High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 6: Professional Baseball Pitcher Talks Focusing on the Process & Routine with Angel's Jason Hoppe

Episode Date: September 12, 2015

Focusing on the process, not the outcome is the key to success, says professional baseball pitcher, Jason Hoppe. Jason holds the collegiate record of pitching the most consecutive scoreless innings, 55 1/3 innings, which takes mental strength, consistency, and staying in control of your mind and body. This All-American pitcher knows the mental side of sport and performance and discusses the importance of not getting too high or too low, knowing your why and who you are, and working hard every day to follow your big dreams. Follow Jason on twitter @becuz_im_hoppe (or happy - you will know what we mean after listening to the interview!).

Welcome to High Performance Mindset with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Do you want to reach your full potential, live a life of passion, go after your dreams? Each week we bring you strategies and interviews to help you ignite your mindset. Let's bring on Sindra. Today's episode is sponsored by Worldwide Access Solutions Incorporated, a 24-7 clear advantage, a call center providing inbound and outbound services, and a licensed life and health insurance agency. You can visit them at wasi.com. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset. This is your host, Cyndra Campoff.

And today I'm excited to bring you an interview with a right-handed pitcher. His name is Jason Hoppe. He plays for the Los Angeles Angels in the minor league system. And he is working every single day to go after his dreams to pitch in the major leagues. Now Jason has a very cool collegiate record. He has pitched 55 and a third innings consecutively where no one has scored on him. He was featured in Sports Illustrated and on ESPN's Top 10 Plays. He was an All-American his junior and senior years. And in this interview, he talks about several very important concepts

to performance. He talks about the importance of staying in a routine to build his consistency. He talks about the importance of staying in control of his emotions on and off the mound. He discusses the importance of not being too high or too low and how we should all focus on the process, not the outcome. Now, after the interview, I asked him where he would recommend that you follow him. And he just changed his Twitter handle to this, because I'm hoppy. And when I asked him what was that about, he said, you know, Sindra, like the song, because I'm happy. And I thought, oh my goodness, that is Jason Hoppy. He is positive and happy,

and that allows him to go after his dreams. So let's bring on Hoppe. Welcome to High Performance Mindset. This is your host, Cyndra Campoff. And I'm really excited today to provide an interview with Jason Hoppe. And I'm most excited about talking with Hoppe because of his knowledge of the mental side of sport and performance and what insights he's going to share with us today. Jason, thanks for taking time today to connect with us and to connect with the listeners. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Jason, tell us what you're passionate about and tell us what you do right now. I am fortunate enough to be able to throw a baseball for a living in my current situation,

so that's a pretty great blessing to be able to have. I've been playing baseball my whole life. It's been something that's just been part of my life since I can remember, since I could first pick up a baseball and probably two, three years old, you know, just throwing rocks around or throwing footballs or baseballs around in the backyard. But yeah, that's what I get to do for a living right now. And it's pretty dang cool to be able to say that. Yeah, for sure. To do something that you love and get paid to do it. So right now you pitch for the Los Angeles Angels organization. Tell us just about your

journey and getting there. You know, I went to high school. You know, I wasn't a great pitcher by any means. I ended up going to Minnesota State Mankato and, you know, struggled my first year there. Going into my second year, struggled as well. And my second year struggled as well and my second year towards the end of the year I just I started to figure it out I started to find a routine a work ethic and that kind of thing and then that really propelled me into my junior and senior year where I was given an opportunity to get drafted and I was fortunate enough to get drafted in the 27th round by the Texas Rangers after my senior season and then I spent that following summer in Spokane Washington playing for the short season team under the Texas Rangers this offseason came home you know trained for the upcoming season.

And three days before spring training this year, I rolled my ankle pretty bad. It was a grade B or a grade 2, excuse me, grade 2 sprained ankle. And that limited me from being able to throw a pitch at all in spring training. So that kind of hindered my ability to make a team breaking out camp and spring training. So I went back to Spokane, Washington for this summer, beginning of this summer, and then I was traded to the Los Angeles Angels. So what I hear you talking about, Jason, is a story of struggle a little bit. Like everything's not perfect to try to go after your dreams and to get paid for a living the pits, not always easy.

So you experience some ankle sprains, some trading from different teams to teams. And even when you first got to college, you struggled a little bit just kind of finding a rhythm. What do you think has been one or two things that have really allowed you mentally to get to the next level? Because I think all of us want that that to be able to just take our own performance to the,

to another level. If it's not, you know, in major league baseball, it might be another area of our own performance. So what's one or two things that really stand out to you mentally that's allowed you to go after it? Um,

I would just say really, um, being able to stick to your routine, um, developing a routine, coming up with your own way of doing things that are going to allow you to be successful, and confidence. Going back to the routine thing, you know, I kind of see it as, you know,

whether you struggle or whether you're doing well. Let's say I kind of had this analogy this morning that I was thinking of. If your job is to maybe you're on top of a lake and your job is to strictly just chisel away at the ice, that's part of your routine. That's part of your routine day in and day out. Whether you're having a good day or you're having a bad day, you're just chipping away at this ice. You're trying to get to the water is all you're doing. And you don't know when that day is going to come when you do get to the water but you never know how close you are either um to breaking through and having a breakthrough moment uh realizing something that you know you might you might not even realize it at the time but

you just something just clicks in your head and you know things just start to fall in place but i think sticking to that routine and you know having that confidence to go out there and confidence in the ability that god's given you um be able to go out there and confidence in the ability that God's given you, be able to go out there and not try and be somebody else, know who you are as an individual and what your abilities are, and to be able to go out there and execute what you need to do. Awesome, Jason. I love the analogy. And you talked about so many important things there, like knowing who you are, knowing your strengths, knowing what you're all about and showing up authentically. But, you know, how did you really, you know, when you think about like your analogy of just like chipping away at

the ice, you never know how close you are to your dream. How do you stay motivated even when it feels like it's a grind? I go back to the routine. That's what it boils down to for me every day. You know, showing up to the field with a purpose, having a plan in mind day in and day out of what I want to do. If you show up to the field or whatever sport you're doing, if you show up and you don't have a plan in mind, you know, you're not going to get a whole lot done, but, um, getting into that routine of doing the same thing over and over daily, once you get to the field, you know, that keeps, that keeps the goal in mind at the top, why you're there, why you're doing things, um, what you're doing them for a purpose. And, um, yeah, I would just have to say just

really the routine. You know, What would you say is your why? We talk a lot about at the High Performance Mindset of keeping your why front and center so you stay motivated. You mentioned having your purpose and what your purpose is. Tell us about what's your why. I would say I just do what I do every day to really maximize the ability that God has given me, you know, going out there and trying to be the person, best person I can be off the field, on the field, and also maximize the talent that I've been given. Like we said, go back to what we talked about a little bit earlier with,

you know, just knowing who you are, knowing your strengths, knowing your weaknesses, and not trying to be somebody else. That's a hard thing in minor league baseball. You get there and everybody throws 90 miles per hour, which is the average fastball, but then you've got the guys that are out there throwing 95, 96, and it's like, for me, those guys are going to probably get moved up quicker if they're able to execute the rest of their abilities. But from an outside source, you want to be able to throw that hard.

So it's kind of hard to stay within yourself and know what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are. You don't want to try and go out there and try and throw 95 miles per hour when you throw 90 miles per hour because mechanics are going to get thrown off whack and you know you're not you're not you're going to be pitching to your weaknesses or my strengths for me are being able to locate a fastball but if I go out there and try and throw it as hard as I can my location's off and hitters are able to hit it so it's it's really just like I said going back to maximizing that ability day in and day out, just working your tail off to become the best athlete individually you can every day. Jason, I know you have been introduced to sports psychology and mental training. So what's one or two kind of takeaways that you have from that experience that's helped you get to the next level?

I would have to say controlling the controllables. It's been something that has been one of my strengths in college and just growing up in general. You know, whenever baseball is a game that there's so many outside factors that go into it, I mean, really all I'm doing is getting a sign from a catcher and trying to hit the spot with the pitch that I'm given. Everything else is from a catcher and trying to hit the spot with the pitch that I'm given. Everything else is completely out of my control, whether they hit a home run on a perfect pitch or there's an error behind me or, you know, the umpire makes a bad call. All that stuff is out of my control. And just being able to simplify things, you know, being able to take it one pitch at a time. That's really all my job is.

And if I'm just able to focus on what my job is, not what other people's jobs are, you know, good things are going to happen. Whether I give up runs because of errors, that's, that's okay. As long as I still execute my pitches, which is the only thing that I'm, I'm out there to do, execute pitches and field my position and give my team a chance to win. So that's the thing that I like to focus on is just one pitch at a time, being able to worry about my own self, not worrying about what other people are doing, and being able to pick up teammates if things aren't going the best, if there is an error in the field.

So, Jason, can you help people understand how you take it one pitch at a time? Because it's easy to say that, right? But how do you actually do it? What are strategies you use to take it one pitch at a time? I really like to, you know, evaluate the pitch that I had just thrown out on the mound. You know, evaluate how the hitter reacted, evaluate what pitches I've thrown up to that point. This is all within, you know, five seconds. This is a short window of time here. So you really got to be thinking quick. You got to be staying in the moment 100% because, like I said,

you can't have any outside distractions. Your thinking has to be very clear on what pitch you just threw and what pitch you're going to make. So I like to use, you know, my deep breaths in between pitches. You know, I'll execute my pitch. You know, as the ball is coming back to me, I'm thinking already, you know, what pitch I want to go to next, how he reacted to that, whether he was late on a fastball. You know, I'm probably going to want to go back to a fastball again because his timing was messed up from that pitch so then boom i get back

on the rubber and i'm i take a deep breath before my next pitch execute it same thing over and over again if i get into a tough situation then i might start to slow things down okay because the game can can definitely speed up on you so slowing things, I'll take a step off the mound and maybe take a walk around the mound, take a couple extra deep breaths, really focus on that pitch. If I give up a couple hits in a row, an error behind me, that stuff happens quickly. So just being able to go back to simplifying it,

back to one pitch at a time, and you'll be able to get yourself out of a lot of situations if you do just take it one pitch at a time and you'll be able to get yourself out of a lot of situations if you do just take it one pitch at a time cool i know from just talking with you that the analogy of the stop light the green yellow and red light has helped you just kind of always stay in the green can you talk about how that analogy has helped you yeah i mean the green light is obviously go time. You want to be in the green all the time. And outside sources, outside factors can have an influence on whether you green to yellow which in my mind green to yellow is okay the game's starting to speed up a little bit I've given up I gave up a hit I gave up a walk okay I'm starting to get in the yellow I'm starting to get you know a little scared out on the mountain I'm starting to

things are starting to speed up and I need to get back into green so that's when you know I'd step off re-evaluate everything take a couple deep breaths, boom, back in the green, back focused, ready where I need to be. Anybody wants to check that out, that concept out a little bit more, you can read Heads Up Baseball. It's a book by Ken Reviza and Tom Hanson. So take us back to the hoppy streak. So you pitched in college 55 and a third consecutive scoreless innings, and this was featured on ESPN and the Top 10 Plays and Sports Illustrated. Take us back to what that moment was like and how you used your mental strength to be able to pitch a collegiate record. A lot of these kind of go together, really.

Like we went back to the routine. I would say that's the biggest thing that kept me sane and in control during that streak was just the routine, showing up to the ball field, doing the same thing, my pregame routine of whatever it be. I always started my routine 45 minutes before the game to a tee, and I would follow it to a tee as much as possible. Obviously there's some factors that can make that not happen.

But, yeah, that streak was kind of a crazy deal, especially when I started getting catch fire on Twitter and on Facebook and that kind of stuff, but really just staying level-minded about everything. You go back to whether you're doing good or whether you're doing bad, I always want to be acting the same. Whether I had a good outing or a bad outing, I want to be able to have the same work ethic

and same mindset after each and every out outing and I think that's what helped me during that streak was just you know some people may if they're doing things are going well they might start to uh you know do less things in the weight room or do less conditioning on the field because things are going well but you know that's that's where you just got to have faith in your routine um because that stuff has gotten you that's that's where you just got to have faith in your routine because that stuff has gotten you to the point where where you are right now your routine so just being able to stick with that and trusting it throughout and I'm not going to lie towards the end of that streak you know there was a lot a lot of pressure on me and you know I think I

think I did let it slip a little bit out on the field when I when I did end up giving it up I actually started thinking about it instead of thinking on that individual pitch or a perfect moment where I could have stepped off and you know started to slow the game down and really got my mind where it needed to be not focusing on the street but just focusing on the pitch cool so your consistency your routine helped you and then just taking one pitch at a time and when you don't do that you know the consequences are you can't you can't be at your best so thanks for sharing that jason um you know you get to see like a lot of really good competitors at this level so what do you think separates some of the world's best from

just those that are average or those that you see leaving major league baseball what do you think separates them just really nothing shakes those guys out on the mound or in the batter's box you know that they that they stay the same they act the same there's uh there's no difference whether they hit a home run or strike out or whether i'm pitching and i strike out get a strike out or give up a home run there's everything is the same riding the wave you know there's a lot of ups and downs in this game and being able to stay consistently as level as possible not not try and get too high not try and get too low is ultimately what I see in those guys is being able to take it to the next level. You know, having fun out there obviously is a huge factor.

You can't be so concerned about what's going on. Obviously, it's your job, but, you know, I think going out there and being able to have fun at what you do, you know, keeps everybody loose. And I saw it this year with this team with the burlington bees you know the last two weeks you know we were out of playoff contention and our team really struggled during during the year and everybody was uptight in the dugout everybody was uptight in the in the uh in the locker room and those last two weeks man everybody just loosened up you know started starting having a little bit of fun. The dugout became a little bit more energized.

You know, we ended up being one of the hottest teams at the end of the year. And I really think that that has a direct correlation with team success is, you know, being able to have that amount of fun, finding the right balance of fun and seriousness. And like I said, I think that had a lot to do with the way we ended that season. So I heard a lot of really important gems you just mentioned, like not getting too high or too low, staying in control, and then focusing on the process, not the outcome. So as a pitcher, you might get scored on, the batter might hit a home run, but not necessarily taking that to heart, being more objective with that

and focusing more on the process, not the outcome of it. Yes, exactly. I think being able to immediately give yourself constructive feedback is a great way to trust in the process. I had outings where I felt like I threw my absolute best and I gave up runs. That's going to happen. And realizing that and not getting too low about it is the big thing from it. You've got to be able to bounce back for your next outing.

And whether you have a good one, too, you've got to be able to take the good things, run with it, but also evaluate the bad things because there's bad things with every outing. Baseball, there's no perfect way of playing baseball. There really isn't. So just being able to figure out what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, that's all a part of evaluating yourself and having the coach evaluate you too. Awesome.

So take us to an aha moment that you've had at some point in your career and what you've learned from it and what other people or listeners could learn from it as well. I would just say my aha moments were when I was about at rock bottom with failure. You know, I always go back to my sophomore year in college when I didn't want to play baseball anymore because things were going so poorly. They were heading in the wrong direction. And, you know, I've found over the years that I react a lot differently to failures than I did at that time. You know, I don't get so low. I kind of think of it as a positive thing because I do get to evaluate my skills, evaluate how I did, and be able to hopefully not let it happen again. So just learning from the failures is the biggest thing that I've learned over the last couple of years.

I gave up this year year I gave up five earned runs and one third of an inning I didn't even pitch a full inning and obviously that's an ERA killer right there but you know coming out of that game you know in the past I would probably go in the locker room and you know throw a fit and throw my glove around, do whatever. But this certain time, I was very relaxed. I was obviously upset. But as a professional, you can't let your emotions get to you. You're around people.

You've got to kind of hold that within until the game is over, then really evaluate your performance after, after the game is done and be able to let go of that as soon as possible. And it's not, it's not fun giving up and it's not fun failing. You know, nobody likes to do it, but if you can see the bright side of failing and take the positives from it and learn from it, then it's really not failing to me. I don't think it should be for other people either. What you're saying is the importance of staying cool and calm and collected even when the going gets tough and learning from the failure, not getting too high or too low or beating yourself up. Yeah, not getting caught up in the

moment of failure. You know, just moving on, moving forward um taking it one day at a time not remembering the past really short memory um jason so we believe here at the high performance mindset that if your dreams aren't a little scary that you're not dreaming big enough because when our dreams are small we kind of limit ourselves to what we can actually do so what's a what's a big dream that sometimes maybe seems a little scary for you i think definitely just pitching in the big leagues kind of limit ourselves to what we can actually do. So what's a, what's a big dream that sometimes maybe seems a little scary for you? I think definitely just pitching in the big leagues. That's, that's ultimately why I'm playing this game. Um, just to be able to play in the big leagues one day, being able to play in front of 40,000 people, um, if that doesn't scare you,

I don't know what will, you know, but hopefully when I get to that point, you know, the, the, it won't be so scary at the time because, you know, like we've I get to that point, you know, the, the, it won't be so scary at the time because, you know, like we've, like we've talked about today, I'm just going to go back to the things that I believe in. I trust in my routine and I'm going to be able to stay in the moment when that moment does come. So Jason, I sent you the top 10 traits of high performer. So tell us which one of those that you feel like you're really strong at mentally. I'm just mastering my thinking patterns, I think was my number one thing, just being able to, you know, every time before I go into a game, I'm always getting my mind right to the right

position where it needs to be. And for me, that's kind of a high intensity, but relaxed at the same time, It's an extremely focused moment. But I do have to get my body, my mind amped up a little bit. And then once I get on the mound, it's complete focus. So just being able to do that day in and day out every time that I pitch is the hardest thing to do. But I found out in the past couple of years that it's probably one of the things that I'm better at doing is being able to get in that zone as fast as possible

and hopefully executing everything that I need to do. That's what I see in you as well, Jason, is that that's definitely one of your strengths, just staying in patterns of powerful thinking that are productive and really focused on all the great things that can occur, but staying in the moment and staying focused on the process. Which one of these do you feel like, gosh, you know, you're still kind of,

you're still working on? I would say the self-awareness one was that I thought I was working on because this year, you know, it was a big year for me just learning more about myself than anything else. Like we talked about earlier, just my strengths and weaknesses. You know, once I get on the mound, if I'm facing a left-handed hitter, you know, my strengths, you know, are my, I'm able to throw my off speed in the strike zone when I want to. My strengths with my fastball are I'm able to drive my fastball inside the hitters when I want to so you know maybe to a left-handed hitter you know if my strength is to is to throw a fastball inside but I get a fastball outside you know you don't you don't want to get beat like

that you want to get beat with your best pitch your your strength you want to be pitching towards your strength and I think that's one of the biggest things I've been, I'm going to continue to work on going into this next year, is just finding out who I am as a person, who I am as a pitcher, and being able to just pitch to my strengths, stay away from my weaknesses and go forward with that. And what's one or two things that you do to stay mentally at your best every day, Jason, to keep on going after your dreams? Just wake up with a purpose every day. Stick to that routine of eating breakfast every day at 8 a.m., having a cup of joe, going to the weight room,

and just continuing to keep a positive mindset about everything, staying confident, and ultimately keeping that dream, you know, in sight of everything. That's that that's the ultimate ultimate goal that you have and just keep working towards it. I'm motivated just hearing you talk, Jason. All right, Jason, we're going to go to the speed round. So just say the thing that comes to your mind the quickest. Is there a book that you've read or maybe a podcast or a person that you follow that you'd recommend high performers who are listening check out? Eric Thomas is a very inspirational guy on Twitter. He's got a

couple of books that are out. I actually haven't read them yet, but he's a very inspirational speaker. He's got many, many CDs people listen to before they go into their whatever activity it is, getting them in the right mental state. I would say he's a great guy to look up and definitely look into. And that is E.T. Hip Hop Preacher. Is that right, Jason? That's correct, yeah. So you can Google that or find his videos on YouTube. How do people describe you, Jason?

Is there one word that consistently people say, yep, that's Jason Hoppy? I would say positive. I definitely am positive around everybody, and I try and make the people around me as positive as possible, too, because sometimes life just, you know, it's got negative things thrown at you constantly. But being able to try and see the positive in everything is a big thing that people say about me that I take pride in.

And what's some advice that you've received that's really helped you? Just being able to you know take the positives from failing that's that's the biggest thing I did get some advice this this past summer from a coach that I really liked and it was he told me he pitched in the big leagues for like 13 years and he told me that when he was in the bullpen you know he'd almost be sleeping watching the game and once he got on the mound once his name was called he said he wouldn't throw his pitch his hardest in the bullpen until he got in the game he knew that when he when he crossed the line his adrenaline was going to kick in and he was going to be at at the right

place where he needed to be mentally 100 he didn't want to start out in the bullpen throwing 100% and then cross the line and add some adrenaline to that. And you're at 110%. You're outdoing yourself there. You're trying to do too much. So that was some of the best advice that I had heard this past summer was just being able to relax in the bullpen, whether it goes good or bad, know that once I cross that

line, it's a completely different game. My adrenaline is going to kick in and I'm going to be at the level that I need to be at. And is there a success quote or any phrase that you live by? I like the quote, the harder you work, the luckier you get. I think that's a pretty common quote with a lot of athletes. I like to think luck has a lot to do with baseball because, like I said, there is no perfect pitch. A perfect pitch can get hit out of the ballpark. And I think a lot of that has to do with luck. But you give yourself a good chance to put yourself in good situations if you do work hard. The baseball gods will be on your side if you're doing the right thing. Final question, Jason.

What advice do you have for high performers who are listening? So you might have some, you know, guys who are interested in taking their game to another level, but there's also people who are entrepreneurs, business leaders listening. So what advice could you give them

to help them go after their dreams? Just write down your goals. I would say write down your goals and make them as clear as possible on how you're going to get there. Write down about five different things on how you're going to get to each goal and have short-term and long-term goals and then be able to visibly see them daily. Put them in your vehicle or wherever you need to put them where you can see them on the daily. Jason, you've given us so many important gems. I think what I've heard a lot of what you've talked about is the importance of staying focused on the

process, your routine. That's allowed you to be consistent, to have a collegiate record of the most scoreless innings. You know, I've heard you talk about the process, the importance of that, having fun, not staying too high or too low, and dealing with failure. And then even when you're in the bullpen, not taking any of that to heart, you know, just allowing yourself to be a little bit more objective with your performance instead of beating yourself up. Yeah. And the importance of, you know, that you have struggled at times with the ankle sprain

or, you know, just other difficulties in college, but you always stayed positive, always stayed true to what you wanted and going after your dreams. Yes, absolutely. Cool. Well, thank you so much, Jason, for connecting with us and allowing me to interview you so I can bring this to the High Performance Mindset audience. And I wish you the best in going after your big dreams of pitching in the major leagues. So thanks so much for joining us, Jason. Thank you for having me. I'm glad I was able to speak with you again. It's been too long. Awesome. Thanks, Jason.

Yep. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. Are you signed up for Sindra's weekly email with free mental tools and strategies for high performance? Why the heck not? Text MENTALLYSTRONG, all one word, to 22828 or visit sindracampoff.com.