Athletes come to me often asking about improving their games. Many times the questions center around what the player needs to do to get that improvement.

Dribbling drills. How to shoot properly. Footwork. Getting in peak physical shape.

All of these things are external results. They are the "Have" of the Be-Do-Have equation. The real change happens at Step 1.

Internal adjustments.

You have to decide who you want to be, who you need to be, in order to take the actions necessary to get what you want to have. Be-Do-Have. In that order. Always.

The internal adjustments you make will have you seeing yourself as a different person. As this different person, the new actions follow, and those actions lead to results. Too many people want the results before they take the actions or become the person. Which is why many people never get what they want, floating through life talking about what they want but never getting there -- in part due to their thinking that they need to do something first. They can't get the result because they have the equation backwards.

If you're baking a cake, you 1) gather ingredients, 2) mix them properly, and 3) bake the mixture. Most people who are unsuccessful are putting an empty baking sheet in the oven and then wondering where the hell the cake is.

Look in the mirror every morning and ask yourself, what kind of person do you want to be? Who do you have to be in order to get what you want? Start being that person.

Without this step, you're putting an empty pan in the oven: generating a lot of heat and left with nothing to eat.