Count the don'ts in any close game this fall.

Don't walk him. Don't chase. Don't let it get through. Don't leave it up. Don't be late.

They come from the dugout, from the stands, from the third base box. The ones that matter most come from inside the player's own head, where nobody else can hear them.

After a bad at bat or a rough inning, I ask players the same question. What was the last thing you said to yourself before that pitch?

Most of the time they have to think about it. When they find it, it is almost always a don't. Don't swing at the high one. Don't walk the nine hitter. Don't boot this, not with two outs.

Then the high one comes and they swing at it. The nine hitter walks on five pitches.

They tell me about it like it was bad luck. I think they followed the instruction exactly. It just was not the instruction they meant to give.

Try this right now. Do not picture a baseball with red laces.

You pictured it. To skip a picture, your brain has to build the picture first. It cannot aim at a don't.

So when a pitcher says "don't walk him," the word in the middle of that sentence is walk. When a hitter says "don't chase," the word in the middle is chase. The body gets a picture of the exact thing you are trying to avoid, and it tightens up to protect against it. The grip squeezes. The arm starts to steer. The swing gets short and careful.

That is the part most players miss. A don't feels like protection. It feels responsible. What it really does is play the mistake on a screen right before the pitch.

The fix is a swap. Every don't gets a do: one action, one target.

Here is the test for a good do. Could a teammate watch you and tell whether you did it? "Relax" fails. "Be confident" fails. "Attack the glove" passes, because everybody in the park can see where the ball went.

One more piece. A don't usually has a second voice right behind it, the one that says "why do I always do this." That voice is a critic. It talks about who you are. A coach talks about what to do on the next pitch. When the game gets loud you need somewhere to go, and the coach voice is the one that hands you a place.

You will still hear the don'ts. Everybody does. The goal is to have the do written down and practiced, so it is ready the second the don't shows up.

Notice every step above tells you what to do. There is no don't in it anywhere.

Parents, you are the first inside voice your player ever had. "Don't be nervous" becomes "you have practiced for this." "Don't swing at junk" becomes "what pitch are you hunting?" Count your own don'ts on the drive to the next game.

Coaches, count the don'ts your dugout yells in one inning. Then pick one and swap it.

The swap is one page in Compete Every Pitch. Train Your Inner Voice (Part Two, Chapter 10) walks the whole process: find your critic phrases, write a task replacement for each one, and rep it before every practice rep until the do shows up before the don't finishes. Relaxing the Mind, two chapters earlier, has the swaps for hitters, pitchers, and fielders. Paperback, $19.99.

One question. What is the one don't you say to yourself most, in your exact words? Reply with just that sentence. I read every one.

Can't Hear Excuses.

Dr. Skip