Stay centered

What do you do if your opener doesn’t work exactly right (as you had expected/hoped or intended?) Don't give up, settle yourself and try again. Perhaps you say something different. Or not. Take a moment to focus inward and collect yourself.
Staying balanced and “organized” is key to being clear and precise about what we pitch, how we pitch and what we offer. Much of the ritual we see athletes go through is the externalization of the rituals they use to regain their center. Each time they pitch, serve, go to the mat, face off, they need to be fresh. They need to be focused. Their heart rate needs to be as close to a baseline as the first time. In the martial arts or for the great meditation teachers this would be coming back to center. How invisible it is to us is a sign of how expertly they manage it – not by any means a sign that they never need to do the work.
So let’s say you’ve finally gotten your five minutes with an important potential contact. You’re really excited. You start off and you can see that you are not making the contact you want to make. What do you do? How do you salvage the situation? What’s the plan? What’s your “bottom of the 8th, bases loaded, 3 balls, no strikes,” strategy?
What all the great teachings and teachers say is you need to hush the relentless critique of the brain and become grounded in your physical being. There are many techniques for doing this. And the single most important one is that you have to be prepared before you get into a difficult situation. That means you need to have practiced before you get that meeting. You need to be familiar with your personal habits under pressure so they don't derail you. Rather than listening to my harangue on this now, stay tuned for future pieces on how to practice.