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.
Getting UnStuck: Part 2
Welcome to MOVING FORWARD. This is the same feelings that the most success people in any category feel. Don’t get overwhelmed. All of these feeling are positive feelings. Remember, if you want to become different you need to think different. Your mind is thinking different, so you are becoming different. Keep moving forward.
Getting UnStuck
I’m a self-starter. I didn’t need any prompting to begin to write a program for an upcoming offseason program. No one needs to fire me up to write a blog.
When I left coaching, I was already writing my book. As I wrote Move or Die, I was setting up speaking outlines. As I finished Move or Die, I had already started putting together ideas for a second book, which is in research right now.
My point is that I have the type of personality that has no problem with starting and finishing ideas. I’m in the minority. Too many of us have great ideas. We have great plans and ambitious dreams. But that’s as far as it goes. These ideas, plans and dreams all die on the vine. I love Don Shula’s quote that defines this action, “It’s the start that stops most people.”
Get Up
“Success comes to those who have the will power to win over their snooze buttons.” – Unknown
I recently listened to a sleep specialist who said that when your alarm goes off in the morning and you push the snooze button you are starting in a deficit before your even put one foot on the ground.
Too many of us think that an extra ten minutes of sleep aren’t a big deal. But in reality, studies show, when your alarm goes off your body turns on. Even though you are still sleepy, and your bed may feel too cozy to get out of, your mind and body are ready to go. It’s a Pavlovian response. Alarm goes off you GET TO move forward.
Be True to Who You Are
“One day’s life of a lion is preferable to hundred years of a jackal.” – Tipu Sultan
Do you know what a jackal is? In the wild it is a member of the canine family found mostly in southern Africa, the Middle East and India. To me the jackal represents that nagging feeling that is always biting at my heels when I’m not being true to myself.
Finding Inspiration
If you are a writer, an artist, a composer of music, really any passion that calls for creativity, there are times where ideas flow from you like a fire hose, and then there are times where you are stuck in the middle of a creative desert.
When I am bursting with ideas, I call it being “in the spirit”. My muse is working inside me and is pushing ideas out, sometimes faster than I can write them down. These are high energy times for me. I have trouble sleeping because I need to get them out. I can’t wait to get back to writing.
Lead, Follow, Or Get the F*@K Out of the Way
There are two kinds of leaders. Those who want to lead (True Leaders) and those who want to be followed (False Leaders). The True Leaders get things done for the organization. The False Leaders just want people to follow them and are only working to keep their resume clean.
You will work WITH the True Leader. But you will work FOR the False Leader.
Working with a True Leader is sometimes difficult, though the end result of the work is that everyone shares in the wealth. The False Leader may be “fun” to work for … but in the end, they get the largest percentage of the cheese and all of the acclaim. You’re just part of the furniture.
Loyalty
I then asked if those were the second and third traits of hiring the coaches, what is the most important trait. Jerry sat back and smiled. “You don’t know because it comes naturally to you, but the most important quality is: loyalty. Loyalty is the single most important quality that you need to find in an assistant or when you are being hired, your head coach must be loyal to you.”
Focus
To me “FOCUS” means to become entranced by the job that is at hand. It’s the FOCUS a batter has when they step into the batter’s box. It’s the attention given by a wide receiver when they are crossing the middle of the defense and are about to catch a pass. It’s the routine that a golfer goes through as he addresses the ball during his swing prep. It’s the ability of a corporate CFO to control their breathing and slow their mind as they are about to deliver a keynote speech at a stockholders’ meeting. It’s the stay-at-home parent who is about to stand in front of their school board and dozens of onlookers and television cameras and give a speech that will cause all around them to pause and consider their positions.
In any of these scenarios, whether it be in front of the entire world or just a few people, a lack of FOCUS may be so damning that you will never be trusted in that position again. We never want to be “that person”!
Faith
When was the last time that you told your spouse, child, friend, employee, co-worker, “I have faith in you, I believe that you are going to be successful?” Here is the sad part, when was the last time you looked at yourself in the mirror and told yourself that you had faith in you and that you believed that you were going to be successful?