NICK SABAN ON BEING A RELENTLESS COMPETITOR

As those who follow my blog know, I am a big believer in the teaching methods of Nick Saban. First hand following during his tenure at LSU and learning about his thoughts on being "process oriented" has had a strong impact on my coaching experience. Coach Don Meyer would always speak at clinics and tell us that all coaches should study John Wooden. I think always coaches today should study Nick Saban. And, as Coach Meyer would be the first to point out, studying a coach doesn't mean we do everything that coach does. Look for those things that will apply to your program and your philosophy.

Here is a video that I came across that we show our team next week before our first day of practice. I think it is simply incredible. The greatest of coaches are the great of communicators. They can hold an audience with their words and their actions. They can paint word pictures to help the audience visualize. You can sense the passion in their voices. They can take the complicated and communicate simply. Coach Saban is such a coach -- a teacher.

COACH KNIGHT ON CONCENTRATION

"The most important thing in coaching is getting kids to concentrate."

-Bob Knight

Concentration leads to...
   ...Anticipation, which leads to
      ...Recognition, which leads to
         ...Execution, which leads to
            ...Completion

HOW CAN YOU STAY FOCUSED?

The following guidelines for maintaining your focus comes from "How Successful People Think" by John Maxwell.  It is a quick, easy read but one of my favorites from Maxwell:

1. Remove distractions: Removing distractions is no small matter in our current culture, but it’s critical. How do you do it? First, by maintaining the discipline of practicing your priorities. Don’t do easy things first or hard things first or urgent things first. Do first things first—the activities that give you the highest return. Second, insulate yourself from distractions. I’ve found that I need blocks of time to think without interruptions. I’ve mastered the art of making myself unavailable when necessary and going off to my “thinking place” so that I can work without interruptions.

2. Make time for focused thinking: Once you have a place to think, you need the time to think. According to researchers, “If you’re trying to accomplish many things at the same time, you’ll get more done by focusing on one task at a time, not by switching constantly from one task to another.”

3. Keep items of focus before you: Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great transcendental thinker, believed, “Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short in all management of human affairs.” To help me concentrate on the things that matter, I work to keep important items before me. I’ll also keep a file or a page on my desk so that I see it every day as I work.

4. Set goals: I believe goals are important. The mind will not focus until it has clear objectives. But the purpose of goals is to focus your attention and give you direction, not to identify a final destination. As you think about your goals, note that they should be:

• Clear enough to be kept in focus.

• Close enough to be achieved.

• Helpful enough to change lives.

David Belasco, who says, “If you can’t write your idea on the back of my business card, you don’t have a clear idea.”

5. Question your progress: Take a good look at yourself from time to time to see whether you are actually making progress. That is the most accurate measure of whether you are making the best use of focused thinking.

IMPROVING CONCENTRATION SKILLS

The following comes "Coaching the Mental Game" by H. A. Dorfman:

An athlete must understand a few basic things if he's going to improve his concentration skills.  first, he should understand what is possible to control and what is not.  It's possible to control one's thoughts, feelings and behavior.  We can't control external events, other people's thoughts and deeds, and consequences beyond our behavior.

-The athlete can tell himself what to do in positive terms
-The athlete can focus on the immediate, rather than past or future (The next task -- "now -- is all that can be acted upon.)
-The athlete can focus on his approach, instead of results -- past or future.

It's often easier for an athlete to practice mental skills than physical.  he doesn't need a physical environment.  he can work on some concentration skills away from the field or arena, sometimes just by sitting in a chair at home.

PLAYING IN THE MOMENT

Thanks to Coach Clarence Gaines, I've been turned on to an outstanding blog from Dan Abrahams who is a renown psychologist for golf and football (soccer).  This is an excerpt from one of his blog posts:

I have a passion for applying the latest evidence from neuroscience in my work with footballers and the exploits of this goalkeeper reminded me of this brain fact:

The brain works in milliseconds.

Our feelings, thoughts and focus can switch in a matter of milliseconds at any time and this has enormous repercussions for a goalkeeper (and all footballers for that matter).

A footballer must keep his mind in the present moment. When it wanders, whether thinking about a past mistake or focused on what action to take ten seconds into the future he cannot function as well as if his mind is immersed in the moment. His reactions and responses will be poor. His technique may fail him. His decision making will slow and the awareness he has of the movements of his team mates and the opposition will lessen.

A footballer must decide to stay in the present moment.

This is an enormous challenge because the mind likes to wander. The pull of past mistakes and the yen to predict the future are obstacles as dangerous to his performance as the opposition. Both will of course slip into his conscious awareness at times, but his mind can be emptied of these irrelevant thoughts. How? By reminding himself of his tasks, his role and responsibilities and by making sure his eyes focus on relevant cues and objects such as the football, the opposition or his team mates. The challenge for the footballer is that quite often it needs to be on all three at the same time. An unenviable challenge, but one, when executed correctly, looks different class.

Read Coach Abrahams entire post on this subject: http://bit.ly/pZ1uEF

TED WILLIAMS AND THE SCIENCE OF DETAILS

We were talking to our team about the importance of details and the tight-funneled vision of concentration and walked in my office and read a great article on Ted Williams.  He is an excerpt of someone who made a science of details (and hitting).  The article was written by Tim Kurkjian for ESPN.com:

"He is one of a kind,'' Tony Gwynn said. "His memory was unbelievable. He could dig in to his memory bank, and pull out all sorts of stuff. All good hitters have that, but he had it to a higher level than anyone I've ever met. It was uncanny the stuff he could pull out. He knew the pitcher, the weather, the way the ball was carrying that day, the thickness of the grass.''

In 2003, comedian Billy Crystal was asked, on the field at Yankee Stadium before one of the league championship series games, for his first recollection of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. "I was sitting right up there [first-base side, upper deck],'' Crystal said. "In the second game of a doubleheader, Ted Williams strikes out against Bobby Shantz. Thirty years later, I meet Mr. Williams. I said, 'I have home movies of you striking out against Bobby Shantz in the second game of a doubleheader at the Stadium.' He looked at me and I swear, Tim, he says, 'Curveball, low and away.' He said, 'Ellie [Yankees catcher Elston Howard] dropped the ball and tagged me, right?' I said, 'Yes, that's it!'"

Williams remembered details about random at-bats because hitting a baseball was far more than a skill to him, it was a science. Tom Grieve is a television game analyst for the Texas Rangers. He played for Williams in 1970 with the Washington Senators and in 1972 for the Rangers. Grieve said he never met anyone who knew more about hitting, and explained it better, than Williams.

"Ted was debating whether to play in the Jimmy Fund Game in Boston [in 1972], and he wasn't sure until Mr. [Tom] Yawkey [Red Sox owner at the time] asked him personally to play,'' Grieve said. "So he did. He came into the dugout looking for a bat. He was in a zone now, not like the rest of us. I used a W183 bat, I had no idea what it stood for, but he picked out that bat, and I later found out the W stood for Williams! He grabbed the bat and said, 'Now this is a damn good bat.' Then he went looking for pine tar and screamed out, 'There's too much oil in this pine tar, no wonder you guys can't hit.' So he walked to the plate, and Lee Stange was throwing. Ted screamed at him, 'Now throw the ball hard, don't be throwing any s--- up here.' He took the first pitch, he always took the first pitch. He was a sarcastic guy, I looked at a teammate and said, 'I hope he swings and misses 20 times.' He took 15 swings, and hit every one on the sweet spot. He hit every one hard.''

You can read the entire article at: http://es.pn/oPBwVO

ONE STATE OF MIND FACING A TEST

"There can only be one state of mind as you approach any profound test; total concentration, a spirit of togetherness, and strength."

-Pat Riley

NINE THINGS SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO DIFFERENTLY

My friend and mentor (and former boss) Coach Dale Brown has a wonderful blog.  At the very top, in his blog introduction, it reads:

"I have always believed that motivation is a gift to be shared with everyone. Over the years I have read literally thousands of books and articles on the subject. I have come to the conclusion that inspiration is an art that breeds familiarity in every message - a constant reinforcement to our own truth within."

This past week he posted an article from the Harvard Business Review by Heidi Grant Halvorson that deserves repeating:

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.

2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.

If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist, and author of the new book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals (Hudson Street Press, 2011). She is also an expert blogger on motivation and leadership for Fast Company and Psychology Today. Her personal blog, The Science of Success, can be found at www.heidigranthalvorson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hghalvorson

BRIAN TRACY'S TWO QUESTIONS TO REMAIN FOCUSED

From Brian Tracy, there are two questions that you can ask on a regular basis to keep yourself focused on getting your most important tasks completed on schedule. The first question is "What are my highest value activities?"

Put another way, what are the most important tasks you have to complete to make the greatest contribution to your organization? To your family? To your life in general?

Think it Through Carefully
This is one of the most important questions you can ask and answer. What are your highest value activities? First, think this through for yourself. Then, ask your boss. Ask your coworkers and subordinates. Ask your friends and family. Like focusing the lens of a camera, you must be crystal clear about your highest value activities before you begin work.

Keep Yourself Focused
The second question you can ask continually is, "What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?"

This question comes from Peter Drucker, the management guru. It is one of the best of all questions for achieving personal effectiveness. What can you, and only you do, that if done well, can make a real difference?

This is something that only you can do. If you don't do it, it won't be done by someone else. But if you do it, and you do it well, it can really make a difference to your life and your career. What is your answer to this question?

Every hour of every day, you can ask yourself this question and there will be a specific answer. Your job is to be clear about the answer and then to start and work on this task before anything else.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, make a list of everything you do at work and then select your most valuable tasks from that list.

Second, resolve to start in on your highest value task and stay at it until it is 100% complete.

MICHAEL JORDAN: I CAN'T ACCEPT NOT TRYING

I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot. Why? Because when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.

I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life I had to be aggressive. I had to get out there and go for it. I don’t believe you can achieve anything by being passive. I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it’s an illusion to me.

That’s why my advice has always been to “think positive” and find fuel in any failure. Sometimes failure actually just gets you closer to where you want to be.

I think fear sometimes comes from a lack of focus or concentration especially in sports.

I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.

I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t do things halfheartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect halfhearted results. That’s why I approached practices the same way I approached games. You can’t turn it on and off like a faucet. I couldn’t dog it during practice and then, when I needed that extra push late in the game, expect it to be there.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

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

SOME GREAT THOUGHTS FROM BOBBY JONES

All the following quotes are attributed to golfing great Bobby Jones...they go beyond golf and even sports:

“You swing your best when you have the fewest things to think about.”

“A leading difficulty with the average player is that he totally misunderstands what is meant by concentration. He may think he is concentrating hard when he is merely worrying.”

“I never learned anything from a match that I won.”

“Many shots are spoiled at the last instant by efforts to add a few more yards.”

“The secret of golf is to turn three shots into two.”

“The best exercise for golfers is golfing.”

“Golf is said to be a humbling game, but it is surprising how many people are either not aware of their weaknesses or else reckless of consequences.”

“Rhythm and timing are the two things which we all must have, yet no one knows how to teach either.”

“In order to win, you must play your best golf when you need it most, and play your sloppy stuff when you can afford it. I shall not attempt to explain how you achieve this happy timing.”

WHEN YOU'VE PAID THE PRICE, EXPECT THE GOLD

The following comes from Denis Waitley:

One of the most inspirational moments in my years serving as Chairman of Psychology on The U. S. Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine Council was witnessing the first perfect 10 ever scored by an American gymnast in the summer games, by Mary Lou Retton in the Los Angeles Summer Games in 1984.

Mary Lou wasn’t born a classic gymnast. She didn’t have the movements of a ballet dancer. She was just 4 feet 9 inches tall, with a compact, muscular body. She said, “I knew I wouldn’t look graceful in floor exercises, or doing those ballerina moves. But I was a good sprinter and I had a lot of power and explosiveness. So I could do some things some of the other girls couldn’t do.”

By the age of 14 she was West Virginia State Champion, and winning gymnastic meets throughout the world. But as young as she was, she was mature enough to realize she needed to do much more. “I needed someone pushing me,” she said. “I needed some other girls around me who were shooting for the same goal I was.”

So, at a time when most teenagers are thinking about anything but commitment, Mary Lou Retton made an enormous sacrifice. She left the comfort of her home in Fairmont, West Virginia, and moved to Houston, into the home of a family she didn’t know, just for the opportunity to train under one of the world’s greatest, but most demanding, gymnastic coaches, Bela Karolyi.

While other kids were watching TV, going to a movie, hanging out with friends, and going on trips, she was practicing four hours a day, seven days a week. Karolyi changed everything she had been doing for eight years, from the way she tumbled to the way she ate. As the Olympic Games drew nearer, she described her day this way, “An eight o’clock workout, then to school, back to the gym for four more hours of work, then homework, then bed.”

A grind? To be sure. Fun? Not much. Then why? Because winners work at doing things the rest of the population won’t even consider trying. She may not have enjoyed the routine, but she loved the sport, the challenge, and the dream. Then, just a few weeks before the summer games, her right knee suddenly locked. Fragments of torn cartilage had broken loose and had become wedged in the knee joint. Less than 10 days after arthroscopic surgery, she was back in the gym for a full workout. There was no time to lose, only time to get ready to win.

In her final event, the vault, Mary Lou needed a 9.95, a near-perfect performance, to tie the Romanian favorite for the gold medal. One writer described her effort this way: “She raced down the line, sprang off the vault, twisted at high altitude, and landed as still as a dropped bar of lead, yet as soft as a springtime butterfly.”

She scored a perfect 10, the ultimate. But to the surprise and awe of spectators, officials and myself, she went ahead and executed the optional, second vault. Incredibly, the result was the same again: a perfect 10.

The only two individuals not surprised were Mary Lou Retton and her coach, Bela Karolyi. He had told her just before her performance: “You’re my little American gold medal winner!”

In an interview, I heard her remark that her self-talk leading up to those two perfect vaults went something like this: “Relax. Concentrate. Thanks for all the car pools, Mom. This vault’s for you. Speed. Explode. Extend. Nail the landing. This is your moment in history. Need a 10, got a 10. Just like practice. Let’s go!”

3 FACTORS IN "ZOOM-FOCUSING"

It's about zoom-focusing with your mind, too. Every day you'll have a million distractions coming at yo, and you'll need to tune them out and focus on our priorities. To do this you'll want to use these three techniques.

1. First, ask one question.

Each day when you wake up in the morning ask the question, "What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?" Then each day take action on those three things.

2. Second, say no and yes.

My friend once told me, "If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy." He reminded me that we need to stop scattering our energy and wasting our time on trivial things that have nothing to do with our vision and goals and start saying yes to our priorities and to what truly matters. Each day we must make choices, and those choices include saying no to some people and opportunities is that we can say yes to the greater work we are meant to do.

3. Third, tune out distractions.

Don't listen to what other say about you. After all, we don't talk this game, we play it. Tune out the distractions and zoom-focus on what you need to do every day to be your best. Do your talking on the field. Don't compare yourself to others. Don't look at the depth chart. Don't listen to the naysayers.k Every day, focus on continuous improvement and getting better.

From Jon Gordon's "Training Camp"