HOW MOTIVATED ARE TO YOUR WORK: WIN OR LOSE

"After every game, I used to ask Michael (Jordan) one question: Five, six, or seven? As in what time are we hitting the gym tomorrow morning. And he’d snap back a time and that was it. Especially after a loss, when there wasn’t a whole lot to say. No discussion, no debate, no lame attempt to convince me he needed the morning off. You good? I’m good. See you in the morning. And the next morning at whatever time he’d decided, he’d awaken to find me standing outside his door. No matter what happened the night before-good game, bad game, soreness, fatigue- he was up working out every morning while most of the other guys slept."

From "Relentless" by Tim Grover

SABAN ON IT TAKES TO BE A GOOD PLAYER

"To be a good player on your team, you have to affect someone else on the team. You have to cause them to play better by the way you play. You affect other players with the character and attitude. To be a great player, you have to affect your entire unit. If you are a great player, every player on that unit plays better when you are on the field. The number one thing on any team that will keep your players from being selfish is respect for the other players. Having respect leads to trust and from that they begin to believe in each other. That is the way it works and that is the way it has to be."

-Nick Saban

WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE?

BE THE BEST YOU

DO THE SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN DO

We ran across the words of poet Everett Hall and thought what a wonderful mindset for players.  It doesn't matter what your role is with your team.  Maybe you are a starter that is expected to continually set screens for your shooters.  Maybe you are the first sub off the bench expected to come in and be lockdown defender.  Maybe you are someone who gets in the game only when the margin of victory or defeat merits it. 

Let's take it a step further.  Maybe you aren't even a player.  Maybe your are a manager.  Maybe you are the person that films the games or keeps the stats.

Whatever your role is with the team it is important and valuable -- even if you don't see it or realize it.

As Everett Hall wrote:

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

If you are the starter counted on to screen -- be the best screener in your conference.  Execute your screening angles as well as any player before you.

If you are the lockdown defender coming off the bench -- be the best lockdown defender your program has ever had.  Come off the bench with intensity and determination to not allow your man to score.

If you rarely play except when the game is already decided -- be the most enthusiastic player on your bench.  Be the person that lights the fire under those that play.

If you are a manager, statistician or video person -- make sure no one does their job better than you.

"I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

TEAM STRENGTH

"As long as you brothers support one another and render assistance to one another, your enemies can never gain victory over you.  But if you fall away from one another, you can be broken like a frail arrow, one at a time."

-Genghis Khan
(Taken from the book "Damn Few" by Rorke Denver

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TALENT AND SKILL

DEFINING AND DEVELOPING YOUR CONTRIBUTION

The mindset of a player who wants to contribute to a team's success is much different than a selfish player that is just looking to be a start and standout.

The following comes from "On Managing Yourself" which is a book sponsored by the Harvard Business Review.  This particular passage comes from the great Peter Drucker who believes we must start with the first essential question:

What should my contribution be?

To answer it, they must address three distinct elements:

#1 What does the situation require?

#2 Given my strengths, my way of performing, and my values, how can I make the greatest contribution to what needs to be done?

#3 And finally, what results have to be achieved to make a difference.

Drucker's questions seem quite simple but it takes a truly honest, self-evaluating team player to ask these questions.  Then it takes a committed, team-oriented player to go about doing the work necessary to create the contribution that he/she wants to truly make.

LEAD YOURSELF FIRST

"Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you're not giving it all you've got."

-Larry Bird

DROSE WORKS ON GAME -- AND LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

A big thanks to my friend Joey Burton for emailing me this article.  It is written by K.C. Johnson for the Chicago Tribune and it's on the "leadership growth" of Derrick Rose:

Luol Deng readily recalls the first time his mother met Derrick Rose.
 
"She kept talking to me about him and was just really happy with how he carried himself," Deng said. "To me, I don't care how good you are or what you do in life. Who you are as a person is more important than anything. And you can just tell Derrick is one of those kids who was raised the right way.
 
"He's not going to change. He's better at dealing with the spotlight than before, but all he really cares about are his teammates and winning. That's what a leader is."
 
Rose may be quiet by nature, but his will to win invokes determination and demands of others.
 
"I never worried about Derrick in terms of taking care of himself," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "But in setting the tone for the team, not tolerating others not doing their job, I think that has been his biggest growth."
 
Rose is notoriously hard on himself. His post-practice shooting routine would get bleeped out if misses were filmed. This drive, paired with a tireless work ethic to improve his game, is an example of his non-verbal leadership.
 
"If you can't coach your best player hard, you can't coach your team hard. And you can coach Derrick Rose as hard as anybody on the entire team," general manager Gar Forman said. "You talk about leadership. That to me is probably the strongest type."
 
The verbal leadership is more evident to those who know Rose well. So while there may not be histrionics on the court or many headlines about his leadership, those within the organization say it's there.
 
"He's quiet by nature but he's comfortable with the guys around him," Deng said. "If you don't know Derrick or he doesn't know you, he just goes about his business. Guys he's comfortable with, he'll open up."
 
"The talent is pretty easy to see," he said. "What you don't see are all the intangibles that he brings to the team, the confidence. But the confidence doesn't come from a false bravado. It comes from his preparation, his study and the work he puts into every day.
 
"The best thing about Derrick is he's a team-first guy. He's committed to playing for the team, and that's special."
 
Put another way, Forman appreciates Rose's low maintenance.
 
"We've all seen it over the years: There may be scenarios where the star player wants or needs preferential type of treatment in whatever it is," Forman said. "And there's none of that with Derrick."
 
Asked if he feels he has grown as a leader, Rose looked up.
 
"I just know I put the work in," Rose said.
 
You can read the entire article -- it extremely well-written -- here.

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