BRIAN TRACY: BE A NEGATIVE OPTIMIST

I think this is a really good post by Brian Tracy for coaches. We go through such a roller coaster ride that sometimes it can effect our ability to correctly think and evaluate. It's important for coaches to keep an even keel -- to "stay near the middle of the road."

The most important quality for success in entrepreneurship and in life is the quality of optimism. Optimists have an unrealistic expectation of success. As a result, they are willing to try far more things without becoming discouraged. In addition, because of their unrealistically positive attitude, they are willing to persist much longer than the average person. Optimism is a wonderful quality as long as you have it under control.

Temper Your Optimism
In order to be successful in business and in any activity where your money is involved, you must temper your optimism with negativism. You must be enthusiastic about the possible upside of the investment but you must be skeptical, critical, suspicious and demanding about all the different ways that your money can be lost.

Listen to Negative Viewpoints
Seek out and listen carefully to people who are negative toward your idea. Look for negative thinkers, because their viewpoints can be invaluable and save you a fortune in time and money. I have a friend who is a lawyer, and he recommends and gives advice to many people on investments. And what he does is this. When someone comes and they want to make an investment that he’s unsure about, he says, all right, I want you to come to my office and I want you to sit behind my desk. And then I’m going to come in and I’m going to present this investment to you and I want you to critique this investment as if you were me.

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Help Others to Evaluate Honestly
And he says that when his clients begin critiquing the investments they’re thinking about going into, when they begin becoming negative thinkers about the investments, he says they are astonished at how bad the investments really are. He said he has saved his clients millions of dollars by forcing them to be negative thinkers about their own ideas, simply by switching roles and sitting in front of the desk while they sit behind the desk.

Keep Your Mind Open
But don’t be overly influenced by negative thinkers. Just take their viewpoints into consideration. There’s a famous story of Mary Hudson, who started off with 200 dollars in the middle of the Depression and leased a gas station that two men had gone broke running at two different occasions. And from that she built a company called Hudson Oil, which is now the biggest independent distributor of gas and oil in the United States. From a 200 dollar investment, even though everybody told

FINISHING STRONG

From Dan Green at www.FinishStrong.com comes a great bost about finishing strong:

You probably know by now that the New Orleans Saints used my book Finish Strong as a motivational platform for their 2009 season. But just in case let me refresh your memory....Drew Brees, the QB for the Saints, gave every member of the team a copy of the book and a black silicone Finish Strong wrist band in the spring of last year. Finish Strong became their rallying cry all the way to their Super Bowl victory. On the heels of their victory, I was invited to speak, do radio and tv interviews and even had a book signing at Borders (that was cool).

It was a busy spring for sure. One of the consistent things that folks asked me was "Dan, what does it mean to Finish Strong?" I have to admit, the first time I heard that I was a little bewildered. I mean, it means what it means right? Having lived the Finish Strong attitude for more than 15 years, I guess I took for granted what it really means. So, I began to explain the life philosophy and I would like to share it with you today.

Think of Finish Strong as a granite platform that supports your life. Then think of 4 granite pillars that hold it up...So here are the 4 pillars and the secrete to Finish Strong in your life...

1. BELIEF – You must believe that: “The Cost of Regret FAR EXCEEDS the Price of Discipline” – Peter Lowe. I love this quote because it speaks to the spirit of Finish Strong. You can never recover this moment in time…did you make the most of it? Did you invest wisely (the price of discipline) or will look back with regret in the future (the cost). Don't settle for mediocrity. Will you lie down at night with a feeling of satisfaction or regret? It’s up to you.

2. CHOICE – You must take control of your emotions and actions and choose to Finish Strong. “It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you choose to respond that matters”. Recognize your “Finish Strong Moments”. The decision points in your life that challenge to you make a choice. At any given point in time you and only you have the power to choose how to respond the challenge before you. Take a breath, think about your options and then make good choices.

3. BE ACCOUNTABLE TO YOU – resolve to be your own best coach, cheerleader or fan! You and you alone are responsible for your actions. Don’t let external factors influence or distract you from your objective. This is why I wear a Finish Strong wristband. It serves as my personal reminder to hold my self accountable.

4. IMPROVE YOUR AVERAGES to FINISH STRONG! – Set realistic goals, then work towards them one step at a time. “Inch by inch life’s a cinch, yard by yard life is yard". Resolve each day to improve your averages - wake up 5 minutes earlier than the day before, make it to the gym 1 day per week. Whatever tactical elements you need to reach your goal, start off in small steps and keep improving your average success each day. But ALWAYS move forward in the direction of your goal.

BUILDING LOYALTY AMONG YOUR TEAM

Good article by Dave Ramsey on building loyalty among your team:

In EntreLeadership, my small-business training program, I explain how business leaders can build a loyal team. The main principle is the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Luke 6:31)

Here are three important ways that principle plays out for a business leader:

Be consistent.

If you’ve ever had a boss who was unpredictable and explosive, you understand the value of consistency. When your team trusts you to back them up, to recognize them for a job well done, or to handle a negative situation with grace, you build a team that is confident that you value them.

Your team members are not units of production.
Business leaders are busy people, but sometimes you have to slow down and take time to look in your team members’ eyes. Sometimes, you will see pain or fear, and it is your job as a leader to find out what’s behind it. I call this “pastoring the flock.”

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Treat team members with dignity.

I never want to install a time clock in my office. I never want employees who punch the clock and do just enough work to collect their checks—because there is no dignity in working like that. Treat your team members with dignity by giving them a voice and making it clear that their work matters to you and your business.

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There’s no magic here, except for the magic that happens when you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Look at your business and its leadership through your team members’ eyes. How would you want to be treated?

NOTES FROM COACH MEYER'S POST CAMP

This is the second set of notes from Sylvia Fowles notebook while attending Don Meyer's Post Camp a few years ago:

·Know who I am and what my game is
·Teach myself
·Skill development program
·Be the best I can be
·Properly and quickly execute the fundamentals of the game
·Be a practice player first
·Go to and counter move
·I can do anything I want to do
·I can’t do everything I want to do
·Less is more

Levels of Playing:
Lowest- unconscious and incompetent
Second- conscious and incompetent (doesn’t understand)
Third- conscious and competent (know what you are doing)
Forth- unconscious and competent (know what you have to do- Michael Jordan)

1) A good player knows where he or she is on the floor.
2) A great player knows where everyone is on the floor.
3) A super player knows where everybody is and what he or she is going to do.

THREE FEET FROM GOLD

The following story comes from Napoleon Hill and speaks to us a variety of ways. It can be a message to an individual who is closer that he/she thinks to reaching their potential or accomplishing a worthwhile goal. To me, it reminded me of our team last year. It was a team that fell short of expectations but I'm not sure that they realized how close we were at times if we could have just stayed committed and "kept digging."

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another.

An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the "gold fever" in the gold-rush days, and went west to DIG AND GROW RICH. He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth. He staked a claim and went to work with pick and shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite. After weeks of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his footsteps to his home in Williamsburg, Maryland, told his relatives and a few neighbors of the "strike." They got together money for the needed machinery, had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.

The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big killing in profits.

Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again-all to no avail.

Finally, they decided to QUIT.

They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. Some "junk" men are dumb, but not this one! He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the project had failed, because the owners were not familiar with "fault lines." His calculations showed that the vein would be found JUST THREE FEET FROM WHERE THE DARBYS HAD STOPPED DRILLING! That is exactly where it was found!

The Junk man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving up. Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so. Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over, when he made the discovery that DESIRE can be transmuted into gold. The discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance.

Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, because he STOPPED three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself, "I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance."

Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his "stickability" to the lesson he learned from his "quitability" in the gold mining business.

More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known, told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach.

From "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill

STEPHEN COVEY ON GOALS AND PRIORITIES

RICK WARREN ON OVERCOMING DISCOURAGEMENT

The following comes from daily deveotional email from Rick Warren:

Discouragement is curable. Whenever I get discouraged, I head straight to Nehemiah. This great leader of ancient Israel understood there were four reasons for discouragement.

First, you get fatigued -- You simply get tired as the laborers did in Nehemiah 4:10. We're human beings and we wear out. You cannot burn the candle at both ends. So if you're discouraged, it may be you don't have to change anything. You just need a vacation! Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go to bed.

Second, you get frustrated -- Nehemiah says there was rubble all around, so much that it was getting in the way of rebuilding the wall. Do you have rubble in your life? Have you noticed that anytime you start doing something new, the trash starts piling up?

If you don't clean it out periodically, it's going to stop your progress. You can't avoid it, so you need to learn to recognize it and dispose of it quickly so you don't lose focus on your original intention.

What is the rubble in your life? I think rubble is the trivial things that waste your time and energy and prevent you from accomplishing what God has called you to do.

Third, you think you've failed -- Nehemiah's people were unable to finish their task as quickly as originally planned and, as a result, their confidence collapsed. They were thinking, "We were stupid to think we could ever rebuild this wall."

But you know what I do when I don't reach a goal on time? I just set a new goal. I don't give up. Everybody fails. Everybody does foolish things. So the issue is not that you failed - it's how you respond to your failure.

Do you give in to self-pity? Do you start blaming other people? Do you start complaining that it's impossible? Or, do you refocus on God's intentions and start moving again?

Finally, when you give in to fear, you get discouraged -- Nehemiah 4 suggests the people most affected by fear are those who hang around negative people. If you're going to control the negative thoughts in your life, you've got to get away from negative people as much as you can.

JOE TORRE ON THE FOUNDATION OF TEAMWORK: TRUST

"You can’t ignore such personal events when they can affect a person’s performance on the field. (I make certain to have information about players’ personal difficulties when it’s relevant to the team.) When you have players with track records of hard work, grace under pressure, and key contributions to the team, you should grant them your trust – even if they’ve shown some inconsistency."

From "Ground Rules for Winners" by Joe Torre

WHICH TYPE OF LEADER ARE YOU?

A LEADER destined for SUCCESS asks,

....."What can we do to improve?"

A LEADER destined for FAILURE says,

....."That's the way it's always been done here."

Which are you?

-Anonymous

From "The Essential Wooden" by John Wooden and Steve Jamison

TONY DUNGY ON MAINTAINING BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE AS A COACH

"Maintaining balance is the toughest thing to do. You realize that your family is the most important thing you have, but the job requires so much time. You want to do your best in both areas but find yourself spending much more time at work than at home. In the NFL, as with most jobs, you can't dictate the schedule. There were many weekends, evening, and holidays when I had to be at work. I tried to become as efficient as I could and to be a good time manager at work. I didn't want to cheat my employer or my players, but I made it a priority not to waste time. I also made the decision to forgo some things away from work that I enjoyed, such as golf, to be home more. I tried to include my family in my job as much as possibly. That wasn't too hard, because they all enjoy football. However, I really felt I had to do extra things when I was home to make my family understand that they were special, that they were a priority in my life."

From "The Mentor Leader" by Tony Dungy