WHO'S YOUR LEROY SMITH?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...