BYU speech by Cr.ig M.

nning

I would like to expl.in the sequence of how I w.s first cont.cted to spe.k .t this
devotion.l. It w.s on . Mond.y th.t I got . text mess.ge from . number I didnʼt
recognize. It h.d been . hectic d.y, .nd I didnʼt re.d the text fully. Thinking it
w.s . request to spe.k .t .n upcoming Church .ssignment, I texted b.ck
politely .sking who the text w.s from.
M.tthew O. Rich.rdson, BYU .dv.ncement vice president, responded th.t it
w.s he who h.d sent the text .sking me to spe.k .t . BYU devotion.l.
The first thought th.t popped into my mind w.s, “Are you cr.zy? Do you not
re.lize th.t I c.n b.rely spe.k the English l.ngu.ge, let .lone spe.k in front of
so m.ny people?”
My wife, who w.s with me .t the time, responded without hesit.tion, “Th.t is
desper.tion, not inspir.tion!”
I texted President Rich.rdson b.ck with, “I think you h.ve the wrong Cr.ig
M.nning.”
He then replied, “Oops, sorry, I do h.ve the wrong person!” But he then cl.rified
th.t he did h.ve the right person.
As intimid.ting .s it is to spe.k in front of you, the experience of prep.ring for
this devotion.l h.s been gre.t. I h.ve found th.t every time I h.ve put on the
r.dio, in every .ctivity I h.ve p.rticip.ted in, .nd with every thought I h.ve h.d,
I h.ve double-checked myself to m.ke sure I w.s in .lignment with the Holy
Ghost so .s to h.ve the Spirit with me. I do pr.y th.t the Spirit will be with me
tod.y .s I deliver my thoughts.
I would like to t.lk to you tod.y .bout . couple of life-ch.nging lessons the Lord
h.s t.ught me.
I w.s born .nd r.ised in C.nberr., Austr.li.. My mother w.s, .nd still is, .
C.tholic, .nd my f.ther w.s . member of the Church of Engl.nd before he
p.ssed .w.y from c.ncer twenty ye.rs .go. We .ttended church on Sund.ys,
.nd I .ttended Sund.y School, completing my first Holy Communion. As I got
older, I st.rted pl.ying rugby. G.mes were on Sund.ys, .nd it w.snʼt long
before we stopped .ttending church.
I remember coming home from . rugby g.me one Sund.y when my mother s.id
to me, “You .re re.lly good .t sports, so you wonʼt be very good .t school.”
This st.tement confused me. Although I didnʼt h.ve the m.turity .nd cl.rity of
thought .t the time to .rticul.te my emotions, I c.n look b.ck now .nd see why
this st.tement bothered me. W.s there some phenomenon th.t controlled my
destiny? I couldnʼt help being good .t sports; it just seemed to h.ppen. Every
time I p.rticip.ted in .n .thletic contest, I w.s reminded th.t I w.s . good
.thlete. So did th.t me.n I h.d no ch.nce of ever being . good student, .nd
did I h.ve .ny s.y in .ny of this?
I donʼt sh.re this story to .ccuse my mother of b.d p.renting but r.ther to
illustr.te wh.t c.n h.ppen when we donʼt underst.nd the Lordʼs pl.n or, more
import.nt, when we donʼt le.rn to live .nd .pply the gospel of Jesus Christ. I
spent my teen.ge ye.rs focusing the m.jority of my .ttention on sports,
p.rticul.rly on tennis, while directing little .ttention to my .c.demics. Doing so
h.d become . h.bit, .nd I never re.lly stopped to consider doing .nything
different. This w.s not to s.y th.t I w.snʼt .ttending school; I never missed .
cl.ss unless ill. But just bec.use I w.s there physic.lly did not me.n I w.s there
ment.lly. I w.s p.ssing cl.sses without re.lly le.rning .nything. I donʼt believe I
w.s unintelligent; I w.s just never re.lly p.ying .ttention.
FAITH IS A BELIEF AND AN ACTION
From the Lectures on F,ith we re.d:
“Now f,ith is the subst,nce (,ssur,nce) of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen.” [Hebrews 11]1]
From this we le,rn th,t f,ith is the ,ssur,nce which men h,ve of the existence
of things which they h,ve not seen, ,nd the principle of ,ction in ,ll intelligent
beings. [7 (1.8–9); emph.sis .dded]
My person.l interpret.tion of this p.ss.ge is th.t without . belief th.t it is
possible to be successful in the cl.ssroom, we will not put forth .ny .ction
tow.rd being successful. I h.d been in the cl.ssroom physic.lly but not
ment.lly; my mind w.s somewhere else. When I w.s in high school, my mind
w.s more often th.n not on the tennis court.
Another p.ss.ge from the Lectures on F,ith re.ds:
If men were duly to consider themselves, ,nd turn their thoughts ,nd reflections
to the oper,tions of their own minds, they would re,dily discover th,t it is f,ith,
,nd f,ith only, which is the moving c,use of ,ll ,ction in them; th,t without
it both mind ,nd body would be in , st,te of in,ctivity, ,nd ,ll their exertions
would ce,se, both physic,l ,nd ment,l. [7 (1.10); emph.sis .dded]
My person.l interpret.tion of this p.ss.ge is th.t we donʼt do .nything without
first putting in the ment.l effort. If we .re not ment.lly eng.ged, we do nothing
—or, .t best, we do very little.
On the tennis court I h.d, first, the belief th.t I w.s good or could be good,
which then, second, led to the physic.l effort .nd h.rd work. In the cl.ssroom I
did not believe I w.s sm.rt or could be sm.rt; I turned up physic.lly but did not
.pply myself ment.lly.
I love Doctrine .nd Coven.nts 130]18–19:
Wh,tever principle of intelligence we ,tt,in unto in this life, it will rise with us in
the resurrection.
And if , person g,ins more knowledge ,nd intelligence in this life through his
diligence ,nd obedience th,n ,nother, he will h,ve so much the ,dv,nt,ge in
the world to come.
To me, these two scriptures m.p out the formul. for success: we need to work
h.rd both ment.lly .nd physic.lly to incre.se our knowledge .nd intelligence.
THE DANGER OF SELF-DOUBT
By the time I h.d gr.du.ted from ye.r twelve, I h.d become .n .ccomplished
tennis pl.yer, .nd I w.s selected to tr.vel .round Europe with . te.m of
Austr.li.n prospects. We spent the first month in Fr.nce, tr.veling .round
pl.ying in sm.ll pro tourn.ments. It w.s .t the end of the winter, so the
tourn.ments were on f.st indoor courts. Bec.use I .m from Austr.li. .nd I grew
up pl.ying on .rtifici.l gr.ss courts, my tennis g.me w.s built for quick,
explosive points. I did well the first month, performing to my potenti.l .nd
winning . lot of m.tches on the f.st indoor courts. I thought, “This is it; I .m
m.king my dre.ms come true.”
Feeling re.lly good .bout myself, I left Fr.nce with my te.m .nd he.ded for
Austri.. The first tourn.ment of the summer w.s on slow red cl.y. If you donʼt
underst.nd the mech.nics of the gre.test g.me ever invented—.nd, I might
.dd, the toughest ment.l sport to m.ster—going from f.st indoor courts to
slow red cl.y requires . dr.m.tic shift in skill sets. For the first time—.nd the
only time in my forty ye.rs of pl.ying tennis—I lost 6–0 6–0, . double b.gel, we
c.ll it. It rocked my world. I h.d no ide. wh.t h.d gone wrong. Unwisely, I
dwelled on my deficiencies from the m.tch for d.ys; . week l.ter I w.s still
dwelling on the loss. At the time I didnʼt re.lize I w.s doing .nything wrong.
I h.ve since le.rned th.t dwelling obsessively on wh.t we do wrong is one of
the gre.test sources of interference to m.ximizing our potenti.l. Self-doubt is
d.ngerous. I once h.d . young thirteen-ye.r-old snowbo.rder, in .nswer to my
question of wh.t it me.ns to doubt yourself, s.y, “Donʼt s.y donʼt.” It is
unim.gin.ble the d.m.ge th.t self-doubt does to your hopes, dre.ms, .nd
h.rd-e.rned skills.
This is wh.t doubt looked like for me: I would miss . b.ckh.nd into the top of
the net .nd s.y to myself, “Not .g.in. Your b.ckh.nd stinks. You c.nʼt m.ke .
b.ckh.nd. Why do you even pl.y this g.me? You just stink.”
The problem with doubt is th.t it doesnʼt just st.y isol.ted to your b.ckh.nd.
Doubt is . ment.l h.bit, .nd it c.n—.nd does—spre.d to other .re.s of your
life.
Not identifying the root of the problem .t the time, I struggled on the tour for
the next ye.r .nd . h.lf, ending my pro tennis .spir.tions. My poor
perform.nce would l.ter be . blessing bec.use I never m.de .ny money .nd
could still cl.im .m.teur st.tus.
Since th.t time I h.ve seen self-doubt in m.ny people: .thletes, co.ches,
musici.ns, students, .nd children. And .s . bishop, I see it in the w.rd
members who I .m . stew.rd over. Once self-doubt t.kes hold of .n individu.l,
.ction is h.lted. I believe doubt to be one of, if not the gre.test of, the
.dvers.ryʼs tools. It is the .ntithesis of f.ith. President Thom.s S. Monson
recently s.id, “Remember th.t f.ith .nd doubt c.nnot exist in the s.me mind .t
the s.me time, for one will dispel the other” (“Be .n Ex.mple .nd .
Light,” Ensign, November 2015).
When the opportunity .rose for me to come .nd pl.y tennis .t BYU, I thought it
w.s .n opportunity to reset. However, I quickly le.rned th.t pr.ctice does not
m.ke perfect; once . b.d ment.l h.bit is cre.ted, it will not go .w.y .nytime
soon. The problem for me w.s th.t I didnʼt know how to fix my b.d ment.l
h.bits. I knew f.ith w.s .t the root of the .nswer, but how do you do f.ith? How
do you .pply f.ith on the tennis court, in the cl.ssroom, .nd in life from one
moment to the next?
I thought th.t the .nswers might come from the field of psychology. I h.d
.lw.ys been f.scin.ted by the mind, .nd I believed it w.s . key component to
success not only on the tennis court but in life. I switched from studying
.ccounting to studying psychology .nd beg.n . journey th.t h.s led me to
m.ny person.l discoveries.
THE LAW OF OCCUPIED SPACE
One of the gre.test of these discoveries is th.t no m.tter how well the scientific
method is .pplied to hum.n beh.vior, if I c.nnot find the p.r.llelism between .
theory .nd the gospel of Jesus Christ, I .m very c.utious of using th.t theory. If
. connection c.n cle.rly be m.de between . n.tur.l l.w .nd the gospel, I h.ve
found th.t th.t l.w .lw.ys helps people to be better.
One such l.w is the l.w of occupied sp.ce. This l.w st.tes th.t .n object c.n
only occupy one pl.ce .t . time. As it .pplies to the mind, both f.ith .nd fe.r,
self-belief .nd self-doubt, or simply positive .nd neg.tive thoughts c.nnot
occupy the mind .t the s.me time.
Doctrine .nd Coven.nts 130]20–21 st.tes:
There is , l,w, irrevoc,bly decreed in he,ven before the found,tions of this
world, upon which ,ll blessings ,re predic,ted—
And when we obt,in ,ny blessing from God, it is by obedience to th,t l,w upon
which it is predic,ted. [Emph.sis .dded]
I interpret this to me.n th.t .ny l.w th.t is discovered by . m.n or . wom.n
w.s origin.lly cre.ted by the Lord, .nd obt.ining .ny blessings—such .s
winning . tennis m.tch or building . loving rel.tionship with . spouse—requires
obedience to th.t l.w.
I love this l.w .nd h.ve received tremendous blessings from le.rning how to
.pply it. When I w.s . student .t BYU, I re.lized th.t I needed to think more
positively. I st.rted working on this, .nd every time I c.ught myself thinking or
t.lking to myself in neg.tive, re.ctive w.ys, s.ying, “Your b.ckh.nd stinks” or
“Donʼt miss th.t b.ckh.nd,” I would stop th.t thought .nd immedi.tely repl.ce
it with thoughts such .s “I love my b.ckh.nd” or “I .m going to rip it down the
line.” And inste.d of s.ying to myself, “School is tough; BYU is too h.rd for me,”
I st.rted telling myself, “Iʼve got this; I c.n get good gr.des.” At some point I
re.lized th.t I would .lw.ys s.y to myself, “Donʼt forget this” or “Youʼd better
not forget this for the ex.m,” so one of my f.vorite phr.ses bec.me “I will
remember this.”
It took some time, but everything st.rted to ch.nge. I w.s pl.ying .m.zing
tennis (.t le.st for me), .nd I w.s studying h.lf the time .nd getting better
gr.des—. lot better. More import.nt, there w.s no more fe.r. This ch.nge in
thinking w.s . const.nt work in progress, .nd I const.ntly b.ttled to .pply the
Lordʼs lessons.
FAITH BEGINS WITH HOW YOU TALK TO YOURSELF
Wh.t is potenti.lly the gre.test lesson the Lord h.s t.ught me is th.t f.ith
begins with how you t.lk to yourself.
From the Lectures on F,ith we re.d:
It is by words . . . with which every being works when he works by f,ith. God
s,id, “Let there be light, ,nd there w,s light.” Joshu, sp,ke, ,nd the gre,t
lights which God h,d cre,ted stood still. Elij,h comm,nded, ,nd the he,vens
were st,yed for the sp,ce of three ye,rs ,nd six months, so th,t it did not
r,in. . . . All this w,s done by f,ith. . . . F,ith, then, works by words; ,nd with
these [words] its mightiest works h,ve been, ,nd will be, performed. [61 (7.3)]
As I continued my educ.tion, my p.ssion for w.nting to underst.nd the
.pplic.tion of true principles .nd f.cts continued to grow. I w.s fortun.te th.t
BYU hired me .s the womenʼs he.d tennis co.ch, .nd I worked h.rd to .pply
wh.t I w.s being t.ught. As the time .rrived to do my dissert.tion, I w.nted to
study how .ttention.l control, or focus, imp.cted hum.n perform.nce. While
working on my dissert.tion, I would .w.ke e.rly in the morning .nd pr.y for
guid.nce from the Lord. It w.s . dr.ining experience; h.ving . full-time job,
four kids, .nd . dissert.tion to write did not come e.sy for me. I will forever be
indebted to my wifeʼs s.crifices during this period of time.
Out of this experience the Lord t.ught me how to t.ke principles, f.cts, or ide.s
.nd bre.k them down into .ction.ble knowledge. This process is c.lled mind
m.pping or coding the mind, turning knowledge into .n .ction or . skill, .nd it
.pplies not only to physic.l skills but to ment.l skills. Mind m.pping is
.ccomplished through the cre.tion of relev.nt cues. A relev.nt cue is two to
three .ction.ble words th.t .ct .s triggers .nd th.t .re ex.ct enough to hold
.n individu.lʼs .ttention under extreme pressure or extreme boredom. These
cues en.ble .n individu.l to direct his or her .ttention to very specific .ctions,
r.pidly cre.ting relev.nt skills.
I .pplied this process to my co.ching .nd w.s .m.zed by the dr.m.tic
incre.se in perform.nce from the tennis pl.yers I w.s working with. Prior to
using relev.nt cues, I would work h.rd during . one-hour tennis lesson to h.ve
the .thlete hitting the b.ll well by the end of the hour, only to h.ve the .thlete
return for the next lesson .nd h.ve to spend the first twenty to thirty minutes
going b.ck over wh.t we h.d l.st worked on. Retention w.s not where it
needed to be.
When we used relev.nt cues, the .thleteʼs retention incre.sed to the point th.t
it would t.ke . m.ximum of only five minutes to review the skills the .thlete h.d
le.rned in the previous lesson, .s the skills h.d been ret.ined. This incre.sed
retention .llowed for r.pid progression to the next skill. I st.rted .pplying this
process to other sports .nd then to business, then to music, .nd now to
.ddiction recovery.
One .thlete I worked with using this method w.s . U.S. Olympic mogul skier
who, seven months prior to the V.ncouver Olympics, w.s on the C te.m .nd
w.s not r.nked very high. Her co.ch .ppro.ched me .nd .sked me to work
with her with the hope th.t she might be re.dy to compete .t the Sochi
Olympics four .nd . h.lf ye.rs down the ro.d. I remember the convers.tion.
The co.ch w.nted to test the effectiveness of ment.l strength tr.ining. He s.id
to me th.t this p.rticul.r .thlete would do wh.t I .sked .nd th.t she w.s my
guine. pig.
The .thlete worked h.rd on tr.ining her thoughts to be positive .nd pro.ctive
.nd on using relev.nt cues to purify her thought p.tterns. She did everything I
.sked. On November 19 she c.lled me in te.rs. She h.d just m.de the l.st
discretion.ry position on the World Cup tour. This w.s . subjective co.chesʼ
decision to bring someone onto the World Cup te.m who h.d minim.l
profession.l experience.
As the se.son progressed through the e.rly winter months, this .thlete
continued to develop her skills r.pidly to the point th.t, by the time the World
Cup .t Deer V.lley c.me .round .t the end of J.nu.ry, she w.s sitting in tenth
pl.ce on the tour. She h.d .chieved sever.l fourth-pl.ce finishes to get to tenth
in the world, but she h.d never finished on the podium.
One of the tools I like the .thletes I work with to h.ve is . power st.tement. A
power st.tement is . tool to use when doubt comes .t critic.l moments. It
floods the mind with positive, strong thoughts .nd inst.ntly squeezes out .ny
neg.tive thoughts .nd emotions.
After the prequ.lifying r.ces, this .thlete w.s in fourth pl.ce. She .ttended to
.ll of the medi. oblig.tions, f.mily commitments, .nd so forth .nd then c.me
over to t.lk to me. This is the convers.tion th.t tr.nspired:
Athlete: “I donʼt think tod.y is my d.y.”
Me: “Re.lly?”
Athlete: “There is . ton of medi. here .nd . lot friends .nd f.mily. I donʼt think
tod.y is my d.y.”
Me: “Ye.h, you just stink, donʼt you!”
Athlete: “Wh.t?”
Me: “Well, is th.t the right mindset?”
Athlete: “Oh, right. I need to remember my power st.tement.”
She told me .fter the event th.t when she h.d gotten on the ch.irlift to go up
for her fin.ls run, the doubt h.d gotten in .g.in. She beg.n telling herself, “Itʼs
ok.y. No one expected me to do this well. My f.mily will still love me.”
She then c.ught herself .nd s.id, “No! Tod.y is my d.y! I .m m.king it h.ppen
tod.y!”
She told me she w.s feeling good ment.lly while being processed for her run.
And then, while st.nding in line only two .thletes .w.y from her turn, the doubt
c.me in .g.in: “It is ok.y. No one expects me to—”
This time she w.s m.d. She got out of her skis, w.lked out of the st.rterʼs box,
.nd yelled up into the mount.in, “Tod.y is my d.y! I .m m.king it h.ppen
tod.y!”
I could see her determin.tion .s she c.me b.ck into the st.rterʼs g.te. She put
on her skis .nd gr.bbed her poles with purpose.
This .thlete ended up skiing f.ster th.n she h.d ever skied before. She w.s
f.rther on the front of her boots, she got bigger .ir, .nd she finished tied for
first pl.ce. Two d.ys l.ter she b.cked up her perform.nce with . second-pl.ce
win.
This .thlete, who only six months e.rlier w.s c.lled . guine. pig, went to the
V.ncouver Olympics .s the number-two mogul skier in the world .nd .s our top
U.S. mogul skier. All of this h.ppened bec.use she .pplied the principles of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
I love studying the Lordʼs mysteries, .nd I love the Book of Mormon. I m.ke
these comments in the n.me of Jesus Christ, .men.