What Everyone Can Learn (and I was reminded) About the Power of our Thoughts

Guest Blogger: Inner-Sports

by Garret Kramer

Last week my family found out that my son Ryan needs Tommy John surgery; quite an overwhelming piece of news for a senior in high-school, to say the least. In this post, I want to talk about my reaction, in particular one thought that raced through my head, as soon as the doctor relayed the news. For, I believe that the following personal insight provides the perfect illustration as to what the principle of thought truly is and what it can lead to…if we don’t understand its influence in the first place.

My thought was downright deceitful and embarrassing.

I have said before that thought is the creative agent that directs us through life; the illusionary link between what happens in the world outside and the inner reality that we paint for ourselves. Now understand that Ryan is a pretty accomplished high school pitcher, and he has committed to play college baseball next year. When I heard the news, my first thought was sadness for my son; it’s not easy to miss your senior season in high school, especially when you love your teammates, coaches and your school. My next thought however, was downright deceitful and embarrassing to put it mildly. I actually thought that we shouldn’t tell his future college coach about the surgery until Ryan had the official college acceptance in his hands. I reasoned in the moment, that if the coach found out he might just pull his commitment and then what would Ryan do?

The thought popping into my head was out of my control, acting on it was the opposite.

Luckily, as I have discussed often, in an instant the above thought produced an awful feeling inside my gut and as a result, I knew what to do and what not to say to Ryan. For, while the errant thought just popping into my head was clearly out of my control, acting on it (or not) was completely the opposite. Quite simply, my insecurity in the moment, due to the elbow surgery and Ryan’s future, led me to see a problem with his college acceptance when I had no idea if one actually existed or not.

I “back burnered” the issue and found reason.

I then made the decision to “back burner” the issue, and several hours later two conscious scenarios played out in my mind. One was that both Ryan’s and my gut instinct told us that his college coach was a “stand up” guy, and that was one of the reasons he picked the school in the first place. There is no way this coach would pull his commitment. Or two, if we were wrong about the coach, then this situation was merely a good opportunity to realize our mistake before Ryan showed up on campus. And he will simply find the “right” school and baseball team in the next few months. So, the next day and with my mini thought attack behind me (and thus from a clear state of mind), I called the coach to inform him of Ryan’s surgery. Before I could even ask the question, the coach said the following: “Garret, I just want you to know that we made a commitment to Ryan and he made a commitment to us, no matter what happens with the surgery he’ll be right here beside me come next fall!” Well, those words just blew me away! I guess our intuition was right about the coach and thank god I knew better than to buy into my erroneous thoughts and feelings. Can you just imagine what could have happened if I had played victim to the innocent but awful thought from the start?

As a result, hope for the future.

Through this personal illustration I am asking you to step back, like me, and try to see your own personal thoughts for what they truly are and where they come from. That is, while your thinking is powerful enough to produce errant feelings, it is by no means powerful enough to produce errant behaviors. Consequently, although Ryan is certainly not happy about his upcoming operation (me either), the situation is already starting to show glimpses of positivity and hope for the future… All because of a brave young man, a true “stand up” coach, and my understanding of the power, or lack thereof, of my own thoughts.



Garret Kramer is the founder and Managing Partner of Inner-Sports.com. Inner-Sports evaluates and then coaches athletes of all ages on the behavioral characteristics that lead to peak performance on and off the field of play. Inner-Sport’s evaluative partner has created the behavioral assessment used at both the National Hockey League and the Major League Lacrosse scouting combines. Inner-Sports and Garret work with Baseball Factory players at select player development events.