Life Lessons On Will, Skill, Discipline & Psychological Warfare From Mike Tyson's Mentor - Cus D'Amato

Life Lessons On Will, Skill, Discipline & Psychological Warfare From Mike Tyson's Mentor - Cus D'Amato

Coach to the World's Baddest Man.

This is about a great man, an unbeaten boxing coach who in his lifetime nurtured three heavyweight world champions.

A man whose triumph is absolute.

"A human being is not born the finest, he becomes truly outstanding through persistent heavy work".

- Cus D'Amato.

⚔️ The red switch

Cus trained his boxers to visualize having a red switch that would switch on the moment you stepped in the ring.

He called it the fighting machine.

Once on, all that mattered was Victory.

FIGHTING MACHINE = PSYCHOLOGY + PHILOSOPHY + SKILLS

When the red button was on - The psychology, philosophy and skills would fuse into one uniform system.

The fighter is like a loaded gun.

The gun might be on the safety lock — The green button.

When the red button is switched on, we take off the safety, we pull the trigger.

⚔️ Fear Is Like Fire - Harness it.

Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning.

Fear is like fire - you control it and make it work for you.

Else, it will destroy you and everything around you.

If you can push through fear, you can get anything you want.

⚔️ Conquer Goals With Purpose

Fighting is a way of life. Everybody has to fight. It could be against a person, illness, ill-intent, habit or yourself.

To fight you must have a purpose. A reason to fight.

Find that purpose and fight for it.

You will conquer your goals.

⚔️ Iron discipline

Most crucial ingredient to succeed.

Cus was an inconceivable disciplinarian. 

The very life force that nurtures character.

He didn’t force anybody to train.

Each fighter had to find his discipline on his own.

⚔️ Will Is Everything

When two men are fighting, what you’re watching is more a contest of will, than of skills.

Stronger willpower usually overcomes skill.

The skill will prevail only when it is so superior to the other man’s skill that his willpower is not tested.

⚔️ Acting on emotion is for amateurs

A man is a fighter when he can do what needs to be done no matter how he feels within.

An amateur is an amateur in his attitude emotionally.

A professional executes under the most trying conditions regardless of his emotions.

⚔️ Skill is learned and earned

“There is no such thing as a natural puncher. Nobody is born the best. You have to practice and train to become the best.” – Cus D’Amato

ANY PAIN IS A CONSEQUENCE OF A LACK OF SKILL.

⚔️ The science of victory.

Tyson learned to prepare, visualize and affirm victory through tough lessons.

Cus D’Amato believed that the scientific approach to fighting was the best.

The most important was the science of victory. Anything else was an augmentation.

Our thinking becomes our state of being.

If you think you are tired, you will get tired soon.

If you think you are not going to succeed you will most definitely fail.

The science of victory is just that - unshakeable belief in victory through everyday affirmations.

⚔️ 5 elements of a fighter.

Structure - His entire physical being.

Psyche - His fighting warrior spirit.

Character - His sense of self.

Instinct - His killer instinct.

Consciousness - What he is beneath it all.

D’Amato was the only person to strike fear in Mike Tyson.

The only one to keep him under control – the one to criticize him constructively.

Tyson gave credit to D’Amato for turning his life around.

I intend to honour this man by reading about him and learning his lessons.