A few quotes from the Coach:
Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate.
The dictionary is the only place that “Success” comes before “Work.” Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything… if you’re willing to pay the price.
Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
People follow when they are inspired. Every successful organization connects their people and their customers with a vision that taps into important values. Just saying it is not enough. Leaders need to lead by example – and people will be inspired to follow and contribute to fulfilling the vision.
First, define your vision by seeking input from employees and customers to see what is important to them. Once you polish your vision, find compelling ways to communicate your vision. It will inspire you as the leader to live it and others to follow.
Think about your immediate world…your co-workers, managers and the people you manage.
We spend more time with these individuals than we do with our friends and families.
What will you do today to improve your world? The choice is yours!
“HOW WONDERFUL IT IS THAT NOBODY NEED WAIT A SINGLE MOMENT
BEFORE STARTING TO IMPROVE THE WORLD!”
—Anne Frank
The world improves with you and how you chose to act.
There are many great lessons learned when you are in pursuit of winning. Everyone wants to win, but “winning” does not look the same for everyone. Sometimes if we feel that we need to be able to win every time, we may limit what we choose to pursue because we want to be sure we can win. True winning means going all out to do your best even in the midst of challenges and uncertainty.
Winning at all cost can be very damaging to many. I believe the premise that one of the reasons that HIV and AIDS were allowed to grow was the infighting between the Centers for Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute battled over funding and who might get credit for medical discoveries that were to come from the isolation of the HIV virus, blood tests to find HIV, or any possible vaccine. They both wanted to be winners instead of putting the needs of their patients first.
The military, CIA and FBI have not shared important information with each other because each wanted to be the winner. The American people lost because they did not put us first.
Winning needs to be placed within a big picture context because it sometimes requires collaboration rather than competition. Another way to view winning is that it is not just an end result either. You can actually win along the way. Daring to begin the pursuit and continue when challenges arise is itself a win. Look at your current work and life areas to see where you may already be winning and identify other areas you want to start winning.
”WINNING ISN’T EVERTHING, IT’S THE ONLY THING.”
–Vince Lombardi
This quote sounds great, but is very demotivating. A more motivating version of this quote would be:
“THE PURSUIT OF WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING, IT’S THE ONLY THING”.
Everyone cannot win every time, but having winning as a pursuit is open to everyone all the time.
M. Scott Peck’s quote “Life is Difficult” starts off his book The Road Less Traveled. The good news is that it does not end there.
We get a choice about how we approach life and which roads we choose to take. Sometimes we take the easy road thinking life will somehow be easier. Life is still difficult along the way of the easy road. And, by choosing this path, we lose the opportunity to gain the many results that can improve our lives.
Hopefully, more often than not, we choose to take the road that may be filled with additional challenges because we know that the payoffs and results are many once we overcome those difficulties.
The key is that we need to recognize that following the pain-work-results process is required to achieve success.
1st – Take the pain is about recognizing there will be pain of various types to endure along the way, but that we cannot let it stop us from doing what we need to do. If we do not take the pain, we will not be able to work or be able to get the results we want.
2nd – Do the work is about working with focus despite what is happening in our personal or professional lives. Knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to do it also helps you have the clarity to press forward even when the workload (and/or painload) seems too much to handle at times.
3rd – Results do follow is about getting the results because you did do the work and did not let the pain prevent you from taking the actions required to make the results happen.
These steps to successful results are listed in order, but they can also occur and repeat at different times throughout the process.
When we recognize that life is difficult, but that success is possible when we have the right approach and process of moving through the pain, life becomes easier already.
What you think and what you feel is of little consequence, the only thing that matters is what you do.
Because of the social networking phenomenon everyone has the opportunity to express their thoughts. A major problem has become the number of people giving advice on things that they have never personally accomplished. Sharing your thoughts and feeling do not help anyone, especially yourself, if you haven’t experienced the doing. If you want what you say to really resonate, shut up and do the work!
