JIM BROWN AND THE ART OF BEING OBSESSED WITH DETAILS

“The nine years I was in pro ball, I never quit trying to make my mind an encyclopedia of every possible detail — about my teammates, about players on other teams, about the plays we used, and about both our and other teams’ collective and individual tendencies. Every play I ran, I had already run a thousand times in my mind. You get a jump on the game when you visualize beforehand not only the regular players you run, but also the 101 other things that might happen unexpectedly. So when you’re in the actual game, whatever happens, you’ve already seen it in your mind and plotted your countermoves — instantly and instinctively.”

-Jim Brown

MJ ON LEADING BY EXAMPLE

It comes down to a very simple saying: There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way.

If you don’t back it up with performance and hard work, talking doesn’t mean a thing.

I’ve always tried to lead by example. That is just my personality. I never led vocally. I never really tried to motivate by talking because I don’t think words ever mean as much action.

They always say a picture carries a thousand words. So I tried to paint a picture of hard work and discipline.

But a leader has to earn that title. You aren’t the leader just because you’re the best player on the team, the smartest person in the class, or the most popular. No one can give you that title either. You have to gain the respect of those around you by your actions. You have to be consistent in your approach whether it’s basketball practice, a sales meeting, or dealing with your family.

A leader can’t make any excuses. There has to be quality in everything you do. Off the court, on the court, in the classroom, on the playground, inside the meeting room, outside of work. You have to transfer those skills, that drive, to whatever environment you’re in.

And you have to be willing to sacrifice certain individual goals, if necessary, for the good of the team.

From "I Can't Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan

UNRELENTING PURSUIT OF YOUR GOAL

"It's determination and commitment to an

unrelenting pursuit of your goal that will enable

you to attain the success you seek."

-- Mario Andretti



INDIVIDUALS PLAY THE GAME BUT TEAMS WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS

The following was written by Temeka Johnson, the outstanding point guard of the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA.  It is one of the best things I have read from a player on the concept of teamwork:

I am reading another book and I think this one is real fitting for what it is that I do and I also think It is fitting to you all that work with others as well. It is called TeamWork By John C. Maxwell. I can remember getting one of his books when were in school and I absolutely loved it.

The first question is why is Teamwork important? And I would like to start with the part that is Title The Value of Teamwork.

A Chinese proverb states, “Behind an able man there are always other able men.” The truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great achievement. The question isn’t whether teams have value. The question is whether we acknowledge that fact and become better team players. That’s why I assert that one is too small a number to achieve greatness. You cant do anything of real value alone.

I challenge you to think of one act of genuine significance in the history of humankind that was performed by a lone human being. No matter what you name, you will find that a team of people was involved. That is why President Lyndon Johnson said, “ There are no problems that we can not solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.”

C. Gene Wilkes, in his book Jesus on Leadership, observed that the power of teams not only is evident in today’s modern business world, but it also has a deep history that is evident even in biblical times. Wilkes assert

• Team involve more people, thus affording more resources, ideas, and energy than would an individual.

• Teams maximize a leader’s potential and minimize her weakness. Strength and weaknesses are more exposed in individuals.

• Teams provide multiple perspectives on how to meet a need or reach a goal, thus devising several alternatives for each situation. Individual insight is seldom as broad and deep as a group’s when it takes on a Problem

• Teams share the credit for victories and the blame for losses. This fosters genuine humility and authentic community. Individuals take credit and blame alone. This fosters pride and sometimes a sense of failure

• Teams Keep leaders accountable for the goal. Individuals connected to no one can change the goal without accountability.

• Teams can simply do more than an individual.

If you want to reach your potential or strive for the seemingly impossible – such as communicating your message two thousand years after you are gone- you need to become a team player. It may be cliché, but it is nonetheless true; Individuals play the game but teams win championships.

You can check out Meek's blog at: http://2meekmoments.blogspot.com/

BELIEF AND DETERMINATION AND CONQUER ALL

I received this via email from my friend and mentor Coach Dale Brown.  The next time you think you can't achieve a goal because of your past, or a serious handicap, or some difficult adversity then play this and know that through belief and determination you can accomplish amazing feats.

THE ONLY WAY TO OBTAIN CONFIDENCE

"Confidence is the most important single

factor in this game, and no matter

how great your talent, there is

only one way to obtain it-work."

-Jack Nicklaus



OR MAYBE YOU'RE JUST MAKING EXCUSES

ARE YOU A POSITIVE LEADER OR A NEGATIVE LEADER

“We preached that everybody’s a leader. You’re either a negative leader or you’re a positive leader. But everybody contributes, and everybody has to be a part of it. And again, when someone may not be able to carry the load, someone else has to step up. That the whole idea of “whatever it takes.” You’re not always going to be a hundred percent healthy; you’re not always going to meet the same challenge...Everybody’s a leader. Now if you have someone who is a complainer, that guy’s not doing it, a finger-pointer, that’s negative leadership.

Leadership comes from everybody.”

-Chuck Noll (Hall of Fame Coach, Winner of 4 Super Bowls0

BULLS TITLES WON WITH ROLE ACCEPTANCE & FUNDAMENTALS

When we started winning championships, there was an understanding among all twelve players about what our roles were. We knew our responsibilities and we knew our capabilities.

And that’s why we were able to beat more talented teams. There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve.

The minute you get away from fundamentals, the bottom can fall out. 

Fundamentals were the most crucial part of my game in the NBA. Everything I did, everything I achieved, can be traced back to the way I approached the fundamentals and how I applied them to my abilities.

They really are the basic building blocks or principles that make everything work. I don’t care what you’re doing or what you’re trying to accomplish; you can’t skip fundamentals if you want to be the best.

You have to monitor your fundamentals constantly because the only thing that changes will be your attention to them. The fundamentals will never change.

Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.

It comes down to a very simple saying: There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way.

If you don’t back it up with performance and hard work, talking doesn’t mean a thing.

From "I Can't Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan

THE WILL TO PREPARE TO WIN

“I’ve never seen a player that didn’t want to win when the ball was tossed up...but I’ll tell you when better want to win — you’d better want to win the day before and two days before and three days before because the will to win the game is not nearly as important as will the will to PREPARE to win the game.”

-Bob Knight

MJ ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONDITIONING AND NUTRITION

OVERCOMING SOMEONE ELSE'S POOR OPINION

We have read and shared stories about amazing athletes that overcame negative opinions of coaches at an early age.  Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neil and Bob Cousy were all actually cut from their high school team.  From www.successmagazine.com comes another story from Mike Zimmerman on another of sports greatest who had to dig past the opinion of a coach:

When David Beckham was 13 and dreaming of playing pro football (soccer to the Americans among us), one of his coaches said the magic words: “You’ll never play for England because you’re too small and not strong enough.”

As Beckham told me, the coach wasn’t joking or trying to be ironic. He meant it. And young David was devastated. Temporarily.

It occurred to him, even at 13—or maybe because he was 13, since adolescent rage can carry you far—that he could re-dedicate himself and prove that coach wrong. “As much as I was upset at the time, it made me think, Well, I’m going to prove that I can play football professionally,” he says. “Back in those days there were a lot of people who thought to be a player in England you had to have a full-grown beard and be big enough to kick the ball as far as possible. It’s changed now.”

Beckham helped change the thinking. Even though he wasn’t the biggest man on the pitch, his speed and uncanny scoring ability helped him become one of the great players in the history of the game—and one of the most popular athletes in the world. Captain of the English national team for six years, he collected more than 100 “caps,” meaning he played for his country more than 100 times, an honor few players have achieved.

Stories like Beckham’s are always interesting to us—maybe because it’s fun to root for the underdog (though no one thinks of Beckham as an underdog today). Maybe because we have an innate desire to see people proved wrong. But when does a story like this become more? When do you make it your own?

All of us have had someone tell us we can’t do or be something we dream of doing or being. Maybe it was a coach, teacher or family member. But these days, the person telling you that you can’t achieve a dream is more likely the one person you absolutely must have on your side: you.

Henry Ford said something similar: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”

Here’s an interesting exercise: Every time you hear that big voice in your head (there are no little voices in our heads), think of it as some frustrated, ignorant coach telling you you’ll never play for England. Get angry. Get motivated. Then get moving.

...BEFORE I BECAME HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

"Before I won a gold medal at the Olympics, before I became the heavyweight champion of the world, before I stoop up to the United States Government for my religious beliefs, before I was named a United Nations Ambassador of Peace, and before I became the most recognized person in the world, I was just a kid from Kentucky who had the faith to believe in himself and the courage to follow his heart."

LIFE = RISK

Special thanks to Coach Ray Lokar for posting this in Lok's Ledger and bringing it to our attention:

WHEN YOU ARE ALONE, WHAT DOES YOU ACTIONS SAY ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?

“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”
-Thomas McCauley

You identify yourself by what you do when no one is watching. The supervised athlete may be the hardest worker, the most selfless and responsible competitor. But how he practices when no one sees him, how he interacts with teammates when the coach is not within listening distance -- that's when he defines himself.  His character.

Theodore Roosevelt extended the definition to self-awareness and independent self-evaluation saying, “I care not of what others think I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That is character.”

From “Coaching The Mental Game” by H. A. Dorfman