Thought for the Day

The Power of Habit

Max Lucado quote

Max Lucado quote

Thought for the day Wednesday Sept. 19, 2012

Thankful in life

A couple of years ago a friend of mine help change the way I thought about my job. He was an assistant coach and was interviewing for a head coaching job.  He stated if he got this job he was going to treat it as if it was the best job in the country.

 

I recall the conversation and how he changed my way of thinking. To treat your job, family, living situation, etc. as top notch it helps reorient your thinking of how we approach everyday life.

 

I’m obsessive and can allow my mind to sidetrack.  I tend to think as well as focus on things that are not of importance. If I change that thinking and move it toward a positive twist it helps me tremendously.

Here, are some simple steps to help get your thinking in the right direction.

1. Understand your talents and limitations. Be thankful that you are in a place that utilizes your talents and hides your weaknesses. If is not occurring, then change things fast. Find a way to maximize your gifts and abilities.

You may have to remind yourself how your talents correspond with your occupation. You may have to remind yourself that you are not in a job that is boring and in a work environment that is uncomfortable.

2. Treat your life as if it matters to others. "What you think about, you bring about." You have the ability to inspire others and make a difference in someone's life each day. Whether you choose to make that impact, is your decision; not the decision of someone else.

3. Look across the street, on the other side of the fence, or in the house next door. Some people do not like to think this way, but I believe that each us has it better than someone else. Daily we see people hurting. This occurs either in everyday interactions or reading the newspaper, watching tv or on the internet.

Will you choose to treat your job as the best in the country? Your life as the best?

As a father of 5 kids, my life is on the go and moving in a lot of different directions. My wife and kids can't afford for me to be down. They need to be there for them. I have wallowed in pity for different segments of my life. I have also treated days as if they were going to be great. The latter is much more enjoyable.

How one treats their job is vital to happiness. In the coaching profession, each coach has items to complain about on a daily basis. There is also the ability to look past the shortcomings and see the positive.

Reading the book on Coach Bob Hurley, Sr. ("The Miracle of St. Anthony" by Adrian Wojnarowski) I realized he built a national power at the high school level without the use of his own gym. It made an impression so I decided not to complain and work with what I did have without worrying about what I didn't have.

 

Whether it was the gym roof leaking, the gym roof falling in, lack the financial resources or any other problems I have encountered in my coaching career I have tried to my best not to let those situations bring me down. It made me realize the people I was around were there for a reason. I was determined to make the most of my chance with players and people. Sure, I sometimes fail miserably, but I am aware and keep trying. Over the course of time, I have found positive beats negative any day.

 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

 

-Marianne Williamson

Coach Meyer leadership conference

http://business.greaterjacksonpartnership.com/Events/details/coach-don-meyer-leadership-tour-485

If you are in the Jackson, MS area and can make it out to see Coach Meyer I encourage you to do so.

Great concept and new stuff from Coach Meyer.

Moving in day in Baton Rouge

Moving in day in Baton Rouge for the family. It's been a long summer without them here.
Thank you Lord for blessing us and giving us protection.

Urban Meyer starting on a new track

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=8239451

factor is attitude

"Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude."~ Timothy Bentley ~

Two lists to at each morning.

http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2009/05/two-lists-you-should-look-at-e.html

HBR Blog Network

I was late for my meeting with the CEO of a technology company and I was emailing him from my iPhone as I walked onto the elevator in his company's office building. I stayed focused on the screen as I rode to the sixth floor. I was still typing with my thumbs when the elevator doors opened and I walked out without looking up. Then I heard a voice behind me, "Wrong floor." I looked back at the man who was holding the door open for me to get back in; it was the CEO, a big smile on his face. He had been in the elevator with me the whole time. "Busted," he said.

The world is moving fast and it's only getting faster. So much technology. So much information. So much to understand, to think about, to react to. A friend of mine recently took a new job as the head of learning and development at a mid-sized investment bank. When she came to work her first day on the job she turned on her computer, logged in with the password they had given her, and found 385 messages already waiting for her.

So we try to speed up to match the pace of the action around us. We stay up until 3 am trying to answer all our emails. We twitter, we facebook, and we link-in. We scan news websites wanting to make sure we stay up to date on the latest updates. And we salivate each time we hear the beep or vibration of a new text message.

But that's a mistake. The speed with which information hurtles towards us is unavoidable (and it's getting worse). But trying to catch it all is counterproductive. The faster the waves come, the more deliberately we need to navigate. Otherwise we'll get tossed around like so many particles of sand, scattered to oblivion. Never before has it been so important to be grounded and intentional and to know what's important.

Never before has it been so important to say "No." No, I'm not going to read that article. No, I'm not going to read that email. No, I'm not going to take that phone call. No, I'm not going to sit through that meeting.

It's hard to do because maybe, just maybe, that next piece of information will be the key to our success. But our success actually hinges on the opposite: on our willingness to risk missing some information. Because trying to focus on it all is a risk in itself. We'll exhaust ourselves. We'll get confused, nervous, and irritable. And we'll miss the CEO standing next to us in the elevator.

A study of car accidents by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute put cameras in cars to see what happens right before an accident. They found that in 80% of crashes the driver was distracted during the three seconds preceding the incident. In other words, they lost focus — dialed their cell phones, changed the station on the radio, took a bite of a sandwich, maybe checked a text — and didn't notice that something changed in the world around them. Then they crashed.

The world is changing fast and if we don't stay focused on the road ahead, resisting the distractions that, while tempting, are, well, distracting, then we increase the chances of a crash.

Now is a good time to pause, prioritize, and focus. Make two lists:

List 1: Your Focus List (the road ahead)
What are you trying to achieve? What makes you happy? What's important to you? Design your time around those things. Because time is your one limited resource and no matter how hard you try you can't work 25/8.

List 2: Your Ignore List (the distractions)

To succeed in using your time wisely, you have to ask the equally important but often avoided complementary questions: what are you willing not to achieve? What doesn't make you happy? What's not important to you? What gets in the way?

Some people already have the first list. Very few have the second. But given how easily we get distracted and how many distractions we have these days, the second is more important than ever. The leaders who will continue to thrive in the future know the answers to these questions and each time there's a demand on their attention they ask whether it will further their focus or dilute it.

Which means you shouldn't create these lists once and then put them in a drawer. These two lists are your map for each day. Review them each morning, along with your calendar, and ask: what's the plan for today? Where will I spend my time? How will it further my focus? How might I get distracted? Then find the courage to follow through, make choices, and maybe disappoint a few people.

After the CEO busted me in the elevator, he told me about the meeting he had just come from. It was a gathering of all the finalists, of which he was one, for the title of Entrepreneur of the Year. This was an important meeting for him — as it was for everyone who aspired to the title (the judges were all in attendance) — and before he entered he had made two explicit decisions: 1. To focus on the meeting itself and 2. Not to check his BlackBerry.

What amazed him was that he was the only one not glued to a mobile device. Were all the other CEOs not interested in the title? Were their businesses so dependent on them that they couldn't be away for one hour? Is either of those a smart thing to communicate to the judges?

There was only one thing that was most important in that hour and there was only one CEO whose behavior reflected that importance, who knew where to focus and what to ignore. Whether or not he eventually wins the title, he's already winning the game.

Coach Calipari and being a servant leader

The world is in a desperate need of a different leadership role model. Everyone has seen the effects of self-serving leaders in every aspect of our society. What we need today are leaders who are servant leaders.

When people hear the phrase servant leadership, they are often confused. They immediately conjure up thoughts of the inmates running the prison, or trying to please everyone. Others think servant leadership is only for church leaders. The problem is that they don’t understand leadership. They think you can’t lead and serve at the same time. From my experience, not only is it possible, it’s the only way over the long run to get great performance and human satisfaction. To prove my point, I’m always looking for good servant leader examples.

As an ex-basketball player and coach, I love March Madness and the NCAA basketball run. This year was especially sweet with Coach John Calipari leading his Kentucky Wildcats to the National Championship. I have known Cal since his coaching days at the University of Massachusetts. He considers me part of his “kitchen cabinet.” What I admire most about Cal is that he is a classic servant leader. He proves season after season that you can lead and serve at the same time if you understand the three aspects of servant leadership: the servant, the steward, and the shepherd.

As a servant, Coach Cal realizes that leadership is not about him; it’s about the people he is serving. When asked how he felt about winning the championship, Cal was quick to say, “This is not about me. This is about these thirteen players. This is about the Big Blue Nation.” He always focuses on the kids and the fans who support the Wildcats.

As a steward, Coach Cal knows that he doesn’t own these kids—they are “on loan” to him to nurture, support, and help develop. Some people criticize him because a number of his players are “one and done”—they leave after their Freshman year and go straight into professional basketball. Last year, four members of his team were drafted in the first round and this year there likely will be two. He is pushing the NBA to not draft any college players until they have completed a minimum of two years of college. Whatever Coach Cal does, though, it’s all about his kids and what’s best for them and their families. If he feels a player such as Terrence Jones is not ready for the pros after one year, he encourages the player to stay—which is what Terrence did. The Terrence Jones who played in the Final Four this year was very different from the Terrence Jones who played last year. Coach Cal does whatever he can to help each player develop to his own highest level of performance.

As a shepherd, Coach Cal thinks every one of his players is important. This year’s team had six players who averaged 25 points or better in high school—in other words, they were all stars. The great gift that Coach Cal has is to get them to subvert their ego and realize that “none of us is as smart as all of us.” Different players in every game stepped up when they needed to. Anthony Davis, who was chosen the most outstanding player in the NCAA Final Four tournament as well as being the recipient of several National Player of the Year awards, realized the importance of everyone as well. When he was interviewed after the game about what a great game he had played even though he only scored six points, he said, “Well, it’s not me. It’s these guys behind me. They led us this whole tournament. This whole game, I was struggling offensively, and I told my team, ‘Every time down, you all score the ball; I’m just going to defend and rebound.’” What a great example of everyone depending on each other.

Just think of these young people, who have learned to recognize that:

As servants, life is not about them but about those whom they serve;
As stewards, they don’t own anything—everything is on loan and they need to nurture and support what is given to them; and
As shepherds, every human being is important.
These are life lessons, whether they stay in college one year, two years, or four years.

As Reid Cherner recently said in USA Today, “John Calipari persuaded teenagers to put others first, play unselfishly, and believe the whole is better than the sum of its parts. Every parent of a teen has to be in slack-jawed awe of that.”

Does servant leadership work? You bet it does—and Coach John Calipari proves it. The result is great performance along with great human satisfaction. Not a bad outcome for a servant leader.