ULTIMATE COACHES' CLINIC: JIM VALVANO

In 2008, Pat Williams, the GM of the Orlando Magic and a tremendous motivational speaker put out a book, "The Ultimate Coaches' Clinic." It is a fascinating book because of the style Pat utilized. He surveyed over 1000 coaches and administrators for insights to what is important to successfully do their job. It is a great book to own and I highly recommend it. Here are some thoughts from Jim Valvano:

• Pay attention to every day. Stop worrying about all that other stuff and start paying attention to the stuff that really matters. Live each day to the fullest.

• Nothing has ever been accomplished in any walk of life without enthusiasm, without motivation, and without perseverance.

• I can’t guarantee that if you work hard you’ll be successful, but I can guarantee that if you don’t work hard, you will not be successful.

• It took me 10 years to understand the relationship between work and success. I thought if you work hard, you succeed. That’s wrong. Everyone is working hard. The truth is, if you don’t work hard, you won’t be successful. If you do, you just improve your chances. Understanding this helps you deal with failure. I’m not saying each one of us has the world in his hands. There is going to be a lot of failure. But failure is essential to success.