SUCCESS IS NEVER AN ACCIDENT

A short but powerful video and message from Alan Stein:

ARE YOU IMPRESSIVE OR INFLUENTIAL

The following "The Difference You Make" -- a great book by Pat Williams with Jim Denney:

"People are impressed by athletic ability but they are influenced by the way we treat other people.  It takes a lot more than athletic ability to be a hero and a role model.  You've got to have good character, good values, and a good heart in order to be someone worth admiring and emulating.  A 'hero' with great athletic talent but a small mind and a closed heart is unworthy of anyone's adulation."

As an athlete, you are working hard to develop your skill set.  But as a person, how are you working to develop those around you.   Do you know you gym janitors by name -- always greeting them will a "hello" and a smile?  When's the last time you've been by the office to speak to your team secretary and see how she's doing?  What is your relationship with your team's managers?  Do you truly treat them as team members or do you make their jobs more difficult?  The absolute great ones know that to achieve maximum success that they need everyone to be at their best.

ENJOY AND EMBRACE THE GRIND

CLIMB THE STEEP

 

"For every hill I've had to climb

For every rock that bruised my feet

For all the blood and sweat and grime

For blinding storms and burning heat

My heart sings but a grateful song

These were the things that made me strong."

 

-James Casey

MORE IMPORTANT THAT THE TEAM PLAYS WELL

"I think any player will tell you that

individual accomplishments help your ego, but if

you don't win, it makes for a very, very long season. 

 It counts more that the team has played well."

 

-David Robinson

TEAM: LEAN AND SUPPORT

"No body is a whole team...We need each other.  You need someone and someone needs you.  Isolate islands we're not.  To make this thing called life work, we gotta lean and support. And relate and respond.  And give and take.  And confess and forgive.  And reach out and embrace and rely...Since none of us is a whole, independent, self-sufficient, super-capable, all-powerful hotshot, let's quit acting like we are.  Life's lonely enough without our playing that silly role.  The game is over.  Let's link up."

-Chuck Swindoll

WORK ETHIC & MATURITY -- HOW TO IMPRESS YOUR COACH!

Do you want to know how to impress your coach?  Here is how Blake Griffin impressed his new coach Doc Rivers:

“One guy that has stood out to me is Blake. Just sitting in my office up there and looking down on him and watching him work. I knew he was a worker. I didn’t know he was the worker to the extent that he’s worked this summer. He’s put in a lot of time. I’ve been impressed with his scheduling. He does a lot of stuff and nothing gets in the way of his basketball, and that shows me a great sign of maturity.”

-Doc Rivers