DON'T LET RATINGS DEFINE OR DETOUR YOUR

For those young athletes that get caught up in all the recruiting services and ratings, here is a fascinating stat:

*Not a single starter for either team in Super Bowl XLIX 

was rated a five-star recruit out of high school.

*Taken from "Above The Line" by Urban Meyer

DEFEATING THE INSTINCT TO SLACK OFF

"There is something that can happen to every athlete, every human being -- it's the instinct to slack off, to give in to the pain, to give less than your best...the instinct to hope to win through luck or your opponents' not doing their best, instead of going to the limit and past your limit, where victory is always to be found.  Defeating those negative instincts that are out to defeat us is the difference between winning and losing, and we face that battle every day of our lives."

Jesse Owens, Olympic Champion

AND THEN SOME

Want to elevate your game -- on the court...elevate your academics...elevate your personal life?  Here are three words to follow:

And Then Some

These three little words are the secret to success. They are the difference between average people and top people in most companies.

The top people always do what is expected...and then some...

They are thoughtful of others; they are considerate and kind...and then some...

They meet their obligations and responsibilities fairly and squarely...and then some...they are good friends and helpful neighbors...and then some...

They can be counted on in an emergency...and then some...

I am thankful for people like this, for they make the world more livable, Their spirit of service is summed up in these little words...and then some!

Carl Holmes

THE ART OF PROPERLY INVESTING YOUR TIME

HOW WE VIEW FAILURE CAN LEAD TO SUCCESS

Here is a great passage from "The Maxwell Daily Reader" written by John Maxwell.  Each calendar day there is a message and it is always amazing how it fits in with something going on in your life today. Today's, March 11, spoke about how we view failure and how our thought process in this regard goes a long way towards success.  To make his point, Maxwell used one of my favorites, Tony Gwynn as example:

On August 6, 1999, a major-league baseball player stepped up to home plate in Montreal and made another out -- the 5,113th of his professional career.  That's a lot of trips to the batter's box without a hit!  If a player made all of those outs consecutively, and he average four at bats per game, he would play eight seasons (1,278 game straight) without ever reaching first base!

Was the player discourage that night? No.  You see, earlier in the same game, in his first plate appearance, that player had reached a milestone that only twenty-one other people in the history of baseball have every achieved.  He had made his 3,000th hit.  That player was Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres.

During that game, Tony got on base with hits four times in five tries.  But that's not the norm for him.  Usually he fails to get a hit two times out of every three attempts.  Those results may not sound very encouraging, but if you know baseball, you recognize that Tony's ability to succeed consistently only one time in three tries has made him the great hitter of his generation.  And Tony recognized that to get his hits, he has to make a lot of outs.

One of the greatest problems people have with failure is that they are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them as failures.  Instead, they have need to keep the bigger picture in mind.  Someone like Tony Gwynn doesn't look at an out that he makes and think of failure.  He sees it within the context of the bigger picture.  His perspective leads to perseverance. His perseverance brings longevity.  And his longevity gives him opportunity for success.

LESSONS THAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM KD's MVP ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

As a player, what can you learn from Kevin Durrant's MVP acceptance speech?

1. You can see a true vision of what humility looks like and sounds like.

2. You can see how an MVP takes an individual award and turn it into a team award.

3. You can see from text messages, written notes and conversations, how teammates can lift a player to a higher level.

4. The importance of family.

5. Preparation -- in terms of what he wanted to say and the message he wanted to convey.

THE DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

The following comes from "The Champion's Mind" by Jim Afremow:

"My favorite description of what excellence in the sports world looks like comes Anson Dorrance, the legendary University of North Carolina women's soccer coach.  He was driving to work early one morning, and as he passed a deserted field, he noticed one of his players off in the distance doing extra training by herself.  He kept driving, but he later left a note in her locker: "The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching." 

The young woman, Mia Hamm, would go on to become one of the great players in the history of the sport.

WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE?

SUCCESS IS NEVER AN ACCIDENT

A short but powerful video and message from Alan Stein:

EXCELLENCE

"Going far beyond the call of duty, doing more than others expect, this is what excellence is all about!  And it comes from striving, maintaining the highest standards, looking after the smallest detail, and going the extra mile.  Excellence means doing your very best.  In everything!  In every way."

-Jack Johnson

IT'S "WHAT CAN BE" THAT MEASURES WORTH

The following is a poem written by Dan Clark for Anthony Robles.  It comes from Roble's book "Unstoppable."  Want to learn more about Robles? Check out one of our previous blog posts: http://goo.gl/mwgVC.

Every soul who comes to earth
With a leg -- or two -- at birth
Must wrestle his opponents knowing
It's not what it is, it's what can be that measures worth.
Make it hard, just make it possible
And through pain I'll not complain,
My spirit is unconquerable
Fearless I will face each foe, for I know
I am capable, I don't care what's probable
Through blood, sweat and tears
I am unstoppable.

ASK WHY, NOT WHO

The following comes from "Go For Gold" by John Maxwell:

The next time you experience a failure, think about why you failed instead of who was at fault. Analyze any failure:


• What lessons have I learned?

• Am I grateful for this experience?

• How can I turn the failure into success?

• Practically speaking, where do I go from here?

• Who else has failed in this way before, and how can that person help me?

• How can my experience help others someday to keep from failing?

• Did I fail because of another person, because of my situation, or because of myself?

• Did I actually fail, or did I fall short of an unrealistically high standard?

• Where did I succeed as well as fail?

"Be the first to take responsibility for finding

answers when things go wrong for your team."

-John Maxwell-

 

UNCOMFORTABLE VS. EXHAUSTION

WANTING TO WIN IS NOT ENOUGH

“Wanting to win is not enough.

You have to go through a process to

improve. That takes patience,

perseverance and intentionality.”

-John Maxwell

DREAM BIG...WORK HARD!

FAILURE = PRACTICE SHOTS

"An inventor fails 999 times,

and if he succeeds once, he's in.

He treats failures simply

as practice shots."

-Charles Kettering-

THE PERSONAL ATTITUDE OF SUCCESS

Another personal attitude of success is the desire to be a competitor. Surprising as it may seem, many top-level players shy from the desire to be “the man” when the game is on the line. One of the ingredients of becoming a clutch performer is the ability to muster mental toughness in the most tense situations. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter says, “When I come to bat in a pivotal spot, I want people to say, ‘Uh-oh, here he comes.’” Jeter wants that responsibility of being considered “the man.” In 1941, Ted Williams told Time magazine, “Naw, there ain’t no tension for me hitting in the clutch. I’d like to have the bases loaded every time I come up.” In contrast, Raul Mondesi with the Dodgers in 1999 did not want the challenge of hitting in the cleanup spot, projecting an attitude of “I can’t hit in the fourth spot.” The result was, he didn’t.

From, "Mental Toughness: Baseball’s Winning Edge" by Karl Kuehl, John Kuehl, and Casey Tefertiller

THE KEY TO SUCCESS

The following comes from "Success Is A Journey" by Brian Tracy:

The key to success is for you to set one great, challenging goal and then to pay any price, overcome any obstacle and persist through any difficulty until you finally achieve it.

By achieving one important goal, you create a pattern, a template for success in your subconscious mind. Ever after you will be automatically directed and driven toward repeating that success in other things that you attempt. By overcoming adversity and achieving one great objective, you will program yourself for success in life.

In other words, you learn to succeed by succeeding. The more you achieve, the more you can achieve.

You can accomplish almost any goal that you set for yourself if you persist long enough and work hard enough. The only one who can stop you is yourself. And you learn to persist by persisting in the face of great adversity when everyone around you is quitting and ever fiber of your being screams at you to quit as well.

LEAVING A LASTING LEGACY

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"Be prepared and be honest."

.

"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."

.

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

.

"What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player."

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

.

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

"It isn't what you do, but how you do it."

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

.

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

.

"Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

.

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

.

Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

GIVE IT YOUR BEST -- BECAUSE THE RIDE WON'T LAST FOREVER

Following the announcement of Ken Griffey's retirement yesterday reminded me of a passage I read in Ron White's book, "22 Success Lessons from Baseball." Not only should you work hard, but enjoy the work -- there's no guarantee as to how long the ride will last...

Willie Mayes, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Kirk Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Ozzie Smith, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Buddy Bell, Goose Gossage, “Oil Can” Boyd, “Dizzy” Dean and Jackie Robinson. These are all phenomenal baseball players. They also have one thing in common. There is one thing that is true about every single one of them. They are probably many things, but will you think of this one?

One of the common threads these men possess is that their baseball careers are over and for many of them their lives are over. Each of these men is mortal. Each of these men reached a time in their career when they could no longer compete at a high level because their bodies began to rebel against the work regiment and challenges. Some could no longer throw a ball fast enough to zoom past Major League hitters who seems to be getting younger and younger. Many found themselves swinging too late all too often at pitches they once could hit with ease. Their eyes refused to give them a clear picture of where the ball was going and their legs appeared asleep as they scampered to beat out a slow grounder.

Your time will come, just like it did for the Babe, Lou Gehrig, Nolan Ryan and every other player who set foot on the baseball diamond. One day your flesh and bones will be spent. Make the most of every time at bat and every game. Give it your best every day and when you are done, hope your life shows that you did.

Play fast, play the game right, work hard, touch all the bases, and have fun, because one day, you won’t be able to.