MANNING'S SUPERBOWL FOCUS: PREPARATION AND ROUTINE

Driving in to the arena this morning I was listening to the radio and they were doing an interview with Troy Aikman on Peyton Manning.  There were two things of importance that I took from that interview.

Aikman said that the first Super Bowl that Manning participated in, he called several quarterbacks that previous Super Bowl experience and asked them for advice.  Manning's reputation for preparation is legendary this story just further proves the importance at leaving know stone unturned and gives more evidence as to what makes Manning great.

As for the advice that Aikman gave Manning?  He told him to make his hotel as much like home as possible because he felt the most important thing in big games was maintaining routine.  "Keep things as normal as possible," Aikman said.

The importance of routine?  It allows you to focus on what you need to focus on.  As Stephen Covey said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

CAREER STARTER BOOK #1: THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

A few weeks ago, I had a post about a book and made reference to the fact that I would have loved to have read it when I first started coaching.  In fact, it would be in my Top 10 books that I think could've impacted me greatly as a young coach just starting out.  I have since received a great number of requests asking for the complete list and so each day, over the next few weeks, I will list a book that I think young coaches would benefit from reading as they start their coaching journey.  I would imagine that many will be looking for X&O books -- just as I did when I first started coaching -- but instead you will find a list of books that will not only make you a better coach, but a better person. Books that concentrate on teaching, goal setting, communication and leadership.

 Book #1

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen Covey

HABIT #1: BE PROACTIVE
“Look at the word responsibility—’response-ability’—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.”

 “The commitments we make to ourselves and to others, and our integrity to those commitments, is the essence and clearest manifestation of our proactivity.”

HABIT #2: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

“Begin with the end in mind” is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.”

"We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when we begin with the end in mind."

Covey's example of visualizing our own funeral is a great exercise for us all.

HABIT #3: PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST

In Goethe’s words, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.”

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

Covey Quadrant chart is a great learning tool to understand how to prioritize.

 

HABIT #4: THINK WIN/WIN

"Win/Win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions.  Win/Win menas that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying."

"Win/Win is a belief in the Third Alternative.  It's not your way or may; it's a better way, a higher way."

HABIT #5: SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND
"If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

"Communication is the most important skill in life."

Covey explains empathic listening in this chapter and how it takes us to a higher level of communication.

HABIT #6: SYNERGY
“When properly understood, synergy is the highest activity in all life -- the true test and manifestation of all of the other habits put together.”

"What is synergy?  Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum its parts."

HABIT #7: SHARPEN THE SAW

The habit of self-renewal.

"This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life -- investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute."

 

Other blog posts on Stephen Covey

 

THE MENTAL CREATION OF A GOOD PHYSICAL PRACTICE

The following comes from the book "Practice Perfect" by Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway and Katie Yezzi .  It speaks of a reporter, Barry Svrluga who followed Mike Shanahan of the Washington Redskins around to obverse preparation and practices.  It shows that Coach Shanahan believes in the importance of mental practice as well as physical and utilizes the mental to set up the physical.

As Stephen Covey wrote: "Habit 2 is based on imagination--the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. It's about connecting again with your own uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself. Begin with the End in Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen."

What strides do you take to help your players and staff visualize what you want accomplished? 

Here is what Coach Shanahan does with the mental preparation of a physical practice:

"Wednesday and Thursday practice are preceded by walk-throughs -- rehearsals for what will happen in practice."  The coaches have mapped out a script -- sometimes 40 pages long -- of the players they intend to use.  Then before the practice, they bring the whole team to rehearse the practice they have scripted, walking through to check that everyone knows where he needs to be and when, and to ensure that the plans on paper translate into the practice they are looking for on the field.  Questions that might arise from translating the written script to the playing field are answered; explanations of the next steps or the next moves are made during this time.  The team comes to practice ready to use each moment doing -- improving and inscribing success rather than talking about what they are doing.

STEPHEN COVEY ON "TRUST"

The following comes from the book "The Wisdom and Teachings of Stephen R. Covey" --

"If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy."

"To retain the trust of those who are present, be loyal those who are absent."

"People instinctively trust those whose personality is founded upon correct principles."

"Trust is the highest form of human motivation."

"Trust it the glue of life.  It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication.  It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships together."

The following is one of my favorites from Covey and one that I've share with many players and teams:

"We all know what a financial bank account is.  We make deposits into it and build up reserve from which we can make withdrawals when we need to.  An Emotional Bank Account is a metaphor that describes the amount of trust that's been built up in a relationship.  It's the feeling of safeness you have with another human being.  If I make deposits into an Emotional Bank Account with you through courtesy, kindness, honesty, and keeping my commitments to you, I build up reserve."

APPLYING JOB'S 7 SECRETS TO COACHING

Earlier I posted a blog about Steve Job's 7 Secrets to Success.  I thought I'd take a brief look at them and attempt to let you know how I would apply them to the coaching profession.

1. Do what you love
This one sounds easy but it's not.  Many new coaches profess "I love coaching" until they get into long enough to know the number one aspect of this job is to solve problems.  You can't hide from them or sweep them under the carpet.  In fact, according to Job's formula, you must love to solve problems.  There is so much more to coaching than just heading to the practice floor and putting on the suit for the big game.  Will you truly love ALL the aspects that go into coaching?  If you want to be successful and stay in it you will.

2. Put a dent in the universe
The best way to put a dent in the universe is by molding the student-athletes you come in touch with.  This goes far beyond teaching them a jump shot or how to post up.  I absolutely love and work to implement Lou Holt'z mantra that he used while coaching -- "I'm don't coach you for four years, I'll coach you for forty."  If you care enough to get involved with young people -- and that means helping them through some difficult obstacles -- you can make a special dent in the universe.

3. Say no to 1,000 things
Certainly this is a difficult thing to do in coaching.  We hate to say no to things that can in someway effect our program -- promote our sport.  But at the same time, they key concept here is to maintain focus and concentration.  As Stephen Covey said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

4. Kick start your brain
What are you doing to be a continual learner?  Do you meet with others in your profession to grow your knowledge? Do you meet with those outside your profession -- to learn outside the box?  Do you read? Do you watch DVD's -- listen to self-help CD's?  Not only is the quest to learn a great way to increase what you know but it is a wonderful method for keeping you energized.

5. Sell dreams, not products
To me, this means being process oriented as opposed to result oriented.  I love the mantra here in the athletic department at Texas A&M.  We don't say "Winning Championships" -- we say "Building Champions."  Winning a championship is a destination.  Building champions is an everyday objective.  And it leads into all areas of life.  Be a picture painted with your team or organization. 

6. Create insanely great experiences
The great teams I have been associated with have grown not just through playing basketball but in all the other experiences that come about from a well-organized program.  As a coach, as a staff, if you pour your heart and soul into ALL phases of your program it becomes the most amazing experience and young woman or man can have at that age.  But make no mistake -- there's a lot of work involved.

7. Master the message
This is about communication. If I could again go back to a Covey thought, "Communicate is life's most important skill."  You ability to properly communicate and present the parts of your program and your philosophy makes a tremendous difference in how it will be received by those you are looking to lead.  First and foremost, do you believe in the message.  Than are you knowledgeable about the message.  Finally, can you enthusiastically involve your team in the message.

STEPHEN COVEY ON "TOTAL QUALITY"

The following comes from Stephen Covey's "Principle-Centered Leadership:"

Total quality is an expression of the need for continuous improvement in four areas:

1. Personal and professional development

2. Interpersonal relations

3. Managerial effectiveness

4. Organizational productivity

• Personal and professional development. I’ve always liked the expression “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.” In reality you and me are the keys to total quality. W. Edwards Deming, the economic Isaiah of our time, has said that about 90 percent of the problems in organizations are general problems (bad systems)—only about 10 percent are specific problems with people. W. Edwards Deming’s principle, constancy of purpose, implies that we first have a purpose or mission—a statement of what we are about, a vision of what we can become.

• Interpersonal relations. Total quality on an interpersonal level means making constant deposits into the emotional bank accounts of others. It is continually building goodwill and negotiating in good faith, not in fear. If you create an expectation of continuous product or service improvement but fail to deliver on that expectation, you will see a buildup of fear and negative forecasting.

• Managerial effectiveness. Managerial quality is basically nurturing win-win performance and partnership agreements—making sure they are “in sync” with what is happening inside that person and what is happening inside the business. These win-win agreements are subject to renegotiation at any time—ideally on a synergistic basis, not a positional bargaining basis, and open to all the dynamics and vicissitudes of the market. So there is a sense of two-way openness.

• Organizational productivity. Proactive leadership springs from an awareness that we are not a product of our systems, that we are not a product of our environments, that those things powerfully influence us, but we can choose our responses to them. Proactivity is the essence of real leadership. Every great leader has a high level of proactive energy and vision—a sense that “I am not a product of my culture, my conditioning, and the conditions of my life; rather, I am a product of my value system, attitudes, and behavior—and those things I control.”

Total quality is a total philosophy, a total paradigm of continuous improvement in all four dimensions. And it is sequential; if you don’t have it personally, you won’t get it organizationally. You can’t expect organizations to improve when the people don’t improve. You might improve systems, but how do you get a commitment inside the culture to improve systems? People have to grow and mature to where they can communicate to solve the problems to improve those systems.

Total quality is a principle-centered approach that has come out of the best the world has produced. In our training we emphasize the human side more than the technical side because we believe that the origin and the essence of total quality is empathy with customers, empathy with their motives and buying habits.

• First, we are not yet hurting enough.

• Second, we don’t want to change our life-styles.

• Third, even the best U.S. companies tend to regard quality as a program, a department. It’s not integrated in their structure, systems, style, and so forth.

Total quality is rooted in timeless principles:

• Faith, hope, humility

• Works, industry, research, testing

• Constancy, consistency, predictability

• Continuous improvement and progression

• Feedback based on both measurement and discernment

• Virtue and truth in human relations

STEPHEN COVEY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRINCIPLE CENTERED LIVING

Principle-centered leadership introduces a new paradigm—that we center our lives and our leadership of organizations and people on certain “true north” principles.

My experience tells me that people instinctively trust those whose personality is founded upon correct principles. We have evidence of this in our long-term relationships.

To value oneself and, at the same time, subordinate oneself to higher purposes and principles is the paradoxical essence of highest humanity and the foundation of effective leadership.

Correct principles are like compasses: they are always pointing the way. And if we know how to read them, we won’t get lost, confused, or fooled by conflicting voices and values.

Principles are self-evident, self-validating natural laws.

The lesson of history is that to the degree people and civilizations have operated in harmony with correct principles, they have prospered. At the root of societal declines are foolish practices that represent violations of correct principles.

Principles, unlike values, are objective and external.

Values are like maps. Maps are not the territories; they are only subjective attempts to describe or represent the territory.

When people align their personal values with correct principles, they are liberated from old perceptions or paradigms.

From "Principle-Centered Leadership" by Stephen Covey

4 THINGS THE TOP PERFORMERS DO

1. Focus on the top goals.
In our turbulent times, you can’t afford to take your eye off the key goal. Organizations fail to execute their key goals when (1) there are too many goals, (2) there are no defined goals, or (3) people get distracted from the goals.

Think about it. If you have one goal, you chances of achieving it with excellence are high. If you have two substantive goals, you have just cut in half your chances of achieving them both with excellence. Three goals make things geometrically more chancy. And so forth.

No defined goals. Too many organizations have no goals to speak of—that is, no one can speak of them because no one really knows what they are. If your success depends on a critical goal, it’s worth defining well.

People get distracted from the goals. But in bad times, the distractions are more severe than ever. The first requirement of a good execution system is that everyone must know and buy in to the key goals.

2. Make sure everyone knows the specific job to be done to achieve these goals.
Leaders decide what the goal is, but they don’t decide how to achieve it; that’s where the team comes in.

Leaders who hand down goals must give teams the time and opportunity to learn how to achieve them. By definition, every new goal requires people to do things they’ve never done before.

3. Keep score.
Smart leaders know that there are two kinds of measures to watch: lag measures and lead measures. Lag measures are the ones we usually think of because they tell us what just happened. Lead measures, on the other hand, are predictive and influenceable. They tell you what is likely to happen. You can control them.

A weak leader focuses only on lag measures.

A strong leader focuses on lead measures. She helps the team isolate three or four key actions the team can control and that are most likely to bring the desired results. Then she tracks those actions consistently.

4. Set up a regular cycle of follow-through.
The mistake leaders often make is to announce a grand goal and then sit back in luxurious expectation that it will happen. If you never ask about the goal, you team members won’t care about it. They have plenty to do already. If you don’t revisit progress on the goal regularly and frequently, team members will conclude that you didn’t mean it, and they will go do what they normally do.

From "Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times"
By Stephen R. Covey and Bob Whitman

A BIGGER "YES"

"You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage -- pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically -- to say no to other things.  And the way you do that is by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside."

-Stephen R. Covey

FIRST THINGS FIRST: GREAT THOUGHTS FROM STEPHEN COVEY

The following are just a few notes I took from a wonderful book by Stephen Covey titled "First Things First" -- one of the absolute best books on how to prioritize your life.

“It takes courage to realize that you are greater than your moods, greater than your thoughts, and that you can control your moods and thoughts.”

“Educating the heart is the critical complement to educating the mind.”

“The value of any week is not limited to what we do in it; it’s also in what we learn from it.”

“It takes humility to seek feedback, it takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it, and appropriately act on it.”

“Success is always inside out.”

“The best way to develop courage is to set a goal and achieve it, make a promise and keep it.”
 
“Becoming principle-centered is just that: becoming. It’s not arriving; it’s a lifetime quest.”

“Life is learning – from our mistakes as well as our success. ‘The only real mistake in life,” said one, ‘is the mistake not learned from.’”

“Each decision we make is an important decision.”

“Our two greatest gifts are time and the freedom to choose. The key is not ‘spending’ time, but ‘investing’ it.”

“But long-term, the Law of the Farm governs in all areas of life. And there’s no way to fake the harvest.”
 
“Self-awareness is our capacity to stand apart from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our scripts, our actions, and our habits and tendencies.”

“The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

“An individual’s life is part of a greater whole.”

THREE EVERY DAY CHOICES

So what leads to Everyday Greatness?

#1 THE CHOICE TO ACT
The first choice we make each and every day is, Will we act upon life or will we merely be acted upon?

#2 THE CHOICE OF PURPOSE
But plenty of us have made the choice to act, only to find that we made poor choices – choices that turned out to be of no value to ourselves or to others, some perhaps even harmful. So, alone, the choice to act is not sufficient.

And so the second choice we make each and every day is of great significance: To what ends, or purpose, will our daily choices lead?

We each want to be of value – to know our life matters.

#3 THE CHOICE OF PRINCIPLES
But, of course, none of this happens by magic or luck. While I believe in the power of positive thought, I do not believe that you or I can simply psyche ourselves into success or peace of mind. Raterh, enjoying a life of rich in meaning and progress – a life of Everyday Greatness – comes only as we live in harmony with timeless, universal principles.

And so the third choice we make each and every day is, Will we live our lives in accordance with proven principles, or will we suffer the consequences of not doing so?

Principles are immovable; they are timeless and universal. They do not change. They are no respecters of age, race, creed, gender, or status – everyone is equally subject to them.

Principles such as vision, innovation, humility, quality, empathy, magnanimity, perseverance, and balance. All are principles that can mobilize us toward greater personal effectiveness and increased life satisfaction.

From "Everyday Greatness" by Stephen Covey

THE GREATEST POWER: THE POWER TO CHOSE OUR ATTITUDE

"It takes courage to realize that you are greater than your moods, greater than your thoughts, and that you can control your moods and thoughts."

-Stephen Covey

DEVELOPING EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNTS

We just recently completed a five-day road trip in which I took the time to re-read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," by Stephen Covey.  Obviously there are a lot of great books out there, but when I speak at clinics or two groups I tell them if I could recommend but one book, this one would be it.  The excerpt to follow is about Covey's thoughts on the "Emotional Bank Account" that we develop with people that surround us.  As you are reading through this -- if you are a coach, translate it to how it would effect players, staff members, administrators -- all those that have an importance in your program.  Of course, I think it is just as valuable for those that are parents, those in the work place elsewhere, and those involved in strengthening their relationships in general:

Let me suggest six major deposits that build the Emotional Bank Account.

UNDERSTANDING THE INDIVIDUAL

Really seeking to understand another person is probably one of the most important deposits you can make, and it is the key to every other deposit.  You simply don't know what constitutes a deposit to another person until you understand that individual.

One person's mission is another person's minutia.  To make deposits, what is important to another person must be as important to you as the other person is to you.

I have a friend whose son developed an avid interest in baseball.  My friend wasn't interest in baseball at all.  But one summer, he took his son to see every major league team play one game.  The trip took over six weeks and cost a great deal of money, but it became a powerful bonding experience in their relationship.

My friend was asked on his return, "Do you like baseball that much?"

"No," he replied, "but I like my son that much."

Our tendency is to project out of our own autobiographies what we think other people want or need.  We project our intentions on the behavior of others.

ATTENDING TO THE LITTLE THINGS

The little kindnesses and courtesies are so important.  Small discourtesies, little unkindness, little forms of disrespect make large withdrawals.  In relationships, the big things are the little things.

KEEPING COMMITMENTS

Keeping a commitment or a promise is a major deposit; breaking one is a major withdrawal.  In fact, there's probably not a more massive withdrawal than to make a promise that's important to someone and then not come through.  The next time a promise is made, they won't believe it.  people tend to build their hopes around promises, particularly promises about their basic livelihood.

I believe that if you cultivate the habit of always keeping the promises you make, you build bridges of trust that span the gaps of understanding between you and your child.

CLARIFYING EXPECTATIONS

The cause of almost all relationship difficulties is rooted in conflicting or ambiguous expectations and roles and goals.

Clarifying expectations sometimes takes a great deal of courage.  It seems easier to act as thought difference don't exist and to hope things will work out than it is to face the difference and work together to arrive at a mutually agreeable set of expectation.

SHOWING PERSONAL INTEGRITY

Personal integrity generates trust and is the basis of many different kinds of deposits.

Lack of integrity can undermine almost any other effort to create high trust accounts.  People can seek to understand, remember the little things, keep their promises, clarify and fulfill expectations, and still fail to build reserves of trust if they are inwardly duplicitous.

Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty.  Honesty is telling the truth -- in other words, conforming our words to reality.  Integrity is conforming words to reality -- in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.  This requires an integrated character, a oneness, primarily with self but also with life.

One of the most important ways to manifest integrity is to be loyal to those who are not present.  In doing so, we build the trust of those who are present.  When you defend those who are absent, you retain the trust of those present. 

APOLOGIZING SINCERELY WHEN YOU MAKE A WITHDRAWAL

When we make withdrawals from the Emotional Bank Account, we need to apologize and we need to do it sincerely.  Great deposits come in the sincere words:

"I was wrong."

"That was unkind of me."

"I showed you no respect."

"I gave you no dignity, and I'm deeply sorry."

"I embarrassed you in front of your friends (teammates) and I had no call to do that.  Even though I wanted to make a point, I never should have done that.  I apologize."

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity.  A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

Sincere apologies make deposits; repeated apologies interpreted as insincere make withdrawals.  And the quality of the relationship reflects it.

It is one thing to make a mistake, and quite another thing not to admit it.  People will forgive mistakes, because mistakes are usually of the mind, mistakes of judgment.  But people will not easily forgive the mistakes of the heart, the ill intention, the bad motives, the prideful justifying cover-up of the first mistake.

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

I have been re-reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey -- what an amazing book!  Habit #2 is "Begin with the end in mind."  In other words, you must have a detailed vision of what you want before you can start building it.  The best coaches are the ones that have a specific vision of their program and share that vision with those on their team.  Having the vision is critical but you must be able to help those involved see and believe in that same vision.  It is true with coaching each individual.  You must have a vision as to what you see here becoming as a player and than articulate it to her and help her see the same vision.  Only then, can special things start to grow.

Here is a wonderful, short video from Covey talking about the 2nd Habit:

MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

This comes from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey.  I have been asked if I could recommend one, and only one book for anyone to read, what would it be?  This one is it -- it will make you a better coach, a better parent, a better spouse, a better employee.  Here is what Covey has to say about the coexistence of management and leadership:

Management is a bottom line focus: How can I best accomplish certain things?  Leadership deals with the top line: What are the tings I want to accomplish?  In the words of both Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

We are more in need of a vision or destination and a compass (a set of principles or directions) and less in need of a road map.  In inner compass will always give us direction.

Efficient management without effective leadership is, and one individual has phrased it, "like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic."  No management success can compensate for failure in leadership.  But leadership is hard because we're often caught in a management paradigm.

TAKE CARE OF THE BIG ROCKS FIRST

I first watched this video about 10 years ago.  It is simply one of the best illustration at how to prioritize the things you do in life.  At Stephen Covey teach us, take care of the "big rocks" first.

THE FOUR HAZARDS OF UNPREDICTABLE TIMES

Failure to Execute You’ve thought through the crisis. You have your strategy. Now the question is, can your teams execute? Will they? Some people in your organization are getting it done. Some aren’t and probably never will. Then there’s the great middle—how much more could they contribute if they performed more like those who are getting it done?

Crisis of Trust
Levels of trust drop in uncertain times. Securities markets plunge due to crisis of confidence. People lose confidence in their own organizations. On an uncertain road full of pitfalls, everyone decelerates: it’s not called a “slowdown” for nothing.

Loss of Focus
You have fewer resources, fewer people, more confusion. People try to do two or three jobs at once. A person trying to do two jobs has half the focus of a person doing one job, and half the likelihood of doing either job well.

Pervasive Fear
Economic recession causes psychological recession. People fear losing jobs, retirement savings, even their homes. It’s “piling on.” And it cost you. Just when you need people to focus and engage, they lose focus and disengage.

From "Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times" by Stephen R. Covey and Bob Whitman

STEPHEN COVEY'S FOUR ASSUMPTIONS

EFFECTIVENESS AND COMPETENCY

In his book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Stephen Covey talked about the important of Effectiveness and Competency and we believe they go hand in hand with championship productivity in the classroom, the basketball court, the business world and in life. Effectiveness is “doing something right, the way it is supposed to be done.” Competency is “doing it right EVERYTIME.” Effectiveness and competency are high forms of self-discipline and found in nearly all successful people no matter their endeavor.

One of the greatest golfer in the history of that sport, Jack Nicklaus once said, “I don’t think talent is as important as the work habits and dedication necessary to be competent. Certainly talent needs to be above average but I don’t think it needs to be the top thing on the list.”

One of the most difficult phases of remaining both effective and competent is guarding against complacency. I can remember while work for Coach Sue Gunter of LSU that she would constantly speak to our team on complacency saying, “We must use our tradition to motivate us to build on it and not as a crutch to lean on where we might stumble and fall.”

Stephen Covey also talks about effectiveness in preserving and enhancing relationships. Relationships, or togetherness, or team unity, or team chemistry — no matter what you should choose to label it—is an absolute must if a team is to reach its potential and compete on a championship level.

Covey went on to use the example of a bank, an Emotional Bank, where an individual account depicts the amount of trust involved in a relationship. Our actions and attitudes towards individuals is our means of making “deposits” or “withdrawals” into our account. Positive, meaningful actions will build our account, while negative actions will delete the account. Covey then set down five phases of our ordinary day life where we can make a deposit or a withdrawal. These areas are of vital importance to our success, not just as a basketball team, but with out families and in classrooms and, eventually, in your work place. Covey’s five areas are:

1. Kindness vs. unkindness

2. Keeping promises vs. breaking promises

3. Honoring expectations vs. violating expectations

4. Loyalty vs. lack of loyalty

5. Apologies vs. pride

THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE COMPASS AND THE CLOCK

Our struggle to put first things first can be characterized by the contrast between two powerful tools that direct us: the clock and the compass.  The clock represents our commitments, appointments, schedules, goals, activities -- what we do with, and how we manager our time.  The compass represents our vision, values, principles, mission conscience, direction -- what we feel is important and how we lead our lives.

The struggle comes when we sense a gap between the clock and the compass -- when what we do doesn't contribute to what is most important in our lives.

From "First Things First" by Stephen Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca Merrill