Blog
Read Blog Posts by Category:
Passion: Articles that deal with the inner drive that we all need to want to MOVE from where we currently are to where we dream to be.
Preparation: These posts reference articles, books, documentaries, speakers, quotes, and other inspirational and formative ideas that I have found that helped me and the people around me.
Practice: Articles in this category have a heavy sports and performance training lean.
Performance: These articles focus on how you go about your work. From networking to communications to finding a better way to do what you do.
Perseverance: Articles in this category speak to the mechanics that we go through both mentally and physically to stay on track and not get STUCK.
Your Health is Your Wealth
No one on their deathbed wishes they had more money, but they all wish they had more time. You’ve heard this before, and I think it is worth repeating. While pursuing our passions often overshadows our well-being, it’s easy to forget one important truth: your health is your wealth. This hits deep during a time when physical and mental wellness can significantly impact not just how we feel but how we live our best lives.
The Game of Life: And How to Win
I look at life like a game. It is a complex, multi-layered adventure with challenges, strategies, and playmakers. The big question is how to win and play the game purposefully and gracefully. I have been the proverbial “fly on the wall” as I watched individuals in the sporting world, in business, and in life climb to the top or fall on their faces. I have found that those who were seen as “successful” or those who failed again and again had three things in common: A Unique Passion, a deep Understanding of the Process, and the Willingness to Outwork everyone. These three traits formed a foundation for success, but those who did not embrace the three never developed a foundation that would lead to their success.
It’s That Time Again: NFL Preseason
As a fan, I must confess that the NFL preseason is not my favorite part of the football season. In fact, I've been on the sidelines as a coach, and I can tell you that it's not a phase I particularly enjoyed.
While I may not enjoy it, I recognize that the NFL preseason was once a crucial phase. It used to be a time when players would have had to step up and play at full speed against other teams, a process that determines who is genuinely 'NFL ready.'
Preseason has always been one of the most challenging aspects for some players: the transition from practice to game situations. It's a learning process where a confused player can easily seek guidance in a practice setting. But in a game, a quarterback or a lineman must make split-second decisions on their own.
How To Become an Elite Communicator: Part II: Speaking
Every day, you encounter situations in which communicating the right message in the right way is vital. It may be as simple as making sure someone is picking up food for dinner that night or as important as giving life-saving information to a person over the phone.
The key is to communicate well in every situation. Here are three ideas for becoming an Elite Communicator.
How To Become an Elite Communicator: Part I: Listening
Listening is often overlooked in a world filled with constant noise and distractions. We live in a society that values speaking and being heard, but what about the importance of genuinely listening? We were given two ears and one mouth for a reason – to listen twice as much as we speak.
Stacking Your Professional Deck
Like always, I transposed the topic of poker to having a successful life. In life, like in poker, the way the cards come out is random. In magic, you use a sleight of hand to manipulate the deck to get what you want. To control your success, you must control the factors that allow you to have all the success you want when you want it.
Think Like a Champion
I spoke about how to train your mind to overcome the setbacks that come with baseball and life. While speaking to the baseball players, I was looking at the parents because the techniques I teach can be used between the lines and in life.
Finding Your Space
I believe your environment is a huge part of finding your creativity.
When I am outdoors, my mind is open, and nothing is impossible. Of course, this has grown out of thirty-five years in coaching. Every time I could take my athletes outside to work, we were outside.
Because of this “space” that I had created, I could always think and see the possibilities that could happen. For some reason, I felt muted when I was in my office. I started to carry small notebooks in my pockets to write down the things that came to me while watching one of our workouts or practice.
Life Hack: Change Your Mindset
Derek Jeter once said, “The last thing you think is the first thing you will do.”
If you think you will fail, you will most likely fail.
Your mind will not just “play along”. It will go where you want to take it. When you set a positive mindset, you will succeed more times than not.
Leadership: Developing a Team Culture
Coach Tom Landry put it best when he said, “My job is to get men to do what they don’t want to do so they can become who they want to be.” That is coaching in a nutshell. Athletes are humans and all humans have basic weaknesses. For most it takes someone or something to make them push past their self-imposed barriers so that they can become all that they were meant to be.
Rusty Trucks: Part I – Sports
The “Rusty Trucks” show up early. They show up prepared. They don’t complain. They come to work. They’re not high-maintenance.
They don’t play for the money; they play for the love of the game. You never see a “Rusty Truck” holding out. They get what they have “earned”. They don’t talk about what they “deserve”.
Answer vs Reason
In your profession you are either the ANSWER to the problems or you are the REASON for the problems.
Coaching Handbook: Lessons Learned
A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life. – John Wooden
Coaching is the most amazing profession in the world. You literally can change an individual’s life, for the better, in six months. There are books that can give you examples of how to coach, but until you are knee deep in the profession you will never understand truly what it takes to be a successful coach. The lessons come to you in two ways. First, your individual experiences with players, parents and the organizations that you are with. Second, and probably the most important teacher; the coaches that you are working with and around every day.
#50
For those who have been following me, thank you for your support, your comments and your success stories. I love to find my email box full of your success stories on where you were and how far you have come, because of the Move or Die message. For those who have just found me, welcome to the circus!
The Game Within the Game
Scotty Conley taught me to stop watching the football during football games. He showed me that one can get too focused on the result rather than understanding the process that produced the result. If you watch the receiver catch the ball and run untouched into the endzone you only saw the tip of the iceberg. So, instead of watching the "show" we need to watch the “process" that made the “show” possible. The game within the game.
Culture is the Key to Success
Winning or losing a sporting event or the success or failure of a business can be seen in two different ways. The most obvious reason is the decisions made by the people in leadership positions. The second way, which is less obvious, is the CULTURE within the team or the company.
Analysts will dissect all of the decisions made by the shot-callers every time there is good fortune or rough seas. The pundits write beautifully about the genius of those who show value, while questioning the abilities of those who struggle.
What they don’t look at, until they are doing the “post-mortem” (when the leadership is cut loose), is what was going on behind closed doors.
It’s All in the Numbers
The buzzword of the 2020s in sports is “analytics”. Everyone is talking about it. How the physical metrics are compiled and what they are telling us. I was more old school. I let my eyes be the judge of where my team was. I saw a funny picture the other day … well “funny” in that it was WRONG. It was a picture of a $50 million quarterback, with a history of knee and back issues, back squatting.
Training the Quarterback
During my career, I have been blessed with a tremendous group of hardworking competitors who all played the quarterback position. Two went on to win the Heisman Trophies. Four have won national championships and one has won a Super Bowl. Four were drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. The thing that they all had in common was the Five Ps.
Consistency
I looked at the player and said, “What do you think of when you see me?” He pondered on the question for a second and said one word, “Consistency.” I smiled and said “Exactly! I have successfully completed what I set out to do.” He looked at me curiously and said, “What is that?” I said, “I am the same person every day. I don’t let emotion or my clothing make me stand out. I let my coaching be my hallmark. When you walk in here every day you see me, Coach C, Consistency. You don’t have to worry about who I’m going to be today; you don’t have to worry about if I am in a good mood, or a bad mood you know one thing, you are about to go to work to become better at your profession.”