The Secret Ingredient: No Yelling! (Ps 76-78)

"I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.

I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord;

my life was an open wound that wouldn't heal.

When friends said, "Everything will turn out all right,"

I didn't believe a word they said.

I remember God - and shake my head.

I bow my head - then wring my hands.

I'm awake all night - not a wink of sleep;

I can't even say what's bothering me.

I go over the days one by one,

I ponder the years gone by.

I strum the lute all through the night,

wondering how to get my life together." (MSG)

A football coach may yell at the top of his lungs at the players. Although the fans told the coach that everything will be allright, the coach still couldn't sleep. The coach couldn't stop thinking about what went wrong and how he can get the players back together to play like a true team!

The sports psychology tells us that the secret ingredient to the improvement are:

1. Yelling and screaming does not work, the study shows, with 94% youth football players. Yelling and screaming can also make it harder for them to improve!

2. It's estimated that 4 out of 5 Pop Warner players suffer from a breakdown in confidence, while the popular methods of motivation will usually backfire.

3. Varsity high school football coaches that use routines and rituals with their teams are three times as likely to have a winning record! (http://www.footballpracticeplans.com/tsi/tsi.html)

What does it tell us about how we can be a better parent, mentor, guardian, friend, or person?

First of all, it tells us that yelling at the top of our lungs at someone or at ourselves is probably 94% ineffective. Stay calm, sing throughout the sleepless night if you have to.

Second, find an effective method of self-motivation or method of motivating the others before you all may lose your motivation by patting others' back, give them high fives, compliment one another, say thank you, and more!

Third, set up a daily routines and rituals to lessen the frustration such as reading the Bible using the one-year Bible reading plan the first thing in the morning and pray through the plans for the day or so.