A CHAMPION'S GREAT ASSET

"I always felt that my greatest asset

was not my physical ability,

it was my mental ability."

-BRUCE JENNER

4 THINGS WINNING TEAMS HAVE IN COMMON

Look at hundreds of winning teams, and you will find that their players have four things in common:

1. They play to win:

The difference between playing to win and playing not to lose is often the difference between success and mediocrity.

2. They have a winning attitude:

Team members believe in themselves, their teammates, and their dream. And they don’t allow negative thinking to derail them.

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3. They keep improving:

The highest reward for their efforts isn’t what they get from it, but who they become because of it. Team members know intuitively that if they’re through improving, they’re through.

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4. They make their teammates more successful:

Winners are empowerers. As Charlie Brower says, “Few people are successful unless a lot of other people want them to be.”

From John Maxwell's "Teamwork Makes the Dream Work."

DON'T BECOME A VICTIM OF YOURSELF

The following comes from the late Jim Rohn and was sent to our players today via an email. You can only climb to your potential when you take full and complete responsibility of your life. Here is what Jim Rohn says:

Don’t become a victim of yourself. Forget about the thief waiting in the alley; what about the thief in your mind?

It is not what happens that determines the major part of your future. What happens, happens to us all. It is what you do about what happens that counts.

You say, “The country is messed up.” That’s like cursing the soil and the seed and the sunshine and the rain, which is all you’ve got. Don’t curse all you’ve got. When you get your own planet, you can rearrange this whole deal. This one you’ve got to take like it comes.

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Walk away from the 97 percent crowd. Don’t use their excuses. Take charge of your own life.

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Take advice, but not orders. Only give yourself orders. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Since I will be no one’s slave, I will be no one’s master.”

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. You don’t have charge of the constellations, but you do have charge of whether you read, develop new skills, and take new classes.

Your paycheck (playing time) is not your employer’s (coaches') responsibility; it’s your responsibility. Your employer has no control over your value, but you do.

THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF SELF-DISCIPLINE

"What we do on some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are; and what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline."

-H.P. Liddon

THE MOST REWARDING THINGS

“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.”

—Arnold Palmer

PEYTON MANNING STILL STRIVES FOR IMPROVEMENT

The following written by Paul Kuharsky for ESPN.com:

How does Peyton Manning, the league’s first four-time MVP, get better for 2010?

Head coach Jim Caldwell has seen the process up close as a participant. He knows just the sort of meticulous deconstruction of the 2009 season Manning has done with quarterback coach Frank Reich in search of bullet points to concentrate on for 2010.

“He’s a very unusual guy,” Caldwell said. “Every year he kind of goes through this process where he and Frank will sit down and they’ll take a look at what he was able to accomplish last year, he’ll look at all his strengths and weaknesses. He’ll review every single snap of every game he played. And not just glancing over it, but I’m talking about detail. They’ll take notes of ever single throw, every single play call, every single check.

“And then from that he’ll go through it and then make a determination on where he thought he could improve on that setting. He’ll dissect his entire season that way and then he’ll set new goals for himself in terms of what he thinks he can accomplish. And he seems to certainly keep moving forward, each and every year you see he gets better… I don’t think there is any limitation on him, on what he can improve upon.”

How long does it take? A week? A couple?

“Months,” Caldwell said. “Plural.”

Read the entire article: http://es.pn/cAVzjI

EXCELLENCE...NOT AN ACT BUT A HABIT

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

-Aristotle

DISCIPLINE: WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING

"Discipline is what you do when no ones else is looking! It’s being considerate of the other person. Having good personal habits—you are polite, on time, and take care of business with pride. We must be disciplined as individuals first, and then as a team."

From "The Winners Manual" by Jim Tressel

THE IMPORTANCE OF INFLUENTIAL THOUGHTS

From Rick Warren:

Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. Proverbs 4:23 (GNT)

The Bible says our thoughts influence our lives. For instance --

My interpretation influences my situation -- It's not what happens to me that matters as much as how I choose to see it. The way I react will determine whether the circumstance makes me better or bitter. I can view everything as an obstacle or an opportunity for growth - a stumbling block or a stepping stone.

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My beliefs influence my behavior -- We always act according to our beliefs, even when those ideas are false. For instance, as a child, if you believed a shadow in your bedroom at night was a monster, your body reacted in fear (adrenaline and jitters) even though it wasn't true. That's why it's so important to make sure you are operating on true information! Your convictions about yourself, about life, and about God influence your conduct.

My self-talk influences my self-esteem - We constantly talk to ourselves. Do you run yourself down with your self-talk? Stop doing that: "As he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7 NKJV).

GUARD & DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTER

The circumstances amid which you live determines your reputation…the truth you believe determines your character.

Reputation is what you are supposed to be; character is what you are.

Reputation is the photograph; character is the face.

Reputation comes over one from without; character grows up from within.

Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; character is what you have when you go away.

Your reputation is made in a moment; your character is built in a lifetime.

Your reputation is learned in an hour; your character does not come to light for a year.

Reputation grows like a mushroom; character lasts like eternity.

Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; character makes you happy or makes you miserable.

Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; character is what the angels say about you before the throne of God.

From "Becoming a Person of Influence" by: John C. Maxwell and Jim Dornan

HOW HARD ARE YOU WORKING?!?!

"If every basketball player

worked as hard as I did,

I'd be out of a job."

-Steve Nash

(via Point Guard College)

EYE CONTRACT

"The foremost thing we require from our players, before anything else, is that they make good eye contact...eye contact is a sign."

-Pat Summitt
From "Reach for the Summit"

THE ULTIMATE CHAMPION

"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team,

I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team,

not the individual, is the ultimate champion."

~Mia Hamm

GARRETT KARP'S STORY

Never fail to appreciate the joy of playing -- you never know when it will be gone!

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BEST PLAYER

Every team has a best player. Some of these “best players” understand the responsibility that goes with that and others don’t. We have found that those who do have two things in common:

.......... ◦they have earned this designation (not just been given it)
.......... ◦they understand it’s an everyday responsibility

Kevin Garnett made an interesting comment on the bench the other night when he was talking to a teammate about consistency. He said, “an All-Star has to be a pit bull; he has to bring it every night!”

Everyone wants to be Michael Jordan or Paul Pierce or Tim Duncan or Steve Nash, but they don’t want the responsibility that goes with it. What Kevin was saying is being the best is not a one time thing. It is an everyday commitment to excel as a player who gives maximum effort every time he hits the floor. That means every game, every half, every quarter, every minute, every second, and every possession!

And this will be the case for anyone in any field who is — or wants to become — the best. It is a personal commitment that takes incredible daily focus. I encourage you to use Kevin’s statement with the player or players on your team who may be taking this for granted. You can tell them that Kevin not only talks the talk on this but he walks the walk. He understands that being the best requires more!

From Boston Celtic assistant Kevin Eastman