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.
Accepting Blame
One of the biggest faults most of us have is that we lack the ability to take the blame when things go wrong. We can turn on the TV any time of day and watch one political party blame the issues on the other party and yet, in the same breath, take credit for all of the good. Not only in politics but we see this on talk shows, courtroom shows, soap operas, movies, commercials, sitcoms … everywhere!! We go to work and we watch the drama in real life. Even at home we see family bickering with one side saying it was the other side’s fault.
We are inundated with the “blame game”.
Dancing In the Rain
Over the Memorial Day weekend, I was the officiant at the wedding of the daughter of two of my quarters (Rod and Jacque Coyan). My part was short – to the point – with “humor and just the right amount of seriousness”, as I was told after the ceremony by a person I had never met.
From the rooftop of a hotel, located in the middle of the city, to the open fields of my friend’s father’s farm, was a 20-minute ride in a limo. The cocktail hour was full of laughter and handshakes and hugs from people that I knew who had attended the wedding. The dinner was great, not just chicken, but a choice of salmon and beef. Then came the after-dinner speeches. The brother of the groom, who had never addressed a crowd that numbered nearly 250 souls, if not more, did a great job. The parents and the maid of honor all hit home runs. The music started and about an hour afterwards the wind started picking up. If you’ve ever lived in the high plains, you know you can see a storm coming.
The wedding and the storm were going to meet … head-on.
The rain came down and the wind blew. A beautiful day was now at the will of the storm. I sat back and wondered how the bride would react. I thought I knew who she was. I wanted to see if I was right or wrong. This wedding balanced on her reaction to the turn in the weather.
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.
What Makes the Impossible… Impossible?
What makes the impossible … impossible? Don’t make it hard … the answer is simple. Something is impossible because nobody has done it … yet. When someone does the “impossible” then it becomes possible and eventually, it will become routine.
It’s Roger Bannister running a sub-Four Minute Mile. When he accomplished that in 1954, no one had achieved that feat. He made the impossible … possible. Let’s jump ahead … during the 2021-2022 collegiate track season, 82 student-athletes in the NCAA, ran a sub-four-minute mile. (The men’s record for the mile run has 3:43.13 – Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco).
The next “impossible” feat accomplished will be when the first woman runs a sub-four-minute mile. Right now, the fastest mile run by a woman is 4:12.33, run by Dutch runner Sifan Hassan, born in Ethiopia. This means that she would have to take three seconds off each lap … that’s a lot. But it’s only impossible because no had done it … yet.
To Be or Not To Be, That Is… INDECISIVENESS
Have you ever been out to dinner and one of the people at the table can’t decide what they want to eat? And then they ask the waitress … only to later find out that she is sensitive to gluten and is a vegan.
No, that really happens. I was at the table and was amazed that this person, who is so smart and decisive in the rest of their life, becomes indecisive.
This is a bad thing in the business world and is a career killer in the coaching profession. When the person you look to lead you can’t decide what they want to do you begin to lose faith in everything they say.
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.
Never Be Satisfied
Being satisfied. I think this is one of the hardest things I have had to deal with during my coaching career and the single biggest issue that I confront daily as a motivational professional.
I know that everyone has the right to be who they want to be. Everyone has their own idea of what success looks like. But what happens when you sell yourself short? The great artist and sculptor, Michaelangelo once said, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting out aim too high and falling short, but setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.”
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.
Move or Die
Have you ever heard of Hugh Glass? If you remember the movie “The Revenant” which starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass. He was a fur trapper who was mauled by a bear and was left for dead after his fur trapping “friends” left him near a small stream because they were being hunted by a group of indigenous warriors.
Control What You Control
Do me a favor. Think about the best person in your given field. See them do their work. Notice how it seems like it’s easy, like it’s second nature for them to do this task. When you watch them, you think to yourself, “I’ll never be able to do that.” What you did was measure them, through your personal lenses and your ability to do the same task.
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.
The Power of Words
There is a saying in Tai Chi: “Four ounces to move a thousand pounds.” The idea is to figure out how you can do this. Using very little to have an effect on a greater amount. The simple answer is a “rope”. Four ounces of rope, when passed through the ring in a bull’s nose, will allow a farmer to lead or move the thousand-pound bull.
But that’s too simple. We need to look deeper into this thought. In many philosophical beliefs and practices, the question asked is not asked to receive an answer as blunt as a “rope”, but something deeper. As I thought deeper into this idea of movement … since my philosophy of training and my philosophy of life both are tied to MOVEMENT, I spent several days working my mind through this concept.
The Truth
We all want the truth. We want the truth from our friends, family, employer, employees, politicians, the media. We just want to be told what is true and what is not. It doesn’t sound too difficult. Just tell the truth without adding any bias, innuendo, shading, or further explanation.
Speakers Toolbox: Believe In You
How many times are you in this situation?
You are asked to speak in front of a group of your peers. And you freeze up. My first question is, “Why?” The normal response is that there is a feeling of discomfort. This usually stems from the idea that they are not comfortable being the center of attention. Then there is a feeling of doubt about their knowledge and possibly being judged. And finally, the overwhelming feeling of speaking to a large group.
Let’s look at those fears and maybe I can help you get over some of your sticking points that might be the difference between you staying where you are at in your business, or possibly moving forward in your chosen profession.
Stuck – Stagnate – Die
We are born, we work, we die. If this is your timeline … we need to talk. Unfortunately, most people live their whole life working for someone else’s dreams, while their personal dreams die on the vine. How many people dream of breaking their body down day after day for a paycheck? Oh, Lord, please have me in so much pain that I can’t live a complete life. How many people pray this prayer every night? That’s right NONE!!!
So why do we do this? Why do we get into a job that is not what we had always dreamt of? Why do we toil for people who don’t care about our dreams day after day, year after year? I understand we need to make ends meet. But at what point did you decide your dreams weren’t important?
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.”
The Path of the Elite Performer
All of the things that happen in your life count. They can alter your course. They can either push you farther or divert you from where you thought you wanted to go. For some, these changes in course can mean that they lose track of their dreams and goals. They go off on tangents that put them in a world that they never could have imagined being in.
Read more for three steps to become who you want to be.
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?