Former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms was asked: "What is the most compelling coaching advice you have ever received?" His answer was a gem.

He responded that his Giants coach Bill Parcells once told him he would never be the perfect football player. "Therefore, I had to let go and take some risks; be spontaneous and not be afraid to make mistakes."

Bill Parcells is a wise coach. He was trying to get Phil Simms out of the left-brain analytical "thinking it" into the free flowing, fun, go-with-it, in the ZONE.

I call this the difference between the PLAYING MINDSET and the PRACTICE MINDSET!

Enough Hungry information, enough pondering, enough process, enough practicing! Professional athletes are wise to understand that the practice mindset is left brain and very analytical while the playing mindset is free flowing, fun, and in-the-zone reactive.

The practice mindset is the thought process on steroids. Golf is a great example. Let's compare Tiger Woods with me playing the game of golf. Playing my second round last summer, I had what I call second game expectations. With these expectations that I should be much better than I played in my first game, I'm thinking instead of just playing. My mind is focused on analyzing my hand-grip, feet-positioning, weight-transfer, and this whole open loop process of thinking through the steps is a thinking traffic jam that slows down or hijacks my performance. In a funny way our educational system teaches us to be in the practice mindset most of the time.

The opposite of me golfing is Tiger Woods playing a round. Is there a better example of someone in the zone - in the playing mindset? Tiger is loose, reactive, focused; everything just flows. Here's the key. Use the practice mindset to prepare for performing but the playing mindset when the game's on the line. Don't merge the two concepts; separate them.

The following simple activity demonstrates how our brain can force us back into the practice mindset during performance. If I asked you to run across an eight inch-wide piece of steel lying on the ground, could you do it? Of course, in a heart beat. But if you were to raise this piece of steel twenty feet off the ground and I asked you to run across it in the same way what would happen? You would process the consequences, the height, and the risk, and certainly slow down your process. Good idea. The problem is that when the game is on the line, when performance counts, if you follow the practice mindset tendency to be more careful, more critical of the process, and more focused on what you are supposed to do instead of just doing it, you clog up your thought process and freeze your free-flowing playing mindset. This is often the reason that even professional athletes' performances are sometimes reduced. They are over-analyzing the process of how they are supposed to play, instead of staying in the more reactive, playing mindset zone. While reading this book you have taken in a great amount of information. My concern now is that you may stay in the practice mindset, processing this information instead of flowing into the PLAYING mindset with a few desired changes. Thinking through the process is good for PRACTICE but not for PLAYING!

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

 Walt Disney

When preparing for the sales call or an athletic competition it's good to be in the practice mindset. Preparation is about being process driven. But when the sales call is on or it's game time, we have to be smack in the middle of the flowing, reacting, playing mindset.

The playing mindset is the polar opposite of the practice mindset. It is more fluid and less analytical. In essence our thinking or preparation is done, now we react and enjoy and perform. Any golfer knows their best game happens when they are relaxed, loose and in the moment. When I tried to analyze all of the components of my golf swing while playing, I created over-tension which inhibited my fluidity of motion and reactive thought process. The playing mindset is natural, in the zone and focused on the competition at hand rather than the components of the competition.

I personally learned this lesson in professional sport and then again as a professional trainer/speaker. During the early years of my speaking career I didn't want to miss a single opportunity to add value to my clients so I had piles of notes that I would drag up to the podium. A speaker who reads notes from the podium, not wanting to miss any points, is entrenched in a practice mindset. A speaker who is prepared and practiced, with no notes, is flowing from a reactive playing mindset.

Be careful not to overload your emotional process with over-practicing. With the need to stay hungry in the peripheral parts of your mind its time to get back to playing your game.