Great article for all of you who are considering a second career! Well done Steve - great article!! Enjoy!
By Steve Tobak
December 1, 2010
About ten years ago I was having lunch with a long-time business friend. It was a sunny day in the Bay Area so we sat outside on the patio. I happen to think that el fresco dining - or working outside in general, for that matter - leads to inspired thinking, but that’s just me.
Anyway, I somehow got to spilling some of my crazy ideas of what to do next. You know, what to do after getting fed up, fired, or otherwise burned out at the company I was with at the time. My friend just smiled and said, “Oh, you mean your second half plan.”
“What do you mean, second half plan?” I asked, puzzled.
“You know, you work for 20 or 25 years in the same industry, pretty much doing the same sort of thing, and if you’re lucky enough to be reasonably successful at it, you get to try a different game plan in the second half,” he said. “Maybe something you’re more passionate about.”
It sounded so obvious coming out of his mouth, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of that analogy myself. My friend hit the nail on the head. For as far back as I could remember, I’d been planning, plotting, dreaming, and fantasizing about my second half plan. I just didn’t know what to call it.
So, now that I’m deep into the second half, I can look back and see four factors that not only made it possible, but also made it important for me to do it. So, if there’s something you’ve always wanted to do and it’s not what you do for a living, you’ve got to check out:
How to Fulfill Your Second Half Career Dream
• A goal and a plan. Yogi Berra famously said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you may not get there.” Let me put it this way. If you don’t have goals and at least some semblance of a plan, you’ll never get there. For one thing, you’ll be leaving things more or less to hope or chance, and you’ll need better odds than that. Then there’s your own inertia - tough to stop without a damn good reason.
• The entrepreneurial lure. Sure, I was proud of my career and the management level I’d achieved, but I had always worked in somebody else’s company, a corporation with a CEO, a board of directors, tons of employees, and a boatload of shareholders. I wanted to plot my own course at my own company. I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
• The need to test yourself. Even though I played a key role in the companies where I worked, including taking risks and achieving great rewards, I was still part of an executive team and there were so many success factors that accomplishments were really company accomplishments. I wanted it to be me, just me, taking on a new profession. I wanted to test my metal on my own without a big corporate safety net.
• A dream. Although I loved high-tech and marketing, I actually had a dream that started decades before that career even began. Since I was a little boy I’d loved reading books, so much that I romanticized the profession. And now that I had something to say and a voice with which to say it, I wanted to put pen to paper and fulfill that dream.
Of course, some people want to go right from working to retirement. Sure, I could have milked the high-tech marketing gig and then retired, but then I’d forever wonder what could have been. So that wasn’t for me. I opted for the second half, instead.
Incidentally, thanks for being part of my second half plan. If you’ve got one of your own, maybe someday I can return the favor.
Showing posts with label work ethic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work ethic. Show all posts
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Only Interview Tip You'll Ever Need: Don't Pee in Your Soup
Great article by Donna Ferm. Enjoy!!
By Donna Fenn
November 3, 2010
Before last week, the last time I’d seen Larry O’Toole, he was carrying my favorite chair on his back, down a narrow staircase in a Beacon Street brownstone in Boston. I was moving. Or more accurately, O’Toole, then brawny and bearded, was moving me. That was 26 years ago, but I still remember what a pleasure he was to work with and how gently he treated my meager but precious possessions. O’Toole’s Somerville, MA-based company, Gentle Giant Moving, now racks up $25 million in revenue, and I’m betting that the thousands of customers he’s moved since I first met him have had similar experiences to mine. And that has a lot do with how O’Toole hires his staff, a subject he talked about last week at the Inc. Magazine and Winning Workplaces Leadership Conference.
“My grandfather told me that if you pee in your soup, it’s bloody hard to get it out,” says O’Toole, who frequently slips into an Irish brogue. The business lesson: if you hire the right people in the first place, you won’t have to worry about how to get rid of them later on. So O’Toole has a very unconventional, but highly effective, interview strategy. Anyone who wants a job as a mover at Gentle Giant must run the 37 sections of stands at Harvard Stadium - training exercise that the six foot six O’Toole regularly performed as a varsity rower at Northeastern University. Sure, he wants his movers to be fit, but there’s more to the stadium run than just a demonstration of physical prowess. “People reveal themselves at the stadium,” he says. Here’s what he’s looking for in job candidates:
Enthusiasm: “We tell them that after six to ten sections, your body is going to tell you to stop and that’s when you have to reach down deeper,” he says. “We don’t want quitters working for us, so it’s better to identify them there.”
Honesty: “They may try to skip a section and we’re looking for that,” says O’Toole. He wants to be sure he’s hiring movers who, for example, wouldn’t even consider keeping an envelope full of cash discovered on a moving job.
Positive attitude: “The stadium is great for identifying whiners,” says O’Toole. “When things get tough, you have to tackle it with humor, enthusiasm, and support for one another.” So while you may finish all 37 sections, if you’re a whiner, you won’t be invited to be a Gentle Giant.
O’Toole knows that his employees, who always run on a job when they’re not carrying something, are the key to differentiating his company in a commodity industry. If he spends time on recruiting, hiring, and training, then the customer service that the company is so famous for will essentially take care of itself. “We’re not just a moving company, we’re a leadership development company,” he says. “We always have people moving up so they can replace people who are leaving. We’re all about consistency.” Gentle Giant, by the way, was Winning Workplace’s Top Small Workplace in 2007.
While O’Toole certainly doesn’t recommend that every business owner put potential employees through their paces at the local stadium, he does feel strongly that all CEOs should come up with an interview challenge or test that will tease out the character traits that are most likely to lead to success on the job.
By Donna Fenn
November 3, 2010
Before last week, the last time I’d seen Larry O’Toole, he was carrying my favorite chair on his back, down a narrow staircase in a Beacon Street brownstone in Boston. I was moving. Or more accurately, O’Toole, then brawny and bearded, was moving me. That was 26 years ago, but I still remember what a pleasure he was to work with and how gently he treated my meager but precious possessions. O’Toole’s Somerville, MA-based company, Gentle Giant Moving, now racks up $25 million in revenue, and I’m betting that the thousands of customers he’s moved since I first met him have had similar experiences to mine. And that has a lot do with how O’Toole hires his staff, a subject he talked about last week at the Inc. Magazine and Winning Workplaces Leadership Conference.
“My grandfather told me that if you pee in your soup, it’s bloody hard to get it out,” says O’Toole, who frequently slips into an Irish brogue. The business lesson: if you hire the right people in the first place, you won’t have to worry about how to get rid of them later on. So O’Toole has a very unconventional, but highly effective, interview strategy. Anyone who wants a job as a mover at Gentle Giant must run the 37 sections of stands at Harvard Stadium - training exercise that the six foot six O’Toole regularly performed as a varsity rower at Northeastern University. Sure, he wants his movers to be fit, but there’s more to the stadium run than just a demonstration of physical prowess. “People reveal themselves at the stadium,” he says. Here’s what he’s looking for in job candidates:
Enthusiasm: “We tell them that after six to ten sections, your body is going to tell you to stop and that’s when you have to reach down deeper,” he says. “We don’t want quitters working for us, so it’s better to identify them there.”
Honesty: “They may try to skip a section and we’re looking for that,” says O’Toole. He wants to be sure he’s hiring movers who, for example, wouldn’t even consider keeping an envelope full of cash discovered on a moving job.
Positive attitude: “The stadium is great for identifying whiners,” says O’Toole. “When things get tough, you have to tackle it with humor, enthusiasm, and support for one another.” So while you may finish all 37 sections, if you’re a whiner, you won’t be invited to be a Gentle Giant.
O’Toole knows that his employees, who always run on a job when they’re not carrying something, are the key to differentiating his company in a commodity industry. If he spends time on recruiting, hiring, and training, then the customer service that the company is so famous for will essentially take care of itself. “We’re not just a moving company, we’re a leadership development company,” he says. “We always have people moving up so they can replace people who are leaving. We’re all about consistency.” Gentle Giant, by the way, was Winning Workplace’s Top Small Workplace in 2007.
While O’Toole certainly doesn’t recommend that every business owner put potential employees through their paces at the local stadium, he does feel strongly that all CEOs should come up with an interview challenge or test that will tease out the character traits that are most likely to lead to success on the job.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
When the Door of Opportunity Opens
Another great piece by Chris Widener. This is excellent!! Enjoy!!
Anybody can achieve anything. Do you believe that? I do.
But there is a caveat that must be made. Those who succeed are those who walk through the door of opportunity when it swings open. That we know. But what is the secret to getting through the door of opportunity?
Being outside the door when it swings open.
As the story goes, Frank Sinatra got his big break while working as a waiter. One day, as he was waiting tables, who does he see sitting in the restaurant, but one of the biggest names in the music industry. Old Blue Eyes did the unbelievable: He cleared off a table next to the gentleman and got up on it and sang! He knew he was done at the restaurant for doing so, but how many times would this door of opportunity open up? Needless to say, the rest is history.
You may remember my article about the stagehand for Kenny G who one day was in the auditorium with Kenny, just the two of them, when he started to play every song for him on the piano that was set up. Kenny didn’t even know the guy could play the piano. Guess who is now the lead keyboardist for Kenny G? You got it!
You see, you never know when the door of opportunity is going to open wide. For some, the big break comes early in life and for others later on. But for all of those who become successful, there is one key similarity: They were ready. And for every one of those who were ready, there were thousands more who weren’t.
So, the principle for us is: Be ready!
Are you ready? Here are some thoughts for you to consider.
Are your skills as sharp as they could be? Are they enough so when your shot comes you can perform?
Is your character deep enough to handle success? Let’s face it; you don’t want big success if your character won’t be able to handle it.
Are you working hard to position yourself now? The job to do while waiting for the door to open is to develop your skills and your character, so as to position yourself to get through that door before it closes.
Your door will open someday. It opens for everyone. It may only open once or it may open many times. It is different for everyone and life just isn’t fair that way. But everybody gets a shot. Will you be ready?
When that huge door of opportunity opens up, will you be able to walk boldly through it?
Do everything you can to be ready. Don’t just sit and wish and dream. Be proactive and make sure that you are the most qualified when the door opens. Make sure that you are the hardest worker. Make sure you are the closest to the door.
When it opens – Be Ready!
Shhh. Do you hear that? Hinges creaking! It is the sound of the door opening. Your door of opportunity! Are you ready?
Anybody can achieve anything. Do you believe that? I do.
But there is a caveat that must be made. Those who succeed are those who walk through the door of opportunity when it swings open. That we know. But what is the secret to getting through the door of opportunity?
Being outside the door when it swings open.
As the story goes, Frank Sinatra got his big break while working as a waiter. One day, as he was waiting tables, who does he see sitting in the restaurant, but one of the biggest names in the music industry. Old Blue Eyes did the unbelievable: He cleared off a table next to the gentleman and got up on it and sang! He knew he was done at the restaurant for doing so, but how many times would this door of opportunity open up? Needless to say, the rest is history.
You may remember my article about the stagehand for Kenny G who one day was in the auditorium with Kenny, just the two of them, when he started to play every song for him on the piano that was set up. Kenny didn’t even know the guy could play the piano. Guess who is now the lead keyboardist for Kenny G? You got it!
You see, you never know when the door of opportunity is going to open wide. For some, the big break comes early in life and for others later on. But for all of those who become successful, there is one key similarity: They were ready. And for every one of those who were ready, there were thousands more who weren’t.
So, the principle for us is: Be ready!
Are you ready? Here are some thoughts for you to consider.
Are your skills as sharp as they could be? Are they enough so when your shot comes you can perform?
Is your character deep enough to handle success? Let’s face it; you don’t want big success if your character won’t be able to handle it.
Are you working hard to position yourself now? The job to do while waiting for the door to open is to develop your skills and your character, so as to position yourself to get through that door before it closes.
Your door will open someday. It opens for everyone. It may only open once or it may open many times. It is different for everyone and life just isn’t fair that way. But everybody gets a shot. Will you be ready?
When that huge door of opportunity opens up, will you be able to walk boldly through it?
Do everything you can to be ready. Don’t just sit and wish and dream. Be proactive and make sure that you are the most qualified when the door opens. Make sure that you are the hardest worker. Make sure you are the closest to the door.
When it opens – Be Ready!
Shhh. Do you hear that? Hinges creaking! It is the sound of the door opening. Your door of opportunity! Are you ready?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Danny Macaskill - Inspired riding!!
Want some inspiration??? Check out this kid on a bike! That's PASSSION, Dedication and HARDWORK!! Amazing story!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o
http://www.dannymacaskill.co.uk/videos.php -click on videos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o
http://www.dannymacaskill.co.uk/videos.php -click on videos!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Take a Turn at Tenacious!
Chris Widener is a popular speaker and author who has shared the podium with US Presidents, helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams. Join subscribers in over 100 countries for a weekly leadership & success eZine by clicking here. Enjoy motivational audio programs from Chris Widener & other top speakers including Zig Ziglar & Brian Tracy by visiting www.MadeForSuccess.net.
I have worked with many successful people; people who have achieved the kinds of lives they have dreamed about. I have also worked with many people who are not anywhere near where they want to be in life. Many times those who are not successful resent those who are and believe that somehow success was handed to those who have achieved much.
What I have found however is that actually the reverse is true. Those who have achieved much have worked much HARDER than those who are not successful. You wouldn’t believe the stories of struggle that I hear from those who now appear to on “top of the heap.” Yes, they are successful, but no, it wasn’t handed to them! And I find that most of the unsuccessful people who come to me actually haven’t been tenacious at all. I find that with many of the people I speak to who complain about their lack of success simply haven’t persevered and been tenacious. When I ask them questions I usually get excuses. Yes, there are exceptions on both sides, but I find this to be almost universally true.
If you are one who finds yourself dreaming of a better life, or looking at someone who “has it made,” I would ask you to take a long, deep look inward and at your life to find whether or not you have actually been tenacious in pursuit of your dreams. How long have you gone for it? Many people who achieve much go for YEARS before they achieve what their hearts long for? How hard have you gone for it? Most people who achieve much have given up much. They have sacrificed much. They strive valiantly for what it is that resides deep in their dreams. They just plain ol’ work hard!
So what are the principles of tenacity? What do you need to know in order to take your turn at the tenacious? Here are some thoughts to start your fire and get you going!
Sometimes you just have to outlast the others.
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." William Feather.
I have found that many people start on their dreams but most never finish. Then those who stop resent those who make it. The truth is that most people who become successful have simply mastered the art of keeping on keeping on! I myself can remember early on in my career when I would get discouraged and I literally said to myself, “One more week. Just give it one more week.” Quite frankly, this is what got me through a couple of years of my work early on. I hung on as others let go.
It is easy to get disheartened. Ask those who have achieved success if they ever got disheartened and you will find some of the most amazing stories you have ever heard. Give it a try: Go to the most successful person you know and ask them if they ever thought about quitting. Ask them how they kept on going. You will be amazed at what you hear.
Sometimes you just have to hold on at the end.
"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." Franklin Roosevelt
I wonder how many people have quit just as they would have begun their entrance into success? Sure there are many who quit at the first sign of hard work, but what about those who, after the tenth time of trial then give up, just as fate would have seen them go through one last hurdle and then into the promised land? How many people were on their last hurdle and decided not to jump? How many people had just one more mountain pass to go? Or just one more river to cross?
Of course we will never know, but certainly some of the people who quit are doing so on what would have been their last trial, right?
So what does this mean for you? For me it means I do not quit because I would hate to find out later that all I needed was just one last effort and I would have achieved my goal. What if it isn’t my last trial? That’s okay because as long as I keep going, eventually I will get to my last trial, I will overcome it, and I will enter the Winner’s Circle.
Sometimes the most beautiful results come from dull things under pressure.
"Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs." Malcolm Forbes
If coal wasn’t an inanimate object it would certainly scream, “Stop! I want out!” But that coal, when facing incredible pressure, is turned into one of earth’s most precious possessions. Ugly, dirty old coal is transformed into beautiful diamonds.
Instead of looking at pressure and trials as the reason to quit, get tenacious and see them as the very thing that will make your life the beautiful thing that you desire it to be. See it as your opportunity to learn, to grow, and to be transformed. See these trials as the very things that will enable you to have the life that dream of!
Trials will surely come. Life will get hard. You will want to quit.
Then you will have a choice: Will you give up? Or will you take your turn at tenacious. The choice you make will determine much of the rest of your life.
My advice? Take your turn at tenacious. You will become stronger, and you will end up living the life you dream of!
I have worked with many successful people; people who have achieved the kinds of lives they have dreamed about. I have also worked with many people who are not anywhere near where they want to be in life. Many times those who are not successful resent those who are and believe that somehow success was handed to those who have achieved much.
What I have found however is that actually the reverse is true. Those who have achieved much have worked much HARDER than those who are not successful. You wouldn’t believe the stories of struggle that I hear from those who now appear to on “top of the heap.” Yes, they are successful, but no, it wasn’t handed to them! And I find that most of the unsuccessful people who come to me actually haven’t been tenacious at all. I find that with many of the people I speak to who complain about their lack of success simply haven’t persevered and been tenacious. When I ask them questions I usually get excuses. Yes, there are exceptions on both sides, but I find this to be almost universally true.
If you are one who finds yourself dreaming of a better life, or looking at someone who “has it made,” I would ask you to take a long, deep look inward and at your life to find whether or not you have actually been tenacious in pursuit of your dreams. How long have you gone for it? Many people who achieve much go for YEARS before they achieve what their hearts long for? How hard have you gone for it? Most people who achieve much have given up much. They have sacrificed much. They strive valiantly for what it is that resides deep in their dreams. They just plain ol’ work hard!
So what are the principles of tenacity? What do you need to know in order to take your turn at the tenacious? Here are some thoughts to start your fire and get you going!
Sometimes you just have to outlast the others.
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." William Feather.
I have found that many people start on their dreams but most never finish. Then those who stop resent those who make it. The truth is that most people who become successful have simply mastered the art of keeping on keeping on! I myself can remember early on in my career when I would get discouraged and I literally said to myself, “One more week. Just give it one more week.” Quite frankly, this is what got me through a couple of years of my work early on. I hung on as others let go.
It is easy to get disheartened. Ask those who have achieved success if they ever got disheartened and you will find some of the most amazing stories you have ever heard. Give it a try: Go to the most successful person you know and ask them if they ever thought about quitting. Ask them how they kept on going. You will be amazed at what you hear.
Sometimes you just have to hold on at the end.
"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." Franklin Roosevelt
I wonder how many people have quit just as they would have begun their entrance into success? Sure there are many who quit at the first sign of hard work, but what about those who, after the tenth time of trial then give up, just as fate would have seen them go through one last hurdle and then into the promised land? How many people were on their last hurdle and decided not to jump? How many people had just one more mountain pass to go? Or just one more river to cross?
Of course we will never know, but certainly some of the people who quit are doing so on what would have been their last trial, right?
So what does this mean for you? For me it means I do not quit because I would hate to find out later that all I needed was just one last effort and I would have achieved my goal. What if it isn’t my last trial? That’s okay because as long as I keep going, eventually I will get to my last trial, I will overcome it, and I will enter the Winner’s Circle.
Sometimes the most beautiful results come from dull things under pressure.
"Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs." Malcolm Forbes
If coal wasn’t an inanimate object it would certainly scream, “Stop! I want out!” But that coal, when facing incredible pressure, is turned into one of earth’s most precious possessions. Ugly, dirty old coal is transformed into beautiful diamonds.
Instead of looking at pressure and trials as the reason to quit, get tenacious and see them as the very thing that will make your life the beautiful thing that you desire it to be. See it as your opportunity to learn, to grow, and to be transformed. See these trials as the very things that will enable you to have the life that dream of!
Trials will surely come. Life will get hard. You will want to quit.
Then you will have a choice: Will you give up? Or will you take your turn at tenacious. The choice you make will determine much of the rest of your life.
My advice? Take your turn at tenacious. You will become stronger, and you will end up living the life you dream of!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Failing Forward
John Maxwell is one of my favorite Leadership authors!
By Dr. John C. Maxwell
Vincent Van Gogh failed as an art dealer, flunked his entrance exam to theology school, and was fired by the church after an ill-fated attempt at missionary work. In fact, during his life, he seldom experienced anything other than failure as an artist. Although a single painting by Van Gogh would fetch in excess of $100 million today, in his lifetime Van Gogh sold only one painting, four months prior to his death.
Before developing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein encountered academic failure. One headmaster expelled Einstein from school and another teacher predicted that he would never amount to anything. Einstein even failed his entrance exam into college.
Prior to dazzling the world with his athletic skill, Michael Jordan was cut from his sophomore basketball team. Even though he captured six championships, during his professional career, Jordan missed over 12,000 shots, lost nearly 400 games, and failed to make more than 25 would-be game-winning baskets.
Failure didn't stop Vincent Van Gogh from painting, Albert Einstein from theorizing, or Michael Jordan from playing basketball, but it has paralyzed countless leaders and prevented them from reaching their potential.
At some point, all great achievers are tempted to believe they are failures. But in spite of that, they persevere. In the face of adversity, shortcomings, and rejection, they hold onto self-believe and refuse to see themselves as failures. Here are seven abilities of achievers that enable them to rebound from failure and keep moving forward.
Seven Principles for Failing Forward;
Reject Rejection
Achievers who persevere do not base their self-worth on their performance. On the contrary, they have a healthy self-image that's not dictated by external events. When they fall short, rather than labeling themselves a failure, they learn from mistakes in their judgment or behavior.
Don't Point Fingers
When people fail, they're often tempted to blame others for their lack of success. By pointing fingers, they sink into a victim mentality and cede their fate to outsiders. When playing the blame game, people rob themselves of learning from their failures and alienate others by refusing to take responsibility for mistakes.
See Failure as Temporary
People who personalize failure see a problem as a hole they're permanently stuck in, whereas achievers see any predicament as temporary. One mindset wallows in failure, the other looks forward to success. By putting mistakes into perspective, achievers are able to see failure as a momentary event, not a symptom of a lifelong epidemic.
Set Realistic Expectations
Unrealistic goals doom people to failure. For instance, if a person hasn't exercised for five years, then making it to a gym twice a week may be a better goal than running in next month's marathon. Also, some people insensibly expect to be perfect. Everyone fails, so expect setbacks and emotionally prepare to deal with them.
Focus on Strengths
Don't invest time shoring up non-character flaws at the exclusion of investing in your strengths. People operating from a position of strength enjoy a far lower rate of failure than those laboring in areas of weakness. You're built to give your talents to the world; be diligent about finding expressions for them in your career.
Vary Approaches to Achievement
In the Psychology of Achievement, Brian Tracy writes about four millionaires who made their fortunes by age 35. On average, these achievers were involved in 17 businesses before finding the one that took them to the top. They kept trying and changing until they found something that worked.
Bounce Back
Rehashing missteps and blunders for too long sabotages concentration and eats away at self-confidence. When dealing with failure, achievers have short memories. They quickly forget the negative emotions of setbacks and press forward resiliently. While taking pause to learn from failures, achievers realize that the past cannot be altered.
Summary
I believe it's nearly impossible for any person to believe he or she is a failure and move forward at the same time. For those who have been downsized, let go, or bankrupted, the temptation may be to internalize failure. My hope is that anyone who has suffered setbacks recently will be able to separate life's unfortunate events from their self-worth. Failure, like death and taxes, will happen. Your response to failure holds the key to your future.
By Dr. John C. Maxwell
Vincent Van Gogh failed as an art dealer, flunked his entrance exam to theology school, and was fired by the church after an ill-fated attempt at missionary work. In fact, during his life, he seldom experienced anything other than failure as an artist. Although a single painting by Van Gogh would fetch in excess of $100 million today, in his lifetime Van Gogh sold only one painting, four months prior to his death.
Before developing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein encountered academic failure. One headmaster expelled Einstein from school and another teacher predicted that he would never amount to anything. Einstein even failed his entrance exam into college.
Prior to dazzling the world with his athletic skill, Michael Jordan was cut from his sophomore basketball team. Even though he captured six championships, during his professional career, Jordan missed over 12,000 shots, lost nearly 400 games, and failed to make more than 25 would-be game-winning baskets.
Failure didn't stop Vincent Van Gogh from painting, Albert Einstein from theorizing, or Michael Jordan from playing basketball, but it has paralyzed countless leaders and prevented them from reaching their potential.
At some point, all great achievers are tempted to believe they are failures. But in spite of that, they persevere. In the face of adversity, shortcomings, and rejection, they hold onto self-believe and refuse to see themselves as failures. Here are seven abilities of achievers that enable them to rebound from failure and keep moving forward.
Seven Principles for Failing Forward;
Reject Rejection
Achievers who persevere do not base their self-worth on their performance. On the contrary, they have a healthy self-image that's not dictated by external events. When they fall short, rather than labeling themselves a failure, they learn from mistakes in their judgment or behavior.
Don't Point Fingers
When people fail, they're often tempted to blame others for their lack of success. By pointing fingers, they sink into a victim mentality and cede their fate to outsiders. When playing the blame game, people rob themselves of learning from their failures and alienate others by refusing to take responsibility for mistakes.
See Failure as Temporary
People who personalize failure see a problem as a hole they're permanently stuck in, whereas achievers see any predicament as temporary. One mindset wallows in failure, the other looks forward to success. By putting mistakes into perspective, achievers are able to see failure as a momentary event, not a symptom of a lifelong epidemic.
Set Realistic Expectations
Unrealistic goals doom people to failure. For instance, if a person hasn't exercised for five years, then making it to a gym twice a week may be a better goal than running in next month's marathon. Also, some people insensibly expect to be perfect. Everyone fails, so expect setbacks and emotionally prepare to deal with them.
Focus on Strengths
Don't invest time shoring up non-character flaws at the exclusion of investing in your strengths. People operating from a position of strength enjoy a far lower rate of failure than those laboring in areas of weakness. You're built to give your talents to the world; be diligent about finding expressions for them in your career.
Vary Approaches to Achievement
In the Psychology of Achievement, Brian Tracy writes about four millionaires who made their fortunes by age 35. On average, these achievers were involved in 17 businesses before finding the one that took them to the top. They kept trying and changing until they found something that worked.
Bounce Back
Rehashing missteps and blunders for too long sabotages concentration and eats away at self-confidence. When dealing with failure, achievers have short memories. They quickly forget the negative emotions of setbacks and press forward resiliently. While taking pause to learn from failures, achievers realize that the past cannot be altered.
Summary
I believe it's nearly impossible for any person to believe he or she is a failure and move forward at the same time. For those who have been downsized, let go, or bankrupted, the temptation may be to internalize failure. My hope is that anyone who has suffered setbacks recently will be able to separate life's unfortunate events from their self-worth. Failure, like death and taxes, will happen. Your response to failure holds the key to your future.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The 3 Requisites
by Robert Collier from The Book of Life
Sometime today or tomorrow or next month, in practically every commercial office /sports team in the US, an important executive/coach will sit back in his or her chair and study a list of names on a sheet of white paper.
Your name may be on it.
A position of responsibility is open and they are face to face with the old, old problem - "Where can I find the right person?"
The faces, the words, the work, the impressions of various people will pass through their mind in quick review. What is the first question they will ask concerning each?
"Which person is strongest on initiative, which one can best assume responsibility?"
Other things being equal, that is the person who will get the job. For the first requisite in business/sport, as in social life is confidence in yourself - knowledge of your power and “god given” talents.
Given that, the second is easy - initiative or the courage to start things. Lots of people have ideas, but few have the confidence in themselves or the courage to start anything.
With belief and initiative, the third requisite follows almost as a matter of course - the faith to go ahead and do things in the face of all obstacles.
"Oh, God," said Leonardo da Vinci, "you sell us everything for the price of an effort."
Certainly no one had a better chance to know than he. An illegitimate son, brought up in the family of his father, the misfortune of his birth made him the source of constant derision. He had to do something to lift himself far above the crowd. And he did. "For the price of an effort" he became the greatest artist in Italy - probably the greatest in the world - in a day when Italy was famous for her artists. Kings and princes felt honored at being associated with this illegitimate boy. He made the name he had no right to, famous for his work alone.
"Work out your own salvation," said Paul. And the first requisite in working it out is a knowledge of your power. All the ages behind you have bequeathed you stores of abilities which you are allowing to lie latent. Those abilities are stored up in your sub-conscious mind. Call upon them. Use them. As Whittier put it - "All the good the past has had remains to make our own time glad."
Sometime today or tomorrow or next month, in practically every commercial office /sports team in the US, an important executive/coach will sit back in his or her chair and study a list of names on a sheet of white paper.
Your name may be on it.
A position of responsibility is open and they are face to face with the old, old problem - "Where can I find the right person?"
The faces, the words, the work, the impressions of various people will pass through their mind in quick review. What is the first question they will ask concerning each?
"Which person is strongest on initiative, which one can best assume responsibility?"
Other things being equal, that is the person who will get the job. For the first requisite in business/sport, as in social life is confidence in yourself - knowledge of your power and “god given” talents.
Given that, the second is easy - initiative or the courage to start things. Lots of people have ideas, but few have the confidence in themselves or the courage to start anything.
With belief and initiative, the third requisite follows almost as a matter of course - the faith to go ahead and do things in the face of all obstacles.
"Oh, God," said Leonardo da Vinci, "you sell us everything for the price of an effort."
Certainly no one had a better chance to know than he. An illegitimate son, brought up in the family of his father, the misfortune of his birth made him the source of constant derision. He had to do something to lift himself far above the crowd. And he did. "For the price of an effort" he became the greatest artist in Italy - probably the greatest in the world - in a day when Italy was famous for her artists. Kings and princes felt honored at being associated with this illegitimate boy. He made the name he had no right to, famous for his work alone.
"Work out your own salvation," said Paul. And the first requisite in working it out is a knowledge of your power. All the ages behind you have bequeathed you stores of abilities which you are allowing to lie latent. Those abilities are stored up in your sub-conscious mind. Call upon them. Use them. As Whittier put it - "All the good the past has had remains to make our own time glad."
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
“How to be a Champion”
You wonder how they do it,
You look to see their knack
You watch the foot in action,
Or the shoulder or the back.
But when you spot the answer
Where the higher glamours lurk,
You’ll find in moving higher
Up the laurel-covered spire,
That most of it is practice,
All the rest of it is work!
By Grantland Rice
You look to see their knack
You watch the foot in action,
Or the shoulder or the back.
But when you spot the answer
Where the higher glamours lurk,
You’ll find in moving higher
Up the laurel-covered spire,
That most of it is practice,
All the rest of it is work!
By Grantland Rice
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Work Ethic!
Raising a Team Player: Teaching Kids Lasting Values on the Field, on the Court and on the Bench
by Harry Sheehy, Danny Peary
Youth sports have become a pressure cooker of expectations. Parents scream abuse at players, coaches, and referees. Coaches demand that their teams win, at any cost. Kids practice day and night. They face intense pressure to score, to win, to succeed. But is this the measure of success we want to impress upon our children?
In the complex world of today's youth athletic programs, parents face many challenging questions. What is a successful athletic experience? How can you help kids deal with pressure from coaches, players, and other parents? How do you encourage healthy competitiveness and discourage poor sportsmanship? Can you help your child develop a strong work ethic without becoming discouraged at the slow progress? How do you support a child who sits on the bench all year long? What's the best way to encourage your strong-willed all-star to support his teammates? How do you teach a child to accept criticism positively? Most important, how do you help your child absorb real core values from sports? How can you use sports as a vehicle to talk to kids about life's challenges?
In Raising a Team Player, Harry Sheehy answers these questions and more. Offering lessons and wisdom learned from more than seventeen years of working with elementary school children, high schoolers, and college players, Sheehy encourages parents to get involved in their kids' athletic experiences. He offers advice on how to praise, encourage, inspire, build, temper, support, and teach, working with children on everything from setting goals to teaching sportsmanship and humility to building character and a sense of self-worth. With direct, compelling words, Sheehy inspires in parents and coaches an attitude of self-realization, humor, confidence, and enthusiasm for both the successes and mistakes of young athletes.
My greatest joy as a coach was to teach kids who had so much passion for their sport that they were willing to work hard to get better. When I was recruiting high school seniors for my basketball team at Williams College, those were the kids I coveted. Quite often, beaming parents would come in with their sons and declare, "He loves basketball." But then I'd spend time with their boys and realize that they didn't love it at all. Mom and Dad may have seen Junior walking out the door with a basketball and assumed that he was working hard at the playground to improve his game. But he might have been the type to spend the day launching 25-foot hook shots and lazily walking after the ball. Or, if he had a baseball and a bat, he might have been interested only in seeing if he could reach the fences, swing after swing.
It's easy to mistake activity for passion. Anyone can participate in an activity, but without passion, a kid will not be motivated to work hard to become a better individual and team player. As a coach, I didn't want to recruit eighteen-year-olds whose parents or previous coaches hadn't already nurtured in them a passion for basketball and a work ethic to support it. I could enforce the rules of practice and make such players work hard, but would they have seen the inherent value of that work and adopted work ethic as one of their core values? By that age, it's usually too late. We develop our sense of character at a very young age, using the adults in our lives as models and mentors. If we don't learn a particular lesson when we're young, it's very difficult to learn it when we are older. That's why it's so important to start teaching values such as work ethic through youth athletic programs, while the kids are still young. Lessons learned early last a lifetime.
Most girls and boys in youth, high school, and college sports understand that it's the coach's job to inspire them, but they don't understand that inspiration is a two-way street. They don't realize that we coaches - just like teachers - put out our best effort when our kids work hard enough to inspire us. What my best teams at Williams had in common was that they worked so hard to get better that I couldn't wait to get down to the gym each afternoon to teach them. Those young men, none of whom were there on an athletic scholarship, gave me an incredible effort every day, while also carrying full course loads and, with my encouragement, having active social lives. Because they inspired me, I'd often stay up past midnight studying film for them. And if any of them wanted to work on rebounding, shooting, or defense after practice, I made myself available.
I told my players, "Guys, I want you to work so hard that you feel in your heart that you deserve to win." That's deserve to win, not will win. You can't promise a kid that he'll always succeed if he works hard, but you can promise him that if he doesn't work hard, he will almost certainly fail. My challenge was to get my players to understand the need to work hard every day, not just on game day.
I have always believed that games are won at practice. Each of our twenty-four games was like an exam. How well had we learned the lessons undertaken in practice over the previous days? We "studied" such topics as "How Our Offense Can Solve a Zone Defense" and "What Makes a Man-to-Man Pressure Defense Effective." I drilled and drilled my players, because I would accept nothing less than for them to play hard on every possession. Many times we were victorious because our team was more fit than the opposition; we simply wore them out. Such success helped me sell this message: A work ethic is the foundation on which you build the goals that you equate with success. Every worthwhile accomplishment, in sports and in life, is made possible by a strong work ethic.
I am living proof that a strong work ethic can produce good results. After all, I'd been a young boy with no discernible talents but a willingness to work hard, and I went on to play varsity basketball at Williams and then to play for years with Athletes-in-Action, one of the top amateur teams in the world. When anyone asks how I became so adamant about the value of a work ethic, I say, "Let me tell you about my friend Brian."
Brian and I grew up together on Long Island. By the sixth grade, he was already 6'2" and brawny, and - no kidding - with a heavy beard at five o'clock. I was just under 5', slight, and definitely without a beard. We both loved basketball and played for our school's team. I was small and not very good, and when the game started, my job was to walk over to the corner of the gym and keep score on a chalkboard. Brian was so big that he overpowered everyone, and he was the star of the team. I went to practice every day and worked hard, but I didn't play more than two minutes in a game all year long. But I was fortunate. My father, Harry Sheehy Jr., who had played and coached both basketball and baseball, continued to encourage me. So rather than quitting, as many youngsters are apt to do when they aren't supported by coaches or parents, I went to work that summer to improve my game.
I asked my father to devise a workout plan for me. Then every day, without exception, I walked the twenty blocks to a small park that had hoops and worked hard on my game for a couple of hours. Meanwhile, my good friend Brian went to the beach. Every day.
In the fall, Brian and I both made the seventh grade team. Brian was still bigger and stronger than everyone else and was the best scorer and rebounder in the entire league. I went to practice every day and worked hard, but I still sat on the bench, despite having made some improvements. That next summer, and the following summer, too, I continued my workout plan at the park, and Brian continued to go to the beach. When it was 90 degrees and muggy and I was working, working, working, I thought of Brian at the beach, enjoying the sun and the sand, and I was envious.
I vividly recall the scorching day when my father came down to see how I was doing. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the blacktop court was radiating heat. I just wanted to put down my ball and go to the pool or even join Brian at the beach. When my father was ready to leave, I said, "Dad, hold on. I'll take five more shots and go home with you." But that didn't sit well with him, and he gave me some advice he'd heard from Bill Bradley, who was then a Princeton basketball star and would someday become a United States senator: "Why don't you work ten more minutes," my father said, in a tone that made it clear his words were less a question than an order. "When Bradley was ready to quit his workouts, he always continued for ten more minutes because someone, somewhere else, had stopped. He figured that if he worked ten minutes extra every day, he'd win the contest between them if they ever competed." Dad's words made sense, and from that day on, first as a player and then as a coach, I always have said at the end of a day: "When you're ready to quit, work just ten more minutes. Work ten more minutes because someone, somewhere else, is quitting."
Ten minutes may not sound like much, but multiply ten minutes by hundreds of practices. How much progress could you make if you worked just that much more? I believe those ten extra minutes that summer paid dividends, because that fall I made the freshman team at Garden City High School. I was still small - I tipped the scales at a mere 90 pounds and didn't crack the 5-foot barrier until halfway through ninth grade - but I could see my skills were improving, the result of countless hours spent on the court. Brian was still the star, but I actually got to play a little. And a lot of the other guys were starting to catch up with Brian physically.
By the tenth grade, I had grown a little, and my skills had started to sharpen to the point where I made the varsity team. Brian stayed on the junior varsity team. In the eleventh grade, we both made the varsity team, but I was a starter and Brian sat the bench. From beach to bench. After all those years, all those hot summers when I worked and he went to the beach, our roles had flip-flopped. Halfway through the year, he quit the team, frustrated that everyone was better than he was.
As I told my players, Brian was clearly good enough, strong enough, and skilled enough at an early age to have gone on to become a standout high school player. But he was already so much better than everyone else that he never thought he had to work on improving his skills. When everyone caught up to him physically, skills became the divider. By the eleventh grade, it was several years too late to start working hard.
No kid should be complacent about his or her skill level. Instead, as demonstrated by Cal Ripken Jr., the Baltimore Orioles shortstop famed for playing a record-setting 2,632 consecutive games, you must work every day to improve rather than have your skills diminish. And if you're big when young, you had better pay extra attention to skills because most kids who are big at an early age don't end up being 7 feet tall. Brian was 6'2" in sixth grade and never grew another inch. I was 5 feet tall and ended up 6'5" with skills.
Young players who see success early may think, "I'm already the best. Why do I need to be better?" Unless their coaches or parents encourage them, they see no need to work hard. But when you're not working, someone else is. And sooner or later, the two of you will come face to face.
Some people are incredible athletes, while others have not one speck of athletic ability. Most people, however, fall somewhere in the middle, and eventually it's skill that separates them. That's where work ethic becomes so important. I believe that work ethic itself should be considered a talent. It helps many athletes - Larry Bird immediately comes to mind - overcome shortcomings in other skills, such as lack of quickness and speed. And work ethic is a talent that carries over into all other areas of life. You may hear a kid say of another student, "She got an A on that test, but she isn't that smart. She just works hard." Well, that's a skill! It should be commended.
Our children often hear from their peers that it's not "cool" to work hard. So it is imperative that parents and coaches show children - through their words, actions, and examples - that the ability to work hard is a fantastic talent to have. The earlier you can impress this upon a child, the better.
Of course, hard work for young kids isn't the same as it is for high school and college athletes. Coaching eight-, nine-, and ten-year-olds should be about encouraging passion for the sport, not about weeding out kids who aren't as good as the others. You want to help the eight-year-old understand why he has to work harder, but you don't want to turn him off to the game. Passion and excitement come first. Work ethic will follow.
Sometimes parents - who, as working adults, are accustomed to measuring the value of performance, not effort - are overbearing. But you must understand that if your nine-year-old is just a benchwarmer on a school or youth team, this doesn't mean that he won't become a terrific college player in that sport. It also doesn't mean that he won't enjoy and learn from his experience on the team. Some parents might say, "Well, if my child is not good enough to play on an all-star team in youth football, I will take him out of that sport and have him play soccer instead." If my parents had thought that way, I never would have played college basketball. I would have been pushed into another sport instead of being encouraged to work harder and realize my potential in the sport I loved.
I am gravely concerned by the earlier and earlier ages at which we expect results - victories, awards, trophies, and so on - from our children. What are the values we really want to teach? If there is not an encouraging adult around, be it a parent or a coach, to make kids understand what hard work and core values are, the sport they are playing may lose them before they have the chance to grow physically and develop their skills. We lose kids in the classroom, in music, in dance - everywhere - for the same reason. If they aren't taught with patience, enthusiasm, and the understanding that work ethic counts just as much as natural talent, the late bloomers will never bloom.
Too often, youth athletic programs are seen as a vehicle for getting children into college. We often overlook their true purpose: to provide kids with an opportunity to have fun while also building character and learning a number of lessons that will benefit them in every aspect of life. That's why some parents insist, "My boy should play," and blame the coach who doesn't agree. Wouldn't it be more helpful to the child if his parents said to the coach, "My kid needs a positive sports experience, and I really don't care how much you play him. He'll be at every practice, and he'll work hard." And wouldn't it be great for the youngster, when he came home, if his parents didn't say in one breath, "Did you win? That coach who doesn't like you - did he finally play you?" What if, instead, they said, "It's great that you're part of the team. Work hard so you'll be ready when you get a chance." Parents often believe that their child will become upset and disheartened if he doesn't get much playing time, and they think this is unfair. But they should understand that whatever role on the team the youngster's hard work creates is valuable, even if he's a substitute. It's a fact: For the majority of players, hard work will lead to a role on their team, not All-City, All-State, or All-American status.
If a player works hard only because he thinks he can become a star, he's doing it for the wrong reason. Some day, somewhere, some time, he'll be disappointed with his achievements. He'll end up saying, "Well, I think I should be starting, and my dad thinks I should be starting. But Coach won't start me, so I don't think it's worth working so hard anymore." But if that player has developed a work ethic, he will understand the value of working every day. He will find that it helps him at every turn, in every challenge, for his entire life.
One player who found his niche on my team at Williams College was a young man named Seth Mehr. He had been on the junior varsity team as a freshman and tried out for the varsity the next year. My assistant coach said, "You've got to cut him." But I liked that he had a ball with him all the time, and that when I'd go up to the gym, I'd find him there working endlessly. Finally I said, "You know, I believe there is a role for a kid who works that hard." Seth created a role for himself; his hard work convinced me to keep him. In time, he became the captain of a team that went to the Division III Sweet Sixteen, and he played 10 to 12 minutes a game. He made a real contribution in practice and in games. After graduation, Seth went on to medical school and became a doctor. He wrote me once to say, "Coach, Williams was a great experience for me. Medical school is hard, but what prepared me for it the most, even more than my organic chemistry lab, was the basketball program." That's the kind of letter I live for.
Aaron Dupuis was another bench player with a tremendous work ethic. When I recruited him, I said, "You have to worry about two things. You might be a step slow. And you're a local kid, so you'll be watched closely by everyone in town." Undaunted, he came in and worked his rear end off, and he improved vastly, although he never played much in games. Aaron said, "I want to make the team better on Saturday night, so I'm going to work hard on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday." And that's what he did. Every day he walked into the locker room and pulled on his shorts and shirt, knowing he was going to go out there for two hours to compete. He understood his role and knew his value to the team. He made our reserves a competitive group by the sheer force of his will. When Aaron wasn't there, it showed. Once he was hurt for about two weeks, and the intensity of our practices took a nosedive. I told the other players, "If we have to have Aaron on the court for you to be competitive, then we have a problem. Because he can't do it for you right now." I'm sure that it meant a lot to Aaron to have me say that in front of the entire team and coaching staff. He was one of the most respected players on our team, and his ex-teammates hold him in high regard to this day.
Many coaches are fixated on results. The basic mistake most make in regard to work ethic is not recognizing the contributions of nonstarters like Seth and Aaron in front of their teammates. In a basketball game, not every player plays; not every player is on the floor when it counts, when there are people in the stands, when there is noise in the gym, when there is an excitement he wants to be a part of. These players don't hear their names shouted by the fans; they won't see their achievements written up in the papers. But some of these kids make tremendous contributions to the team. So as the coach, you have to acknowledge these players, in a way that really means something to them. Take the time to stop practice and recognize their hard work in front of their teammates and coaches. It's the most important recognition they can get. Their teammates are their brothers, their fraternity. And if a player gets positive feedback from a group he really cares about, he will do almost anything for them.
When I was in high school, a boy named Bobby Galvin lived down the street from me. He was a couple of years younger than me, and when I started making a name for myself on the basketball team, he started gravitating toward me because he wanted to be a player, too. He figured that if I could succeed through hard work, anybody could. When I was hired as athletic director at Williams College in 2000, Bobby heard about it, and he dropped me a note. He congratulated me and recalled our time spent in the park together, working on our game. I was sad to learn that he had never had success in the sport and had given it up, but he wrote something really perceptive about that: "Harry, I didn't need to become a great basketball player. I just needed to be there, practicing. I learned that there is something innately valuable about working hard. At that time in my youth, it was important to have that discipline."
We must often remind parents and coaches that their kids are playing games, not performing brain surgery. But as Bobby said, there is a certain time in a young person's life when there is something extremely valuable about working hard in order to stretch and achieve some level of self-fulfillment. It has been my experience that kids who accomplish something they are proud of through hard work adopt work ethic as one of their core values. And a work ethic can carry a young person a good long way through life.
by Harry Sheehy, Danny Peary
Youth sports have become a pressure cooker of expectations. Parents scream abuse at players, coaches, and referees. Coaches demand that their teams win, at any cost. Kids practice day and night. They face intense pressure to score, to win, to succeed. But is this the measure of success we want to impress upon our children?
In the complex world of today's youth athletic programs, parents face many challenging questions. What is a successful athletic experience? How can you help kids deal with pressure from coaches, players, and other parents? How do you encourage healthy competitiveness and discourage poor sportsmanship? Can you help your child develop a strong work ethic without becoming discouraged at the slow progress? How do you support a child who sits on the bench all year long? What's the best way to encourage your strong-willed all-star to support his teammates? How do you teach a child to accept criticism positively? Most important, how do you help your child absorb real core values from sports? How can you use sports as a vehicle to talk to kids about life's challenges?
In Raising a Team Player, Harry Sheehy answers these questions and more. Offering lessons and wisdom learned from more than seventeen years of working with elementary school children, high schoolers, and college players, Sheehy encourages parents to get involved in their kids' athletic experiences. He offers advice on how to praise, encourage, inspire, build, temper, support, and teach, working with children on everything from setting goals to teaching sportsmanship and humility to building character and a sense of self-worth. With direct, compelling words, Sheehy inspires in parents and coaches an attitude of self-realization, humor, confidence, and enthusiasm for both the successes and mistakes of young athletes.
My greatest joy as a coach was to teach kids who had so much passion for their sport that they were willing to work hard to get better. When I was recruiting high school seniors for my basketball team at Williams College, those were the kids I coveted. Quite often, beaming parents would come in with their sons and declare, "He loves basketball." But then I'd spend time with their boys and realize that they didn't love it at all. Mom and Dad may have seen Junior walking out the door with a basketball and assumed that he was working hard at the playground to improve his game. But he might have been the type to spend the day launching 25-foot hook shots and lazily walking after the ball. Or, if he had a baseball and a bat, he might have been interested only in seeing if he could reach the fences, swing after swing.
It's easy to mistake activity for passion. Anyone can participate in an activity, but without passion, a kid will not be motivated to work hard to become a better individual and team player. As a coach, I didn't want to recruit eighteen-year-olds whose parents or previous coaches hadn't already nurtured in them a passion for basketball and a work ethic to support it. I could enforce the rules of practice and make such players work hard, but would they have seen the inherent value of that work and adopted work ethic as one of their core values? By that age, it's usually too late. We develop our sense of character at a very young age, using the adults in our lives as models and mentors. If we don't learn a particular lesson when we're young, it's very difficult to learn it when we are older. That's why it's so important to start teaching values such as work ethic through youth athletic programs, while the kids are still young. Lessons learned early last a lifetime.
Most girls and boys in youth, high school, and college sports understand that it's the coach's job to inspire them, but they don't understand that inspiration is a two-way street. They don't realize that we coaches - just like teachers - put out our best effort when our kids work hard enough to inspire us. What my best teams at Williams had in common was that they worked so hard to get better that I couldn't wait to get down to the gym each afternoon to teach them. Those young men, none of whom were there on an athletic scholarship, gave me an incredible effort every day, while also carrying full course loads and, with my encouragement, having active social lives. Because they inspired me, I'd often stay up past midnight studying film for them. And if any of them wanted to work on rebounding, shooting, or defense after practice, I made myself available.
I told my players, "Guys, I want you to work so hard that you feel in your heart that you deserve to win." That's deserve to win, not will win. You can't promise a kid that he'll always succeed if he works hard, but you can promise him that if he doesn't work hard, he will almost certainly fail. My challenge was to get my players to understand the need to work hard every day, not just on game day.
I have always believed that games are won at practice. Each of our twenty-four games was like an exam. How well had we learned the lessons undertaken in practice over the previous days? We "studied" such topics as "How Our Offense Can Solve a Zone Defense" and "What Makes a Man-to-Man Pressure Defense Effective." I drilled and drilled my players, because I would accept nothing less than for them to play hard on every possession. Many times we were victorious because our team was more fit than the opposition; we simply wore them out. Such success helped me sell this message: A work ethic is the foundation on which you build the goals that you equate with success. Every worthwhile accomplishment, in sports and in life, is made possible by a strong work ethic.
I am living proof that a strong work ethic can produce good results. After all, I'd been a young boy with no discernible talents but a willingness to work hard, and I went on to play varsity basketball at Williams and then to play for years with Athletes-in-Action, one of the top amateur teams in the world. When anyone asks how I became so adamant about the value of a work ethic, I say, "Let me tell you about my friend Brian."
Brian and I grew up together on Long Island. By the sixth grade, he was already 6'2" and brawny, and - no kidding - with a heavy beard at five o'clock. I was just under 5', slight, and definitely without a beard. We both loved basketball and played for our school's team. I was small and not very good, and when the game started, my job was to walk over to the corner of the gym and keep score on a chalkboard. Brian was so big that he overpowered everyone, and he was the star of the team. I went to practice every day and worked hard, but I didn't play more than two minutes in a game all year long. But I was fortunate. My father, Harry Sheehy Jr., who had played and coached both basketball and baseball, continued to encourage me. So rather than quitting, as many youngsters are apt to do when they aren't supported by coaches or parents, I went to work that summer to improve my game.
I asked my father to devise a workout plan for me. Then every day, without exception, I walked the twenty blocks to a small park that had hoops and worked hard on my game for a couple of hours. Meanwhile, my good friend Brian went to the beach. Every day.
In the fall, Brian and I both made the seventh grade team. Brian was still bigger and stronger than everyone else and was the best scorer and rebounder in the entire league. I went to practice every day and worked hard, but I still sat on the bench, despite having made some improvements. That next summer, and the following summer, too, I continued my workout plan at the park, and Brian continued to go to the beach. When it was 90 degrees and muggy and I was working, working, working, I thought of Brian at the beach, enjoying the sun and the sand, and I was envious.
I vividly recall the scorching day when my father came down to see how I was doing. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the blacktop court was radiating heat. I just wanted to put down my ball and go to the pool or even join Brian at the beach. When my father was ready to leave, I said, "Dad, hold on. I'll take five more shots and go home with you." But that didn't sit well with him, and he gave me some advice he'd heard from Bill Bradley, who was then a Princeton basketball star and would someday become a United States senator: "Why don't you work ten more minutes," my father said, in a tone that made it clear his words were less a question than an order. "When Bradley was ready to quit his workouts, he always continued for ten more minutes because someone, somewhere else, had stopped. He figured that if he worked ten minutes extra every day, he'd win the contest between them if they ever competed." Dad's words made sense, and from that day on, first as a player and then as a coach, I always have said at the end of a day: "When you're ready to quit, work just ten more minutes. Work ten more minutes because someone, somewhere else, is quitting."
Ten minutes may not sound like much, but multiply ten minutes by hundreds of practices. How much progress could you make if you worked just that much more? I believe those ten extra minutes that summer paid dividends, because that fall I made the freshman team at Garden City High School. I was still small - I tipped the scales at a mere 90 pounds and didn't crack the 5-foot barrier until halfway through ninth grade - but I could see my skills were improving, the result of countless hours spent on the court. Brian was still the star, but I actually got to play a little. And a lot of the other guys were starting to catch up with Brian physically.
By the tenth grade, I had grown a little, and my skills had started to sharpen to the point where I made the varsity team. Brian stayed on the junior varsity team. In the eleventh grade, we both made the varsity team, but I was a starter and Brian sat the bench. From beach to bench. After all those years, all those hot summers when I worked and he went to the beach, our roles had flip-flopped. Halfway through the year, he quit the team, frustrated that everyone was better than he was.
As I told my players, Brian was clearly good enough, strong enough, and skilled enough at an early age to have gone on to become a standout high school player. But he was already so much better than everyone else that he never thought he had to work on improving his skills. When everyone caught up to him physically, skills became the divider. By the eleventh grade, it was several years too late to start working hard.
No kid should be complacent about his or her skill level. Instead, as demonstrated by Cal Ripken Jr., the Baltimore Orioles shortstop famed for playing a record-setting 2,632 consecutive games, you must work every day to improve rather than have your skills diminish. And if you're big when young, you had better pay extra attention to skills because most kids who are big at an early age don't end up being 7 feet tall. Brian was 6'2" in sixth grade and never grew another inch. I was 5 feet tall and ended up 6'5" with skills.
Young players who see success early may think, "I'm already the best. Why do I need to be better?" Unless their coaches or parents encourage them, they see no need to work hard. But when you're not working, someone else is. And sooner or later, the two of you will come face to face.
Some people are incredible athletes, while others have not one speck of athletic ability. Most people, however, fall somewhere in the middle, and eventually it's skill that separates them. That's where work ethic becomes so important. I believe that work ethic itself should be considered a talent. It helps many athletes - Larry Bird immediately comes to mind - overcome shortcomings in other skills, such as lack of quickness and speed. And work ethic is a talent that carries over into all other areas of life. You may hear a kid say of another student, "She got an A on that test, but she isn't that smart. She just works hard." Well, that's a skill! It should be commended.
Our children often hear from their peers that it's not "cool" to work hard. So it is imperative that parents and coaches show children - through their words, actions, and examples - that the ability to work hard is a fantastic talent to have. The earlier you can impress this upon a child, the better.
Of course, hard work for young kids isn't the same as it is for high school and college athletes. Coaching eight-, nine-, and ten-year-olds should be about encouraging passion for the sport, not about weeding out kids who aren't as good as the others. You want to help the eight-year-old understand why he has to work harder, but you don't want to turn him off to the game. Passion and excitement come first. Work ethic will follow.
Sometimes parents - who, as working adults, are accustomed to measuring the value of performance, not effort - are overbearing. But you must understand that if your nine-year-old is just a benchwarmer on a school or youth team, this doesn't mean that he won't become a terrific college player in that sport. It also doesn't mean that he won't enjoy and learn from his experience on the team. Some parents might say, "Well, if my child is not good enough to play on an all-star team in youth football, I will take him out of that sport and have him play soccer instead." If my parents had thought that way, I never would have played college basketball. I would have been pushed into another sport instead of being encouraged to work harder and realize my potential in the sport I loved.
I am gravely concerned by the earlier and earlier ages at which we expect results - victories, awards, trophies, and so on - from our children. What are the values we really want to teach? If there is not an encouraging adult around, be it a parent or a coach, to make kids understand what hard work and core values are, the sport they are playing may lose them before they have the chance to grow physically and develop their skills. We lose kids in the classroom, in music, in dance - everywhere - for the same reason. If they aren't taught with patience, enthusiasm, and the understanding that work ethic counts just as much as natural talent, the late bloomers will never bloom.
Too often, youth athletic programs are seen as a vehicle for getting children into college. We often overlook their true purpose: to provide kids with an opportunity to have fun while also building character and learning a number of lessons that will benefit them in every aspect of life. That's why some parents insist, "My boy should play," and blame the coach who doesn't agree. Wouldn't it be more helpful to the child if his parents said to the coach, "My kid needs a positive sports experience, and I really don't care how much you play him. He'll be at every practice, and he'll work hard." And wouldn't it be great for the youngster, when he came home, if his parents didn't say in one breath, "Did you win? That coach who doesn't like you - did he finally play you?" What if, instead, they said, "It's great that you're part of the team. Work hard so you'll be ready when you get a chance." Parents often believe that their child will become upset and disheartened if he doesn't get much playing time, and they think this is unfair. But they should understand that whatever role on the team the youngster's hard work creates is valuable, even if he's a substitute. It's a fact: For the majority of players, hard work will lead to a role on their team, not All-City, All-State, or All-American status.
If a player works hard only because he thinks he can become a star, he's doing it for the wrong reason. Some day, somewhere, some time, he'll be disappointed with his achievements. He'll end up saying, "Well, I think I should be starting, and my dad thinks I should be starting. But Coach won't start me, so I don't think it's worth working so hard anymore." But if that player has developed a work ethic, he will understand the value of working every day. He will find that it helps him at every turn, in every challenge, for his entire life.
One player who found his niche on my team at Williams College was a young man named Seth Mehr. He had been on the junior varsity team as a freshman and tried out for the varsity the next year. My assistant coach said, "You've got to cut him." But I liked that he had a ball with him all the time, and that when I'd go up to the gym, I'd find him there working endlessly. Finally I said, "You know, I believe there is a role for a kid who works that hard." Seth created a role for himself; his hard work convinced me to keep him. In time, he became the captain of a team that went to the Division III Sweet Sixteen, and he played 10 to 12 minutes a game. He made a real contribution in practice and in games. After graduation, Seth went on to medical school and became a doctor. He wrote me once to say, "Coach, Williams was a great experience for me. Medical school is hard, but what prepared me for it the most, even more than my organic chemistry lab, was the basketball program." That's the kind of letter I live for.
Aaron Dupuis was another bench player with a tremendous work ethic. When I recruited him, I said, "You have to worry about two things. You might be a step slow. And you're a local kid, so you'll be watched closely by everyone in town." Undaunted, he came in and worked his rear end off, and he improved vastly, although he never played much in games. Aaron said, "I want to make the team better on Saturday night, so I'm going to work hard on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday." And that's what he did. Every day he walked into the locker room and pulled on his shorts and shirt, knowing he was going to go out there for two hours to compete. He understood his role and knew his value to the team. He made our reserves a competitive group by the sheer force of his will. When Aaron wasn't there, it showed. Once he was hurt for about two weeks, and the intensity of our practices took a nosedive. I told the other players, "If we have to have Aaron on the court for you to be competitive, then we have a problem. Because he can't do it for you right now." I'm sure that it meant a lot to Aaron to have me say that in front of the entire team and coaching staff. He was one of the most respected players on our team, and his ex-teammates hold him in high regard to this day.
Many coaches are fixated on results. The basic mistake most make in regard to work ethic is not recognizing the contributions of nonstarters like Seth and Aaron in front of their teammates. In a basketball game, not every player plays; not every player is on the floor when it counts, when there are people in the stands, when there is noise in the gym, when there is an excitement he wants to be a part of. These players don't hear their names shouted by the fans; they won't see their achievements written up in the papers. But some of these kids make tremendous contributions to the team. So as the coach, you have to acknowledge these players, in a way that really means something to them. Take the time to stop practice and recognize their hard work in front of their teammates and coaches. It's the most important recognition they can get. Their teammates are their brothers, their fraternity. And if a player gets positive feedback from a group he really cares about, he will do almost anything for them.
When I was in high school, a boy named Bobby Galvin lived down the street from me. He was a couple of years younger than me, and when I started making a name for myself on the basketball team, he started gravitating toward me because he wanted to be a player, too. He figured that if I could succeed through hard work, anybody could. When I was hired as athletic director at Williams College in 2000, Bobby heard about it, and he dropped me a note. He congratulated me and recalled our time spent in the park together, working on our game. I was sad to learn that he had never had success in the sport and had given it up, but he wrote something really perceptive about that: "Harry, I didn't need to become a great basketball player. I just needed to be there, practicing. I learned that there is something innately valuable about working hard. At that time in my youth, it was important to have that discipline."
We must often remind parents and coaches that their kids are playing games, not performing brain surgery. But as Bobby said, there is a certain time in a young person's life when there is something extremely valuable about working hard in order to stretch and achieve some level of self-fulfillment. It has been my experience that kids who accomplish something they are proud of through hard work adopt work ethic as one of their core values. And a work ethic can carry a young person a good long way through life.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Believe and Succeed
This is a great article from Bob Proctor that I have shared with Matt and Josh. Excellent!!
"You will agree, I am sure, that all thinking people have a sincere desire to succeed. You want to win; I want to win. No one sets out to deliberately destroy themselves - although I must admit, at times it certainly appears as if some people do.
If everyone wants to win - why don't they? There are probably many answers to that question. After talking with hundreds of people who do not seem to be able to make it happen, I have come to the conclusion that the answer to success is locked up in a seven letter word - "Believe."
Losers do not believe they can win. Why don't they believe? I think there is an answer to that question and I'll get to it in a moment. If you are having difficulty making something big happen in your life, listen closely. All the great religious leaders, philosophers and self-help gurus have told us to believe and succeed. "All things are possible for those who believe." William James said, "Believe and your belief will create the fact."
I have found that our belief system is based on our evaluation of something. Frequently when we re-evaluate a situation our belief about that situation will change. Half of my life was wasted. I never even tried to accomplish anything of any importance because I did not believe in myself. The truth was I knew very little about me. Many years ago I was encouraged to begin studying myself, re-evaluate myself. I began to gain an understanding of my marvelous mind. Every day I learned a little more and I suddenly began to believe in myself.
Today I have a number of companies around the world earning millions of dollars. We have a very successful year long coaching program... We teach people the laws of their mind. Long before the year's program is over we see marvelous things happen from more money to great loving relationships.
Re-evaluate yourself. There is a sleeping giant in you. Release it. Believe in yourself."
"You will agree, I am sure, that all thinking people have a sincere desire to succeed. You want to win; I want to win. No one sets out to deliberately destroy themselves - although I must admit, at times it certainly appears as if some people do.
If everyone wants to win - why don't they? There are probably many answers to that question. After talking with hundreds of people who do not seem to be able to make it happen, I have come to the conclusion that the answer to success is locked up in a seven letter word - "Believe."
Losers do not believe they can win. Why don't they believe? I think there is an answer to that question and I'll get to it in a moment. If you are having difficulty making something big happen in your life, listen closely. All the great religious leaders, philosophers and self-help gurus have told us to believe and succeed. "All things are possible for those who believe." William James said, "Believe and your belief will create the fact."
I have found that our belief system is based on our evaluation of something. Frequently when we re-evaluate a situation our belief about that situation will change. Half of my life was wasted. I never even tried to accomplish anything of any importance because I did not believe in myself. The truth was I knew very little about me. Many years ago I was encouraged to begin studying myself, re-evaluate myself. I began to gain an understanding of my marvelous mind. Every day I learned a little more and I suddenly began to believe in myself.
Today I have a number of companies around the world earning millions of dollars. We have a very successful year long coaching program... We teach people the laws of their mind. Long before the year's program is over we see marvelous things happen from more money to great loving relationships.
Re-evaluate yourself. There is a sleeping giant in you. Release it. Believe in yourself."
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