doing. This question seems to be very prevalent in my life wherein I strive to understand why first and then let everything fall into place after. I've recently been getting in touch with finding my emotional center through yoga, introspection, and a wonderful young lady that has been much of the inspiration of my journey. Being able to find what moves me and how I deeply feel about things instead of a previous mode of breaking things down rationally has allowed me to get in touch with some of the things that matter most to myself. With these feelings in mind I have been starting to reinvent my approach to business and the way in which I operate because previously my methods were not as productive as the effort that I felt like I was putting in. In my search for finding my new approach I've been doing a lot of reading and watching of videos. Sadly, I've been forgetting that I now have a blog and that I can share this information with others. Realizing today that these things that have inspired me should be shared is my motivation for this post. I'll continue to update as I find more and more things that inspire me.

The Journey Begins With Thanks

Welcome all,

The first post of the Envision Blog is here. A manifestation of the idea to create and maintain balance for myself while being able to help provide information to others is finally becoming a reality. Before getting off track let me first thank a few people who have made EnvisionBalance.com possible.

Jesse Melanson is the websites designer for which I give credit to for the beautiful banners, backgrounds, and layout design. His website (www.JesseMelanson.com) showcases some of the incredibly inventive and visionary work that he's been creating in video, sound, and photography. A great person to work with and a good friend to have, Jesse has been an integral part in making my vision become a reality and my Thanks goes out to him.

To my family, Thank You for all of the support and Thank You for allowing me to pursue my interests throughout my life. Your love and selflessness has been a life lesson that I respect and words cannot describe the amount of appreciation that I have. Thank you.

To my friends, Thank you for being there and I truly feel very lucky to have had people with such big hearts in my life. I've learned so much from you all and I'm grateful for the time I've been able to spend with you.

The importance of Thanks is something that not only feels good but is being shown to have real world scientific implications for people. I stumbled across an article a little while ago that helped drive home the point of being thankful. (Which can be found here... http://advice.eharmony.com/article/the-importance-of-giving-thanks.html ) In the article Dr. Galen Buckwalter reviews a book by Dr. Robert A. Emmons fittingly entitled "thanks!" wherein Emmons published a study in 2003 regarding the importance thanks has on peoples psychological well-being. What did the results find? Well, I would suggest reading the linked article, but a summary would show that the group of people in the study who made a point to show gratitude towards things in their lives were found to be more optimistic, feel better about their lives, exercise more, and have less physical complaints than the groups that did not write what they were grateful for or instead wrote down hassles in their life. Another follow up study by Emmons found that quality and quantity of sleep were also improved in people suffering of chronic pain along with the increased optimism.

There are many more studies that can be found linking gratitude and well-being that you can check out if you feel inclined such as :

Wood, A. M., Joseph, S. & Maltby (2009). Gratitude predicts psychological well-being above the Big Five facets. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 655-660.

Wood, A. M., Joseph, S., Lloyd, J., & Atkins, S. (2009). Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66, 43-48

Or, if you'd like to put this into action there are many ways to do so. Here are some examples.

-Make a list for what you're grateful for and use it to your discretion. Sometimes we need to be reminded of what we're grateful for on a daily basis and other times we only need casual reminders when things have you stuck in a rut.

-Keep a journal. Same reviewing applies.

-Start a blog. Using the motivation of creating something beyond yourself that has the potential to reach people and help them in ways not immediately foreseen is the route I've chosen to take. My goal is to be able to share some perspectives and insights with you and try to keep myself balanced at the same time. Everyone has a balance point for themselves, discovering what keeps you balanced and enjoying life and all it has to offer is what inspires me. I appreciate all comments that you have and I love sharing great conversation so please feel free to post. Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to visit my site and I hope you come back to visit often.

What are you thankful for? Please feel free to share below in the comments section.

Until next time,

-Jesse