For you baseball fans out there, you may remember a player named Reggie Jackson who played for Oakland as well as the N.Y. Yankees. His nickname was “Mr. October” and the reason: He seemed to save his very best playing to the games in which his team was in the October playoffs and World Series. He tended to have amazing performances in these crucial games. His ability to hit in the clutch was not matched by any other player. Hence the nickname “Mr. October”.
Rising to a high level of performance when the stakes are very high is considered a “Clutch” performance. It is often much easier to perform well under less stressful/less scrutinized situations. The lawyer representing a major well known actor/personality in front of a murder trial jury being watched by millions is under much more pressure than the lawyer representing someone in traffic court. The baseball player hitting in an early May game is under much less pressure than a player batting in a crucial moment during a World Series game.
Let’s bring this discussion to the weight control arena: When a person receives a medical diagnosis such as diabetes, hypertension or some other medical disease that is a co-morbidity of poor weight control, it becomes imperative that the affected person successfully sheds the weight. By not doing so, the chances of something very bad happening markedly increase. It is very important to be “clutch” in your efforts. Take a step back and evaluate the lifestyle choices you are making in terms of dietary intake and exercise and then proceed with the steps needed to change the deleterious patterns.
We all can be “Mr. or Ms. October”. Take the situation seriously and be “clutch” in your performance.
And although not October, here is Neil Diamond’s take on a September morning.
