Coach Jeff Higuera's Blog

THE EYES OF A LEADER

2011-02-08T04:08:00.000-08:00

To the right is my favorite Michael Jordan photograph. It captures much more than two super-stars matched up against each other. It captures the heart of a passionate leader through the eyes.

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, Germany's greatest general in WWII said he knew if a battle would be won or lost as he looked into his commander's eyes. He said, "I know the outcome because their eyes mirrored mine." He knew if his commanders could look him in the eyes with his same fearlessness and certainty of victory, the battle was theirs.

It begins with the eyes. The eyes exhibit attitude. This attitude of confidence creates actions of the body that communicate assurance. Look at the posture of a leader. Their posture creates presence. And this presence is called poise. Poise is created when the leader is prepared through real experience, knowledge of their craft, and tens of thousands of hours of training skills.

In the book, "How to be a Fierce Competitor," author Jeffrey Fox writes:

"They (Leaders) look into the mirror until they see victory peering back. They lead the organization with confidence, even when uncertain. They are sometimes fearful but always fearless. They may be overwhelmed, but never daunted, always willing."

At BodyTecz we like to say you can tell the difference in our athletes by the look in their eye when they compete. Our athletes are prepared and battle tested. Our confidence in what we do is directly passed into them. Show up and get better or don't show up at all. To us there is no other way. Our desire is create fearless and tenacious athletes. They are taught to respect all but fear none. We teach them to be tenacious competitors. And because of this, our athletes strike fear into their opposition.

If you want to know what your eyes are telling your team or organization do the following:

1) Look at the eyes of those following you, and
2) look at the outcomes your leadership has created.

Both of these will indicate where your team is at and where you team is going.

This week lead with your eyes. When a tough decision is needed, let your eyes show your confidence. Even if you are scared to death, be fearless. You are the leader and that is your job.

MAKING HUSTLE FAMOUS

2010-10-25T05:17:00.000-07:00

"I'm the basketball version of a gravedigger."

Dennis Rodman is my all-time favorite NBA player (yes, even over Michael Jordan).

Rodman inspired me. I began falling in love with his game during his run with the Bulls.

He played the game with a menacing beauty. He was hated by his opponents, but loved by his team. He was a winner, a champion, and became the most famous role player to ever play the game.

Rodman was a genius.

He made rebounding, diving into whatever for loose balls, tenacious defense, and irritating the other team with his tactics an art.

I guess I took to him because that was the type of player I was. Not everyone understands how you can get such fulfillment from having no stats in the line. Like Rodman, all I cared about was the most important stat, how many times my team scored more points than the other team.

But Rodman's inspired me the most because was he had the courage to be himself. Because of this, he made "HUSTLE FAMOUS."

Many fans did not see Rodman's obsession and dedication to his job. He was in better shape than most players. He worked hard in the off-season and during the season to build and maintain his strength and endurance. He studied game film on individual players watching how their ball came off the rim so he be in a better position to rebound.

I often say, "Defense and Rebounding is Attitude." Rodman perfected the skill of rebounding and had more attitude about it than any other player to ever play the game. He worked on his touch around the rim. He perfected tipping balls in from crazy angles, in-between, and over taller oppenents. He was quoted saying, "I want to do for rebounds what Michael Jordan did for dunks."

His game was revolutionary. An eccentric personality, the first guy to cover himself in tattoo's. The NBA front office loved and hated him all at the same time. He was different. His differences created critics. But his differences also made him one of the greatest players of all time.

People fear different. And different is often punished.

But in his difference was his greatness. Imagine if we all had the courage to accept who we are, deliver our unique greatness, accept others criticism, and do what our heart tells us we were created to do.

That is the moral of this Monday Morning Motivation. It's about questioning something you are probably struggling with right now. It's about how you will make your HUSTLE FAMOUS.

Most of us are poor versions of someone else.

Since birth, we have been influenced to conform. To accept the status quo, to be controlled by systems, society, religion, and government.

It is not you.

We are quick to discount who we are.

We make excuses for not pursuing our strengths, passions, and interests.

"I would love to do that but that is not going to support a family, give me a fulfilling career...blah blah blah."

"I'll only be accepted if I have a masters degree....blah blah blah."

"I couldn't make a career out of that...blah blah blah."

Instead we become well rounded.

Well rounded means you are extremely good at being mediocre.

Rodman made hustle famous not because he was NOT well-rounded. He made hustle famous because he made the not so popular stats in basketball, rebounding, hustle, and toughness an art.

If you are a student, get A's because you like to compete. Get A's because you understand good grades "may" get your foot in the door.

But while working on your GPA, find a subject to fall in love with. Pursue it early. The earlier you decide to be an individual the greater chance you have of making your hustle famous.

What do most of us do?

We make mental trade-offs.

We accept what we "think" we should do. This is our greatest mistake.

Go to school, get good grades, play sports, join a bunch of clubs, get accepted to college, get good grades, get involved in sports, groups, clubs, get a job, get married, have kids, retire, die.

Who made this up?

And why do we all seem to think this is the "path of life." All of these things are wonderful and beautiful parts of our existence, but the system seems to have snipers along the way who take us out. Our heart that is.

How much of our own greatness do we sacrifice in the process?

We end up attempting what is impossible.

Put a :) on. Fit in. Compare. Be like them. Do what you are "supposed" to do.

But then we realize something. We forget who we are. In panic, we do anything and everything to re-discover ourselves. We search frantically for inspiration. Something that can ignite a spark that may free our buried passions.

Where we look is sometimes positive, sometimes negative. Either way, we feel we have no choice but to search.

Funny thing is, we can exist and even perform well going through the motions.

Society has set up systems to make sure that we are safe, secure, and "successful" as a poser. It is called the American Dream.

We live, we exist, but we know something isn't right. But our mind feeds our heart the lie, "Don't worry Heart, it's the right thing to do."

And as each minute, hour, and day passes...it builds, it inevitably takes it's toll.

It becomes more difficult to wake up. Motivation declines or sometimes completely walks out on you.

Confidence follows. You can't line up your heart with your actions. You struggle with getting anything done. The end of the day feels like the beginning...insignificant.

You disinterest in life and work begins to affect how you make people feel. You no longer attract people to you. At least not the ones who make your life productive and significant.

Then people begin to lose interest in you...your reputation loses its attractiveness.

The root word of interesting is "interest." It is impossible to be interesting and enthusiastic unless you know and pursue what interests you.

Interested people have interesting energy.

Interested people have interesting confidence.

Interested people create interesting results

Interested people create interesting differences

Interested people create interesting lives

And why do we love interesting people?

Interesting people inspire us. They give us a glimpse that what we know is true is possible in us to. They give us courage. Courage to be ourselves.

Question...?

When will you, like the cross-dressing, make-up wearing, tattooed, nose-ring having, rebounding machine, the Worm, Dennis Rodman, make your HUSTLE FAMOUS?

DENNIS RODMAN HIGHLIGHTS

UNLEASHING THE DRAGON

2010-08-02T02:06:00.001-07:00

I made an interesting observation. Some of the greatest martial artists who have performed their craft at the highest levels are counter-culture to the "give it all you got," culture of western society.

These individuals are tenacious in their arena, yet they seem to have more compassion. They are far surpassed in their skill and ability, yet they walk in humility and honor. They could destroy you in seconds, but they are always calm, cool, collected, and poised.

Young athletes, young men especially, strive to continuously be the Dragon: fierce, competitive, aggressive and strong. Our society has taught them that this is the way to achieve success.

But on the contrary, I have observed that the consistently dominate athletes, businessmen, martial artists, musicians, etc all maintain a certain inner strength derived through an inner peace that differs from others.

They are sometimes said to be the "nicest guy you'll ever meet," off the field. But on the field, they change. They morph. The fire out of their mouth is so much more powerful and controlled, they almost effortlessly torch their field of play.

I'd like to share with you what one Dragonhas taught me through his books. He teaches that the garbage you allow into your mind is what distracts you from letting your body and mind connect as an athlete. His name is Bruce Lee, and he calls it Wu Wei.

Wu means "non" and wei means "action, doing, striving." In the The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise, their is a part where Cruise is getting messed up in a training exercise by two or three Samurai. During the fight, he looks haphazard, fighting out of raw emotion, swinging his weapon with no intent, just hoping to connect. Though Cruise is a trained military soldier and warrior, his aggression and training does not give him what he needs to take on his opponents successfully. One of the Samurai yells out to Cruise, "too much mind."

Wu Wei does not invoke taking no action. It is the art of letting your mind go and trusting it to do the work you've taught it to do. As an athlete, you train your skills daily. The more hours of deliberate practice you put in, the more refined you skills become.

But why, sometimes, can we not get past a certain stage. Why can't we transfer this practice to a field of play and dominate our opponents. Because we never truly trust ourselves. We get in our own way. Instead of acting in harmony with what is in front of us, we try to force the issue; control.

Attaining Wu Wei means to attain what Lee calls "spontaneous action," or "spirit action." This means that you have allowed the mind to become the governing force and have let your senses go.

To do this you must master the principle of Wuhsinor "no-mindedness." Allan Watts describes no mindedness as, "a state of wholeness in which the mind functions freely and easily, without the sensation of a second mind or ego standing over it with a club."

To all my young athletes and parents. This second mind or "club" that beats all your hard work into mediocrity is the ego. The ego is what makes us worry about what people think of our performance. It is what causes fear, anxiety, jealousy, envy, pride, vanity, covetous, and even hatred. This "club" keeps our performance on the practice field stellar, but once the lights are on, this "club" does everything that it can to tell us "we're not good enough," or "people are judging me," and so forth.

Take a lesson from one of the greatest masters of his craft. Learn the Unleash The Dragon, by trusting all the work you have put into your skill. When performing, only focus on the skill, focus on improving your ability to use what you have practiced. And do not worry about the outcome. Only by practicing and attaining, Wu Wei will you ever become a true master.

Check out this clip of Bruce Lee teaching a young student Wu Wei. He didn't mess around:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roY9SaqM0mo

MY LIBERATION TOUR STORY

2010-07-27T06:11:00.001-07:00

My last 100 days of existence has been anything but fun. But sticking with one of my favorite motto's, "if it doesn't suck, don't do it," I endured the Liberation Tour and completed it right on the deadline.

This is a quick story of my Liberation Tour experience and a few things I took from it.

Pictured to the left is me, bent over a sledge hammer, in a puddle over my own sweat. I just swung that thing for twenty minutes straight. That was after I had the bright idea of running the 4 mile run challenge in my garage at 4pm. Bad idea. Not only because it was the longest running challenge (4 miles) but also because it was 324 degrees inside my garage.

Train in the worst conditions possible...that's what I always say right? Well the only thing that was missing that day was Lucifer himself poking me with his flaming devil Triton.

But I thought this picture would give you a good idea of the way I felt after enduring through 30 of the worst physical challenges someone could volunteer to do...dripping sweat, utterly exhausted, relieved that I was finally done, and ultimately quite accomplished.

If you are not familiar with the Liberation Tour it is simply a battery of physical and mental challenges I created that provide you with "30 ways to make you quit." The goal is to check off each of these challenges in 100 days or less.

A better explanation is given below. I use this in the blog site.

"You are about to embark on a truly unique experience of '30 ways to make you quit.'

Your mission...conquer all thirty ways to quit in 100 days or less.

'30 ways to quit,' will challenge your mental and physical capacities.

To complete this tour is a great feat.

To complete this tour is to prove your ability to withstand constant adversity for 100 days. It will force you to keep going when you want to give up. It will force yourself to push yourself farther than you want to go.

In the end, you will be Liberated. Liberated by knowing that the person you once were no longer exists, You, my friend, will see a whole new meaning to your potential."

I created this tour understanding most of you fail to realize how much you have already inside of you. That everything you want to accomplish, you already posses. It's just waiting to be liberated.

But you settle. You choose to take the path of least resistance. You let fear, insecurity, doubt, selfishness, and flat out laziness steal the greatness from inside of you. You let others direct your paths and set barriers on you.

Every now and then you need to do something to see what you're made of. This tour gives you that. It challenges you by providing a set time of consistent mental and physical adversity. It's done in a controlled manner. All challenges are based on you as an individual.

Finding what you're made of can't happen if someone else is forcing you to do it. You'll cop out. Finding what you're made of is a voluntary activity.

Voluntary...You don't have a schedule or time to show up to do these exercises. You don't have anything motivating you but your own will and competitiveness against yourself. You have no one coaching you. Each one of these is done on your own merit. Your own will.

The toughest thing about this challenge was not listening to myself. Those words that spoke to my not so great personality characteristics of laziness, doubt, and fear. And many times telling myself, "I don't really need to finish this. It doesn't matter."

But it did...my dad taught me to never quit. When it starts to hurt that's when it gets fun...that's where you separate yourself from everyone else. That's where you put a smile on your face and shift into that other gear.

My biggest fear: Running...I despise it for some reason. I believe when I was putting together the challenges for this tour put the 1, 2, 3, and 4 mile run challenge in for myself. If it was going to liberate me, I had to get over the fear I had of running for more than 94 feet at a time.

A ex-navy seal once said, "running is the best exercise because it build's character." It does. It's easy to stop. Your body has given you a great muscular system that brakes quite easily. The key is forgetting you have breaks and just keep going. That saying always made sense to me, but now, after doing it, I really understand that statement.

When I began the tour, I was ready to conquer these runs, and the first thing I did was the 1 mile run. It had been two years since I ran one mile, without stopping. I ran it in 6:45. I later wrote on a facebook post, "When I got off the treadmill it felt like a Gnome was repeatedly hitting the back of my hamstrings with a 2 x 4." It was tough, but not as tough as I thought.

I had the pleasure and was motivated by watching two Liberated Warriors crush this tour in 40 and 41 days.

Jimmy Powers, a young fire fighter, absolutely ran through the Liberation Tour in 41 days. He'd show up on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and kick the crap out of these challenges (you can read more of Jimmy's story on the Liberation Tour blog). Jimmy would talk a lot of noise to me, "are you gonna finish?" "Come on old man?" "Step your game up." Jimmy didn't know but he was a large part of my motivation.

Then we had a second person finish. Picture a mother of four, 40 years of age, knocking out 150 squat jumps and 20 minutes of sledge hammer swings in one single day to make sure that she completed the tour in 40 days...completing it a day faster than Jimmy the fit fire fighter man. It was amazing. She will probably hold that record until she decides to break it herself.

So far three people have finished. That leaves quite a few in what I call the "Liberation Tour Graveyard." Some got close, some tried one challenge and then thought, "what the heck am I doing," and, some never even started.

What I realized is that most of us fall short in accomplishing what we want in life when things start to get hard. When things start to get uncomfortable. That's when it's easy to start making excuses and justify another route.

It's also easy to quit once the newness and excitement wears off. We are all fired up the first couple of weeks, but then when things start to get repetitive, boring, or especially more difficult, we get that voice in our head that starts to talk us out of completing what we started.

Sunday, the day after I completed my tour, I got more things done around my house than I'd done in months. I said to myself, "I just finished the Liberation Tour, why they heck can I not get these little things done around my house. I just ran 8 miles in one week, I can do anything." My wife was probably wondering if someone broke into the house, knocked me unconscious, and got all these things done.

TO WRAP THIS UP, HERE ARE 5 QUICK LESSONS I LEARNED FROM THE LIBERATION TOUR.

1. YOU CAN'T REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE INSIDE YOU UNTIL YOU FACE WHAT SCARES YOU TO DEATH: Over the last 100 days, I've heard a lot of people talk about how they could complete the Liberation Tour in 1 week, 2 weeks, 30 days, etc. I giggled. It's easy to talk trash to an enemy when they're behind a brick wall you won't climb over.

2. EXCUSES RULE OUR LIVES AND STEAL OUR GREATNESS: Excuses are easy. Get rid of things in your life that are easy. An excuse is nothing more then validation of weakness.

3. IF YOU WRITE OUT SPECIFICALLY WHAT YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH, WORK ON IT A LITTLE BIT AT A TIME, IT'S AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE: Only set goals you can measure numerically. Set thirty today for the next year. Then go liberate yourself.

4. WE GET OUT OF LIFE ONLY WHAT WE COMMIT TO FINISH: You can never give what you don't have. And you will never have what you do not finish.

5. IT'S STILL NOT FOR EVERYONE: No matter what, some will, some won't, and some just choose to defer. I think I would rather be the one that does. What about you?

If you would like more information on the Liberation Tour, you can reply to this email or go to the Liberation Tour blog.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK

CONFLICT THERAPY

2010-07-19T01:47:00.000-07:00

Author Robert Green in his book, The 33 Strategies of War writes, "Child psychologist Jean Piaget saw conflict as a critical part of mental development. Through battles with peers and then parents, children learn to adapt to the world and develop strategies for dealing with problems."

The author continues on reiterating the importance of not backing away from battles throughout adolescence and adulthood:
"it is through your battles that you learn what works, what doesn't, and how to protect yourself."

The Quick Conclusion: No matter your age, learn to embrace your battles. The younger the better.

Unfortunately our day and age has taught us to do everything possible to protect us from going into battle:

We want to be secured a position on the team, instead of giving them no choice to put you in the starting lineup.

We travel around the country attempting to expose talent to scouts, instead of spending that time becoming a master at our skills.

We settle for jobs we hate instead of actually doing what we want to do.

We choose to be mediocre because we are afraid of being exposed for who we really are.

We don't stand up for something we really believe in because we are afraid of not being liked.

We keep ourselves busy with meaningless tasks instead of actually focusing on the one or two things that could really change our lives.

We let others decide what's best for us, and thus, have no passion, power, or meaning in what we do.

We spend hours on the Internet, checking our email, seeing what our "friends" are doing on facebook, instead of using that time to work on something that could change our's and others lives.

And in the end...we make make far more excuses than we make progress.

John Maxwell recently gave a talk called, Why John Wooden's Teams Won. Maxwell observed...

"He (Coach Wooden) achieved personal victories before he lead his team to victory. He won the battle of self. He has disciplined his own life, and has won his main victory. This allowed him to also show other people how to be victorious."

To win the battle over yourself should be number one on the agenda. To do this, show up to your sessions of CONFLICT THERAPY.

In these sessions you can see what we are made of. In these sessions is you'll gain perspective you need to let your gifts, talents, and passions come to life.

It is never a good idea to go into battle with someone who has never been tested. Or as I like to paraphrase, "never trust an un-broken man." Only the tested and broken man can truly lead others into victory over themselves. Anyone else is a poser...a fake.

Who would want to go to battle with you?

This Week...Decide to do something significant with your life. Try for one entire day not to make one excuse. I think you'll be surprised on how many you actually drum up.

This Week...Go get some CONFLICT THERAPY. Then GO passionately share your stories of struggle and triumph with others. You're life and the lives of those you touch will begin to change.

As Thomas Jefferson was quoted, "When the heart is right, the feet are swift."

Below is a clip of one of my all-time favorite movies. It is all about conflict therapy. It is about discovering who you are through a seemingly impossible fight. It's about knowing what your fighting for. It's about what happens inside you when you're backed into a corner. It's about knowing what you stand for. And most of all, it's about continually winning the victory over yourself.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK MY FRIENDS!!

CINDERELLA MAN

HOW NOT TO BECOME THE "USED TOO GUY"

2010-06-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

This MMM came to me when an athlete of mine asked how much I bench. My immediate response was... "Well, I used to...."

Instead of telling this kid the standard, "how much you bench doesn't matter," I went with a possibly inflated number that I did in the 90's:))

What's funny is I said this with no hesitation. Not a thought entered my mind about telling him how much I currently may bench press. I would love to blame it on the fact that I haven't done a bench press max in a few years, but when it comes down to it, it's because I became the "used too" guy.

Here are a couple of facts about the mythical "used too" guy:

1. As the years pass, your "used too" numbers continue to improve. For example: If you actually bench pressed 250 lbs in high school. Buy the time you are 30, it marginally increases to 275-300lbs. And by the time you are 40, you may be looking in the 325-350 area. It's amazing how your "used too" guy gets stronger as you struggle to put up 135.

2. The "used too" guy always comes through: He always comes through when you cannot meet a challenge, you get your butt kicked by a kid, or you are watching any sport. The "used too" guy always finds a way to whip up a "good ole days" story to let people know that you didn't used to suck this bad.

3. If not for the "used too" guy most of us would be in trouble. You see, the reason we call the "used Too" guy off the bench every now and then is for validation. Validation that we actually were athlete's, or strong, or even smart. GPA is another on of those numbers that probably magically increases with age.

When you call the "Used too" guy up from the bench....no one cares. You generally get a blank stare just like Napoleon and Kip as they watch Uncle Rico's self-recorded VHS tapes of him throwing a football.

No one who lives in the present really cares about or likes the "used too" guy. Their are two ways you know this. The person your are introducing the "used too" guy too will either A) roll their eyes, or B) Just change the conversation.

What we need to understand is keeping this guy around doesn't help anyone, especially you. I am particularly talking to coach's and leaders in this one.

Someone once told me that in order to become a coach (or leader), you first have to let go of the fact that you are not longer a player. Why? Because if you are a player, you compete. If you are competing against your team, than it is impossible to be an effective coach.

A great leader thinks only about one thing...everyone else.

One of the most virtuous qualities of a leader is humility. Humility is impossible if you think about validating your worth more than you think about improving your team.

Another problem is the "used too" guy can stop your from progressing. At some point you probably stopped working out as hard. At some point you stopped practicing your sport for 2 hours a day. The natural law says that if you stop doing something that used to consume your life, over time, that skill will eventually become diminished.

So this week, as a coach or leader, take this advice on getting rid of the "used too" guy for not just your good, but also everyone else too:

1. Put your team first: Quit telling them how great you used to be and start showing them how great they still can be. As their leader you must continue to improve with the intention of giving what you learn.

2. Use past stories only to teach lessons: Do not waste your time telling stories to validate your worthiness or let them know how magnificent you used to be. Stories of when you failed, overcame, or had to fight through particular situations are much more effective as a leader. Teach your team through stories that help them take wisdom you've gained from the past.

4. Don't compete: Not with your team. Most leaders have a competitive streak that can change relationships. You never want to make competition personal with people you lead. You can play hard, you can go hard, but never take it to a level where it becomes personal.

I love to play one on one with my kids. And I love to beat them. Unfortunately, as the years have gone by they have improved and grown. I have not. I hate losing, I don't care if they are in the NBA, I still hate losing. But when I changed my mindset to using that time to help develop them and our relationship instead of trying to get a W for my own ego, everything changed. Now I can compete hard, lose, and the only thing I am worried about is if I gave them a chance to get better.

5. Worry about being the best at who you are right now: You can't be the best at who you are right now if you are still holding on to what you once were. Fight even thinking about what you did yesterday. It's over. The best continually strive to get better daily.

Life's greatest gift is the ability to change with every moment. Each moment gives you a new opportunity to be something better than you were. This is created by nothing by the decisions you make to change, to learn, to do what is right. To me this is more than just a gift, this is a responsibility.

Watch Uncle Rico in this video as he shows you what the "Used Too" guy is all about! It is outstanding. Have a great week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gducgTcJMMU

A DAY I'LL NEVER FORGET

2010-06-06T06:52:00.000-07:00

There are certain days you will have in you life life that are just a little more special than others. One of mine happened to come on March 27th, 2007 at the 2007 McDonald's All-American Game.

I am quite fortunate to have great friends like John and Sue Calathes. They entrusted me to work with their two boys, Pat and Nick, who turned out to be some pretty talented players.

My visit to Louisville that year was to watch the younger of the two, Nick. Nick was a two time Florida Player of the Year and was on his was in the fall to play for Coach Donavan and the Florida Gators. My wife and I were able to share this tremendous experience with Nick and his family.

We had the opportunity to be apart of what I consider to be the greatest talent pool of McDonald's All-American's ever to come out in a single year.

Here are some of the players who played in that game. If you know basketball, while you read these names, you will understand why this game was so unique and special: Nick Calathes, Johnny Flinn, Austin Freeman, Donte Green, J.J. Hickson, Kosta Koufas, O.J. Mayo, Patrick Patterson, Nolan Smith, Chris Wright, Jerryd Bayless, Michael Beasley, Eric Gorden, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Jai Lucas, Derrick Rose, Kyle Singler.

Apart from the game we attended a formal event on March 27th, 2007. The event featured two legendary basketball icons. Speaking first, Bill Walton. Second, only reading a poem from memory, John Wooden.

I am writing this on Sunday June 6th, 2010. Today I am thirty-three years old and it is a bitter sweet day for me. My birthday, but mourning my hero, John Wooden. I know he is with God. I know that he is now with his wife, who he loved and adored so much, Nelly and I am so happy for him. But, man will I, and this world, ever miss a man like Coach.

Yesterday, Coach Wooden passed away at ninety-nine years old. Coach may be one of the only men in the existence of humanity whom lived his live to the fullest. A man of genuine character and integrity to the highest degree. A person we can all model our life after. Not because of his success as a coach, but because of who he was as a person.

Back in Louisville.....

As we took our seats at the banquet, in the middle of our table sat a silent auction item, an autographed John Wooden basketball. I told my wife I would spend every penny we had in our bank account to get that ball.

But once again, my hosts who I shared their table with, decided they would let me win the action and keep the ball. What friends. And for me, what a gift. In the end, I walked out with my favorite piece of autographed memorabilia that I will ever have.

But that's not the greatest part about this story...

Nick came back to our table and asked me if I wanted to meet Coach Wooden.

Uhhhhhh....yes.

Nick, who had just had about a 10 minute conversation with Coach, escorted me through a crowd of people and lead me to being in front of living legend, my hero, a person who I want to be, the man who has lived his life as example of what a "coach" should be. Nick introduced me as his coach, and Coach Wooden shook my hand, covering our hand shake with his left hand, and said, "You've done a great job."

Holy Crap!!...he may not have known that I wasn't Nick's basketball coach (even though I've done my fair share of schooling Nick on the court:)). But to hear John Wooden affirm to me that I've done a great job!! I will hold onto that for the rest of my life!

This MMM is about opportunity. It is about how to set yourself up to realize these special opportunities that you may have only dreamed about.

If you want to create for yourself unbelievable opportunities, start putting these things into action this week.

1) Surround yourself with greatness: Surround yourself with great people, great organizations, great teams, great books, great quotes, anything that will continue to feed your mind with greatness. If you do this, you will continue to find yourself with great opportunities.

2) Understanding what a great opportunity is: If you don't know what a great opportunity looks like, it will pass you up. I am sure there were hundred's of people that day who did not make the effort to meet Coach Wooden that day in Louisville. I am sure most people knew who he was. But I do not know if most of them had read every single book that Wooden has ever wrote or been apart of. I have. I felt like I knew Coach Wooden from all of the books I have read about him. I knew this was a one and a million opportunity.

3) Loving what you do: Bottom line, without passion for what I do, for my love of the game of basketball, for my love of developing and coaching young men and women, I would have never been invited by Nick and his family to be at this event.

4) Get to Work: Let your passion lead to work. My philosophy on work has always been to find out who is the best at what I do, find out what they are committed to everyday, and try to go at it ten times harder than they do. The harder you work, the more opportunities you get.

5) Have a passion for giving others great opportunities: I think this is something that is not said as much in "motivational writing." The greatest rewards I get in life are the rewards of knowing I have personally been a part of giving someone a great opportunity.

What fuels my passion and work ethic in what I do is all about that. It's not about the money, it's not about the status, it's about nothing but giving people opportunity. I love it. That is what I do.

I realized a long time ago that the level of opportunities that I could give to others was based on the level of greatness I achieved for myself. As I continue to work hard, I see that I continue to raise the level opportunities I give to others.

Wooden said, "Ability is a poor man's wealth." He helped me realize it is of much greater value to go to work on who I am than what I do. He helped me to realize that to give opportunities to others, this was the most important part of my growth.

He summed this up when he said, "What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player." Or a basketball coach, or a strength coach, or a lawyer, or a sales person, or a student, or any other label we tend to put on ourselves.

Here's a question that you can think about this week:

"How many people would say that you've given them an opportunity for greatness that they would have never had without you?"

As you go forward, realize the more people you can get to say this, the greater your life will be.

PLEASE WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO ON COACH WOODEN CALLED, "WOODEN'S LOVE LETTER." IT'S UNBELIEVABLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFbZckxrTTQ

THE PROBLEM WITH "I'LL DO MY BEST."

2010-05-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

I am always curious to see what the NBA comes up in each years television ads for the playoffs.

Last year it was using the song "Amazing," by Kanye West. This year they didn't stray far off Kanye by auto-tuning players using their famous press conference and interview cliches' and making it into an auto-tuned song. There's nothing like hearing an auto-tuned Stan Van Gundy mixed with a little Kobe and Magic.

One of the most famous cliches in sports is wrapped in the idea of "doing my best." You here it all the time, "I'm doing the best I can to...", or "all I can do is my best." But there is one problem in this feel good, I'm a team player, statement:

"Doing your best" is a cop-out. It's an excuse. It is a failure to commit to excellence. It shows lack of courage to commit to a real challenge.

Harsh...yes, but if you really think about every time you've said, "I'm just doing my best," it's usually because you are sugar-coating a poor performance in some area of your life.

Uhhhggg....There's nothing like being convicted by your own writing. But I know that I do this. I know that I say, "I'm doing my best in different areas of my life." But the truth of the matter is; I'm lying to myself and the people I'm telling it too.

Here's a startling revelation: If you're doing your best, you don't have to say that you're doing your best.

Telling people you're doing your best is a lot like telling people about how much you hustled during a game. How many times have you seen a guy sit in front of the cameras and say: "I dove out of bounds twice into the crowd, to save a loose ball. I jumped on every loose ball, I got 20 rebounds, I'm just doing my best out there."

Never....

Because when you give you're best, It's obvious. You may not be the highest scorer, and no one may even talk about your effort, but your effort is obvious. It is your effort in the little things. Those things that only a certain percentage of the people in this world actually will do, that end up paying high dividend in the big things.

The other problem with, "I'll do my best," is that it lacks responsibility. Instead of personally committing to what you can do better as a person to develop yourself to enhance your team, this pretty lyric is used to deem you a good team player and kick all responsibility to the side.

However, the first thing that each of us need to do is figure out what we must do to help ourselves. A winning team is never full of team members who do not take personal responsibility for winning. A winning team is full of individuals who know their role well, and work continuously on improving their specific individual skills to enhance the performance of the team.

Each member of a team needs to have their own individual goals that make them better at who they are and what they do. As each team member strives to become better at these particular things, as they continually set high goals and achieve them, the team will become better and winning will become less of a "did our best" effort, to just consistently finding "W's" in the win column.

Here are a couple of suggestions for this week to help you to stop "doing your best," and to start getting things done:

1) Plan, Reflect, and Record Your Insights: In the book, Discover Your Genius, by Michael L. Gelb, he writes, "In a classic study of mental traits of genius, Catherine Cox examined 300 of history's greatest minds. She found that geniuses in every field--from painting, literature, and music, to science, the military, and politics, tended to have certain common characteristics. Most notably, she discovered that geniuses enjoy recording their insights, observations, feelings, and poems and questions in personal notebooks or through letters to friends and family."

This is taking, "writing your goals down," a step farther. We all have heard that you should write down your goals, but we also need to reflect on them. We need to think about what worked and what didn't. As an athlete in the development of your skills, you can write down what worked and what didn't in practice, the insights you took from it, and how you can continually fine tune and improve your game.

2) 5 Things a Day: You may or may not have heard of the old five swings a day idea. This says that if you have a tree and an axe and you swing the axe five times per day, eventually the tree is going to fall. There are generally three to five things that if you do them each day, will eventually pay you great dividends. For example, I understand that if I spend time each day, thinking "outside the box," reading, writing, watching, or giving inspirational material, and working on my creative ideas, I reap big dividends. Because I am an "outside of the box" thinker, have the heart of a coach, and love to create, doing these three things on a daily basis pay off for me more than anything else I do. You may notice I only have three. But surely you can have up to, but probably not more than five.

3) Get a Coach: Whatever you want to be great at you need someone who A) has been to the place or at least knows how to get to the place you want to go and B) will hold you accountable to the highest degree. Both A and B are much more difficult to make happen on your own, if not impossible. If you look at most people who are successful at what they do, it is because they have been mentored, coached, and taken their by the hands of someone else, a great coach.

Let's stop "doing our best," and start getting things done. Have a great week!

THE PARADOX OF COURAGE

2010-05-10T05:08:00.000-07:00

Tell me if you ever feel like this....."Bored?"

Tell me if you ever feel like this...."Behind?"

Tell me if you ever feel like this..."Insignificant?"

Tell me if you ever feel like this..."Fearful things aren't going to work out how you want them to?"

I came across a piece of writing this morning by G. K. Chesterton. Chesterton was an English writer who wrote diverse books, essays, poetry, philosophy, publicly lectured, debated, wrote of Christian apologetics, and even dabbled in fantasy and fiction. The particular piece I read was the paradoxical clash of "courage." After reading, I strongly felt I needed to share it with all you.

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

'He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,' is not a piece of mysticism for saints and hero's. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers.

It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage...

He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch from it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying.

He must not merely cling to live, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape death.

He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape.

He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine."

Remember the questions I asked at the beginning? How often do you feel like those things I asked, bored, behind, insignificant, and fearful?

If often, I believe there is reason, maybe one you've never thought of. We have been taught to seek comfort in our lives. To attain wealth that we can do whatever we please. To gain status so that others will take care of our menial chores of life. To bask in all of life's most exotic pleasures. To build monuments to show our accomplishments, to show the world, "Look at me! Look what I have done!" I heard a story of an Asian man who was asked, "When will you know you have achieved success?" He replied, "When I have an Anglo gardener." I thought that was funny.

I'm not saying their is anything wrong with the pursuit of wealth and respect for what you do. And we do these things mostly because this is what we are taught is the "American" thing to do. We are taught that these things are "living the life," when in fact these things are the farthest thing from "living" at all. America is the richest and most depressed nation in the world. How does that work? Interesting.

The pursuit of comfort is the pursuit of detaching your heart from what it really wants. Have you ever noticed that the more you "chase success," the more miserable you are.

Your heart doesn't want to be bored chasing after comfort. You're heart wants something to believe in, something to fight for, a reason to get your butt up in the morning with some enthusiasm.

King David of Israel was the youngest of eight brothers. When Samuel was sent by God to anoint the new King of Israel, David's father Jesse, went through each brother thinking surely that they would be God's choice. Jesse's oldest sons were strong, good-looking, and were all very skilled. Because of their great looks and "king potential" (in their eyes anyway), Jesse thought the next King of Israel would definitely be one of his eldest sons.

But God says something interesting to Samuel. He says, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as a man sees; for a man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

The Hebrew concept of heart (used in this verse) embodies emotions, will, intellect, and desires. Heart, in this context, means that the life of a person will reflect his "heart."

Where are your emotions, will, intellect and desires leading your life? Do you even know? If you are feeling bored, behind, insignificant, and fearful of the future. If so you may need a heart check.

But remember the paradox, in-order to gain something you must be willing to lose something. Remember the soldier in Chesterton's writing. The soldier surrounded by enemies, in order to survive, he must have a strong desire for living and a strange carelessness for dying.

Nothing is ever mentioned in courage about a strong desire for comfort. That's not courage...to me that seems like fear. Constantly striving each day to make sure that you are fat and happy. Or in the writing is explains it as, "merely clinging to live." This soldier, as he says, "is a coward, and will not escape death."

I hope this MMM stirs something in you today. I hope for a moment, maybe you realize that you have been choosing this path of comfort now for too long. That it's time to find some courage and really follow your heart. That you will find where your emotions, will, intellect, and desires have been desperately yelling for your attention. That you will realize that you've been the soldier merely clinging to live your life, afraid to pursue your true desire and calling, and it's time to get up and fight your way out.

"He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine."

LETS GOOO...

"YOU DESERVE IT."

2010-04-20T01:21:00.000-07:00

Pinocchio's nose is about to go through your computer screen after telling you the following, "You deserve it."

This week's MMM is short and sweet but has a strong point all of us need to understand.
Our society has taught us that life is supposed to be easy. It's given us a false perception of prosperity. That we, because we are citizens of the United States of America, are entitled to having the things in life we want.

We are lied to on a daily basis. From the fat loss pill, to the get rich quick scheme, to the lottery. We are consistently lied to. We consistently told that life is supposed to be easy.

Don't ever, ever, ever, let that lie poison your mind. Life is hard...if you do not believe it, just give it some time. The affliction of life will eventually find you, there's no escaping it. Your unprepared mind will leave you blind-sided wondering why life is so unfair.

Instead of buying into the "easy" life style, invite the trying times in your life. Don't shy away. Move towards the path of least resistance. In trying times, search for the catalyst within. Search within the trial that which builds your character.

This is why I created the Liberation Tour. This tour has everything to do with how you will deal with physical adversity, or the "30 Ways to Make You Quit." It chooses 30 challenges that most people will look at and walk the other way. But for those people who choose to challenge themselves, if they are able to push themselves through it, they will walk out of the other side of that 100 days a new person.

And this new person will then understand just how much they have been holding themselves back. How much they have been buying into this lie that life is easy. That life is about attaining comfort.

No, my friends. Life is about the story. And there was never a good story written about someone who lived 'fat and happy,' comfortable, and adversity free. These are usually the villains in the story. Their greed and arrogance usually gets them killed.

It's time to stop buying into the lie. It's time to start making things happen. It's time we start showing up at adversities door step instead of hoping it doesn't show up on ours.

To paraphrase a favorite quote of mine. Fear not those who challenge, fear only those who dodge.

You don't deserve it. You have to go and get it.

Lets go...

A TOUCHING REALITY

2010-04-16T01:48:00.000-07:00

I have had some serious writers block for the past two weeks. Monday Morning Motivation has been non-existent because of it.

Fortunately, my friend, Coach Hunter Wood, helped crack the block when he asked me if I have seen an article written in the New York Times named Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much.

I found this article to be one of the most intriguing pieces of writing I have read on teamwork in a long time. Spending a lot of my personal growth time on studying high level teams and organizations, I have yet to run across a concept quite so simple, true, and powerful regarding teamwork and success.

The basis of this article states this:
"....in recent years some researchers have begun to focus on a different, often more subtle kinds of wordless communication: physical contact. Momentary touches, they say...can communicate an even wider range of emotion than gestures or expressions, and sometimes do so more quickly and accurately than words."

The author gives these research examples of evidence that supports this theory:

-"Students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not.

-"A sympathetic touch from a doctor leaves people with the impression that the visit lasted twice as long, compared with estimates from people who were untouched."

-"A massage from a loved one can not only ease pain but also soothe depression and strengthen a relationship."

Taking this thought in context makes perfect sense. If you think about it, different degrees of touching mean different degrees of comfort. Different degrees in comfort will show the degree of how much you, like, trust, and care for someone. There is a big difference in comfort from greeting someone with a firm hand shake and greeting someone with a big hug. And wouldn't it make sense that the best teams and organizations are the most comfortable around each other? Wouldn't it make sense that the best teams and organizations like, trust, and care for one another?

The article went on to say, the observations and thoughts of this concept led researchers to do a study on, what is said to be, "one of the most physically expressive arenas on earth: professional basketball."

During the study, researches recorded every single, touch, hi-five, butt-slap, chest bump, fist bump, every bit of expressed physical contact that teams had with one another. The most interesting thing was that while the study was being conducted the two teams who were at the top, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, were the two teams who accumulated the most touches. At the bottom of the touching scale were two teams who were, at the time, the bottom of the NBA, the Sacramento Kings and Charolette Bob Cats.

The study concluded, "Players who made contact with teammates most consistently and longest tended to rate highest on measures of performance, and the teams with those players seemed to get the most out of their talent."

Think about what a "pat on the back" from a parent, friend, coach, boss, or coworker has meant to you before. It's a supportive touch, one that says, "You've done well." One that says "Your gonna be o.k." This is an expression that I am sure you appreciate from time to time. Many people can go for months with an assured pat on the back from someone whom they respect and trust.

Think about what the good ole "back side slap" has meant to you or what you've meant in giving one to a teammate. It says, "Let's Go." It say's, "I've got you." It says, "Your good," or "don't worry about it." It also an "atta boy" or "great job," or "you're the man," or "thanks for coming through." Similar to it's vertical cousin the "pat on the back," the "back side slap" shows even a higher level of comfort. Often used by sports teams, I am not sure why the "gluooty" is such coveted target. But it seems as though there's an innate fancy, especially for athletes, to slap the back side of a teammate when your showing them some love.

Think about the people you are closest too outside of your family. I would bet that the one's who you engage in the most physical contact with from hand-shakes to high-fives, to bumps, to hugs, to chest-bumps, are the ones you feel best about. These are the ones who you more than likely have the best relationships with.

THIS WEEK:

1. Think about your team. Think about your company. Think about your family. How good are you as a group at showing support, appreciation, encouragement, gratitude, or affirmation in general? I can probably bet that most of you and the groups your are involved in can become better at doing these things. Start simple. Start with words, telling someone you appreciate them. Start with writing. Write something encouraging to a friend or teammate who needs it. Start with some praise. Praise a teammate in front of the entire team.

2. Think about showing your comfort at a higher level. How can you begin to take responsibility for getting your team to get involved with more touches. More hi-fives, more back side slaps, shoulder pats, hugs, bumps? And how can you do it without making it extremely uncomfortable? Obviously, it's not a good idea if you're in a big organization to give your boss a huge back-side slap after a good meeting, but there is not a problem in using the vertical cousin, giving a pat on the back, and telling him, "thanks for supporting us."

3. Understand that touching involves comfort. That's why you normally don't hug someone the first time you meet them. After you get to know them you may give them a hand shake to hug, or just go right in for the hug. But it does take time to develop this closeness. Trying to go in to soon usually creates the awkward hug dance. You know what I'm talking about.

If you are a coach or leader, here are my suggestions in creating a tighter team through a team who willingly appreciates, encourages, thanks, and affirms through not just words, but touch.

First, you must spend more time together. It's hard to become close if you don't spend anytime together. If you are the coach or the leader, you have to schedule times that bring your team together in an informal setting. A place where people can learn more about each other. A place where people can let their guard down a little and show who they are.

Second, you must create an environment that accepts failure: Scared people never give all they can. It's unfortunate but many coaches and businesses run their teams like a dictatorship, my way or the highway. All this does is create an environment of fear and eventually their followers become cautious, resentful, and secretive because they are afraid of expressing what they really think. In order for relationships to truly mature, team members cannot fear expressing who they are or what they believe.

Third, you must create a Challenge Up Environment: This along the lines of #2, says that anyone on the team, no matter who they are, has the right to express disagreements in opinions, in a respectful way, to anyone else, including you as the leader. The key is that it is done in a respectful, more-than-likely, private face to face expression. To grow together as a team, all members must believe their opinion is respected and will not be criticized for challenging the leader.

Fourth, you must lead the team in touches. If you are the leader or not, you can apply this. Obviously if the leader expresses a lot through touching the team will as well. But sometimes, you as the team member, has to be the one who leads in touches. Shake more hands, give more bumps, give more hugs, pat-more backs, grab more shoulders, chest-bump more. If this is not happening, someone has to start. Someone has to lead.

Finally, you must win! A team who wins is a back side slapping happy team. Though losing and failure can bring a team closer together, it's a lot more fun to be high-five, make up NBA style hand shakes, slap people in the back of the head, upper back, or gluooty, when you're kicking other teams butts.

PLEASE check out this hilarious clip as Michael Scott from the office being to implement this weeks MMM.

MICHAEL SCOTT'S BUTT SLAP THEORY

LEADING THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW....

2010-03-16T07:30:00.001-07:00

Psalms 23:4 reads, "Even though I walk into the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

This is a bible scripture often used in sports and in life as encouraging words when facing adverse times. This scripture profiles the writings of King David around 979 BC, where he speaks of the comforts of God in the difficulties of life he faced.

Similar to the times of adversity King David faced, there are a handful of individuals who experience leadership in a way that many of us never will, or would never sign up for. These leaders and situations are called, "in extremis," or "at the point of death."

Today's MMM simply profiles the characteristics of in extremis Leaders. There is an entire chapter dedicated to in extremis leadership in a book I am currently reading, Leadership Lessons from West Point.

This chapter was particularly interesting because a lot of leadership characteristics and qualities we think important in our world fly right out the window when leading others in life or death situations. The book says, "Behind the veneer lies a rich array of insights about leadership, forged in the face of fear, and paid for with the blood of heroes."

In extremis leaders give us a picture of authentic leadership. Leadership stripped to it's core. Leadership found only when then highest stakes are at play. This is pure leadership. Understand the core of something and you can build on it. If you consider yourself a leader, developing this leadership core is a great place start, or start over.

In extremis Leadership defined: "Giving purpose, motivation, and direction to people when there is imminent physical danger and where followers believe that leader behavior will influence their physical well being or survival. Out comes in in extremis leadership mean more than mere success or failure, pride, or embarrassment. Outcomes are characterized in terms of hurt or healthy, dead or alive."

"I am a leader." How many times have you heard someone tell you this (especially if you have ever been in a position to interview someone for a job or position). The next time someone labels themselves "leader," my next question may be, "How many people have you lead in terms of hurt or healthy, dead or alive?"

After I read this chapter, my thoughts of the depth of myself as a leader, dropped off harder than a Vanilla Ice single.

The authors of this book learned about in extremis leadership by watching, living in, as well as conducting 120 in depth interviews of a range of leaders and followers who have participated in in exteremis situations. Through this research and experience the top characteristics of this type of leadership where revealed.

1 and 2. INHERENT MOTIVATION AND THE LEARNING ORIENTATION: In extremis situations are inherently motivating. The dangers that people face brings energy to the leader and the followers who are involved. The potential hostility means that leaders must be able to scan and learn their environment quickly, having confidence and competence to read the situation, make decisions under fire, and make them quickly.

3. SHARED RISK: Here is one of the characteristics I found to be much different than many leaders in the sports and/or corporate world. Shared risk means that the leader is willing to share the same risk, and even risk more than the followers. This is one of the most profound leadership characteristics any authentic leader must take on. This creates deep respect and admiration from followers. This is a "I'll go first leader." That is the way it should be. That is why you are called, "leader."

4. ELEMENTS OF COMMON LIFESTYLE: Another characteristic that is quite different from that of what common leadership is in extremis leaders do not focus on materialism and/or "what they look like." They instead, focus on values.

In their research they found that in extremis leaders earn an average but sufficient wage. The author made a great point stating "people who live and work in dangerous environments learn to love life. They seem to live in a world where value is only loosely attached to material wealth." Most of us as leaders in free world, have a hard time understanding this concept. Because our life is never really threatened, we tend to place less value on the important things in life and more on materialist crap.

In extremis leaders seem to accept and embrace the lifestyle that is common to their followers. Think about it in your own experience. Is it easy to follow someone who looks completely different than you? Is it easy to follow someone whose expression of who they are (through their appearance to their material possessions) tips the other side of the scale from you? Or do you look for a leader who embraces the same values, lives like you, understands what is important to you, and is willing to do the same things as you do? Too many leaders think that leader means "better." Not so much.

5. COMPETENCE: No one wants to follow an incompetent leader into a place where they might get killed. There is absolutely no amount of positional or legal authority that is likely to command the respect or obedience in a setting where life is at stake.

Leaders in these extreme situations are placed in an incredible amount of pressure. They must see all the outcomes of the decisions that they make, and sometimes they have to make decisions where they know the outcomes will not be good.

This is truly the building block for trust in a relationship between the leader and their followers. The book says, "Organizations run by appointed leaders without legitimate competence can muddle through mundane events, but will predictably crumble when pushed in a crisis that poses genuine threat."

If you want to find out who the real leader is in your organization, take your group or team into your "valley of the shadow of death." See who has the competence to win the trust and heart of the team. I believe most of the people on the team will already know who it will be. The only person or person's who might be surprised about their new position are the "leaders" who sit in the corner office with the gold name plate and fancy title.

6. TRUST: Authenticity is the foundation, competence is the bricks, and trust is the house. The combination of authenticity and competence is what builds followers to trust their leaders, especially when it comes to life and death. There is nothing that is harder to gain and easier to lose than the trust of your followers. This is why in extremis leaders have to be the most authentic, trusted, and honest individuals that someone can find.

7. LOYALTY: Loyalty is eminent in in extremis leadership. And it is also a two way street. In extremis leaders see it as their absolute duty to take care of their followers. They put the men first, the mission second, and themselves third. Because of their loyalty to their men, they gain the same type of loyalty back.

Once again, this is not common in "leadership" in our world. Coaches and executives might do well in looking at their loyalty towards their team or employees. When they truly see how much they do or do not care about the well-being of their followers, they will then understand the degree of loyalty or dis-loyalty towards them.

The section in this book ends with a great statement. It says, "As leaders, our most enduring legacy exists in people we have led. We can build corporations, we can make loads of money, we can write books, we can name buildings after ourselves. In the end, for leaders, the only lasting effect is in the people we develop by giving them motivation, direction, and purpose. Competence, trust, and loyalty are all key in establishing the legacy of any leader, regardless of the nature of their organization."

This Week:

LEAD...LEAD BECAUSE YOU CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU'RE LEADING....LEAD BECAUSE IT'S BIGGER THAN YOU...LEAD BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED HELP....LEAD BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED TO BE INSPIRED...LEAD BECAUSE SOMEONE NEEDS YOU TO WALK WITH THEM IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH...LEAD BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE WILL NOT...BUT IF YOU DO LEAD, LEAD BOLDLY, AUTHENTICALLY, AND CHARISMATICALLY, AND IN FRONT.

Have a Great Week!!!

THE MAN WHO TALKED TO HIMSELF

2010-03-01T03:41:00.000-08:00

This is by far the most difficult MMM I have written to this date. I have been putting it off for weeks, because of the difficulty I knew I would have writing it. But as I learned this weekend in a random audio lesson, when your mind gives you resistance (tells you to put something off, or not to do something), the best thing you can do is the exact opposite.

I have been telling myself, "I'll write this later," or "I don't need to write about this." It is resistance. And, on this subject, I decided not to listen to it anymore.

This story about "The Man Who Talked to Himself." It's true story. It's a story that I hope will help you appreciate, embrace, and cherish the differences in others around you. I also hope will motivate you to change your perspective on the preciousness of life and understand the importance taking the initiative to develop friendships with those around you.

THE MAN WHO TALKED TO HIMSELF

"Let's go. You can do this. Come On. One more set."
This motivational talk was not coming from the personal trainer positioned above Mr. Lee Strickland preparing to spot him on a dumbbell chest press. It came from the client. Mr. Lee Strickland, with his eyes down and shoulders rolled forward continued to motivate himself, out loud, with enough volume as if he was trying to pump someone up across the room.

His trainer was looking at me through the mirror, with a smile that says, "It's just his thing," I'm smiling back at him with a smile that says, "this dude is weird."

And it wasn't just me, or his trainer that Mr. Lee Strickland would catch the attention of. It was the young lady I was training at the time. A college student who, every time Mr. Lee Strickland would start self encouraging, would look at me and try to hold in her laughter.

We would poke fun of Lee. Asking, "Is this guy really talking to himself?" It happened on multiple occasions. When you are the only adult training in the room with a bunch of teenagers, and just happen to be motivating yourself out loud, it was more than one time I got the question, "Is this guy serious?"

And yes, Mr. Lee Strickland was serious. He was a man who was very hard on himself. Like many type A personalities, he worried about things that probably didn't matter too much. But he took many things seriously and was a contributor in all of them. From being and avid exerciser to a Sunday school teacher, to serving on multiple community boards, to his professional accomplishments as an engineer, as a die hard fan of the Florida Gators, and as a husband and father, Mr. Lee Strickland was serious about whatever he did in his life.

I knew Mr. Lee Strickland for years. Or, at least, he worked out next to my clients and I for years. I just thought he was a weird dude who did too much bench press. It wasn't until about one year ago that I began to get to know Mr. Lee Strickland, and over that year I felt I got to know a great person, a great husband and father, and I always looked forward to seeing him come in. Always walking in like the gym was the last place he wanted to be, tired, just getting off of work, but always got it done. My greatest regret is that I let Mr. Lee Strickland's differences stop me from getting to know him sooner.

Lee and I began our first conversations about the Florida Gators. I have become what I like to call, "an adopted Gator fan." Simply, because a lot of kids I train have went on to play there. My friend Hunter would say it's because I am nothing but a "front runner." I can't help it the Gators have won multiple championships in multiple sports since I was adopted.

Mr. Lee Strickland was a UF graduate who loved the Florida Gators and Gator football. I would say that the majority of our conversations centered around the Gators, especially the football team.

For a year, a couple times a week, Mr. Lee Strickland would train in our facility while all of us would engage in conversations about football, the Gators, and argue pointlessly about sporting events and other random subjects. Mr. Lee Strickland's sarcasm and funny comments made my afternoon many times as he would say things to his trainer trying to get out of another set or more weight. He was funny as hell. But when it came down it, he was back at it, pumping himself up, out loud, for everyone to here. He was completely focused on the task ahead of him, "You can do it." "One more set." "Come on Lee, nothing to it."

On January 11th, Mr. Lee Strickland made a phone call into his trainer saying he would not be able to make his training session on the following day because of a meeting that just came up. A meeting he had to travel for. This "just came up" meeting had an unfortunate destination. A destination that we, to this day, continue to watch the devastation unfold. Haiti.

January 12th, 2010. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Haiti and destroys the infrastructure of the country. I saw on my Facebook page that my friend and Mr. Lee Strickland's trainer posted:

"Please add my dear friend and client Lee Strickland to your thoughts and prayers. Lee checked into this hotel on the afternoon of the quake and is yet to be heard from."

"What, Lee...." I thought as I scrambled to grab my phone to get a hold of his trainer to see what was going on. And yes, it was true. Lee had not been heard from. Mr. Lee Strickland had checked into the Hotel Montana (pictured above) and just spoken with his wife at 4:45 pm. He was on his his way back to his hotel room. Eight minutes later, at 4:53pm, the earthquake struck and Lee was never heard from again.

Thirty four days later, it was finally confirmed. Mr. Lee Strickland was found in the rubble of the Hotel Montana. Through this time, I followed his Facebook page and the Hotel Montana Facebook page spoke to both of the trainers who worked with him often, and did my best to pray for the comfort of his beautiful family, his wife, and eleven year old daughter.

During this time, I reflected a lot on what I learned from Mr. Lee Strickland and just how much I enjoyed that year I got to know him a little better.

Mr. Lee Strickland was different, at first, kind of weird to everyone, but it was his differences that I really began to enjoy. I really looked forward to seeing him 1 or 2 afternoon's a week. He was always pleasant, funny, and made me laugh.

This time of reflection has helped to me realize it is our idiosyncrasies, that make us masterpieces of God's work. And, no matter who you are or what you do, you are an unbelievable gift.

I sit here and think about his daughter and his wife. I am blessed to have three beautiful women in my life, my wife and my two little girls. I cannot imagine leaving them without me. I cannot imagine if my little girls were at the comprehending age of eleven and the pain, the confusion, the heart-ache, the hopelessness, that they would experience in the event of losing their daddy. It pains and saddens my heart to end just thinking about it.

Please take a moment today and pray for my friend Mr. Lee Strickland's family.

I hope this story, "The Man Who Talked to Himself," helps motivate you too..

Embrace others differences. No matter who are what they are (looks, color, religion, quirks, idiosyncrasies, etc.). Make them feel as if there differences are gifts, not curses or annoyances. There is probably someone you interact with every day who you have purposefully chosen not to get to know. Either because you are too busy, just do not care too, or worst of all and what has been my biggest problem too prideful. This is a mistake my friends. I want to encourage you to go to that person this week, get to know them, ask them and become interested in their differences, and make a new friend.

At this point, it may have been easier not to know Mr. Lee Strickland,
"The Man Who Talked To Himself." This pain of losing someone I truly enjoyed getting to know is difficult. However, I would not trade this pain for a second of my time interacting with Mr. Lee Strickland. Our times of laughing, him and I backing the Gators while we were getting bombarded by Gator haters, listening to Garrett tell him why he needs to stop just doing bench press because his shoulders were going to collapse forward, seeing him and Josh get through a Friday afternoon workout, and of course always enjoying his motivational speeches to himself.

I believe Jesus Christ summed it up when a Sadducee, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law." Jesus replied, "You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Loving your neighbor as yourself is all about embracing differences and taking the initiative in getting to know who they are, cherishing them; becoming their friend. The success of your life will never be measured by how much money or professional gain you've made for yourself. Rather, life's greatest measure of success is determined by the number and quality of great friendships you have.

May God bless, watch over, and continue to comfort the Strickland family.

MR. LEE STRICKLAND'S FUNERAL NOTICE

ME, TIGER, CHAZ, AND YOU

2010-02-22T07:02:00.000-08:00

I wrote an article a couple months ago called Me, Tiger, and Peach Cobbler. The point of the article was to profile Tigers work ethic and explain the theory that talent is created by the diligent, focused, and hard work put into a particular sport or skill.

Well a lot has happened since that article. If you would have told me a month ago that Tiger would have been sitting in a sex rehabilitation clinic next to Chaz Michael Michaels, I would had laughed and said that would be a great parody scene with a Will Ferrell return to Saturday Night Live.

Friday morning, Tiger Woods went in front of the world and apologized for his actions. I am one of those people who wants to believe that Tiger is sincere. I am one of those people finds it in my heart to believe in him again. Why? Because just like me....Tiger, Chaz, and You, we all have made mistakes when it comes to our temptations, Tiger, just like everything else he does, took it to another level.

Tiger was a victim. A victim of himself. Tiger mentioned that because he had worked so hard all his life he was entitled to these temptations. I do not believe this to be true. Tiger's fall from grace came because of two reasons a) his inability to know his personality and how it could crossover to everything in his life b) he did not see the need to put up barriers in his life because of that.

Tiger takes things to the next level. Tiger does this because of his ability to obsess, focus, and get done what he needs to get done. This is why he has been able to become the greatest golfer of all time. No one does what he does in practice or on the course. Tiger was the one who really brought fitness to golf. Tiger, in the golf world, is jacked (I've stood right next to him, that's why I say "in the golf world"). There's Tiger again, taking it to another level.

If Tiger did not have this ability to focus and obsess, he may not be as good. The only problem is that this personality trait sits on a dangerous fence. And if you fall off on the side of the fence, watch out!

The way you do things in the areas of your life that are important transfer over to everything else. It is kind of like a blue print you've created in your mind to get things done. The problem does not come from ambition, it comes from selfish ambition.

In Tiger's case, his selfish ambition led to taking relationships outside of his marriage to another level. Because Tiger failed to understand his personality, and what could happen if he voluntarily started something like this, it got out of control fast. He did not put up barriers that would protect is obsessive personality from the temptations of this world. By a barrier I mean, "I will not put myself in a situation where I am alone with a woman besides my wife," or "I will not travel anywhere without my wife and kids."

Ambition, hard-work, competitiveness, and the desire to be your best are all great qualities. It is what has made Tiger the greatest golfer of all time. I just wish he would have been able to sit down one day and make a commitment to some barrier rules for himself.

This morning I'd like to motivate you to think about the areas of your personality that could become lethal addictions, have already started moving in that direction, or are already there.

Remember additions are not something we have because we love the source. They are something we use to replace pain or hurt somewhere in our life. Addictions come from having an ever-increasing desire for something that has an ever decreasing ability to satisfy. So the more you become involved the more it takes hold of your life and in the mean time satisfy you less and less.

These usually start with a voluntary attempt to experience something that is desirable. But in the end they usually ends up as a compulsion. They grow stronger and stronger and eventually get out of control. I don't care who you are, you are not strong enough to control the grips of these types of addictions.

That is why the best thing to do is to first understand who you are, what your greatest temptations are, and stay the hell away from them! The worst advice you could get is to put yourself in those situation to make you stronger. NO! This is the only case where adversity does not work to build character. It's safe to say that Tiger is a mentally tough individual. Probably tougher than most of us. Obviously mental toughness is no match against self-centered desires.

The best advice I can give you comes from my friend Paul who says, "Whatever is true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."

My desire is to help you find the greatness in your life. All the great qualities of success are going to help you get there, but your success insurance is your character. Erwin McManus says, "The shape of your character is the shape of your future."

Here is a interview of the great Chaz Michael Michaels. If this doesn't sum it up, I don't know what will:) Have a great week!

CHAZ MICHAEL MICHAELS INTERVIEW

THE TALENT MONSTER

2010-02-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

I once saw a story of a young man who was not really the popular guy in school.

He was one of the worst basketball players (probably ever) and could not get the attention of a young lady he had a crush on because he's such a dweeb. (And before I get your email reply, Calathes; no...this is not me).

He then finds out that he is a generational werewolf. This at first seemed to be devastating blow to his already awful social life. However the side effect of being a werewolf is that he becomes a high flying, basketball playing machine. I don't think he actually missed a shot in the entire story, dunking on everyone, breaking the backboard, and hitting shots from all over the court.

The problem happens when this kid starts taking the werewolf on as his sole identity. He decides to be there werewolf 24/7, not just when the moon comes out. With this new arrogant persona he loses his friends, the girl that has always been there for him, and he creates him to be more of a side show annoyance than the popular athlete that he longed to be.

You may recognize this story from the popular 1985 movie "Teen Wolf," starring Michael J. Fox. But though this is a fictional story, I've seen plenty of real life "Teen Wolfs," in my day as an athlete and a coach.

Let's call them "Talent Monsters."

There is nothing wrong with talent, I am absolutely intrigued with people who have the God given ability to do things that none of us would ever dream of being able to do. Talent is a God given gift. Those who work hard to develop their talent have the capacity to do what they do at much higher levels then others around them.

But with every great gift their comes a curse....

Here's where the problem lies. Because our society has become obsessed with talent, we are starting this glorification process much too early. I cannot help but mention the 13 year old kid who verbally committed to playing quarterback at the University of Southern California. I have personally been involved with kids who have verbally committed to major Division I Universities before they could even get their drivers permit. I hope it works out for the kid, but you can best bet that his childhood years have been cut short.

And with all this comes a local celebrity status to a young developing mind. These pre-teen and teenage years are critical years in developing social skills such as teamwork, leadership, sacrifice, and other characteristics that makes them an upstanding citizen. This is also the age where these teens already think the world evolves around them. And when our society makes them believe it even more, this can create major problems.

We think that we are doing them a favor by praising them, throwing stuff at them, making them feel like they are celebrities, but then...

..the moon comes out one night and they turn into the "Talent Monster," eating up and destroying entire teams with their ego and self-satisfying desire to be the top of the food chain where ever they are. They seek to only help themselves, they expect others and even adults to come when they call. Their teammates are never good enough, and the Monster is happy to let them know just how bad he thinks they are. It is their world, and everyone else around is nothing but a step in their direction to feed this Monster that has been created by me and you.

But the writing on the wall shows what happens when the Talent Monster runs into the Silver Bullet.

This silver bullet comes in the form of adversity that they cannot deal with. And when they meet this silver bullet, all that glamorous life of a young sports star, does nothing to prepare them for it. This is how the Talent Monster is often destroyed. It's greatest opponent, it's greatest weakness is adversity.

But there is another way. The Monster must be tamed. When you tame the Monster you are still left with Talent. But you are left with Talent that is used for what it should be used for....others. In order get the most out of a talent you must...

1. Keep Talent Around Those Who Tell Them the Truth: I read a quote from a coach who said, "I never gave em' hell. I just told them the truth and they though it was hell." Talented people attract cling-on's and coat tail riders who love to tell them how great and wonderful they are. This gives them a false perception. The truth is, there are way more people who are willing to tell you everything you want to here, instead of telling you the truth.

2. Keep Talent Around Those Who Are Better Than Them At What They Do: One of the keys to humility is getting your butt kicked on a consistent basis. Especially if you are good and you know it. Most super-talents are not used to losing (or in other words: "getting their way). When they do lose, you can tell they do not handle it well. It's usually shown in a temper tantrum. Super-Talents, more than anyone else, need to learn the value of failing. They need to learn that failure is a part of success, that it is what builds character and perseverance to fight through difficult situations and times they are sure to eventually face.

3. Teach Talent Leadership: One of the best things that you can do is teach talented individuals how to be great leaders. Being a leader teaches them to be an outstanding teammate, one who sacrifices for the team, one who helps develop and help the players around them. A great leader is also the standard for work ethic. They set the standard for the toughness and the attitude of the team. They set the standard in the locker room. If the leaders soft, the team is soft. Most super-talents are given the leader role only because they are talented, and this is especially true at the high school, college level. Because of their talent, they are usually the most popular student, thus they are the leader. At this age you don't want to be on the outs with the popular guy. Teach them to be leaders.

4. Put Talent Around Great Role Models: One of the best things that can possibly happen to a young talent is to put them around people who they respect as great people and great role models. This usually comes in the form of a coach, trainer, or some other type of mentor that they have. These role models help these talents put things into perspective, through their example help them realize what's really important, and will be the first person to tell them if they are acting like a fool. Role models are great leaders themselves, they care first about the person, then the development of their talent. They understand the these talents are going to make stupid mistakes, probably over and over. They empathize with them, but are sure to instruct and tell them they did wrong. The greatest role models are like the greatest parents. The talents will be more worried about disappointing their role model in doing something stupid, then they will the consequences of the action itself.

Here is the clip that is probably would have had it's own Sport Center top 10 dedicated to it. This is Teen Wolf's first game as a Werewolf. You'll notice the patented behind the back move and his D Howard like dunks. He was legit:)

TEEN WOLF HIGHLIGHT REEL

HOW TO BECOME INDISPENSABLE

2010-02-09T04:25:00.000-08:00

Three years ago I read this poem and it stuck with me as a great reminder how each of us are a dispensable asset. The poem is by Saxon N. White Kissinger and is called, There is No Indispensable Man;

"Sometime when you're feeling important;
Sometime when your ego's in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You're the best qualified in the room,

Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul;

Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that's remaining
Is a measure of how you will be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you'll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.

The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There's no indispensable man."

This poem lead me to believe that no matter who you were, what you did, no matter how talented you were, or how hard you worked, you were replaceable, a dispensable asset.

This is true. There will always be someone coming up right behind you ready to take your position on your team, in your job, in your market, or in just about anything else.

But I have learned that this is thought process, a perspective without a full spectrum of understanding. Our dispensability is a truth in life we all must accept because eventually no one cares how good you are or what you've brought to the table.

We see it all the time in sports. Look at what the Green Bay Packers did to Brett Farve after all he had been to that organization and that community. Look at what the Philadelphia Eagles did to the heart and soul of their franchise over the past 10 years, Brian Dawkins.

As the world changes around us, we are continual victims of change and upgrade. It may not be fair, but it is true.....

....Unless you can make yourself indispensable.

I came across this sentence in a book, "But the truth is that the only way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself dispensable."

I was a little confused by the paradox, so I continued to read on;"In other words, if you are able to continually empower others and help them develop so that they become capable of taking over your job, you will become so valuable to the organization that you become indispensable."

At this point I am thinking to myself, "This is telling me to help develop others enough so that they could take my job?? How does that work out?"

But as I began to apply this principle, I began to understand. That by doing this, by empowering others, by giving yourself to others, by developing others, by basically showing others that you care more about their well-being than even your own own, you will eventually become so important to your organization you could be considered indispensable.

!!!HOLD THAT THOUGHT!!!!!

Before I make this sound too easy, you need to know something.....

....Becoming indispensable does not mean that you will not get kicked out of your job. There are many teams and organizations out there who would rather control you than develop you. Be prepared that if you start to look like you are becoming indispensable you may strike fear in the hearts of your team or organization, and they may get rid of you.

Maybe now it is easier to see why most people will choose to become dispensable rather than making the choice to do the ladder. The product or indispensability does not really seem like something that is so great to sign up for. Let see...If I become indispensable I may, A) Train and develop someone to be so good that they take my job, and/or, B) I may get fired or kicked off my team.

This is when you must be able to see a little bit farther down the road than everyone else. Most people are blinded by the "what can I get right now," who can get more, who has more status, who is the most popular. They are very occupied and live their life based on what others think about them. This "drive" or "fear" of lack of crap accumulation puts blinders on them and they keep just smashing their heads into this great wall of "success."

There are a few reasons why people choose dispensability over indispensability:

1) It is the path of least resistance: And if you know anything about the 80/20 principle, you know that this is dominated by 80% of the people around you anywhere you go in anything they do.

2) It is safe: Not many people want to put their own job in jeopardy. No one wants to to be persecuted for trying to make others around them better right??

2) Lack of Self-Worth: Many people do not believe that they have that much to offer or what they have to offer is anything special or good.

4) They're Happy Being Part of the Crowd: Most people settle for just doing their job and being a part of the crowd. They don't ever take a stand, try to change anything, and have no passion for helping develop other people. As long as they have a spot or a job, they don't want to do anything to ruffle the feathers.

So what's so great about becoming indispensable?

1) You are in the purest form, A Leader: All great leaders are indispensable. Because when you have decided to develop others and become a change agent, you create passionate, and loyal followers. And if you go, your loyal followers are not sitting around making a pro's and con's list rather to go with you or not. They just say, "lets go."

2) You Own the Greatest Assets: That asset is your relationships. The greatest asset that you can acquire is not skills or material gain, the greatest asset you can acquire is people who are loyal to you, people who believe in you, and people that will do anything for you. You can only acquire that through giving yourself to someone else, by showing them that they come first.

3) You Live Your Life without Fear: Churchill said, "Courage, is the first of all human qualities, because it is the quality which guarantees all the others." When you are able to understand and apply the paradox of dispensability ("But the truth is that the only way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself dispensable."), you have the capacity live on a different level. You live your life without fear because while everyone else if fighting for status, promotions, and trying to convince people to like them, you could care less about any of those things. All you care about is getting better at who you are everyday, and helping others to do the same. I always say, "The absolute greatest day of your life is the day you do not care what anyone thinks about you."

I was watching a show on the NBA channel about New Orleans Hornets rookie point guard, Darin Collison. As a first round draft pick he wants to be out on the floor. Unfortunately for him, he's behind one of the best players in the league, Chris Paul. But though he has had to wait his turn, he has been blessed to have not just a bigger than life superstar, but a humble leader like Paul in front of him. He explained how Paul has taken him under his wing and showed him how to do things and how to handle himself on and off the court. Chris Paul has become a developer of this young talent. In his interview, Collison simply put it, "That's why he is who he is." This rookie looked at Chris Paul's greatness not because of his super talent, but because of his willingness to give to him. Chris Paul may get traded or kicked off of his team one day. But because Paul has decided to become bigger than a NBA superstar. Because he's decided to be a humble leader, an empowerer, a developer of others. No matter what happens, if he continues to lead and develop others, Chris Paul will always be indispensable.

Who can you choose to start your path to indispensability? Start today.

LESSONS FROM OUR HERO'S OF 09

2010-01-05T02:40:00.000-08:00

It is said that wisdom is knowing the right path to take, but integrity is actually taking that path. In 2009, we learned that that many of our "Hero's," who seemed to know the right path and reaping the benefits from it, were unable maintain the integrity to continue on it.

This bothers me. Not so much because I believe these people are any better than me. Not because their talent makes them incapable of making mistakes. In fact, I have defended some of these individuals. Not their actions, but defended them against ignorant people who probably will never have any idea the temptations of this level of success, wealth, and fame brings. The primary reason that these situations bother me so much is because of the level of influence these "Hero's" have.

You may be aware of the passage written in the Bible, "To whom much is given, from him, much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more." These were words of wisdom given by The Ancient Prophet to His disciples.

What was the purpose of these words of wisdom spoken to His followers over 2000 years ago? This was written when there was no TV, no internet, no magazines, no Fat Head posters. He did not have to worry about Peter, John, or James, doing something stupid and being projected in the media across the world. These words were written because He understood the level of influence that these followers would eventually have. And that because of the importance of this influence, and deep responsibility given to it, they were held to a higher standard and higher level of accountability.

The more talent, fame, success, and wealth you are given, the more you should be expected to do what is right. That makes sense doesn't it? Unfortunately our "celebrity" and "pop" culture has instead given these people a ticket to think that they are above these responsibilities, making them think that the world owes them for having a great talent. But according to arguably the most influential man to ever walk the earth, because of the blessings they have been given, they owe more to the world.

Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair's children will grow up with out a father because he made a choice to choose himself over his faith and his family. I was a huge fan of Steve McNair. He was one of the most gritty and tough quarterbacks that ever played the game. McNair was a great leader on the field, but not so different as many of us, had a hard time transferring this leadership off the field.

I have a firm belief that if you cannot lead yourself and your family, don't try to lead anyone else. If you do, the hole in your leadership ability will become painstakingly obvious. In McNair's case, it was lethal.

And Tiger....Oh Tiger...I don't even want to write about him because I'm sure you are tired of hearing about him. But I am not here to attack Tiger and talk about how stupid he is or how I can't believe he let himself get involved in these actions.

But here is an example of a person who did not understand himself. He, like many other high level achievers, more than likely has an obsessive personality. He is a perfectionist. If he wasn't, I doubt he would be as successful as he is in his sport.

Unfortunately, we may not of understood that your personality crosses over to everything you do in life. If you are obsessive in one thing, you will be obsessive in other things. A person who understands this put up barriers in his life to avoid getting trapped in these situations.

I don't believe it was Tiger's intention to become this involved with this many women. I believe it was something that he let himself get sucked into and it took him over. And like it always does, blew up on him and has become one of the biggest falls from grace that we have ever witnessed.

I am pleading with the great athletes. I am pleading with those of you who have been placed on a pedestal. I am pleading with those of you who command great influence in whatever it is you do. I am pleading to those of you who live your life on a stage. I am pleading with you to make a commitment to being a great example, a much needed role model to all whom you influence.

Our nation is starving for real leaders. Those of you who have the courage to take this responsibility on, know that you will be scrutinized, your life will be under a microscope, and people will not leave a stone unturned trying to find something to mark against your character. When you are at this point, you know your character is helping others make better decisions in their own lives.

For the young people, take the time to learn about what true leadership is. Do not get wrapped up in all the materialistic, it's all about your image, bling bling crap. Dare to be different. Dare to stand up for what is good and right. You may not be the center of attention if you do this, but in the end, your life and legacy will be honored and cherished as someone who cared enough about others to do the right thing with their own life.

Greek Philosopher Aristotle summed up our choices as, "We become what we are as persons by the decisions we ourselves make." Preacher and evangelist D.L. Moody used this to help him think about the repercussions of his decisions; "I've always tried to live with the following rule: don't do what you wouldn't feel comfortable with reading about in the newspaper the next day."

And finally I'll leave you with some very good and simple advice from my friend and NFL offensive lineman, Jamar Nesbit. He once told me, "Jeff, it's easier to do good than it is to do bad."

...Amen to that.

Take a lesson from some our "Hero's" in 2009 and make a commitment to be an example that others need this year. Our nation, our youth, our children, and our entire world needs you.

THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT PART 5, "GIVE 'EM NO CHOICE"

2009-12-28T02:31:00.000-08:00

In this final segment of "The Best Advice I Ever Got," I'm leaving you with one of my favorite all time motto's, "Give Em No Choice."

Living with this attitude puts responsibility to achieve your dreams and goals on you! You will stop counting on things you have no control over like catching a break, good luck, or just plain hoping and wishing that you will get your chance.

You will start counting on your own motivations and your courage, which will drive your focus and preparation. You will focus on being prepared for when your time comes. The universe will have no choice but to accept the fact that you will have one day arrived prepared, skilled, and obviously the most excellent choice for what you do.

Source: Not sure. I have been telling myself this and passing this advice to others for a long time.

Why I consider this some of the "Best Advice I Ever Got":

The reason I consider this some of the best advice I ever got is because within these words hold the power of accepting personal responsibility. Once you are able to accept personal responsibility for the significance your life plays, the road blocks of achievement (which I've listed below) are seen as nothing but motivators. They are looked at as something to run through and leap over getting stronger and stronger in the process.

Internalizing the "give 'em no choice," attitude will welcome these roadblocks:

1. The People Roadblock: The hardest roadblock in achievement is other people, especially family members who are supposed to unconditionally love you. When family members criticize you, discourage you, and devalue your dreams and goals, it hurts deeply your self-confidence, and self worth. If your family is supportive, the second worst is those people whom you allow to be close to you in your life. If these people are say things to keep you down, discourage and make fun of your pursuits, then they will keep you at their level until you get rid of them. To get over this roadblock,no matter who it is, your mother, your father, a coach, a pastor, you must listen to your heart, you must use their negativity and unbelief in you as motivation, and "give 'em no choice," but to believe in you, by steadily showing them your effort, and you ability to fight through their negativity to the achievement of your goals.

2. The Life Roadblock: This roadblock is something that blind side's you on the way to a dream. Not something that you saw coming or invited on yourself, like a drug addiction, or some character flaw that you knew was going to eventually nail you. I'm talking about being truly blind sided by life. These come in the forms of personal, family, financial, occupational, or any other type of tragedy. These tragedies will make you rethink your goals, rethink you dreams, and throw you onto another course you never expected. Though these are extremely difficult to fight through, these life situations can eventually catapult you to another level of accomplishment. To get through this roadblock you must show the universe, "give it no choice" to accept the fact that you will never give up and to place you where you belong.

3. The Fear Roadblock: Fear is the invisible roadblock that is more devastating to goals and dreams than any other. These fears constantly tell you, "you're not good enough." These fears will keep you right were you are. These fears come in the form of, fear of failure and fear of success. Both of these have everything to do with the need of the approval of others. Until you do not care what others think about you, until you have no fear of not being accepted by others, you will constantly battle this roadblock of fear. You must turn this fear into courage. A fearless mind opens up a whole new world of opportunities to you. And when you live with no fear, you give fear "no choice" but to submit to you, work for you, and lead you to your goals and dreams.

This advice is all about going out and earning it. This attitude forces you to think about how you're going to prepare everyday to make sure you are the most excellent choice for what you do.

Too often we settle for being the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best choice. To me, this is not good enough. I want to be the obvious choice, not necessarily the best choice, but the most excellent choice that someone can make. When a high level athlete or individual is looking for a trainer or a training team that gives them the greatest edge, I want me and my team to be the undisputed, most excellent, and obvious choice.

How I Apply These Concepts to My Own Life:

Here is how I have applied this "Give 'Em No Choice," attitude and how you can start becoming the most excellent choice for whatever you do.

1. Enjoy Being the Underdog: You must thrive on people telling you that you are not good enough. You must allow yourself to be rejected. You turn this rejection into a chip, throw it on your shoulder, and let those chips motivate you everyday. It's not necessarily about proving anything to others, it's more about reaching your human potential and proving it to yourself.

2. Use the "Ten Times Concept": A concept that I have applied to my own life and teach others is the "Ten Times Concept." This strategy is about finding and modeling a person who is at the highest level of what you want to do. When you identify this person, read about them, interview them, and research them. The goal is to find out one thing; what it is that they commit to everyday. Discover their daily commitments go at it 10 times harder than they do.

3. Break a Record No One Would Be Proud Of: Maury Wills, a former Major League Baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, at one time held the single season record for stolen bases swiping bags 104 times. What most people do not know is that he set another record that year--the record for the most times being thrown out! He was caught trying to steal 31 times that year. But when people look back on Wills career, they are not going to see 31 time caught stealing, they will see that he was the fastest, most lethal, baseball player in the base pads in his time. He didn't let getting thrown out discourage him to continue attempts. This tenacity on the base pads gave no choice to the world of baseball but to call him one of the most lethal base runners to ever play the game.

4. Keep Showing Up: As it is often stated, half the battle is showing up. It's easy to show up when something is new and exciting, but real discipline happens when you don't feel like showing up any more. Real discipline begins when the newness wears off. Real discipline happens when you start telling yourself "stay in bed," "I can miss one day," "I can make it up tomorrow." This is the time when you have get up, take a deep breath, and take it day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, moment by moment, and refuse to give in to an undisciplined mind. I have seen miraculous things happen to athletes, especially ones who are given no chance by anyone, when they just keep showing up and putting in the work.

5. "Keep a Song in Your Heart and a Smile on Your Face": Words of wisdom from my friend and performance coach, Hunter Woods. The song in your heart is about your joy and passion for what you do. It's almost impossible to achieve great things without passion and enthusiasm. That passion is your fuel and it help you keep going and going. Your enthusiasm is what gets others to join in your mission. There is nothing more attractive to people than being around someone who is truly in love with and/or passionate about what they do. Keeping a smile on your face is about forging through pain. No matter if it is the worst day of your life, to "give 'em no choice," you must smile at adversary, you must smile when you are looked over, you must smile when you are rejected again and again and again. You just keep showing up, keep working your butt off, and eventually, I can promise you my friends, you will, one day, you will find your self at the top, the most excellent choice for what you do.

In 2010 why don't you make a commitment to give all your naysayer's no choice but to place you where you belong. Show this world that you will settle for nothing less than the most excellent choice for what you do.

I'll leave you with a Nikebasketball.com add that I tore out of a magazine a few years back that I glued to a poster board that I have in my office. It's about turning your naysayer's into motivation.

You Failed...

1000 Made Jumpers;
No Playoffs...
Abs 200 x 5;
Selfish...
15 Curls x 3
Overrated...
Bench Press 2 x 15;
Not a Leader...
Baseline's x 20;
A Fluke...
200 Made Bank Shots;
Too Young...
Lunges 15 x 4;
Uncoachable...
Triceps Press 10 x 4;
Played Out...
800 Meter Run x 2;
Tired...
400 Meter Run x 5;
Played Out...
Calf Raises 12 x 3;
You're Burnt...
Squats 2 x 10;
An Outcast...
Reverse Hypers 12 x 4;
Past Your Prime...
Box Jumps x 3;
Ball Hog...
100 Meter Run x 10;
You're Garbage...
100 Made Free Throws;
Too Cold...
Military Press x 4;
You're Mental...
5 Mile Run;
Stubborn...
Pull-Ups 12 x 5;
You Peaked...
Lat-Pulldowns 10 x 4;
Prima Donna...
Low Row 10 x 4;
Big Ego...
Leg Curls 10 x 4;
A Baby...
17's x 3;
Not a Team Player...
Film Review;
It's Over...
Suicides x 3;
No More Rings...
Suicides, x 3 again.

THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT #4: EVERYTHING RISES AND FALL ON LEADERSHIP

2009-12-15T02:32:00.000-08:00

Source: Leadership Expert, John Maxwell

Why I consider this some of the "Best Advice I Ever Had":

Through studying leadership, personal experience, and observation, I have learned that it is an absolute fact that everything (families, teams, organizations, churches) rises and falls on leadership.

The more I began to study leadership and looked at things through a "leadership perspective," the more I began to realize that great organizations and sports teams always began with great leaders.

I also quickly realized that crappy organizations and sports teams began with crappy leaders. I observed that organizations with equal talent and resources were always dominated by the side who had the better leader.

Why? Because the attitude of the team is the attitude of the leader. The work ethic of the team is the work ethic of the leader. The heart of the team is the heart of the leader. The character of the team is the character of the leader. And if the team has not bought into the leader, all of these qualities which summarize a great team will go in all different directions. The eventually deteriorates the team and the majority of the people will naturally follow the strongest leader in the group, most of the time, out the door.

I used to believe that leadership was about getting people to do what you want for your benefit. But what I have learned is that leadership is just a fancy word for servanthood. Leadership, essentially, is helping put people in a position to get what they want, while benefiting the overall mission of the team.

True leadership is not a glamorous. True leadership is, often times, lonely and difficult. True leadership is not done with the intentions of benefiting you. True leadership is done with the intention of benefiting others. True leadership is not positional. True leadership only requires a mission and that you have people volunteering to buy into that mission. True leadership has nothing to do with "leadership talent." True leadership has everything to do with character.

Ultimately, leadership is the ability to influence. To influence you must have a combination of the three C's: Character + Competence + Connection. The combination of all three of these is what builds that greatest asset a leader could have...trust.

Dedicating my life to studying leadership and the quest to becoming the best leader that I can become has changed my life and the lives of many others around me. It is amazing what happens when I am able to convince someone to begin studying leadership. If they are at a point where they are ready to learn and listen, they cannot stop learning about it. They will buy every book and read everything that they can. It's something that is not taught in formal education, but when you begin to understand it and embrace it, it is the most powerful and important thing that you can learn about.

How I Apply These Concepts to My Own Life:

I have been in leadership positions my entire life. However, I have not been a leader in the majority of them. And even to this day, with thousands of hours of leadership hours and study under my belt, I still have a long way to go to becoming the leader I ought to be. So to continue that quest of becoming a person who is able to help people change their lives for the better, to help people to buy in to something bigger than themselves, and to develop other leaders around me here is what I commit to:

1. I prioritize leadership in my personal growth plan (Study, Read and Reflect on Leadership 3 x Per Week): I read one new book on leadership per month. I listen to leadership audio books and podcasts. And I am a member of the Maximum Impact Club, one of the most valuable leadership resources that anyone could have.

2. I teach, mentor, and pass on leadership resources to those around me: One of the most beneficial things I have ever done is to teach leadership to those around me. The ones who have embraced it have not only made their lives better, but enhanced others lives, as well as mine. This is one of the greatest gifts I have am able to give to anyone I know.

3. I practice leadership: I have been fortunate enough to be in a "leadership position" at my current employer since 2001. When I look back, I wasn't much of a leader until just a few years ago. I learned that when you get a leadership position you have about a six month window to prove that you are a leader and that you can be trusted by your followers. In that six months you can talk a lot, share your vision, and say all the things you want to do. But after that 6 months if your talk doesn't start matching your walk your credibility as a leader is diminished and many times finished.

I learned over the years that as a leader the first thing you have to do is win the hearts of your people. Only then can you win them to the bigger picture. Only when your followers believe you have the best interest in them, will they put their best foot forward for you. Practicing leadership, is essentially, a practice of making very good friends. Friends who are willing to do what they have to do for you and the mission.

4. I put myself around other great leaders: You attract who you are, you are who you hang out with. I want to hang around with leaders. I do not want to hang around with a bunch of people who just haplessly follow the crowd. I want to learn from face to face conversation from great leaders. I want to know what they commit to everyday. I want to know about the biggest mistakes they made in their leadership. I want to know what drives their passion and willingness to sacrifice for the good of their team and organization.

Great leaders are not that easy to find. The funny thing is, if you walk into an organization and ask for the manager or coach you may get a completely different person if you walk in and ask for the leader. The leader is the person with the most influence.

Remember this my friends, a leadership position is a valuable as the time you have to prove that you aren't a leader. Real leaders don't need a position to lead. They just need people.

I'd like to leave you with a poem that is in John Maxwell's book, Leadership Gold. It is a great summary of what real leadership is.

Leadership is the willingness to put oneself at risk

Leadership is the passion to make a difference with others

Leadership is being dissatisfied with the current reality

Leadership is taking responsibility while others are making excuses

Leadership is seeing the possibilities in a situation while others are seeing the limitations

Leadership is the readiness to stand out in the crowd

Leadership is an open mind and an open heart

Leadership is the ability to submerge your ego for the sake of what is best

Leadership is inspiring others with a vision of what they can contribute

Leadership is power of one harnessing the power of many

Leadership is your heart speaking to the hearts of others

Leadership is the integration of heart, head, and soul

Leadership is the capacity to care, and in caring, to liberate the ideas, energy, and capacities of others.

Leadership is the dream made reality

Leadership is, above all, courageous

Ask Yourself this Week:

1) What are my beliefs about leadership?

2) Do I call myself a leader, yet have no one following behind me?

3) What can I do today to start using this most powerful concept and become a better leader in my own life, my family, and my organization or team.

THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT PART 3: THE DEFINITION OF GREATNESS

2009-12-07T03:18:00.000-08:00

Last week in this 5 part series of "The Best Advice I Ever Got," the title was Attitude is Everything and featured some great advice I was taught from by my parents.

This weeks entry fits perfectly with the holiday season. It is about the power of giving and how small simple acts of generosity lead to a life of true greatness.

BEST ADVICE #3: "THE MORE YOU GIVE THE MORE YOU GET."

Source: The first time I heard this quoted was at a Perform Better Seminar about 5 years ago by Parisi Performance Coach, Martin Rooney.

Why I consider this some of the "Best Advice I Ever Got.":

For the most part life is a struggle of trying to get everything we can out of what we've got. We try to get the most out of our career, our bodies, our finances, and even our families. This advice I received, however, flips the switch and changes the mind-set to begin to think about giving first.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, "You can get everything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want." This is easy to say, easy to comprehend, but much harder to actually do.

The consistent act of giving to others is where true greatness is born. We tend to chase success, while greatness is right in our grasp. Pastor John Wesley defines greatness as, "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."

This is great advice. If you want to be great...start giving more.

How I'm Going to Apply This Advice to My Own Life:
I am convicted as I write this article. I feel as if I do a decent job giving, but for the most part, I let my selfish nature and my "achievement blinders" drag me through each day.

I have learned there is a simple test which an indicates how good I am doing at giving to others. It is the acid test of greatness. It is my joy level.

My days mainly consist of my head down, eyes focused forward, striving to be the best at what I do, chasing success, thinking I'm blazing a path to greatness. As I strive and strive to do all these things, I hardly have time to realize that my joy is in the gutter.

When I'm too focused on becoming a personal success, I find myself eventually feeling miserable. Here's why: I'm so worried about what I'm getting I forget about what I should be giving. It's all about me.

I love the quote by John Andrew Holmes which says, "The entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."

I have learned, buy having a two year old daughter, that this is the way that their mind thinks because it is as far as it has developed. Sometimes I wonder just how far I've come.

In 2010 I'm going to make a commitment: This commitment is simple: When I wake up, I am going to do my best to think about, define, and DO (write, encourage, call, visit, give to, lend to, send to) something for someone with no intention of getting anything in return. My goal is to give 365 blessings next year.

I cannot promise that I will be able to do this everyday. But imagine the implications that it would have not just for others, but also the joy level in my own life.

IMAGINE HOW WE COULD CHANGE 2010

Author Steven Chandler who wrote, 101 ways to Motivate Others, "Either now, or on one's deathbed, one realizes a strange truth: there's no excuse for becoming great."

As a performance coach, someone who is consumed by the world of success, performance, and achievement, it is easy for me to forget that greatness has nothing to do with all of the "success" words.

The noteworthy thing about greatness is that it requires no training. Greatness requires no top-notch performance. Greatness does not require that you are the best at what you do. Greatness only requires a willingness to do something for someone else with the intention of blessing their lives.

Imagine what we could collectively do in 2010 if we made a commitment to blessing someone's life everyday. Imagine how the lives of others would change. And just imagine how your life would change.

If you take the time to bless someone's life. You may change their day and even their life. Because of what you did for them, they may do the same for someone else. This exponential giving could actually positively change the world around you.

I would like to challenge each of you to make a commitment this year, if not to 365 days blessing someone's life, at least 52 (one person per week).

Don't know how to start? Don't know how you could possibly give this many blessings? Below are some simple ideas to start your path to greatness in 2010.

1. Create Your List: Make a list of all the people in your life who (family, friends, school mates, co-workers, teammates, clients, and acquaintances) are you interact with on a daily basis.

2. Start with Those Closest to You: Hand-write, email, txt, or call either encouraging them, thanking them, or just telling them that you love them.

3. Thank the Important People in Your Life: Write a list of all the people who you need to thank. Buy thank you cards and send one thank you card each week.

4. Thank the People Who Made You Who You Are Today: Think of all the people in your life who have sacrificed a piece of their life to you to get you to where you are today (teacher, coach, mentor, friend): Write them a hand written thank you note or email expressing your thanks.

5. Thank Someone You've Never Met: Think about someone in your life who you have never met, but has influenced your life in some way (an author, a coach, or anyone else who has indirectly affected you through resources that they have provided). Write them a hand written thank you note or email expressing your thanks.

6. Start a Love Journal: This is something that I started with my daughters. I have purchased a journal for each of them. I hand write entries things that document their lives, how much I love them, and pass encouraging things I learn to them. I plan on giving these journals to them for their 18th birthday. You can start these at anytime, even if your kids are older. It's a wonderful way to start my day.

7. If you are Married, buy and do the "Love Dare" written by Steven and Alex Kendrick: This will change your marriage and your perspective on your relationships forever. This will give you 40 ways to bless you significant other.

8. Write Everyone's Birthday's on a Calendar: I have watched my parents do this every year for a long time. Buy a 2010 Calendar and write everyone's birthday's on it. Bless everyone of their birthday with a card appreciating them for how they've blessed your life.

9. Contribute to a Charity with your money: Find a charity that you and your family believe in. Commit to a certain amount of money each month to this charity. You can have it debited out of your checking account every month, but you actually get more out of it if you physically write a check each month.

10. Contribute to a Charity with your time: Find a local charity that you can contribute your time to. Mentor a child at the boys and girls club. Feed the homeless. Volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House, play in my charity Madden Tournament:)

11. Train Yourself to Seek Giving Opportunities: Train yourself to look for opportunities to open a door for someone, open a car door for someone, help clean up something you had nothing to do with, say hello, be courteous, and thank those serving you (cashier's, janitors, etc.).

12. Train Yourself to Seek Character Opportunities: Find opportunities to do for those who can do nothing for you. Find opportunities to show love, generosity, mercy, and compassion for those who cannot fight back.

Lets change the world in 2010.

THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT PART 2--ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

2009-11-30T02:39:00.000-08:00

Last week in this 5 part series of "The Best Advice I Ever Got," the title was, "Your Fired," and featured some of the best advice I ever got with regards to personal development.

This week features "The best advice I ever got" regarding attitude.

BEST ADVICE #2: "ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, NEVER QUIT NO MATTER HOW HARD IT IS, AND ACT LIKE A CHAMPION NO MATTER HOW EVERYONE ELSE IS."

Source: The two greatest role models a person could ever have, my parents, Dave and Willa Higuera.

Why I consider this some of the "Best Advice I Ever Had": Your attitude is all about your perception. It is about how you size up and look at a situation or circumstance. I was taught that you always look for the best and do the best in any circumstance. I have learned through observing my parents that when you look for the good in a situation you always seem to find it. I have also learned from many other sources that the opposite is also true.

Coach John Wooden puts it as, "Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way that things turn out." John Maxwell says, "Who and where you are today is a result of your attitude."

When it comes down to it, it is all about the thoughts you allow to enter, dwell, and live in your mind. You have developed each of these thoughts over time based on your experiences, beliefs, family, education, and association with others. It is the sum of these thoughts that constitute your overall attitude towards everything.

"Always Do Your Best": My mother went back to school and became a nurse when she was in her thirties. With three kids in a small apartment, holding a part time job, and being a mother, that is no easy task. Because my family really only had one income at the time, we struggled. Her advice of "always do your best" was exemplified as she received almost all straight A's through nursing school while never making my two younger siblings and I feel like we were not the most important priorities in her life. She "always did her best," in everything she committed too.

I'll never forget the advice my mother gave me when I displayed a bad attitude towards something or there was something I did not want to do (especially chores around the house, or things at school). She would remind me of the bible verse, Colossians 4:23-24, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you receive the reward of inheritance." In other words, always do your best, it's bigger than you.

"Never Quit": My dad has always been the biggest advocate of this. He would tell me that if I quit once, I would be able to quit things the rest of my life. He taught me that when you make a commitment, no matter what it is, no matter how hard it is, no matter how painful it may be, you go through with it.

I've seen this in two main things with my dad: First, with the commitment and love he has for my mother and his family, and second, his commitment to fighting for his life. My father survived a heart attack and lost over 100lbs. And just recently, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent surgery and hormone treatments, but still the cancer persisted. He then had to undergo radiation.

In text messages sent between us, he would say things like, "I'm going to beat this," "I survived too many things, to let this beat me." He never quit. And about a month ago, when his tests came back, he was cancer free. He never quit.

"Always Be a Champion No Matter How Everyone Else Is": For some reason I tend to be pretty ruthless. I am a competitor. And I hate losing. I have great tendencies to think about myself before I think of others. A lot of these qualities make you think you're acting like a champion, but you're really acting like a jerk.

I was taught by my parents to treat people the right way. To this day they continue to help others and give to others who, I think, don't deserve it. This infuriates me, because my parents, who do not have much money, continue to give and support people who don't deserve it. They would give the shirt off of their back to anyone that needed it. I used to look at this as people taking advantage of them (and it's probably true), but now I understand it's a decision by them to help anyone who is in need.

It's a quality that most will never understand, and one that I am still trying to. Ultimately it's acting like a champion. A champion gives everything they have for the greater good, even if it causes suffering and pain. It's the highest level of living, and I happen to have two great role models who have showed me what this is.

As I have always seen it as them getting the shaft. Their reward is joy. The joy of the ability to give to others without thinking about getting anything in return. The joy of knowing that you are a steward of all you have been blessed with, and it is your duty to use these blessings to bless the lives of others. While most people will make themselves miserable trying to attain happiness and hold onto the things they have. My parents have taught me it's not what you get, it's what you give that brings true joy and happiness to your life.

How I Apply These Concepts to My Own Life:
1. I Try to Fill My Mind with Great Thoughts: I learned that once I stopped listening to the unrated versions of rap music, I got a little less angry. I learned that when I started reading about great minds and people my thoughts began to improve. And I learned that when I continued to put thoughts of doing my best, persevering, and acting like a champion, my life began to improve on many levels. I'm reminded of another Bible (Philippians 4:8-9) verse my mother used to talk to me about all the time, "Whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things."

2. I Don't Shy Away From Difficult Things: In fact, my absolute favorite place to be is with my back against the wall and no way out. I have tended to put myself in these positions just to see if I could get my way out of it. This is good and bad. I learned there's a time when you don't need to sabotage your life or situations, just to challenge your ability to fight. But I look at adversity as a friend, and invite it. I like to say you have to the develop the ability to look at "fear in the face and smile." I don't mind getting out of my comfort zone. Because I learned that as soon as I'm feeling comfortable, something bad is usually around the corner. You could say I'm uncomfortable with being comfortable.

3. I Try to Be an Example of What I Want to Instill In Others: Jim Rohn affirmed, "You cannot speak that which you do not know. You cannot share that which you do not feel. You cannot translate that which you do not have. And you cannot give that which you do not possess. To give it and to share it, and for it to be effective, you first need to have it."

Talking is so easy. Doing is not. The definition of integrity is walking your talk. The foundation of leadership is your example. Leadership has simply been called influence. Thus, it impossible to instill in and lead others if you lack integrity. I understand that in order to make a difference in the lives of others I need to live a life of integrity. At this point in time I am a "B" in this. If I can get to become an "A+" in this, I know that my life will really start to significantly impact and change the lives of those around me.

This past week was Thanksgiving. I would like to give my thanks to my parents for everything that they have not only told me, but showed me. They are people of integrity. They continue to help and change the lives of others because of simply who they are. They have never written any books, they aren't celebrities, they aren't in politics, and they don't have lots of money, and they've never tried to be something they are not. They simply always do their best, never quit, and always act like champions. They will leave a legacy on this earth because of what they gave, not what they got. If I can achieve anything close to them, I my mind, I will have been a success.

I'll close with a piece from Tony Dungy's newest book, Uncommon:

"You won't always rise to the level of expectations you have for yourself, but you will never be able to rise above the imaginary ceiling you construct in your mind."

Ask Yourself this Week:

1) What areas of my life do I need to change my attitude in: My family? My team? My work? My school work? My coach? My boss? My parents? My circumstances? My work ethic?

2) What commitments do I need to practice this "Never Quit" attitude: My family? My team? My work? My health? My finances?

3) What areas in my life can I start to act like a champion, no matter how anyone else around me is acting: At home? At work? At school? At practice? My excellence? My work ethic?

THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT PART 1: "YOU'RE FIRED!"

2009-11-23T05:31:00.002-08:00

I recently listened to an audio lesson called, "The Best Advice I Ever Got," by world renown leadership expert John Maxwell. As I listened to the lesson, I began to write down some of the statement that sum up the best advice I ever got. And decided to make it into my Monday Morning Motivation.

This week is a start of a five part series of five of the greatest pieces of advice I ever received.

Starting from a list of about twenty, the five I will share with you over the next few weeks have given me my greatest "aha" moments. Each one of these concepts I have taken and applied with great commitment. Each application has unquestionably delivered great things into my life.

I hope you may look back at this one day and consider it some of the best advice you ever gotten.

BEST ADVICE NUMBER 1: "THE ONLY JOB SECURITY YOU HAVE TODAY IS YOUR COMMITMENT TO A PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT."

Source: Ken Blanchard, Management Expert

Where I Learned it: Read it, but not sure what book I read it from.

Why I consider this some of the "Best Advice" I ever received: I started my personal growth plan in 2004 after reading, John Maxwell's, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In this book I began to live and apply the statement, "a leader develops daily, not in a day."

Before this, I was focusing getting better as a performance coach. But after this advice, I realized I needed come up with a daily, thought out, personal growth plan, which encompassed not only learning about my craft, but also learning about becoming a better leader, coach, and ultimately productive and serving citizen.

I specifically consider the following statement, "The only job security you have today is your commitment to personal improvement," some of the best advice of ever had. Because no other advice has given me more of a fearless mindset.

My level of knowledge, expertise, and trained skill set gives me the confidence that I will always have job security. Which is essentially the ability to get paid for a service you provide.

What Are the Other Byproducts of a Personal Growth Plan: The number one byproduct is confidence. The more prepared you are to do what you do, the more confidence you will naturally have.

Intuition: The more you skilled you become in what you do, the greater intuition you will have within it. You will be able to see things happen before others do. You will be able to read trends. You will constantly be blazing a trail in what you do.

Influence: Influence = Character plus Competence. Training daily and staying committed to a personal growth plan will give you competence in your field. If you are person who makes good decisions, you will ultimately be an influential person. The higher your influence potential, the higher you success potential becomes.

How I Apply This Concept of Personal Growth into My Life: Six years ago, I made a commitment to becoming one of the best at what I do. I knew in order to do that I would have to learn the skills and become fundamentally grounded in the my Spiritual Life, Personal Life, and Professional Life. There has been nothing that has been more impactful to my career, my family, my relationships, and my finances. Below I share with you my spiritual, personal and professional growth plan:

-Spiritual Development:
-15-30 minutes reading the Bible each day
-Read 1 Spiritual Growth book per month.
-Attend Church each week (I'm not gonna lie, I haven't been really consistent at this one over the past year)
-Record and write down, in a systematic fashion, the most important lessons I've learned.

-Personal Development (Leadership/Teamwork/Business):
-30 minutes every other day reading/reflecting/listening or watching personal development material).
-Read 1 book per month.
-One audio lesson per month.
-Build a relationship with at least one highly influential leader each year.
-Record and write down, in a systematic fashion, the most important lessons I've learned from the material.

-Professional Development (Exercise Physiology, Biomechanics, Sports Nutrition, Sports Psychology, Etc.):
-30 Minutes every other day reading/reflecting/listening or watching professional development material
-Read 1 article per week
-Build a relationship with at least one highly influential leader each year.
-Watch 1 video per month
-Go to one conference per year
-Record and write down, in a systematic fashion, the most important lessons and concepts I've learned from the material.

Ask yourself, what would happen if I lost my job today? What would happen if I was no longer needed on my team? Would my past commitment to preparation and to getting better at what I do A) Leave me with no fearful with no job security? or B) Leave me fearless and ready to move on to bigger and better things?

WHAT THE SPARTANS GOT RIGHT

2009-11-16T05:31:00.001-08:00

Three weeks ago I wrote a piece about Tiger Woods. The intent was to suggest Tiger's reign as one of the greatest golfers of all time is not because he was born with a divine talent to play golf, but because he was trained to be one of golf's greatest performers.

Tiger's article was a suggestion that we too, through deliberate practice, can be shaped and created to outperform others in whatever we do.

To become great at what we do, we obviously need hours and hours of practice. But this next point is crucial: The earlier you can identify what we want to master, followed by beginning a regimented, daily, deliberate practice schedule, the greater chance we will have at achieving the highest level of what we do.

A lot of time we think of practice as an event we have to show up for. We treat practice as if it is something that we go through because we have to. We often spend more time conserving energy than actually using it to get better.

The concept of deliberate practice is quite opposite of how most of us practice. It is something we want to show up to but hate it at the same time. It is something that constantly pushes us out of our comfort zone. Each of our thoughts, emotions, and actions are scrutinized and given feedback. It is repetitive, working on the same thing over and over and over until we perfect it. And it challenges our mental capacity and our ability to persevere when we don't want to go anymore. It is much more than showing up.

HOW THE SPARTANS GOT IT RIGHT

Just showing up didn't work for the citizens of the city state of Sparta of ancient Greece. Examination of your ability to contribute to the state began at birth. Elders of the state examined each new born for physical deformities and mental deficiencies. If you were deemed unfit to contribute to the state, you were taken to a mountain and dropped off a cliff. Obviously they took their recruiting process seriously. So when training started, just showing up wouldn't get you very far.

Deliberate Practice, defined by Geoff Colvin in the book Talent is Overrated, has five perpetual traits:

1. It is Designed Specifically to Constantly Improve Performance

2. It Can Be Repeated Over and Over Again

3. It Continuously Offers Feedback On Results

4. It is Highly Demanding Mentally

5. It Is Not Fun

Putting the strange and downright troubling cultural practices aside, let's examine what the Spartans did get right with regards to 5 traits of deliberate practice. For the purposes of this article we will look at the training of children from the ages of seven to twelve, and how this training program prepared these young boys to be the fiercest and deadliest warriors in their world.

THE SPARTAN TRAINING PROGRAM

The Spartan Training Program or Agoge, was designed with one thing in mind. To build elite, fierce, fearless, and loyal warriors to protect the independent state city state of Ancient Greece, Sparta.

Their culture was one of great pride and their citizens held the state above themselves. Each and everything that was done in the Spartan culture was designed and executed for that purpose.

They are said to be the first "professionals" of their time; professional warriors. Each practice was done with a purpose to improve military prowess. They learned by practicing and perfecting their skills over and over again. They received continuous feedback from older mentors called Eirena's. Their training was over-bearing, focusing on physical and mental toughness.

The military training program or the Agoge began at age 7 for Spartan men. The Spartans believed that by this age the coddling was over and that Spartan boys were ready to begin their training as warriors of the state.

Up until the age of twelve the Spartan boys were placed in groups and lived in barracks. Here they were mentored and supervised by an older boy. Most of the training in the beginning was to achieve high levels of physical and mental toughness through intense physical training and mental abuse.

Here are some of the interesting tactics Spartans in the Agoge to create Spartan warriors.

1. Basic Education: Reading and writing were taught at a very basic level and with the purpose of only singing and writing war poetry. Math was taught only at the level to be able to count how many soldiers were in a formation.

2. Physical Education: Spartan boys were put on rigorous strength and endurance programs, most of the time through the training in track and field type events (sprinting, throwing, jumping, long-distance running). As they grew older they were made to walk and do these events in bare feet.

3. Body Toughening: When the Spartan boys turned 12 they no longer wore tunics, but received only one cloak per year. They did not use soap or lotions. They slept in packs on beds that they had to make themselves with their bare hands.

4. Mental Toughening: They would purposefully starve the young boys, which would force them to steal from other boys. But if they were caught, they were whipped severely, not because they stole, but because they stole, "carelessly and unskillfully."

Another practice was to tie the young boys to posts in the middle of the city and flog (whip) them repeatedly. This brutal event was attended by their families and other Spartan citizens. Their pre-pubescent children bloodied and whipped, these proud parents cheered them on encouraging them to take more and more. Why? Because the one who endured the most pain, who took the most punishment, without crying, or screaming, was applauded and honored. For a parent, it was a great honor that your child could take a beating like that without showing any signs of weakness.

Say what you want about the Spartans, they understood one of the greatest, if not the greatest factor of elite performance: The power for deliberate practice.

They understood that they could shape each and every person in their culture to be warriors. There were no SAT's, personality tests, or placement tests. There was only training their children to be warriors. There was only training their young to be loyal and fierce defenders of their culture and their state.

DELIBERATE PRACTICE AND YOU

Are you deliberately practicing your sport or your profession?

Have you designed or had a highly skilled or esteemed professional specifically design for you a path or program to help you continuously improve in your sport or profession?

Does this program have aspects that are progressive and focus on skill work that can be repeated over and over and over again?

Do you receive, ask for, or seek out continuous feedback, from a coach or mentor on the repeated results of your practice?

Is your daily practice regimen highly mentally demanding? In other words, are you constantly working outside of your comfort zone in your sport or profession?

Would you consider practicing for your profession challenging, stimulating, yet not exactly fun?

If you can answer all of these with a yes, they you may be enjoying (or not enjoying) the act of deliberate practice. If not, you may just be showing up.

In my estimation it is only the top 10% of people in their field that have made a commitment to years of exhausting and intensive deliberate practice.

So if you want to be the best at what you do, if you want to be in the top 10%, deliberate practice isn't a choice, it's a requirement and it's not easy. Deliberate practice is not just difficult because of the intense physical and mental demands, but because of the sacrifices you must make. Top performers often sacrifice elite performance for their social life and other things that are conveniently enjoyed by the other 90% of the population.

And as long as you are doing what the other 90% do, no matter how talented or skilled you are, you will eventually be devoured by someone who practices like a warrior. A person who trains like a Spartan.

And when you meet....

You will lose...

Watch King Leonidas show his confidence in his deliberately trained 300 Spartans in the link below:

WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?

THE DRAWING BOARD

2009-11-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine once told me something I'll never forget. I considered it one of those "ah-ha" moments. He said, "Jeff, no matter what you have done up to this point, no matter how many mistakes you've made, no matter how many dumb things you have done, no matter who you are or what you've made yourself up to this point; at this particular moment in time, you have the choice to change."

Wow...really. No matter what I've done?

It sounds simple, and you may think I'm an idiot because I was so taken by this eureka moment. But I believe most of us are caught in a mind-set that we are who we are. That there is nothing that we can do to change who we are. I struggled with this early on in my spiritual life. I remember telling my Mother, "My personality doesn't fit with being a Christian, I'm too bad."

I also believe about 100% of us have something in our life that we want to change. And most of us having something that we know if we do not change will soon breed serious consequences. I believe the most intelligent people recognize, identify, and change these self-destructive thoughts, actions, and patterns before they take a hold and cause major problems in their life.

In the book, 25 Ways to Win with People, leadership expert John Maxwell writes about what he calls "change indicators" in peoples lives:

"There are certain times in people's lives when they are most likely to change:
1) When they hurt enough they have to.
2) When they learn enough they want to.
3) When they receive enough that they are able to."

If anything, I hope this little article will motivate you to change something in your life. The best way to start change is to go back to the basics, back to the drawing board. The basics are simply the fundamentals. In most of our trips toward success we tend to try to jump, hurdle, or go around the tough things that make a success possible.

When we do this we are only fooling ourselves. Sooner or later you are going to end up back at the same spot you tried to skip before.

Here are a some of the fundamentals that I have to get back to the basics with. These are the most fundamental and important things in my life. But they are also things I tend to overlook and go around.

1. My Faith--Focus on serving more than just learning
2. My Family--Focus on the quality of my time, rather than just the quantity of my time with them.
3. My Relationships--Focus more on giving rather than taking.
4. My Health--Focus on the basics, 5 healthy meals per day, 5 days a week of 30 minutes of exercise, 8 glasses of water per day, 8 hours of sleep, 1 day completely off.
5. My Growth--Focus on the fundamentals of Leadership
6. My Craft--Focus on the fundamentals, seek mastery through diligent practice, keeping an open mind, and learning from the best.
7. My Legacy--Focus on how I make people feel. Encourage, appreciate, and make sure they leave me feeling better then they did before.

It is always a great day to change. Or simply, just go back to what you know is good, true, and works. Do not be afraid to unload all the garbage you have been letting sit and incubate in your head. Do not let your past define you. It's called the future because it's waitng to be experienced. And it's called the past because it's over and done with. Sometimes when an athlete of mine performs an set of an exercise and they do it all wrong, I tell them, "forget that ever happened and do it like this."

You can never rid the scars of some of the poor decisions you have made. But once you have decided to change that aspect of your life, they are simply war wounds in the fight to getting to your God given potential.

Where do you need to make an important decision to change today? Your family, your career, your work ethic, your personal growth, your thought life, the people you associate with, your attitude?

You may be thinking you are taking a step back. But in all actuality, you are just returning to a step you never really learned.

This week get back to the fundamentals. It's time to head back to the old drawing board.

ME, TIGER, AND PEACH COBBLER

2009-10-28T03:29:00.001-07:00

I ate peach cobbler with Tiger Woods. Well....not exactly. At an Orlando Magic home game last year I made my way to the Blue Room for the half-time dessert menu which featured delicious peach cobbler. Much to my surprise, sitting next to me, with a nice size portion himself was Mr. Woods. As he sat with his arms crossed waiting for the cobbler to cool off to an eatable level, I friend of mine took a 007 like picture of him:0

Fortunately this week's MMM does not have anything to do with mine or Tiger's affinity for peach cobbler. It does however, lead me into the example of the lesson for the week. This week is about how you. And just like Tiger, with a lot of work, you can be "awesomely, amazingly, and world-class excellent" at what you do.

I just finished the book, Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin. This is one of the best books I've read on performance. I highly recommend reading it if you are an athlete, parent, coach, or are just intrigued with the psychology of performance. About a week ago I posted the last paragraph of this book on my Facebook. Here it is:

"The evidence offers no easy assurances. It shows that the price of top-level achievement is extraordinarily high. Perhaps it's inevitable that not many people will choose to pay for it. But the evidence shows also that by understanding how a few become great, anyone can become better. Above all, what the evidence shouts most loudly is striking, liberating new: that great performance is not reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone else."

Back to Tiger...

Most of us think that Tiger Woods was born to play golf. That he was a child prodigy. That he was destined to be the greatest golfer of all time. But the may not be exactly the case.

Tiger had a few things going for him that helped him achieve his status in the game of golf. First and foremost, his father Earl. Earl Woods was a teacher, specifically of young men who had a passion for sports. In the army he was a teacher, he was a star baseball player in high school and college, and between college and the army he coached little league baseball teams. He said in his book, Training a Tiger, "I love to teach."

Second, when Tiger was born, Earl had time to teach him. When Tiger was born, Earl's older children were grown up and he was retired. Earl was a golf fanatic and after being introduced to the game only a couple years earlier he had worked at it hard enough to achieve a handi-cap in the low single digits.

Colvin wrote, "So here's the situation: Tiger is born into the home of an expert golfer and confessed "golf addict" who loves to teach and is eager to begin teaching his son as soon as possible. Earl's wife does not work outside the home, and they have no other children; they have decided that "Tiger would be the first priority in our relationship," Earl wrote. Earl gives Tiger his first metal club, a putter, at the age of seven months. He sets up Tiger's high chair in the garage, where Earl is hitting balls into a new, and Tiger watches for hours on end. Before Tiger is two, they are at the golf course playing and practicing regularly."

By the time Tiger was 19 years old he had been through 17 years of intense practice. First, with his father and then at the age of 4 began having professional teachers and coaches.

The evidence, research, and examples of great performer such as Tiger Woods indicates that, "deliberate practice," is far more an identifying factor of high level performance than "natural ability." Deliberate practice is not your normal half-focused practice that most people go through. Deliberate practice is performance based, difficult, mentally, and physically exhausting, and is constantly being evaluated.

So here is my question for you. How is your deliberate practice schedule? In three, five, or 10 years, where will you be because today you decided to be that person who practices more, practices harder, and practices smarter than anyone else. And where are you today because of your past years of deliberate practice? For most of us, probably not where we want to be.

There are so many people who say they want to be the "best" at what they do. They, for the most part, do not understand the pain, the suffering, the commitment, and discipline that comes with that statement. Most people would rather try a little bit and if they do not get to the top just go with the fact that they just didn't have the talent or genetic ability to make it. According to Colvin's research, that is now just an excuse.

"Great performance is not ordained for the preordained few. It is available to you and everyone else."

This week decide to take what you do seriously. Do you want to be the "best." Do you want to be known as "world class" at what you do. The research has shown it's possible, but it would be a good idea to start right now.

MICHAEL'S MOJO

2009-10-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

I love the question..."What have you done for the first time today?

Last Friday I had a new first. For the first time I was mad that I missed Oprah.

Oprah was hosting the first meeting between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield since the infamous ear biting incident. Unfortunately, I had to miss the show because or work, but to my pleasant surprise, Oprah airs more than once per day. So, Friday evening I came across another airing of the episode.

With all the excitement of watching the two champs reunite, this week has nothing to do with them. However, in this same episode, Oprah interviewed Kenny Ortega, the producer and director of the film, This is It, the movie that may smash all the box office film records beginning October 27th.

This is It, is a film that shows Michael Jackson's final tour rehearsal preparation. A tour that never happened due to his premature death. During the interview Oprah asked Ortega to clarify what she had heard about Jackson while rehearsing for his final tour. This is what this MMM is about...

Oprah: "You said, even though he (MJ) was 51, the younger dancers would get tired, and he would dance and dance and dance, and not be breathless because he became one with the music."

Kenny Ortega: "Yea he was. He was channeling. It's as if he was the music, he embodied the music."

Say what you will about Michael Jackson, the man had something about him that was deeper than any other musical performer that I have ever seen. You may or may not be a fan of Michael Jackson, but there is one thing for sure, no matter how old you are right now, you know his music and when you hear it, it makes you want to move a little.

But as big of a fan as I am of MIchael Jackson (He's my favorite musical artist ever), I never really understood why people at his concerts would be crying and shaking uncontrollably, and even passing out! I did not really understand why he had this type of effect on millions of his beloved fans. But after many years of studying some of the most successful athletes, politicians, generals, CEO's, and religious leaders, I believe I have finally figure it out. It's called "Mojo."

Mojo is simply your passion coming through you. Ortega said that "he was the music, he embodied the music." Watching Michael Jackson perform, is like watching an artist perform his greatest work of art. It's like watching Michael Jordan in his unstoppable prime, It's like watching a great speaker deliver a message that forever changes you.

The greater your Mojo, the greater your ability to inspire others. The greater potential you have to lead, the greater potential you have to build followers who will do anything to support your passion, your cause, and you talent. Your Mojo has the ability to change peoples thoughts, which changes their actions, which changes their lives. If you're capable of touching enough people, this exponential passing could even change the world.

In the book, The Invisible Touch, author Harry Beckwith wrote, "Passion is worth billions, it attracts clients. Even more clearly, it keeps clients for life."

In a study done by authors Robert J. Krigel and Louis Palter, they studied 1500 individuals over 20 years to see if passion makes a significant difference in people's career. They began the study by putting the individuals in two groups, group A (83% of the participants) and group B (17% of the participants). Group A were in a career they chose to make money now in order to do something that they love later in life. Group B were choosing the career they wanted now and would worry about the money later. At the end of 20 years, 101 of the 1500 became millionaires. All but one were from the second group. The group that decided to follow their passions.

How have your decisions to do what you do affected your Mojo? How has it affected people around you? Inspired them? or helped them to decide to go the other way?

If you feel that you can turn it on and off, you can't. Eventually you and everyone else you know will see your lack of enthusiasm for what you do. From then on, Mojo is history.

This week, get motivated to find your true Mojo. Re-think what you really love to do. Set out to be inspired to live with passion and energy, so you can inspire others to do the same. Do not waste your life doing something that does not bring you true joy, energy, and passion.

So do you know if you've got Mojo? Read Below:

NINE WAYS TO KNOW YOU'VE GOT MOJO

1. If you wake up before the sun, without an alarm clock, ready to show the world what you've got, you've got it.

2. If someone asks you about what you do and you almost feel as if you are coming out of your seat when talking about it, you've got it.

3. When watching, reading, listening, or being a part of what you do brings you to tears, inspire you to tears, or brings you tears of joy, you've got it.

4. When you can't stop thinking about new ways to be creative in and solve problems in what you do, you've got it.

5. When others tell you that you inspire them, you've got it.

6. When you do what you do and those who are witnesses leave you with more energy then they had when they left, you've got it.

7. When you're idea of fun is mastery of your craft, you know you've got it.

8. When you've got more critics than fans, you've got it.

9. When make a better living or perform at a much higher level then the average person trying to do what you do, you've got it.

I will miss Michael Jackson for his music, but much more for Mojo, his ability to channel his passions into his art, and then inspire his millions of fans with it. Luckily I can forever watch him because of You Tube:) Oprah said that when she watched the a piece of the new film, she just thought to herself, "What a loss." What a loss indeed.

On October 27th I will see "This is It." I said to my wife, if you are coming with me be ready to be embarrassed, because I may cry the whole time:)

Watch the "This is it Move Trailer" here

HOW FAR CAN YOU GO?

2009-10-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

Ahhh success. What we are striving for each day. To get to that place that says, "I'm here. I am known for what I do. I am respected for what I do. I am accepted because of what I do. I am loved because of what I do. And I get paid better than others, and sometimes, a whole lot better than others because of what I do."

But how high can you go? The answer is simple. Most of us don't really think about this. But the fact that most do not is what ruins thousands and thousands of people's lives, families, careers, and opportunities each and every day. You would think that we would be able apply wisdom from the mistakes of others. You would think that while traveling down a similar path of other broken individuals, we could stop, turn around, and run like hell in the opposite direction...

BUT WE NEVER BELIEVE IT WILL HAPPEN TO US

Humble yourself, my friends. I do not care who you are, how much money you have, how much status you have, how great you are, how spiritual you are, it will. I have seen it, experienced it, and in my own mistakes lived it.

SO HOW FAR CAN YOU GO?

The answer to the question is simply this: How far you go is limited by one thing and one thing only...Your Character. If you are a sports fan, all you have to do to get a small glimpse of this is watch ESPN. There are entire shows dedicated to showing the rise and fall of these glorious athletes. The old adage says, "If you want to know how long it takes to get to the top, consult a calendar. If you want to know how long it takes to get to the bottom, consult a stopwatch."

Current coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Joe Torre, says, "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." Most of us go through life really concerned about our reputation. Afraid to reveal our true character because we care so much about being accepted. So instead of living a life of personal freedom and living with the joy of pursuing the best of who we are, we pursue what we think we should be, or what other people think we should be. This causes us to make choices outside of who we are. These choices lead to a life of being broken down, stressed out, angry, frustrated, and eventually lead to self-destruction.

WHAT IS CHARACTER?

In my book The Passionate and Profitable Fitness Professional, I wrote this about character:

"Character is simply the sum of your decisions. Without character you will never--read carefully--never reach your potential as a professional. Why? Because people who make poor decisions on a regular basis will eventually be revealed. Character is not who you show yourself to be; rather, character is who you are behind closed doors, when nobody is watching. If you look at the greatest people in history who have fallen, it has always been a character issue. If you look at the greatest people who are never noticed, it is a character issue. Why? Because character does not care about pleasing others; character is solely concerned with doing what is right."

PURSUING CHARACTER PROTECTS YOUR SUCCESS

The only way to protect your success, it to focus on doing what is right and building character first. It may take longer. And it is for sure going to be a lot harder than the road others take. Others around you will be cutting corners to get there faster. Others will seem to get there faster, get breaks you don't get, get all the attention, achieve success when they haven't worked as hard as you for. You will say, "It's not fair." You will say, "I work harder." "I do it the right way."

I encourage you to hang in there my friend. While these one hit wonders continue to climb fast, they will drop even faster. One by one they will fall and you will steadily climb to the top of who you are and what you do. And in the end you will have protected all of your success with your character. You will be trusted, loved, humble, and will be a living example of someone who cared more about doing right than being successful.

Make a commitment this week to pursue character first. It is the insurance of your success in your family, your careers, and ultimately your legacy.

Watch this clip of Mike Tyson's movie trailer as it quickly portrays the rise and fall of a man who seemed to be on top of the world. This is a great documentary. I recommend it highly.

TYSON MOVIE TRAILER

7 PERCENTERS

2009-10-05T04:45:00.000-07:00

A study published by a training and publishing organization, ThinkTQ, revealed how infrequently people develop strategies for achieving their goals.

Here is what the study revealed:

"-26% focus on specific, tangible targets for what they want in life
-19% set goals aligned with their purpose, mission and passion
-15% write down all their goals in specific measurable details
-12% maintain a clearly defined goal for every major interest and life role
-12% identify related daily, weekly, and long-term goals with deadlines
-7% take action daily toward attainment of at least one goal."

Where did your strategic planning take an exit on this list? It is fun, exciting, and motivating to set goals or talk about what we would like to accomplish. We say and sometimes even write down our goals. But the long road between stating (verbally or written) and doing lies a morgue of unrealized dreams and unused potential.

The rest of this article shows how each goal and dream gets progressively picked off in that journey.

Seventy-four percent fail to make it past the idea stage Goals and dreams are just that, a good idea, until they are breathed or written into reality as specific and tangible targets.

Continuing down the road, 81% set goals that lead us to a dead-end. This happens when our goals are not properly aligned with our purpose, mission, and passion. This happens when we are a) living for someone else's expectations, b) have not been honest with ourselves in our talents, skills, beliefs, and passions, or c) are too fearful to get our of our comfort zone. Many people set goals to try to appease their parents. Many people set goals way outside of their skill or talent level. Many people, once challenge, either make excuses to take another path or just quit all together. The show American Idol would not exist if this were not true.

Eighty-five percent of us getting past this point begin to write out clearly defined goals and dreams in specific measurable details. Doing this helps define the pathway for which we will follow. Specific measurable details include things such as step by step process, who can help you, identifying financial resources, identifying problems and solving them before they happen, identifying forks in the road and setting up alternate routes, and a detailed time line. But even this, still, may not be enough.

Moving past this stage the numbers really start to drop as 88% of us fail to identify goals for all the major interests in our life. We are usually great at setting goals in one are of our life. But we fail to remember that to live a truly successful and significant life, we must have balance and maintain perspective on all thing important. Focusing all your attention in one area of our life starves and eventually destroys the others.

The top 12% set personal goals, professional goals, family and relationship goals, health goals, financial goals, and contribution goals. All of these categories are important and must be taken into consideration to live a healthy, balanced, successful, and significant life.

Now on to the 7 PERCENTERS. Ninety-three percent of us fail to do this. "Take action daily on the attainment of at least one goal." Think about that. If you take action daily on only ONE specific, meaningful, and purposeful GOAL, you will be in the top 93% of the population.

If you do this consistently. If you have identified a specific goal or dream, if you have aligned it with who you are and what you are passionate about, if you have given time to thinking and planning out how you will accomplish this goal, and if you take action on it daily, you will be at a 93% advantage over anyone you know.

YOU WILL BE A 7 PERCENTER

This week put yourself in another category. You want to be different? You want to be successful? You want to achieve your dreams? Stop talking and start taking action.

And if you ever feel like quitting, feel discouraged, or need some perspective, just watch this hilarious clip.

Don't Quit

IT'S TIME TO STEP IT UP

2009-09-28T04:48:00.000-07:00

This one truly hits home...

I receive a daily email from the website, All-Pro Dad. This website was founded by former NFL Head Football Coach Tony Dungy (I highly recommend signing up for this daily email if you are a father).

An email I received last week was called, "How to Crush Your Daughter." It began with a letter that they had received from a young woman. The letter read:

"My dad is the most important person in the world to me, even though he doesn't have much time to spend with me. That affected me negatively in the teen years. If you want me to cry at the drop of the hat, just get me to thinking about him someday dying, and leaving me without him. I can be doing anything and when that thought floats by, I'm reduced to sobbing. I wish my dad knew how much he could heal in my family if he would just make us feel more important than work."

This email hit me hard...No way do I want my daughter to ever feel like this. But, like most of you, the grind of life could make me forget about what is important, just like this father apparently had.

Life is no doubt tough right now. Most everyone is having to spend more time trying to stay afloat, working longer hours, spending time not only physically at work, but when home, mentally at work. And because technology keeps us connected 24/7, we are able to stay connected to work all day and all night long. Because of this, we tend to forget about the special people, and special things we need to continually do.

Understand the role you play as a positive influence in people's lives (especially your family). Spending a little extra time with a loved one, actively encouraging someone, and/or doing things for others for no other purpose but to help them out. These things make a positive impact in people's lives. These people will look back and remember, forever, this gift you gave them.

Think about the people who have done this for you. Think about the way you felt the last time someone genuinely told you that you did an outstanding job. Think of the last person who took time out of their day to do something just for you. Think of the last person who encouraged your effort or your talent out of nowhere.

In Coach Tony Dungy's latest book, Uncommon, he asks a few questions that we should think about daily:

"When was the last time you went to visit someone who needed a visit? When was the last time you made a call--or wrote a letter--to someone who could use a lift in his or her life? When was the last time you had a date with your spouse or a "date night." with your little girl, who adores you? When was the last time you sent flowers to someone for no particular reason? When was the last time you did something that will forever be a positive memory in someone's life? When was the last time you were an encourager for someone else?

Life is tough enough right now. This is a time in our history that is leaving a lot of painful memories for people. I challenge you as my friends, my family, and my team to put your work away a little this week and go make a positive memory for someone. Then, learn to make it a living habit.

IT'S TIME TO STEP IT UP

And if that doesn't get you fired up this link below may be the only thing that may. It's what I wish my team meetings were more like:)

LETS GOOOOOOOOO

Have a Great Week!

DON'T LEAVE IT UP TO LUCK

2009-09-21T03:36:00.000-07:00

John Wooden wrote down every single one of his basketball practices, in detail, on 3 x 5 cards. He started this routine at South Bend Central College, continued it at Indiana State, all the way through his championship years at UCLA.

It was said that before each practice, Wooden and his staff would spend 1-2 hours preparing, in great detail, each and every practice drill. Each drill would be written on a 3 x 5 card, and after it's use was stored away as a reference for future practices.

One of Wooden's former players, All-American John Green said, "Coach used the same plays year after year. Everybody knew what we were going to do, but very few could stop us. That's because Coach had us do things over and over again until we did them right. We always knew where to go, where to be, and that we'd better be there."

Coach Wooden's practices were run like a well-oiled machine, packed with drills, and perfectly on schedule. Green went on to say, "If there was a drill we couldn't get right, he didn't dwell on it. We'd spend ten minutes on it and then go on to the next drill. But the following day, Coach would probably have us scheduled to work fifty minutes on that drill, until we were able to run it to perfection."

Why was Wooden so bent on this type of preparation and repetitive practice? He did not want to leave his team's success up to luck. He wanted to make sure, that which he could control, he controlled, and he did it through assiduous preparation and practice.

Wooden said, "We never took our eye off of the basketball and started gazing at the crystal ball."

Think about it. Most of our dreams and aspirations we have handed to luck. We may not do this on purpose, but if our daily actions are not matching up with what we are trying to achieve, we are simply chasing a pot of gold.

Author of the best selling book, The Encore Effect, said, "Preparation is most underrated piece of success." He goes on to say, "Most speakers succeed or fail before they get on the stage and most days are ruined or made remarkable before you leave the house for work."

How do you prepare each and everyday for greatness in your life? Do you take the time to prepare each day for those things you can control? Or do you leave it up to luck? If you need some help, here is a place to start: Your attitude, excellence in what you do, and your work ethic. All three of these are controllable factors that can begin to change your life right away.

I am a coach. I inspire others to become more of who they are. I like to say, "I'm here to pull the greatness out of people." To become better at who I am, each and everyday I spend planned time reading, listening, or watching something that inspires me. Each and everyday I spend planned time learning to become a better leader. I spend planned time on becoming a better performance coach. I spend planned time on becoming better at serving my clients and running my business. I try to make sure I purposefully encourage and inspire as many people as I can each day. To me, each and every day is an opportunity to "pull some greatness" out of somebody.

I committed to this plan about 6 years ago. The accumulative results of 10-30 minutes of this planned time per day, in each of these practices, has blessed my life in so more than I could have ever hoped for.

Like Coach Wooden, begin planning your actions for the day. Plan what you will practice on. Practice them over and over and over so that you become a master at what you do. It's time that you get rid of that four leaf clover, make a decision to go after what's in your heart, prepare for it each day, and go...go...go.

THIS WEEK, RE-TAKE YOUR DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS, LEAVING IT UP TO LUCK IS OVER. LETS GO...

WHO'S YOUR LEROY SMITH?

2009-09-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

In classic MJ style, the greatest basketball player to ever lace em up, spent the majority of his Hall of Fame induction speech on thanking the people who motivated him in his basketball career. He referred to these people as logs that were thrown on his competitive fire.

Sitting in the stands was the guy who was chosen over Michael his sophomore year in high school for the varsity team. Jordan said this,

"He started the whole process with me because when he (Leroy Smith) made the team and I didn't, I wanted to prove to not just to Leroy Smith, not just to myself, but to the coach who actually picked Leroy over me. I wanted to make sure he understood, 'You made a mistake dude.'"

As Leroy Smith, who was in attendance, and the rest of the crowd burst into laughter, Jordan went on to talk about all those who placed more and more logs on his competitive fire.

He thanked his teammate and roommate at North Carolina, Buzz Peterson. He said that when they first met, all he kept hearing was about how this kid was the Player of the Year. Jordan said, "Well he's never played against me yet, so how can he be called player of the year?" He went on to say that Buzz didn't know it, but he became a "dot on my board."

He talked about his Coach Dean Smith. The day that Coach Smith was on Sports Illustrated and named four starters but didn't name him. "That burned me up," Jordan said. He thought he belonged in that magazine.

Jordan talked about what continued to drive him as a basketball player through his career. "All the media nay-sayers, saying the scoring champion can't win an NBA title, you're not as good as Magic Johnson, you're not as good as Larry Bird. And that put so much wood on that fire, that it kept me each and every day trying to get better as a basketball player."

He said, "When you accomplish as much as I have in a period of time, you look for any kind of messages that people may say or do to get you to play the game of basketball at the highest level."

My favorite story was about Utah Jazz shooting guard Byron Russell. When Jordan retired from basketball and was playing baseball, he visited John Stockton in Utah. During that visit Byron Russell came to him and said, "Why'd you quit Michael. You know I could guard you. If I ever see you in a pair of shorts..."

Jordan went on to say with a smirk on his face, "So when I did decide to come back in 96' I'm at the center circle, and Russell was sitting next to me. I said to him, 'Remember in 94' when we had this conversation you made about when you said I can guard you, I can shut you down, I would love to play against you?...Well you're about to get your chance."

And of course Jordan drilled a free thrown line jumper to beat the Utah Jazz for the NBA championship about 10 seconds after that conversation.

Each and every day there will be people trying to talk you out of who you are, what you want to do, and who you want to be. I know that the majority of us actually listen and begin to believe these nay-sayers.

But instead of letting these people be buckets of water on your fire, like Jordan, turn them into another log. Like Jordan's Buzz Peterson, put them as dots on your board. Like not being named a starter by your coach, let them "burn you up," so that you will make sure this will not happen again. Like having someone make the team over you, put that deep inside so that you can prove to that person picked over you, yourself, and the coach who actually picked that person over you that, "you made a mistake dude."

My motto with myself and with my athletes is, "Give em no choice." This means you work so hard, you go after what you want with so much tenacity, that you give people no choice but to choose you.

If you live by this, your critics even start believing in you. They see you are never going to give up. And for those who continue to doubt you, write their disbelief on a piece of paper and carry it around with you, put it in your locker, keep it somewhere you can see it everyday.

When I was finishing my internship and looking for a job, I applied specifically to 5 collegiate programs for the assistant strength and conditioning coach job. Two of them, in particular, being the University of South Florida and Colorado State University programs both said that due to my lack of experience and probable knowledge that I was rejected the $20,000.00 per year position. I saved these letters and tacked them to my wall as reminders of their disbelief. They were two of my Leroy Smiths'. They helped me get to where I am today. Even when I look at them now, it burns me inside.

WHO ARE YOUR LEROY SMITHS?

Watch the 23 Greatest Jordan Moments on this Link.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/features/jordan23

MMM--KICKING FAILURE

2009-09-08T04:12:00.000-07:00

This last week kicked off one of the greatest weeks of each year, football season. With the excitement of college football in the air and next week the NFL, I thought it would be fitting to merge the concept of this week's Monday Morning Motivation with the great game.

This week is about "Kicking Failure." Over the past two years there has not been much to cheer about. The economy sucks, our houses aren't worth squat, people we know and love are losing their jobs, retirement funds, sources of income, and gas prices suck.

Though this time has been more of a "national failure," based on greed, gluttony, and selfishness, we cannot help but feel that we are failing in some ways as well. When things around us seem to be falling apart, it is much more difficult to live with hope and believe that we will eventually come out of this. And before it is all said and done, the reality is, we will continue to see more and more people's lives fall apart, which will just make the reality of our own possible failure even that much closer.

But "Kicking Failure," is the only option I see for all of us. We have to ask ourselves, "Do I want to end up like Ray Finkle (pictured above), living a double life as Loius Einhorn to escape the difficulties in my life? or "Do I want to be able to have my life and perspective changed through difficulties and failures?" This would be like another football player, Scott Norwood.

Scott Norwood, if you have never heard of him, was the guy who missed the field goal in Super Bowl XXV, after his quarterback Jim Kelly orchestrated a perfect drive to get them into field goal range to win the Super Bowl. At the time, Norwood was a Pro Bowl kicker who could drill 47 yard field goals blindfolded.

Norwood, however missed this one. With the Superbowl on the line, the crown jewel of of his profession was all right there in front of him. He was one of the best 28 in the world at what he did. He had hit this a million times with his father back in Virgina as they had practiced every off-season since high school. It should be been automatic...

What's happend to you that should have been automatic? What have you been working on your whole life, what have you put all of you effort into? What have you prepared to be great at? What happens if you get to that point and it doesn't work out?

...Norwood missed.

A picture perfect setting. A chance to be a hero to his team, the city of Buffalo, his teammates, his family, his profession, and he missed it wide right.

We must remember that no matter how much we prepare, how much we learn, how much we practice, we must prepare deep down to be able to handle defeat and failure. Our response to this failure shows who we really are. Our response to failure can give us a new perspective we may have been blinded to before. Our response to failure can catapult us to a new level of living. Most importantly, our response to failure can clarify what is important in our life.

Norwood is now living as a successful Realtor in Virginia. In a Sports Illustrated article by Karl Taro Greenfeld he writes about Norwood saying:

"American Sports, Scott will tell you, will break your heart. But they will also, in their most basic form, nurture your soul. He thinks about Del (Norwood's Father), and about showing up. And as you look at this life, at Carly (Norwood's Daughter) sipping from a juice box as Kim (his wife) braids her her hair and Conner and Cory (Norwoods Son's) climbing all over Scott as he walks in his steady gait toward the family's Plymouth Voyager, you think, I know this guy. He's just like me."

Do not be afraid of failure. Only be afraid of not taking it's lessons. You may feel right now like you are failing, you're failing as an athlete, you're not where you think you should be, your job is failing, your family is failing, your kids are failing. But I encourage you to "kick failure."

Let it be known that there is no such thing as failure, there are only lessons in circumstances. Know that through all of this, there is a chance for you to experience your true greatness.

After being hounded by the media for multiple failures in creating the light bulb, a journalist asked Thomas Edison, "How do you feel about having failed thousands of times." Edison replied, "I have not failed. I've just found thousands of ways that won't work."

Leadership expert John Maxwell says in his book, Talent Is Not Enough, "There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who get things done, and those who don't want to make mistakes."

To kick failure is to embrace failure. Line yourself up on the holder, take three steps back and one to the left, take a deep breath, wait for the snap, take your steps toward the ball, keep your eye on ball, let your leg rip....

"And the kick is.....

...no good!"

EMBRACE IT...

FREAKIN LASER BEAMS

2009-08-31T03:27:00.000-07:00

The biggest detriment to your "potential" in who you are and what you do is lack of focus.

These days our focus is pulled in millions of directions. If you do not refocus daily you will undoubtedly find yourself in a rut, unmotivated, and attention overload.

My father-in-law, a successful entrepreneur, loves the saying, "success leaves clues." This means that success is not a mystery, it's a process.

The first step is easy. Know what you want. The second requires a little more effort. Go find the resources that give the processes of success in what you want. Third is where most people stop. Go and start doing it. In the fourth step, you find out if this is what your "really" want. This requires focusing and committing to your goal, purpose, or mission everyday. And it requires doing it when you don't feel like it, when all your friends are doing something fun, and even when you fail and fail and fail again.

In the book the Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes about the power of focus and how it relates to light:

"The power of focusing can be seen in light. Diffused light has little power or impact, but you can concentrate its energy by focusing it. With a magnifying glass, the rays of sun can be focused to set grass or paper on fire. When light is focused even more as a laser beam, it can cut through steel. There is nothing quite like a potent and focused life, one lived on purpose. the men and women who have made the greatest difference in history were the most focused."

Refocus this week. I have found this to be the most powerful question I can ask myself all the time, "What is the most productive thing I can be doing with my time right now?

Now put some freakin laser beams on your head and Get After It!

And also....If you need a Monday morning laugh, Click on this the link below for a classic You Tube clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw

KNOCK KNOCK POTENTIAL

2009-08-24T03:32:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest things to do is keep showing up. It is hard when you feel like you are not getting anything out of it. It is hard when you feel like nobody notices you are there. It is hard when you feel unappreciated when all you want is a chance to show what you're made of.

There is a story of an unnamed man who was an armor bearer to the son of one of the ancient Kings of Israel. Jonathan was the name of the King's son. And Jonathan was not opposed to picking fights and making stuff happen. In wore ridden times, King Saul, who was ordered by God to attack their arch rivals, the Philistines, chose not to take action. On the other hand, Jonathan, who was what we would call today a "go getter," came up with this what I would have probably considered, really stupid idea:

"Now it happend one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, let us go over to the Philistines camp that is on the other side. But he did not tell his father."

Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, 'Come let us go over there to the camp of these Philistines; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.'

So his armor bearer said to him, 'Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.'

'Very well, let us cross over to these man, and we will show ourselves to them.'

So both of them showed themselves to the camp of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, 'Look the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.' Then the men of the camp called to Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, 'Come up to us, and we will show you something.'"

So here you have it, Jonathan and his armor bearer called down to get in a fight with about 20 Philistine warriors. Not good odds, especially since the armor bearer is not even a warrior!

However, the story finishes with the Philistine's being delivered into the hands of the Isrealites as God had promised King Saul. Jonathan and his armor bearer (and a lot of divine intervention) wiped out about 20 Philistines in the camp.

The point of this story is about the will to keep showing up as the armor bearer did. He was a last guy on the totem pole, not a warrior, not an officer, just the guy who carried Jonathan's shield and sword. Kind of like a gold caddy for a soldier. The unnammed nobody, who just kept showing up to follow and serve his leader, became a warrior that day.

So many of us never reach our "potential" because we are unwilling to keep knocking on the door and showing up. We may knock for a while, but when it starts getting hard, boring, something else comes up, when we start feeling sorry for ourselves, and we start thinking we deserve something, we stop.

In the end, those who are not reaching their potential is because of their lack of investment. Investing is doing what you may not want to do now, knowing that this unrewarded effort now will provide exponential rewards sometime in the future.

This week keep knocking, keep showing up, keep serving, keep investing...

THE ACID TEST OF THE TRUE COMPETITOR

2009-08-17T03:45:00.001-07:00

Bad coach, bad team, bad teammates, bad family, bad economy, bad gym, sick, tired, burnt-out, no sleep, no food, too-much food, "just don't have it," or "just don't feel like it today."

All reasons not to compete or go at it with your greatest ability, intentions, focus, and concentration.

But...the great one's thrive in the bad. This is why when I hear these things from my athletes, I make it a point for them to concentrate harder, go harder, reach down and go get something they didn't know they had. Why? I tell them, "You just got tougher."

This world, your opponents, your teammates, don't care about all the bad things that you can excuse as a reason not to practice, workout, or compete. That's what makes the great ones, the greatest. When it was the worst they were the best.

Below is what I believe to be the "acid test of a true competitor," written by H.A. Dorfman:

"One of the true measures of an athletes competitive tendency is how he performs when he's not at his physical best. Ineffective or poor competitors panic, try to do too much (overkill), or give in by declaring, 'It's gonna be one of those days' (surrender). A true competitor recognizes the need to compensate with intelligence, intense concentration, and persistence. Courage. It's a legitimate competitor's instinct to stick to the battle plan, rather than succumbing to disorientation or losing his spirit (heart and soul).

The true competitor holds himself even more accountable to employ all his mental resources on those days when his physical skills seem to be unavailable. Seem to be. His sympathetic nervous system will help, if he gives it a chance, providing adrenal rushes as needed. Many players have said--without being aware of that physiological backup system--Funny, I've had my best performances when I've felt my worst."

This week, every time you feel you don't want to do it...work out...practice...put in that extra hour of work...DO IT. And when you do it reach for that good stuff you have deep inside, concentrate harder, will that burst of energy you need, and get it done. Do this consistently, and you will be called a true competitor.

CELLO'S AND BASKETBALL

2009-08-10T03:37:00.000-07:00

When Bobby Knight was coaching basketball at the University of Indiana he would often have successful people come and talk to his teams.

Here is a speech from the man who Coach Knight wrote was, "one of my smartest invitations." The man's name was Janos Starker, who is acclaimed world wide as the "king of cellists" and was a professor at the Indian School of Music.

This speech encompasses everything that anyone who wants to be great at something needs to know and understand. After reading this ask yourself, "Where am I choosing not to strive for excellence in my sport or my profession and am I happy with being a dilettante?

      "I started playing cello when I was six. At that time, I didn't choose it. My mother did. Eventually, three years later, I realized, first of all, it was something that I loved. I realized that I couldn't go through a day without thinking, doing, making music. This is one of the basic principles that I state: that anyone who can go through a day without wanting to be with music or hear music or make music is not supposed to be a musician.

    I believe that to be valid for every single profession. If you can go through a day without wanting it or thinking it or living with professionalism in the profession that you are in, you are not supposed to be in it.

    It wasn't important to me as a boy, nor did it ever become important to me, to be recognized as No. 1 or No. 2, because it is a nonsensical listing. Always, I tried to do the maximum with what nature gave me. What is necessary in my profession is no different from yours.

    I forgot everything else in the world.   There was no music, no parents, no girlfriends, nothing but concentrating on the game.

This seems to be the problem, looking at all my students, in the studying process: to have the willpower, the ability to concentrate. When I go on stage nothing exists but that piece of music that I'm playing or that objective which I set for myself.

Discipline means concentration, and concentration means discipline. Discipline means that you have a routine that you follow with total conviction of priority. Is the priority to win alone, or to do the best one can do? We must have total conviction that we want to do it, not just when the chips are down but at all possible times. The practice is just as important as the moment when you are in front of everybody.

    The only difference in our professions is that when the game is over, the score sort of unquestionably shows whether you succeeded or not. That's a little bit different for us.

    But the self-respect is no different. Whether the audience cheers or not, it does not mean anything. If i know that I have done well, whether they like it or not is not important. Did I do the best I could under the circumstances, with total concentration and dedication to the cause of the moment?

    Discipline means to learn everything that helps to the maximum performance.

Where is the parallel, the musical parallel to basketball?

   For a lifetime, we develop skills, so as to find the proper note. That's why you train for a lifetime, to find the basket.

    As a cellist, when you are six years of age, eight, twelve, you have to practice three to four hours a day just to obtain the basic skills and the strength in your hand and your arms and muscles, because you need considerable muscle power. We are hitting strings with the fingers sometimes at the speed of two thousand notes per minute.

    There are people who can shoot successfully eight times out of ten in practice. To improve on the percentage, you must consciously know what part of the body functions how. This requires the thinking process. It doesn't mean just that you are following instructions of the coach. Eventually you must use your own brain: Why does it work? Why is the coach right?

    Until the individual discovers it for himself, it is never going to result in consistency.

   The word consistency is the key. You have to do everything that we mean when we speak of professionalism. I'm not talking about being paid for something when we speak of professionalism. The professional is the one who is consistent at a higher level than anybody else. And anybody else is called a dilettante. Dilettantes can sometimes succeed in doing things marvelously well. Sometimes. But they are not consistent.

I spent a lifetime trying to understand the underlying basic principles that make it possible for someone to use the body, arms, and then the head. I find that the underlying principles are the same. When I watch you guys, sometimes I notice that artistry and grace are involved, and the fluency of motions that we are doing in music. How to improve it and to make it consistent is what we are all trying to do in every field. That's where the brain process, analysis, and the total dedication, total priority for the game, in preparation as well as while it is in progress, and the discipline that is required.

THE MAGIC OF TEAMWORK

2009-06-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

I tried hard to stay awake for the 1st game of the NBA Finals. I made it until halftime. But when I woke up in the morning, I looked to the trusty NBA Playoffs IPhone application and read "Magic 75-Lakers 100." The Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant, had put together one of his top playoff performances to give the Magic their worst defeat this post season.

Are the Magic done? Can they bounce back? On Friday, posted on dwighthoward.com, Superman promised, "We will come harder on Sunday." So with confidence from the man in the middle, I feel we cannot count the Magic out just yet.

Oh...By the way. This team has had a knack for proving their critics wrong. Myself being one of them.

The point of this article is not to predict outcomes or analyze the NBA finals but simply write my thoughts on a powerful lesson this particular teamwork lesson the Orlando Magic team has taught me. It's not anything that I didn't know before, but it is something that I always seem to forget. You know, it's one of those lessons that must beat you down before it can get you to listen.

This Magic playoff run has been fun to watch. The way they have played has been different from other great NBA playoff teams in the past. Their are some particulars through statistics that display their teamwork, like four starters and the first guy off the bench averaging double figures. Like multiple players making big plays, Hedo Turkoglu hitting the game winner against the 76ers, or Rashard Lewis hitting the turn around three in the corner to ice the game against Boston. Or multiple players having huge performances like Rafer Alston hitting six three pointers in the Eastern Conference Finals, or Dwight Howard closing them out with 40 points.

But I do not think all of these things happen if this team does not possess this one quality that marks a great team.

I give all the credit to a high school player (and a Boston Celtics fan) I train for this statement. We were talking about why the Magic keep winning. He said in disgust, "They're a great team. They don't care who gets the credit." Wow, all this time of watching this team and thinking, "Why does this team keep winning?;" I was hit right between the eyes by the wisdom of a high school student.

"NO ONE CARES WHO GETS THE CREDIT"

The Magic are a selfless team. You can see it in the way they play, the way they interact, and the way that they are coached. It doesn't matter who scores what, or who gets the ball at the end of the game, all that matters to this team is winning. Whoever is the hero, the team celebrates, and whoever is the goat, the team encourages and brings them back. This, my friends, is an essential quality of a winning team.

WHO WANTS THE CREDIT ON YOUR TEAM?

If you are on a sports team, business team, or any other team, here is how you begin to apply this powerful teamwork lesson:

1) BECOME OR FIND A SELFLESS LEADER: The fastest way to build a team who doesn't care about getting the credit is to become one or find a leader who doesn't care about getting the credit. The attitude of the team always follows the attitude of the leader. Selfish motives always leave a leader looking behind him with no followers left. So how do you become a SELFLESS LEADER who is willing to serve rather than be served? Author Ken Blanchard gives 3 ways:

1) "Having a near death experience;" 2) "A spiritual awakening;" 3) "Having a significant role model."

This is why sometimes to become a SELFLESS LEADER first you may need to find one. This is step 1 in building a great team or organization. Without this, the rest of this article is pointless.

2) WORK HARD TO CREATE TEAM MAGIC: Team Magic is the act of taking group of individuals who believe they are performing their jobs correctly and make them into tight knit group committed to working at their highest level for the good of the team. When individuals can put their team or their organization in front of their own goals, the outcome produces a team spirit that's almost magical. It is invisible to outsiders, but felt by the team, it is the most powerful thing a team can have.

3) CREATE A WINK CULTURE: Former UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, understood what creating a winning culture looked like. In his book, Wooden on Leadership, he wrote about how he taught his team to understand the value of each step to their goal: scoring more baskets then the other team. He wrote, "In basketball, a field goal is usually scored only after several hands have touched the ball. No shot is blocked, no play is run, no game is won, unless everyone is doing his job-serving the team to the best of his ability. No one player should take credit for the effort of all the others. A player who is thumping his chest after he makes a basket is acknowledging the wrong person. Thus, I insisted the player who scores "winks" or gives a "thumbs up" to the teammate who helped-the one who provided the assist. That way it was more likely to happen again."

Every "score" in sports or business needs an assist. The more assists a team has, the better it is. And the more that assist person is given the credit, the stronger the team. Create a culture that looks to give an assist, and especially a culture that looks to praise the one who gives the assist.

4) FIND TEAMMATES WHO ARE CALLED NOT DRIVEN: In the Maxwell Leadership Bible, John Maxwell writes about the difference between CALLED and DRIVEN people. Though DRIVEN is a word often used in positive context when speaking of personal achievement, when used in the context of teamwork, it does not fit or belong. "Driven people think they own everything. They are self-serving. Most of their time in protecting what they own. They want to make sure that all the money, recognition, and power move up the hierarchy move away from everyone else to them." Maxwell then gives the description of a CALLED person. This person is the addition that is most beneficial for any team. "Called people are different, they think everything is on loan, their relationships, possessions, and positions. They understand that possessions are only temporary." CALLED people make the best teammates. Everything they do is for the good of the team. There are no egos or hidden agendas. The only agenda is how to serve the team best to win. Sunday at 8:00pm EST, may the BEST TEAM win...

A LEADER YOU CAN'T TURN YOUR BACK ON

2009-05-27T04:19:00.000-07:00

The NBA playoffs is by far my favorite part of the year. Nothing beats 40 straight nights of watching the best basketball players in the world display their sometimes unbelievable talent.

But there is one guy in the playoffs who I find to be most intriguing, Chauncey Billups. In game to against the Lakers, Chauncey Billups did something that most basketball players and fans would think is quite risky. In an in-bounds play (under the basket), he threw the ball off of Kobe Bryants' back, jumped in bounds, caught it, and made a lay-up (Watch Here).

This isn't the first time I've seen Billups do this however. I had the privilege of watching him to the same thing in the Colorado 6A State Championship Game when he was a senior in high school. I just remember thinking, "I can't believe he just did that."

The closest things I have in common to Chauncey are we both are from Colorado and we both represent the graduating high school class of 1995. He played at a 6A school in inner city Denver; I played at a 2A school in the mountains of Western Colorado. But as secluded and as small of town I was from, being a basketball fan and player, I knew about the kid on the other side of the hill.

Maybe it's because Billups was the high school player of the year all 4 years, won the 6A state championship twice, and was a McDonalds All-American. Colorado hadn't seen a basketball player like this kid...ever.

Back to throwing the ball off Kobe Bryant's back.

After I watched Billups do this, I thought to myself, this is a guy you don't want to turn your back on. Chauncey has been a winner everywhere he's been. Chauncey's leadership ability has made each and every team he has played on a contender. You can't turn you back on a leader who is a proven winner; he'll prove you wrong every time.

Billups was traded to the Denver Nuggets this year from the Detroit Pistons. In the last 5 years Chauncey's team had been in the Eastern Conference Championship game, gaining one NBA Championship. Billups went to a Nuggets team who was super talented, but seemed to have personalities that couldn't mesh.

Add Chauncey to the Nuggets, and all of a sudden they are right back where he was last year, except with another team, and in a different conference.

Chauncey Billups is a great example of what great leadership will do for a team. Below are a few things that make Chauncey a great leader. These are the intangible things that help take those around him to higher levels. The lessons learned are much greater than the game of basketball and can be applied to anything in life.

1. Billups Leads with a Winner's Mindset: Whenever Billups has been in a starting line-up his impact has been nothing short of great. Billups lead his high school team to two state championships. In college, Billups lead the Colorado Buffalos to their first NCAA tournament birth in 28 years, and finally after a frustrating few years in the NBA lead the Pistons to 5 Eastern Conference finals and one NBA Championship. Traded to the Nuggets this year, Chauncey has, for the 6th, time lead his team to a Conference Final. He's a winner.

2. Billups Leads with Confidence and Courage: The team always takes on the personality of their leader. A great always diplays confidence and courage to get the job done. Formerly known as "Smooth," Billups has now earned the nickname, "Mr. Big Shot." Why, because he fearlessly takes and continues to drill shots in the 4th quarter to either win a game, or put a dagger in the heart of the opponent. When you have someone like this on your team, the team plays with a lot more confidence and fearlessness in the 4th quarter. You never believe you're going to lose, and you know if your leader gets the opportunity, he's going it happen.

3. Billups Leads as a Great Teammate: I've personally worked with some of Chauncey Billups teammates from his Piston's days. What I get from them is Chauncey is one of the best locker room guys in the league. He earns the respect of his teammates and they absolutely love him. You can't be a great leader if your teammates don't love you. And it's difficult to lead your team to anything if you do not care for them, because they won't care for you! Leadership is about people. In order to be a great leader. Before you figure out how to be a great leader, first figure out how to be a great teammate.

4. Billups Leads with a Chip on His Shoulder: Billups did not get to where he is today on a silver platter. He was drafted 3rd to the Boston Celtics (1997-1998) in the 1997 draft but was traded to Toronto (1998) halfway through the season. He then played for the Denver Nuggets (1999-2000) and then the Orlando Magic (2000) where he sat out the season with an injury. Billups was then signed to the Minnesota Timberwolves (2000-2002) in the 2000. In the 2001-2002 season he had a breakout year. Noticing his talent the Detroit Pistons signed Billups in 2002 and was put in the starting role.

Billups said this in a newspaper article about his journey, "I haven't seen somebody go through it the way I did. I came in on top, third pick, and before too long I was written off as a player. There were people who were like, 'He's done.' And to make it back to the top of that mountain, it's crazy. Especially how I did it. "I climbed that mountain. Some people get a helicopter ride up. I climbed it. It's beautiful."

There is nothing wrong with leading with a chip on your shoulder. That chip reminds you everyday where you came from and where you are going. When you lead like this, you look at everyday as an opportunity to get better. You look at every day is a blessing. You look at every failure as a stepping stong and never take success for granted. You build this and instill this into your teammates only how you bring it everyday.

5. Billups Leads as a Change Agent: Billups will probably make a great coach one day. Nuggets coach George Karl says having Chauncy is like having a coach on the floor. His leadership ability, and the capacity to develop great relationships with his teammates have turned the Devner Nuggets into a winning team who believes in themselves. He is a change agent. He can turn losers, or potential teams, into winners. You can't teach that and you can't put a value on that type of person. Leadership is about producing change. Great leaders change things for the better wherever they go. They always leave a place better then what it was before they got there. They do this by changing their team or organization into a culture of winners and develop long lasting relationships create a family.

These are just a few of the intangibles of my favorite player in the NBA. It's a privilege to write about him. I've always respected him as a player, but what I admire about him is his leadership. He's a player that many turned their back on. I bet they don't now.

WHAT'S YOUR LIMIT

2009-04-21T03:43:00.000-07:00

I was watching a story about two celebrity brothers who are famous Bull Fighters in Spain.

In an interview with the younger brother, they asked him something to the effect of, "Does it scare you that you may die or be seriously injured every time you step into the ring?"

His answer was profound.

He said something to the fact of, "Yes, but it is good to have fear, because without it, you would surely be killed or malled."

He then said, "I like it because it takes me to my limit every time. And because of this I have found out what I am made of, who I really am."

I was intrigued that this young bullfighter was able to look at his profession his lively hood as something that showed him what he was made of every time he went out to compete.

When is the last time you tried to find your limit?

The limit muscle is the same as any other muscle. If you do not seek to stress it, it will slowly atrophy and it will lose its strength.

Do you have something in your life that takes you to that limit? A place where you go to learn a little more about what you are capable of and who you are? Do you have a ring with an angry bull waiting to fight?"

Here is how you know you do not have a ring with a bull in it:

1) Your life is boring, Your life is all about you.
2) You spend your time searching for quick fixes and quick pleasure
3) You get no satisfaction out of a good days work or training because there was no purpose.
4) You are in the same or worse place now as you were a year, 3 years, or even 10 years ago.
5) You are scared to go after what your heart is telling you to do.

Taking yourself to that limit is like walking into a ring with an angry bull. But consistently taking yourself there not only gives you the motivation to prepare on a daily basis for the fight, but in the end tells you what who you really are and what you're capable of.

This week find a bull to fight--

"Ole"

SECRET INGREDIENTS FINALLY REVEALED

2009-04-21T03:41:00.000-07:00

One of my philosophy's is pay attention and listen for simple truths. Simple truths are those things that are already innately built inside of us, but we must sometimes be observant, open, and clear in our minds to fully understand.

My simple truth for this week came from an unlikely source. It came at about 9pm last night after a 12 hour work day. I found this simple truth while watching "Kung Fu Panda."

It was an "aha" moment for me. Not because I didn't already know it, but because it is something that I try to instill in my athletes and those around me, but was put in such a simple, teachable way. It's the Secret Ingredients of Success.

It's not a new secret way to run faster. It isn't a new machine that makes you jump higher. It's not a new pill that increases your strength. It's not "P90X" or the "Perfect Push-Up."

Po, the Kung Fu Panda was enlightend by an unlikely circumstance when his father Shifu (who passionatley sold noodles to the people in town and claimed to have a secret ingredient), said to him,

"I think it's time I told you something, I've been needing to tell you for a long time."

He went on to say, "I'm finally going to give you the secret ingredient to my noodles."

Now with Po and myself sitting in suspense Shifu said in a loud tone,"Nothing--the secret ingredient is nothing!"

Po, with looking confused, remarked, "Huh, it's just plain old noodle soup, there is no special sauce or anything?"

His Father then hit him with this simple truth gem; "Don't have to. To make something special, you just have to believe it's special."

Wow--with my eyes halfway open, I suddenly felt and looked wide-eyed just like the Panda that was standing across from me on my TV. At that point, the Kung Fu Panda who earlier said that he sucked at kung fu more than anyone in the history of those whose sucked, finally understood a simple truth that changed his life and the outcome of the story.

There is no special ingredients to being successful as an athlete. There is only how much you believe in yourself. There is only how much you believe in your team and your teammates. There is only how much you love and have a passion for what you do. And there is only how much you really want it. No special ingredient, just believe.

95% of us were not born with incredible athletic or scholastic talent. But choose to believe you are equipped with everything you need to make an impact, to do something special, usually succeed. And choose to have believe that it is important, it is fun, and it is special.

Be ready to take critisism from those who do not believe. But as I love to say, "If you're not being criticized, you're not doing anything."

Let your belief squash the petty and mindless criticisms of others.

Critics will remain miserable looking for the secret ingredient. And only because they envy you, will they criticize you. If critics believed in themselves, they wouldn't have to talk about you.

Love something so much it comes alive. Believe in something so much it becomes a magnet to others because of your attitude and passion for it.

Remember this week. There is no secret ingredients. There is only how much you believe in yourself, in your teammates, and in what you do. Try this and like the fat, clumsy, face-stuffing, Kung Fu Panda, you will start kicking some butt.

LIONS AND SHEEP

2009-04-21T03:40:00.001-07:00

One of the greatest quotes about the heart of a leader is by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, a French diplomat who worked successfully in the regime of Louise XVI, through the French Revolution, and was regarded as one of the most influential and versatile diplomats in European history.

In describing himself, Talleyrand expressed, "I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of lions led by a sheep."

To my athletes out there ready to lead your teams to victory, ready to lead your teams to places they've never been, ready to make your team believe that together you are unstoppable read this. It just may change your season, and the way people look at your for the rest of your life. It is the difference between a Lion and a Sheep.

The Lion in the leader gives confidence to the team because they are the ultimate example to what the team should be. The Lion in the Leader exemplifies:

1. Work Ethic: The Lion in the leader sets the tone in practice, in games, in the weight room. Nobody outworks the Lion. For the Lion knows, if anyone outworks the Lion, he is no longer the leader.

2. Competitiveness: The Lion in the leader hates to lose. The Lion will do whatever it takes within ethical boundaries to win. No one hates losing more than the Lion. For the Lion knows, if anyone wants it more, he is no longer the leader.

3. Presence: The Lion in the Leader has presence. The other team hates to see the Lion walk on to the court. Because they know that hell's coming with him. The opponent knows the presence of the Lion reflects on the presence of the team. When the leader has the presence of a ferocious lion, so then, does the team.

4. Perseverance: The Lion in the leader never quits. When all is well the Lion in the leader never lets it go to his head. In fact, when it is good, the Lion works harder. When things are bad, the Lion in the leader smiles and invites the fear. Because the Lion knows that when things are bad the best comes out in him. He knows its a bad idea when you corner a hungry lion, he just may eat you.

5. Skill: The Lion in the leader possesses tremendous skill. Why, because the Lion knows who they are, what they do well, and how to effectively apply those skills. The Lion is a master at his skills. The Lion understands that he must work to perfect his skills daily, harder than anyone else. Nobody works harder at mastering his skills than the leader. For the leader knows if anyone works harder, he is no longer the leader.

6. Humility: The Lion in the leader is supremely confident in who he is, so there is no need to boast. This is one of the Lions greatest qualities, because humility is a product of integrity and gratitude. The Lion earns respect because he is first respectful to all others. The Lion is both a gracious winner because he is knows that a win is gift of effort. The Lion is also a gracious loser, because he can always learn from a loss.

7. Integrity: The Lion in the leader can be trusted. If there is no trust, there is no leadership. The Lion in the leader matches his words with his actions, and no matter what he says, he comes through. The Lion understands that integrity is the number #1 quality he possesses in his leadership and never fails himself or his teammates with lack of it. In the heat of a battle, if your team lacks trust in you, you are sure to lose their confidence and thus the battle.

8. Inspiring Others: The Lion in the leader inspires others to be greater then they think they could ever possibly be. The Lion in the leader does this because he believes in the greatness that others possess. He believes that whether sheep or lion, all were created for greatness.

9. Responsibility: The Lion in the leader takes responsibility for the heartbeat of the team. He takes responsibility for the successes and the failures of the team. Because of this the lion will not tolerate teammates who bring the team down or create turbulence. The lion is quick to deal with situations that hinder the progress of the team and is known to roar at those who bring it down.

Because these qualities are part of the Lions heart, they create something that others cannot create:

BELIEF

This is why the Lion can turn an army of sheep into an unstoppable force. If their leader is a Lion, they too will believe they are Lions. They too will believe that they are fierce, prepared, and ready to do whatever it takes.

Not everyone will be a Lion type leader. But those who dedicate themselves to first their character, knowing and mastering their skills, doing whatever it takes, respecting all others friends and foes, persevering through hard times, working even harder through the good times, and setting the standard wherever they are may have a chance.

Are you a Lion or a Sheep?

If you lead a team, look at who and where they are. This will tell you who you are.

If you are leading as a sheep, even if you have lions, beware of the time when you face the sheep led by a lion. You will lose. Go find a lion to take your place.

If you are a lion, continue to make more lions out of sheep, and continue to watch your team and your greatness soar!

GO TIME

2009-04-16T03:40:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you regretted not taking an opportunity that was right in front of you? How many times have you said, "I would do that but...?" How many times do you think an opportunity has walked right up to you, slapped you in the face, walked away, and you didn't even know it?

This past week I watched the movie "Yes Man" starring Jim Carey. The movie involved a cynical man whose life was spiraling downward and decided to attend a self-help conference that taught the philosophy of saying "yes" to everything. The character made a pact with the self-help guru to say "Yes" to everything for an entire week.

The trials began with his first "yes" saying "yes" to giving a homeless guy a ride to where he slept way out in the woods. The homeless guy asked to use his cell phone and of course he said "yes." The homeless guy proceeded to talk the on his phone the entire trip and kill Carey's cell phone battery. The night ended with the homeless guy asking for all of Carey's cash and then of course, he ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Long story short, he ended up meeting the girl of his dreams at the gas station.

Point: If you don't GO, you will never know.

Though saying "Yes" to everything is crazy, it's not crazy to say yes to more.

Think about it for a second. How interesting and opportunity filled would your life be if you began going after things for the sake of going after them.

If you are a trainer could you GO get more clients.

If you are an athlete could you GO and spend more time refining your skills.

If you are in the corporate world could you GO and network or GO and talk to your boss about an idea you've been holding that would make the company more successful.

Here are some suggestions to GO to this week:
1. GO help someone who cannot repay you: The ultimate in GO is to do something for someone without any though of return. This GO could change your life, change someone else's life, and leave you with the ultimate feeling of giving the gift of YOU.

2. GO find a Person Who is Incredible at What They Do: In a interview with world renown strength and conditioning specialist Mike Boyle, he talked about the impact of being able to go on speaking circuits with the smartest people in the strength and conditioning world and the impact that has had on his success. To be better at what you do or who you are, find people who are much better and what you do. Find people who are much better at certain qualities life you wish to improve. Then GO, seek them out, and ask them if they would be willing to mentor you.

The truth is, if you want to make $1000.00 a month, GO hang out with people who make $1000.00 a month. If you want to make $30,000.00 a month GO out with people who make $30,000.00 a month.

If your dream is to play a professional sport, GO surround yourself and get with people who know what it takes to make it in a professional sport.

If your dream is to become and successful entrepreneur or a CEO, GO find a successful entrepreneur or CEO to learn from.

3. GO do something you would never do: A great way to build your GO muscle is to start with a "GO List." This is a list of 10 things (ie. Bungee Jump, Meet with a Pastor of a Church, Run a 5k, Go eat at an authentic Indian Restaurant, go paintballing, go serve food at the homeless shelter) that that you have never done or wouldn't normally do because you are scarred, because you are prejudice against something, way out of your comfort zone, ignorant to an something, or it's just flat out crazy. Make a "Go List" and try to complete it by the end of this year. You will probably be amazed at how your life, your confidence, and your perspective changes

4. GO Thank Someone You've Never Thanked: One thing I truly enjoy doing is writing reference letters for friends, people who've worked with me, and athletes I've trained. I enjoy these because the person gets to see my appreciation for them in written for to another person. I get to show my belief in them, I get to tell their future employer that they are getting a great team player and leader. Each time I've written one of these I get a response back from the person thanking me for the nice things I said about them.

The words you say or write in appreciation to someone is one of the greatest gifts you can give. GO find someone who you owe appreciation to. Call them, take them to lunch, or write them a letter to show how much you appreciate them.

5. GO Prepare: Preparation is the link between try and do, stop and go, miss or recognize. Daily preparation in getting better at who you are and what you do. Preparation will give you more opportunities than you can say "yes" too. It will also give you the confidence that you are prepared when an great opportunity arrives.

It's time to GO do something big...It's GO Time

THE DRIP OF SELF-DISQUALIFICATION

2009-04-15T03:41:00.000-07:00

Most of us do not take time to reflect the reality of our situation.

Most of us perceive what we are doing is good enough.

The reality is; this is probably not true.

To be great begins with accepting the truth of the current standards we hold and the current place we are.

We slowly disqualify ourselves from greatness by distorting this reality, thinking we are farther along than we truly are.

We slowly disqualify ourselves from greatness saying, "I'll do it tomorrow."

We slowly disqualify ourselves from greatness by thinking that everything doesn't count.

We slowly disqualify ourselves from greatness by making decisions which taint our integrity and our character.

We slowly disqualify ourselves when we think something is owed to us.

The steady and small drip of self-disqualification becomes a flood of mediocrity, and eventually drowns our chances of greatness.

What is currently slowly disqualifying you from greatness? What standards and habits are stealing your ability to be great?

This week is your week to change. Identify what is drowning your chances of greatness and start today.

Today Work harder.

Today Stay humble, Stay Hungry.

Do it Today, Do it Now.

Today Remember, "Everything Counts."

Today Commit to Do What is Right, What is Good.

Today Expect Nothing, and Be Enthusiastically Grateful for What You have.

PRINCIPLENESS TO GENIUS

2009-04-15T03:35:00.000-07:00

"Making the simple complicated is common place; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."

Jazz Legend Charles Mingus One of my favorite sayings is "Simplicity is Genius." We tend to label geniuses as people with high IQ's. But a person with high intelligence is simply someone who acts consistently towards achieving theirs goals. It is the act of moving towards what you are trying to accomplish in your life. This is true intelligence, this is genius. And this type of genius requires a simple life. From a coaching and athletic perspective, John Wooden was one of the simplest minded coaches there was. He was not heralded as a mystical thinker like Phil Jackson, though he was he was almost more of a philosopher than a coach. It is said of coach Wooden in the book, Wooden on Leadership, that "he was efficient in his teaching and kept if simple-broke it down into parts, taught each part, then built the whole back up. Always he used the law of learning: explanation, demonstration, imitation, and repetition. Lots of repetition. You can't believe the repetition."

I believe coaches, athletes, and people in general lack simplicity in their life because they lack confidence in any solid belief of belief system. This lack of confidence creates inconsistency in the parts of their lives where they are lacking these beliefs. This is what I call "Principlelessness."

PRINCIPLELESSNESS DEFINED

Since Principlelessness is not a real word (as I've learned as I receive the red squiggly underline on my Microsoft word program) I guess I must claim and define it. Principlelessness is the lack of established principles and beliefs that simplify the thoughts and actions of our lives.

ALPHABET LIFE You will recognize people who live without principles as inconsistent. On the contrary, consistent actions will tell you and everyone else exactly what you stand for and what your principles are. No matter what you say, your actions always reveal your principles.

So how do established principles simplify your life? Established principles make your life black and white. When a decision comes up, you either choose "A" or "B," there is no "C." Most people live trying to use every letter in the alphabet instead of choosing "A" or "B." This causes confusion and internal battles and also effects the closest people you associate with. On the other hand, there is nothing more comforting than knowing someone who lives on principle. You know what you are going to get with these people. Some things you may not agree with, but you have to respect that fact that they stand their ground.

SIMPLICITY AND ACTION The goal is simplicity and action. The goal is to first figure out what you stand for. Second, is applying these principles to your everyday decisions. This establishes your priorities and choices which make your daily actions most effective and significant. The third is continuously and consistently repeating these actions on a daily basis.

TAKE A STAND When you live your life based on principles it is an indication that you believe in something. And this belief can be influenced on other people. People are drawn to others who stand for something. Your philosophy or what you believe in may not be exactly what the next person believes in, but this makes you unique.

Here are 7 suggestions on moving from principlelessness to genius:

1. Establish Virtues: The most important thing that you can do is establish virtues or a moral code. These establish your character. No matter how talented you are, no matter how much skill you possess, greatness is achieved through who you are at the core. Your virtues are already identified, just look at how you spend your time. This will give you a good indication of what is most important to you. Your virtues are what help you live a black and white, consistent life. Your choices will always be based upon, who you serve, and what you truly believe in.

2. Get Real: In order to simplify your life you must have a realistic view of yourself. Like people who go on American Idol and think they can sing, if we are spending our time and energy on things we suck at, you will live a frustrated in-effective life. If you do not have a talent that is completely obvious, seek and find that in which you are great. It usually always lies in something you've always been great at or just love to do.

3. Seek Truth: The bible says, "The truth will set you free." This is one of the greatest statements I have ever heard, because it not only applies spiritually, but applies to everything else. The truth sets you free because it takes away everything you don't need to worry about. Lack of truth in your life leads your life in the wrong directions, causing worry, anxiety, stress, and all the other negative emotions that come along with being in this territory. Seek truth in everything you do. The more you know, the simpler it becomes.

4. Become an Expert: Once you establish what you love. Strive to become an expert. Becoming an expert takes time. I don't belive you are an expert at anything you have not put daily effort and study into for at least 10 years. Only with this type of understanding and wisdom in a subject will you be an expert. Experts, by the way, make things that look difficult or even impossible to most, look simple.

5. 80/20 rule: To be effective in your life you must cut the fat. The pareto principle says that 20% of your actions produce 80% of your results. The key is identifying that 20% and repeating that over and over.

6. Repetition-Repetition-Repetition: Once you have established what actions are most effective for you, do it over and over and over. As stated above, Wooden's teams would break down a skill into different parts and then work on those different parts over and over again.

7. Be Ready to Take Heat: When you believe in something, people will always criticize you. All of what you believe in rarely lines up with what everyone else does. The more you believe in something, the more you will be criticized. The key is keep learning, keep growing, and keep getting results from what you do. If you do what's right and continue to get great results from your principle actions, what can people really say? Critics fill the world with their talk; principle people change the world with their actions.

Avoid Principlelessness. Be a genius. Be simple

TRY HARDER

2009-04-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

How many times have you not given 100% effort into something so you could later blame your failure on lack of effort? This thought process features many areas of life, but has a tremendously negative effect on reaching your potential. This thought process places effort in things that you know you can win or succeed in. But in the long run, it staggers your growth and limits your potential.

BIG TALENT-LITTLE MIND

People often wonder why talented athletes never make it to the professional level. Talent is only good for giving you greater opportunities. Where you go from there is all about mind-set. This goes across the board. Ever heard someone say, "If only he could live up to his potential, he would be a start." A friend of mine calls this type of athlete, a "Million dollar body with a 10 cent mind." What is one of the most common things I hear come out of these people's mouths?

"I could do it if.."
or "I would do it if..
"WATCH YOUR "IF's"

The word "if" is a precursor to a result or an excuse. If statements are result/action based or result/excuse based. People who have a hard time reaching their potential live on result/excuse "if" statements. People who reach their potential live and apply result/action "if" statements.

Example of a result/excuse if statement: "I would practice harder if my coach would play me more.

"Example of a result/action if statement: "My coach would play me more if I practiced harder."

The difference in the "if" statements is a matter of personal responsibility. In the first statement, you are blaming your circumstances for the outcome. You are submitting complete control to your circumstances. In the second statement you are taking personal responsibility. You are saying, regardless of the circumstance, I can control the situation as best as I can. In any situation there are only two things you can control: How hard you work and your attitude.

Watch you 'if's."

THE DE-CAPACITATOR

This goes back to the initial statement of why you try to disrupt our efforts to save face. The greatest de-capacitator of success if fear. You fear your performance not being good enough, or not being accepted by others. You think your lack of effort will protect you from judgment or criticism of others. After all, if you don't give it your all, you can always say "If I really wanted to try.." right? You believe people will blame your failure on your effort, not on your talent. This mind-set fools you into mediocrity.

BREAK THROUGH

This mind set causes you to not push yourself farther because if you fail you will be seen as less than you really are. I can assure you most people think this way. If you can find a person who is always pushing their potential and not care what other people think, they are special. And more than likely they are successful, and more than likely they have a lot of people who criticize them for this.

One of my favorite sayings is there are no good stories about people sitting on the bench. People who have become legendary continuously stepped out of their comfort zone and challenged the status quo. The success you experience in your life will be a direct result of A) how far you continuously stepped out of your comfort zone and B) The effort you continuously put into fighting through your comfort zones.

To move forward, break through comfort, and seek that which challenges you.

TRY HARDER TODAY

Make a choice to try harder today. Try harder in areas where you know you are challenged. Try harder in areas you know you just may fail. Try harder in places you may get criticized and judged. Try harder because it's the only way to get farther. Here are 5 ways to start trying harder and moving farther.

1. LOSE THE DEADBEATS: I often tell my young athletes, "Be the right example and you won't have to worry about having friends who bring you down." The truth of the matter is, the higher you want to go, the better people you need to surround yourself with. If you currently have friends or other people in your life who bring you down, stop spending so much time with them. You don't have to cut them out of your life, just choose wisely the amount of time you spend with them. Here is a fact: You cannot go much farther than the people you the constantly surround yourself with. Why? Because the people you spend the most time with determine much of what you think and much of what you think about yourself. Put great people around you if you want to be great.

2. PICK SOMETHING TO GO ALL OUT IN: Think of something that you haven't been giving your all in because you are afraid of failing. Take this thing whether it is practice or a project and go at it like no one is judging you. No matter if you fail or succeed, you will either learn from the experience and become better in the failure and/or celebrate in the success.

3. CHANGE YOUR "IF" STATEMENTS: If you find yourself saying, "if" and it is followed by an excuse, immediately change it to a positive statement: Example: If you say, "I would practice harder if I was playing more." Change the statement to, "If I practice harder, I will play more." Try reversing you "if's" and see just how much farther it will take you. Instead of excuse based "if" statements, turn them into action based "if" statements. This places responsibility on your shoulders not your circumstances.

4. START THINKING GREAT: No matter your talent, true greatness is only achievable through your thinking. Why? Because everything begins with a thought. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions. It does not work in any other way. You must think great before you manifest that into reality, act great, and produce great things in your life.

5. DO SOMETHING THAT SCARES THE HECK OUT OF YOU: To reach your potential you must get out of your comfort zone. Think of something that you have been putting off because it scares the heck out of you. Go at it with ruthless abandonment. You will more than likely find the fears that you associated with it as only something you conjured up in your mind to talk you out of doing it. As you begin to take on more and more of these actions, you will develop more and more confidence. This confidence will help you tackle even greater obstacles.

Too many people sit around and wait to have something great happen to them. Be one of those who actually make something great happen to them. Try harder.

YOU DETERMINE YOU

2009-04-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

"Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning." George Elliot

Blue-Chip

I recently read a story of a talented young baseball player. This player was supposed to be the next great thing. At the age of 19 years old he made his way to Triple-A, which is the step right below the Major Leagues. To reach Triple-A at this young of an age, you have to be really good. At this point the young man began to struggle at the plate, becoming quite discouraged in the process.

The Breakdown

Finally the young ball player had enough. He walked into his manager's office and simply told him he did not want to play anymore. The game of baseball, which had brought him so much joy before, was not fun anymore. He was fed up with the fans booing him and constantly writing negative things about him in the newspaper. He didn't want to deal with the expectations and wanted to leave.

A Good Call

The manager looked at the young man and could tell his frustration. He told him this was probably the first time in his young 19 year old life that he was failing, and failing publicly. He explained to him that the downside of playing baseball is that you play it in front of people, that failing meant failing publicly. The manager said the only way to make it through the criticism of others is to develop a thick skin, and that a thick skin comes with the territory.

Then he looked the young man in the eye and said, "I know how good you are, and I know you can make it. But it doesn't matter what I know, it matters what you know, you got to believe in yourself."

A Good Choice

Though still frustrated, the young ball player trusted his manager and decided to give it another shot. He walked out of his managers office and started to play again. Gradually he began to get better and better. By the end of the season he was playing so well in Triple-A that at the age of 20 years old he was called up to the Major Leagues. His career in the Major Leagues ended up pretty good as he amassed 660 home runs, 2383 base hits, was named to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and the All-Century team in 1999.

The "Say Hey Kid," Willie Mays, made a good choice.

Building Thick Skin

There is only one person who can determine your worth--YOU. Your life, especially if you are talented, are a risk taker, or just willing to do what other's will not, is going to be full of people criticizing and telling you that you are not good enough. However, none of those things people say or write about you are true unless you want them to be. Your ability to funnel out critics, have faith in your ability to reach your goal or dream, and belief in yourself will create endless possibilities with the talents that God has blessed you with. To attain a thick skin, read below the six points of how you get it.

1. Thick Skin is Happy in its Own Skin: Author Leo Buscaglia wrote, "The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. People who are happy in their own skin are more confident in what they think of themselves than what others think. People who are not happy in their own skin have more confidence in what others think of them rather than what they think of themselves.
2. Thick Skin Has a Purpose: Writer and Minister Erwin Rafael McManus states, "A life most powerfully lived is the one that finds passionate urgency fueled by a sense of destiny." Knowing what you are made to do, knowing what you want to accomplish, gives thick skin that breaks through any type of adversity.
3. Thick Skin Doesn't Need to Be Certain: Faith in yourself and faith in your goal is all you need. As stated above, "Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning." A thick skin needs faith not certainty.
4. Thick Skin Needs a Supportive Cast: No matter how thick your skin is, you still need encouraging people in your life. If it was not for Willie Mays minor league manager, the game of baseball would have missed out on a significant icon in baseball history. Surround yourself with people who tell you the truth, but encourage you to push through your goals, help you get out of slumps, and can make you think a little lighter about certain situations.
5. Thick Skin Still Accepts Responsibility: Having a thick skin does not keep you from accepting someone's criticism when it is accurate. I love the statement, "You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you mad." You should accept criticism responsibility from people who 1) possess great wisdom and strong character, 2) criticize with the intention of making you a better person or performer, 3) criticize in love, which is criticizing without being judgmental and with kindness, 4) has invested in you previously and who knows you better than you maybe know yourself.
6. Thick Skin Is Essential if You are Doing Great Things: Aristotle said, "Criticism is something you can avoid easily-be saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." People who don't do anything. People who choose to live a life of mediocrity, people who are scared to live up to their God given talent, and for the most part, people who sit their butts on the sidelines and criticize everyone else do not need thick skin. But for those who are being criticized, be happy! Because you are probably doing something that everyone else only wishes they had enough courage and strength to do. Or as I like to say it, if you're not getting criticized, you're not doing anything.

Only You Determine You

YOUR YOUTH IS POWER

2008-11-20T03:23:00.000-08:00

The Apostle Paul wrote the book of 1st Timothy as a leadership manual for his young protege. In chapter 1 Timothy 4:12-16, Paul writes:

"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with laying on hands of the leadership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing you will save yourself and those who hear you."

Great example of righteousness by a young person is so powerful. Why? Because young people are supposed to be mistake ridden, they are supposed to be immature, they are supposed to say things that are dumb, they are supposed to move in and out of life changing and life threatening choices on a daily basis, they are supposed to sow their wild oats right?

I used to believe that. But along my way I've met young people who do not fall into this trap of thinking you have to, "get it all out." Jesus was 33 when he started his ministry. When he was 18 to 22 years old I doubt he went on a 4 year partying and drinking binge. We are what we surround ourselves with. We become these things because we have nothing inside that tells us that this is just not what I do.

A great example is Tim Tebow, current QB of the Florida Gators. He is not only the best player in college football, but he is a great example of a young person living a righteous life. He has his skeptics, but I've done my research. I know kids who know Tebow well, who go to practice with him everyday, who hang out on campus with him. They say everything you hear about him is 100% true, he is a authentic in his walk. What a breath of fresh air this guy is. I guarantee, just because this young many walks his talk, he will change lives drastically around him. He shows us that you can be young and not dumb. That you do not have to do what young people think they have to do. He shows us that if you believe you were individually created in Gods image, an being of greatness and infinite power, that you too should not settle for any other path than greatness in your life.

Listen to the words of Paul my young friends. Keep your mouth closed and your walk upright. The more you walk the less you have to talk. People would rather see your message than hear it.

1. Let no one despise your youth (v.12)--Do not let anyone tell you you are too young to make a difference
2. Be an example in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, and purity (v.12)--Walk your walk, keep you words short and uplifting, conduct yourself as an example to the believers. Practice love, faith, and purity.
3. Do not neglect the gift that is in you (v.14)--You were created by a supreme God in his image. You were created for greatness. Do not neglect this gift you've been given. To unleash your gift you must believe in it. You must be live righteously, humbly, and with a desire to change the world around you.
4. Meditate on these things daily (v.15)--Pray for your example, Pray to help resist temptation, drink from the Bible, study the great lives who have been examples in their own lives.
5. Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all (v. 15)--There is no grey area in an authentic life. You understand that a delving into a little of this will always lead to a lot of it. You must commit to your example. The more you commit, the greater conviction you will have. Your yes will be yes and your no will be no. Only in this will your progress be evident to all.
6. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you (v. 16)--Perseverance is the key to greatness in anything. You will be mocked, you will be slandered, you will be called a fake, a fraud, a holy roller. Persevere, my friend. They say the reason that Jesus loved people so much is because he didn't need people. Not that he didn't care, but he did not care about their opinions of Him. He could lead because he was so confident in His life's mission, that He was a off-spring of the Holiest being, the creator of the universe. Your mission, your purpose, and knowing that you have greatness in your DNA should help you continue to walk through the gauntlet of persecution. This perseverance changes lives and changes the world.

NOBLE ONES

2008-08-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

The first time I looked up "noble" I found the definitions to be, "possessing outstanding qualities, or high birth or exalted rank, possessing very high or excellent qualities or properties, grand or impressive in appearance." When you look at these definitions it's easy to see the word noble as talking of performance, aesthetic looks, position in society, or even what family you are born into.

What do you picture when you see a noble person? Before today, I saw a king, or queen, someone with a large crown on their head. When I saw nobility this way I see power, I saw a standard that most people will never be able to achieve in their life. However, in my study today I found something enlightening that completely changed the way I looked at nobility. I found nobility is not a label given to kings, queens, high performers, or people with good looks. Nobility is a quality that can be possessed by each one of us.

In Colossians 4:2, Paul writes to a group of Christians in Colosse, "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving." Paul orders the group to pray and when they pray be thankful, to pour out their gratitude to God. Paul writes "be vigilant in thanksgiving." The Greek definition of vigilant is, "to be sleepless." Paul was telling his people to be sleepless in their gratitude, day and night, night and day be expressing thanks and being grateful for everything God has done and provided for them.

What does this have to do with nobility? Nobility has nothing to do with position, birth right, or looks (Thank God!). Nobility has everything to do with selfless sacrifice. The most noble give up everything, including their life for the good of others. Instead of a picture of a king or queen, my picture of nobility changed to a Mother Theresa, a soldier who lost his life in war, and Jesus Christ.

Nobility is giving everything you have for the good of others. It's finding what God has blessed you with, not to hoard it, but to share it to bless others. Circumstances have nothing to do with living a life of nobility. Nobility is a choice which starts with a willingness to be sleepless in gratitude. Author Erwin McManus writes, "the singular characteristic that will determine how far we travel in our quest for nobility is gratitude."

Choose to be noble. Do not hoard your gifts, do not use them to build riches and wealth for you only. There is nothing wrong with riches and wealth and if your gift gives you this ability, then do it. However, be always living in gratitude, always be looking to give, always be looking to bless the lives of others. This is true nobility. The greatest people are not those who have everything, but those who give everything.

2008-07-07T03:02:00.000-07:00

RIGHT THINKING

Philippians 4:8 is one of the only verses that we need to know that really encompasses what our minds should be set upon. Paul, who at the time of writing this letter to the Philippian church, is locked in prison. He is writing to encourage the Church to, "Rejoice in the Lord always." In verse 8 Paul writes,

"Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."

I looked up the definitions of these words that we should be thinking on:
1. True--Being that which is the case rather than what is assumed.
2. Noble--Possessing, characterized by, or arising from superiority of mind or character of of ideals or morals.
3. Just--Acting or being in conformity with what is morally good or upright.
4. Pure--Free from moral fault or corruption
5. Lovely--Eliciting love by moral or ideal worth
6. Good Report--A persons high standing among others
7. Virtue--Conformity to a standard of right
8. Praiseworthy--Something worthy of praise

What we spend our time thinking on turns us into who we are. Our actions, right or wrong, always begin in the mind. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions; it's called the process of manifestation. If we choose to let our minds wander on what the world throws at us we will have no choice but to meditate on things that are corrupting to our souls.

So use this list of words as your checklist when you are going to watch, read, focus, or let anything get into your mind. Make sure that whatever it is is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, has any virtue, and is praiseworthy. In this your mind will change, your heart will change, your actions will change, and surely your life will change.

The High Horse

2008-06-30T02:30:00.001-07:00

There is no greater quality than humility. Though rarely pursued in this day and age it is the what truly separates people into greatness. Humility is simply thinking of others, or putting others before yourself in all decisions and actions that you take. It's not taking advantage of someone when you have the chance. It's accepting others for who they are because you know the shortcomings you possess. Take a good look at yourself today. Humility begins with self-awareness. When you see yourself for who you are, you'll realize just how much you need to change.

“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

Likewise submit to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed in humility for god resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of god, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
1 Peter 4: 1-7