Category: Goals - Coach to Expect Success

Here Are A Few Things NOT To Stay Away From

12/13/2021

I found a powerful show from Alan Stein Jr. and his "Raise Your Game" podcast where in episode 1 from season 11, he interviews Brian Kight. Listen to it HERE. There are so many valuable things that he shares with Alan on his podcast & I wanted to share just a few powerful things that I picked up on.

Brian brings up that life is simple in counterintuitive ways. Some great connections to what life gives us:

Life is harder when we try to avoid hard things.
Life is scarier when we try to avoid scary things.
Life is more uncomfortable when we try and avoid uncomfortable things.
Life is more painful when we try and avoid painful things.
Life is more full of problems when we try and avoid problems.

Knowing that life is not supposed to be absent of problems, Brian shares some thoughts on why not go after the things in our life that mean something to us. In other words, he goes after things knowing that the rough times in life - we can choose many of them in the areas that we want them in. That way we are not having pain in our life, all in areas that don't mean anything to us. Thereby, not "wasting" it in areas that don't matter to us. There are plenty of tough moments in life for us to deal with having things more difficult, more scary, more uncomfortable, more painful, and more problems - if we are spending our time going after our dreams and goals... and these tough times hit us during these pursuits, it's a bit better to take them on.

Now remember, I'm not saying that we need to create more of these challenges. Life will throw us enough of those for sure. We just need to be able to get through life's tough moments as we are going after things that motivate us & give us reasons "why" to work hard to overcome them.

Listen to my thoughts on this topic HERE (and a few others) from my Motivation Monday Game Plan - from Dec. 13, 2021.

Prudence - wait, what??

2/12/2020

The character trait of Prudence is one we don't hear too much about. In fact, if you are like me you had to do a double take at it and then probably look it up. Here it is: "The ability to do the right thing, at the right time for the right reason." It's about our decisions and how they affect us now and in our future!

There were 2 videos that I had my students check out for some indications of Regrets that some people shared about their lives. If we can recognize when we are in a moment that our choices and decisions will matter for our future - that's powerful to know about. First was this video "Life Lessons from 100 Year Olds" where they interviewed 3 people that were over 100 years of age. One big thing that I noticed from all three, were their smiles and laughter. Amazingly inspiring listening to these people sharing stories of things that they have been through. I also thought right away, how I want to be like that too. Being full of gratitude, energy, love, purpose to get up everyday, etc. What a blessing it was to watch, listen and learn from them.

The other video was just as meaningful as we watched 70 people talk about their regrets in life. This video was titled, "70 People Ages 5-75 Answer: What Do You Regret?" It was again, amazing to listen to their experiences and thoughts about things that they have been through. Learning from other people's stories and experiences saves us from making similar mistakes. We can learn without making those same choices or at least better understand things before we still might make those choices. Most of my students learned a lot from this one too. For me, the few that were older than me... twenty-two of them, got me thinking about what is coming for me in the years ahead and I think often of these lessons as I'm trying to make good choices & decisions every day of my life. Amazing things can happen when we look at things differently and start to think differently too. In fact, I'm getting emotional right now blogging about these thoughts and ideas. I'm finding myself wanting to be better, do better, work harder, to have the courage to do things that help me go after my dreams and goals... like I said, amazing things can happen when we jump into these thoughts and ideas. How about you join me? Check these videos out and let me know what you are thinking and feeling.

Interview With Pro Hockey Player Shawn Szydlowski - Lessons For This Teacher - Lessons For All

7/29/2018

WOW - what a great time spent with St. Clair Shores native, Shawn Szydlowski - a graduate of Lake Shore High School. Shawn shares some great stories, insights and lessons about chasing after his goals and dreams of playing professional hockey. I really appreciated Shawn taking some time out of his day to sit down with me for this interview. Listen to my podcast interview HERE.

So many valuable lessons that he brings out in our visit today. We had some great conversations - both off and on the show - and I am pulling for this "kid" to reach every goal and dream that he has for himself. He carries himself so well and is so caring for others - especially kids. Some great charities he's a part of that help kids - It was awesome to hear about and again, like I told him - I'm so proud of him! The lessons he shared about focus that is needed in life, the lessons he learned early in life in going after being a hockey player. He shared some lessons that all of us can use in our lives for sure. You can connect with Shawn on both Twitter & Instagram: @szydlowski19

Thanks for listening. Please take a few moments to subscribe & share this with someone, also leave a 5 Star rating on ITunes or other services where you find this show. Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachtoexpectsuccess/ on Twitter: @coachtosuccess and on Instagram at: @coachjohndaly

Lessons From Wineries - On Vacation

7/22/2018

It's always great to get away on a vacation to places we enjoy. My wife and I really enjoy going up North here in Michigan - the Traverse City area to be specific. They have so many wineries that we enjoy going to and many of them we are visiting for the first time. Three of them I mentioned on my podcast and the lessons that each of them brought. Check out my podcast HERE.

First was a young man named Benjamin at the Laurentide Winery - A young man that grew up in the area and stayed to work in an area that he is passionate about. He had great enthusiasm and did a great job with the customers that he was helping. He was a very personable young man.    We had a great discussion about growing up in a small town and how he stayed and most of his life-long friends left for different adventures. We all have those choices in life.

Another one that we stopped at was the Verterra Winery - This is where we had a great visit with Matt. A very down to earth & personable former teacher and coach, that is now working on his second career. Fantastic conversation with Matt and many lessons learned from him too on looking ahead to new adventures.    Going after dreams and goals, no matter your age was an important lesson that I got among other lessons.

Finally, one of my favorites that I love stopping by every time we go up North - and that is The Willow Winery -    The owners, Jo & John are such great hosts every time we see them. They were hosting some friends, two of which were playing some fantastic live music. A great visit with one of the best views you will ever see in your life. Again, great lessons of gratitude, dreams, love, friendship, and so many other life lessons.

Again - a great vacation in so many ways. I hope your next vacation has some great lessons for you.

Thanks for listening to my podcast. Please take a few moments to subscribe & share this with someone, also leave a 5 Star rating on ITunes or other services where you find this show. Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachtoexpectsuccess/   on Twitter: @coachtosuccess   and on Instagram at: @coachjohndaly

Our Last Day

5/19/2017

“On your last day on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.” — Anonymous

This quote really jumped out to me last week as I was thinking about Les Brown’s message that we watched in my Leadership classes awhile back. He talked about a story of a guy’s last day and he had his family and some friends around his bed side, something we all hope to have on our last day for sure. Les also described that there were other figures around this guy’s bedside and he noticed that they all had angry and disappointed looks on their faces – especially in their eyes. He asked the one closest to him who are you?   The figure answered that we are all the dreams and ideas that you never acted upon. You never even tried to do anything with us and now we are going to die with you. You were the only one that could have given us life and now that will never happen.

Now I’ve heard Les tell this story many times watching his videos and to be honest, it always makes me tear up thinking about how I don’t want to be that guy. This year, same thing but it was different. The tears were still there and I’m not exactly sure why, but it is different than before.   I guess I’m more in touch with the fact that many things are changing in my life. I’m older (51 when I write this), my parents & in-laws are older too of course and there are the health issues with them that are on my mind too. Now I know these things are natural in life.
They do happen, heck they are supposed to happen. I look at my 2 kids and how they too (of course) are getting older. We are approaching another graduation here at Lake Shore High School, my 24th. So maybe that might be part of it too?

Thinking about this a little bit more – I think back to those people that have been an important part of my life and I am really zeroing in on the fact that they have had a direct affect on me getting to where I am today. Some of them are no longer alive, some have moved away and I’ve lost touch with others still. One of my missions is to continue to try and make a difference with as many people as possible as a way to payback all the people throughout my lifetime that invested in me and helped me get to where I am today.

But the fact remains that I have another strong force starting to push me. I DO NOT want to be like that guy that Les Brown is talking about. There are many things I’d like to do, many ideas, many goals and dreams that I’ve had for awhile – and I don’t want to not act on trying to make them happen. I’ve said this before in my life that it’s time to start getting into action. I’ve done it a little here and there of course. Now, it’s time to raise my standards BIG TIME!   Wanting the person I know I can become be the same person when I finish my race that is something that will be great to make happen.

What about you? How are you doing in going after your dreams and goals? Have you ever thought what it might be like to meet that person you could have become on your last day? The younger you are the more of a say you have in how your last day can be. It’s the same with me of course, but I just have less time than others.   I tell you what though, it’s going to be something that I’m working on more and more. Raising your standards is not easy. Getting better is not easy. It’s all worth it though.

Dream Big & Work Hard - Not Just For New Years

1/2/2016

"Dream big, work hard." — JJ Watt

Simple quotes can not only be easy to remember, but they can also offer the most powerful punch too. Since its simple, that draws me to it even more. If anyone knows anything about who JJ Watt is, then you can see why this quote has some extra power behind it because that is what that guy is all about on the football field.

Now that the holidays are over and the new year has begun – it’s always an interesting time for us to take a hard look at ourselves and look at who we want to become in the new year. One of the factors for me personally, and I’ve seen and heard this out there more and more is that why is it only at the start of the new year do most of us look at ourselves and see what we want to change? This should be going on every single day of our lives! There are plenty of days that I do indeed do this. It seems the truth is that there are more days that I don’t do this.

One of the keys is try and live a life of constant self-improvement. It’s not just a new year’s thing. It’s got to be an everyday type of thing and really more importantly, it has to be a lifestyle thing. It’s so crucial to keep those dreams out in front of us and then apply a good and hard work ethic to chasing after those dreams. One thing I’ve also found is that it’s so vitally important to hang out with people that help nurture and encourage your dreams since that helps you to work even harder on them.

So as this 2016 gets started, I know I have to do a lot more to dream bigger and work even harder. I certainly do not want to have to keep re-starting on my goals and dreams like I’ve done so many previous years. So instead of having all these resolutions to start the year off, why don’t we all look at changing our habits, changing them in a new direction that will help us to improve our entire life and not just one or two general things that we probably won’t stick with for very long any way? I’ve heard it said that most New Year resolutions are given up on by January 15 or so? I don’t want that to be me. How about you?

We Just Have To Give Ourselves A Chance!

8/25/2015

"You can make startling changes you can’t even conceive of right now, if you just give yourself half a chance." -- Jim Rohn

As I was looking through some quote ideas another one from the great Jim Rohn jumped out at me. I think so many times in our lives, if we give ourselves a chance to do great things, we will indeed do just that.

You know, before we are able to do really do anything in life we have to tell ourselves to do it. Just getting up on time in the morning, making breakfast, filling the car up with gas, taking a shower, etc. Now with other things, it’s a lot more difficult than simply telling ourselves to do it. We have to convince ourselves for the really important and life changing things that we need to do. Those items such as going after your dreams and goals, stepping up to push yourself to get rid of bad habits and replace them with good ones, to reach out to help others that maybe not too many others are willing to help out, along with looking to make a difference with others throughout your lifetime.

It’s about being continually inspired throughout life. We need to have those inspirational reminders just about on a daily basis I think. Those stories that we can relate to that helps us believe that we too can do great things. To get us to understand that we don’t have to settle. We simply need to give ourselves a chance, an opportunity to do them. Jim Rohn went onto say “The real value in setting goals is not in their achievement. The acquisition of the things you want is strictly secondary. The major reason for setting goals is to compel you to become the person it takes to achieve them.”

When we look back on the great moments in our lives, they usually come from overcoming difficulties, maybe a long time in working hard and then something wonderful happens along with the fact that we can look back at all the great people that came into our lives along with the new things we learned during that time period. It’s also a time to see the people that aren’t in our lives anymore. Our journey throughout life takes us into different directions that others won’t follow us through. They have their own journeys to go on and even though it’s sad to lose friends, it’s necessary for us to become who we want to and need to become.

Part of this equation is to figure it out sooner than later as some of our many journeys through life take time. The sooner we realize this, the more things we can go through to get us to become the person we want to be. Another key, maybe even a more important one is to realize that it’s never too late to start on any of these possible journeys. You know, I’ve been learning a lot lately and much of it is dealing with the person that I know I need to become in order for things to happen. Much of it are things that I’d rather not face, not talk about, and not have to go through. I know I need to go through them and face them in order for things to get better for me but more importantly for those that are around me. My wife and kids, my other family members, my students, my basketball players, fellow teachers, coaches, friends and neighbors along with the countless people that I haven’t even met yet. I’ve been playing small most of my life. That time has to end, and end now. What are some of the things you need to give yourself permission to do? Just give yourself a chance, something little, just one thing. Then just look for those little things each and every day that can help you. When you find them, please let me know and others too, since I know that we are all looking for those little things to help us in our journeys through life.

New Year Coming... Thoughts On Success From Coach Wooden - Quote Of The Week

12/29/2014

"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming." -- John Wooden

With all the things that we can do to improve ourselves, there seems to be a quote that is great to think about as we end one year and start off a new one. Coach John Wooden had so much success in basketball, but what everyone has to understand is that he had even more success teaching leadership lessons.

Success has so many puzzle pieces to it since it means different things to different people. Since it deals with doing our best to become all that we are capable of becoming, there has to be time spent on improving ourselves in many different areas.

Coach is right as success is indeed peace of mind. That is one thing that all of us need to work on is our mind and the things that come into our minds. Those things can make a distinct difference in what success we have going towards goals and dreams that we have. Reading is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. New information that gets our minds working on new ideas and thoughts, these things can really help us doing our best.

Doing our best has so much to do with what we are thinking about. This quote has got me thinking that I need to continue to work hard at doing my best, which in many areas in my life I am not doing and when I look back at those areas, it shows up to me as I don’t have the self-satisfaction knowing that I have not done my best. I can tell you though, that I’m looking forward to fixing that starting now. I don’t need to wait for the new year as I’m going to start today and then work hard to continue it into the new year.

Speaking of the new year – if we look at this quote and focus on all the parts that go with it (the exercise, eating right, fixing old habits and starting new ones, reading more, improving our relationships, etc.), all the resolutions should connect with Coach Wooden’s statement. The other big key, don’t just make them for New Years Day. These things should be worked on all year long. How does Coach Wooden’s statement connect with you?

In Life There Are Plenty Of Choices... Make The Right One When You Are Looking Ahead To Your Future - Quote of the Week!

10/13/2014

"There's always something to suggest that you'll never be who you wanted to be. Your choice is to take it or keep on moving." -- Phylicia Rashad

We face choices every day in our lives. We can make choices that take us closer to where we want to go, or we can make choices that will take us further away from our goals and dreams. It’s up to us. Along with the fact that we don't usually have all the time in the world to make these choices either.

There are also plenty of things in life and people too for that matter that will get in the way of those choices. Not only will they get in the way, they will also make us believe that maybe we can’t do what we set out to do. We all know people that are what’s called “dream suckers”. They just suck the life out of any dream that we might have and make us feel like we can do it or even worse, it’s stupid for us to even try.

There are two major things we can do to help ourselves with this issue. One is to have such a large dream, something that we are so fired up and passionate about, that makes it nearly impossible for anything or anyone to get in the way of us making it happen. The second thing is for us to identify those obstacles or brick walls (both things and people) and for us to work hard at avoiding them and choosing not to allow them to affect our efforts.

The main reason this caught my eye this week were the events that me and my family went through last week and are continuing to go through this week. We had a family funeral to attend as my cousin Dave passed away suddenly last week. To see the tons of people that turned out at the family get-together at their home along with the funeral service the next day – it was totally amazing. To hear all the stories about how he affected so many people was awesome and inspiring too.

My cousin chose to keep moving to chase his goals and dreams. He didn’t let any of those brick walls stop him at all, in face he used them to inspire himself to stick to his plan. One of the many thoughts that struck me was that from all the different people he affected and helped during his lifetime, he helped them by going after his goals and dreams. He went after being a professor at a university, and he did that and more. He wrote a book in his field that is referenced so many times around the world. His studies and projects that he worked on were leading to new ways of thinking and lead others to new discoveries too. He loved sports, especially soccer and basketball. His coaching encouraged so many kids to stick with the game and getting better along with battling through their fears. Huge life lessons!

You see, by going after our goals and dreams we can help many more people along the way than if we don’t go after them. In fact we will hold others back from attaining their goals and dreams by not going after ours. That was a huge lesson my cousin left for others. I for one took notice. How about you? Any of these thoughts connect with you? Are there people out there that are an example for you? Always looking to learn – share your thoughts so that you can help others too.

Everyone should take this class, "Philosophy of YOU!" Quote of the week....

6/30/2014

"Don't borrow someone else's plan. Develop your own philosophy and it will lead you to unique places." -- Jim Rohn

Jim brings up a great idea when I saw this quote from him. We all should take a course in the Philosophy of ourselves. The great thing about it is that it won't cost us hundreds of dollars per credit hour that we have to pay to a university. It will cost us some time and maybe a little money in trying to create the course for ourselves, but in the end it will be worth it.

No matter what stage you are at in your life, this development of your own philosophy is important enough to get started on as soon as you can. Of course like many of my postings, it does hold true for this one too: the sooner you get going on this, the better your life could be. There is another point here too, and that is we cannot follow someone else's plan. We have to come up with our own blueprint of our own lives. Now that's not to say that we should not take others' thoughts and opinions into developing our own plan, but for the final decisions, it does come down to ourselves creating our own plan for our life.

As I constantly try and get my students to realize they have to follow their own goals and dreams instead of doing things to please others. I not only find myself needing that advice still at my age but now I also am trying to pass that advice onto my two kids as well. My son will be 21 later this year and my daughter just turned 18 and graduated from high school. I am always looking for suggestions as possible careers for them to look into - with what I think connects to them as the person each of them are starting to become. I am for sure promoting to both of them to explore, ask questions, meet people and look deep inside of themselves to find out what drives them. What do they get fired up about? What excites them? What do they stay up late working on? Along with, what gets them out of bed in the morning so they can get going on things right away? The key for all of us, is to look at these questions for ourselves. Remember, it's never too late to get going chasing after our own dreams, goals and passions.

What do we need to find some of these things out for ourselves? For one thing, we need to spend some time to actually think about some of these things that make up our plan. We need to write them down too, so we can read, plan, make goals, think some more on them and let the ideas come flowing out to help us get going. We need to also change our thinking. The most valuable tool we have is our own brains. The 5 or 6 inches between our ears should be guarded very tightly with what we allow into it. Look to make some changes in our thinking, what we read, watch and listen to. Another point is watching out who we hang out with. Those people that we let affect us are vitally important as to who we become and what plan we are working from too. Finally, our habits are key. This involves how we spend our valuable time and what are we accomplishing with it. Spending our time involves action - we are doing something with our time, but we need to look at how that is actually getting us closer or farther away from our drams and goals. This one is a biggie for me as I struggle with it often. Something once again that I find myself dealing with this summer. I look forward to making some serious strides to improving my habits and how I spend my time.

What about you? Anything here ring true for you too? Always look to reflect on these and other things that can bring you closer to going after your dreams and goals. Find some time this week to do just that. Let me know how it's coming and maybe even get in touch and let me know how I can help you out along with you probably being able to help me out too.