Category: - Coach to Expect Success

What Would Our Ancestors Do Today With The Opportunities That We Have?

7/24/2019

This has been something that has been on my mind lately as I have heard this idea recently from at least one podcast that I listen to, if not more than one. It's also in my heart too as it's really hitting me hard as of late.

I look at my parents. Thank God I still have them in my life as they are right around that 80 year old mark. I've only known them to be hard workers, good people, having lot's of friends, both being difference makers in their careers and quite frankly fantastic parents to me and my sister. I wonder what they would do with the opportunites out there now, if they found them in their early years? I'll have to ask them and that sounds like it could be a great podcast to do too with them.

I am really intrigued with what their parents (my grandparents), my great-grandparents, my great-great grandparents and so on would do with today's opportunities. I know that everything is relevant to the time that they are in or a part of. I also know that it's not really possible to find the answers to these questions since my relatives are long gone. I'd like to think the skills they had during their lifetimes would somehow benefit them if they were around today. One advantage for sure is if they had their prior knowledge with them. They could compare as to how hard they really had it and how much better we are off in today's world.

I know for a fact that with that prior knowledge would be pure gold. Just imagining it I think can be used to our advantage today! I look at it from the viewpoint what would I want my kids, my students & players, to learn from me today to apply to their futures. I also view it from the standpoint that based upon all the work, sacrifice, hardships, tough choices, etc., that they had in their lives - that I don't want to waste my opportunities that I have. Simply put, I would obviously not be here if it were not for them doing what they did - touch times & tough choices and all. I really feel that I would dishonor them if I did not work hard at going after my dreams and goals. It's a force that is certainly bigger than me and it's very powerful too.

My son is working on being a certified Geneologist and has a lot of details on our family tree. I need to dig a little bit to make more personal connections to my family members and find out a little bit more on maybe exactly what they might do with today's opportunities.

Am I the only one thinking like this? I wonder???

A Better Version Of Ourselves Is Always Available

1/2/2018

“No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.”
― Madonna

The new year is always famous for helping us to think about all the changes we want to make in our lives. If you are like me, there are probably many that you would like to make. I think a key for me is that I finally figured out that this can happen each and every day and not just on January 1. It's something that is there for any one of us to work on improving ourselves, our lives, our circumstances, etc. It comes down to making a decision along with getting rid of old habits and creating new ones in their place.

So many people look at the rich and famous as if they are special and what they have in their lives, nobody else can ever have. For many of the rich and famous there is usually a back story of hard work, sacrifice, and overcoming adversity & failure. We can also have success in our lives since we can do those exact same things - put in the hard work, sacrifice things that will help us get there, and we certainly don't have to let adversity & failure stop us.

So this day - not just this new year - that is my plan, to take this montra, this mindset, that I want to keep working at improving myself and everything that I do. The great thing about it is that I have so many choices to choose from as to what I can work on. I bet you have a few too. Maybe not as many as I have, but still, enough for you to choose from. When I think about this, I get fired up!! There is no time like the present to get going on self-improvement. So why not start today? And do it again tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that and just - keep - going!!

One Thing For Sure - Learning Never Stops

4/16/2016

"I learned about the strength you can get from a close family life. I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work." — Lee Iacocca

One thing I know for sure is that learning never stops. At least it shouldn’t stop if we know what’s good for us. This weekend I learned about strength in family. I have a very good friend that lost his wife to cancer. I’ve seen these losses before for others and it always has lessons for me and for others to learn from and for the most part I’ve learned many but honestly I could say maybe I’ve lost a few of them over the years. Not proud of it, but it’s probably true.

This one hurt too, just like the others and just like the deaths of a loved one that you have suffered too. Finding out part of the back story in that my friend, who I’ve known since 1st grade along with him being the best man in my wedding too; how he’s handled this over the last year and a half or so – simply amazing!

These lessons have pushed me into a little bit more action than previous lessons. I guess all the previous lessons along with this one and for sure the ones that are to come in the future, could all be put into a book. That book should be drawn on often, if not every day. It comes down to this – these lessons should help us to live a better life each and every day! What we say and do. How we treat others. Things that we shouldn’t waste our time on and things we do need to spend our time on. The list can go on a lot longer too.

Part of this idea above from Lee Iacocca is the value of hard work. Things that have been decided that are worth it (and that is different for everyone) are usually things that will take some hard work to make them happen. For the most part, things that come easy may not be really worth it in the end. Through all the ups and downs in life, the heartbreak and the moments of happiness and enjoyment, there has to be some solid effort that is put into our equation of life. Not much if anything comes free to us. It has to be earned for sure.

Another part is the not quitting, not giving up! Having to have faith in our situations, ourselves, our loved ones, and for the most part faith in something bigger than ourselves. It helps so much to have our lives going in a direction towards things that we are passionate about, so that when the tough times hit (and they always do), we can find our way through the storms in order to keep going and not quit.

The lessons I’ve learned this past week or so are powerful. But like I said, so are the other ones that I’ve learned in the past. Now, maybe they are all coming together. Maybe now I have enough of a “reason why” to do some things differently and make some changes that I’ve been dabbling with for years. What lessons have you learned lately from life? Any time you want to share them – please do for I know they will help me along with they will help others too.

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?

Big Key In Life - Work On Ourselves Harder Than Our Jobs

5/3/2015

“Go to work on yourself, harder than your job” – Jim Rohn

I love this quote and I’ve heard it a few times from different people too. I think it’s totally true, although it has taken me a few years to digest it and to see how true it is. Working on ourselves is a total inside job. We are the only ones that can do anything about ourselves. By us working hard to improve ourselves, everything else that we are involved in will be better too. If we only focus on our job and not ourselves too – the job will temporarily get better at our expense. Since we are not improving too, it will all catch up as both the job and ourselves will have plenty of troubles.

The actual reality of going to work on ourselves is not that difficult of a task to do. The actual “work” is easy. It’s the discipline, dedication, concentration, etc., that makes it difficult for us. The work itself are things like reading great books, blogs, articles, etc., that push us and give us new ideas on how we can get better in our lives. The work also includes keeping track of what goes into our brains. It has been said many times that most valuable piece of real-estate that we own, is the 6 inches between our ears. We have to be mindful of our thoughts as our thoughts become who we are and all that we do. Another key item on this work list is that we need to hang around good people. Those that will help push us out of our comfort zone and help us grow. Not the typical groups that want us to just do fun things, complain about our jobs and our lives, get caught up in living other people’s lives through reality shows, etc.

Finding the time or better yet, truthfully MAKING the time to do these things is the key. I’ve said, I hear people saying it all the time, and I bet even you have said this – I don’t have time for that. Now ‘that’ can be anything; exercise, eating right, doing homework, going to a meeting or class after a long day of work, spending more time with a loved one, etc. The key that I’m trying to make a change to is that we need to make it a priority, we need to actually make time for that item that we want to accomplish. This weekend I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this idea since we heard it last week in my Principles of Leadership class. Not only am spending some time thinking about it – I’ve put it into action!! With my wife for example, and spending time with her on her schedule and those things that are important to her and not mine. I’ve worked hard to not say anything to her about that and I have found that I’m still ok and we haven’t fought or argued about this like we normally do (usually due to my lack of patience and self-centeredness). That seems like one of the hundreds if not thousands of things I need to work on myself to improve. I bet you could pick one or two to start on you??

New Year - Keep Your Dreams Alive.... Great Lessons From Stuart Scott And Others - Quote Of The Week

1/4/2015

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe." -- Gail Devers

As I have my coffee this morning and I’m watching the sad news about Stuart Scott passing away from his 3 time battle with cancer, I sure shed a few tears I got to be honest. I never met the man, but I sure did watch and listen to him. Especially when he got sick and found out about the cancer that he had to fight; that’s when there were even more lessons for us to learn from him.

There is a key here that ties into the quote I picked out for this week. We can learn from so many people in so many different areas in our life. There are those like Stuart that we just see on TV and we listen to them along with reading things about them, there are lessons there for us to learn from. Obviously this might be easier with people that are around us, that we know and that we can spend time with and talk with. We need to recognize there lies opportunity to learn in both examples.

As I start off the new year, still recovering from back surgery, I have had a little more time than I normally do to think about a few things. The dreams that I have, are still there. They are still there because I really haven’t done much about making them come true. Gail Devers is right, we have to keep our dreams alive. The point about having faith in ourselves is huge! Without that, it’s going to be almost impossible to make those dreams come true.

The belief in ourselves is needed to even get to the part where we have to have the vision, the hard work, the determination and dedication that is needed. What Stuart Scott did and others are too for me, is to show plenty of examples of that process that they have through all the difficulties and adversities that they face.

My wife and I were just talking about the fact that everyone has difficulties and challenges in their lives, everyone. We are too. I had the same discussion with a college friend of mine, a few coworkers, former students, my son, my daughter and even my mom and dad. We are all going through challenges that we need to focus on getting through and not just focusing on the problems themselves, but getting through them to be able to move on.

When we are able to do this – focus on getting through the challenges, our attitude and effort in doing those things, we are setting examples for others. Others that know us, talk to us, listen to us pick up on those things; but also to those that simply watch us and may not even say anything to us, they learn from us too.

Important things in life are supposed to be hard... Quote of the Week!

6/23/2014

"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great." -- Tom Hanks (A League of Their Own)

First of all, what a great movie! Manager Jimmy Dugan played by Tom Hanks, does such a great job in this movie along with all the other stars. One of his many quotes that connect with people is when he is responding to the character Dottie - (played by Gina Davis) and she's leaving the team to go back to Oregon with her husband who just got home from fighting in WWII. She tells him that it just got too hard. He responded with "it's supposed to be hard. It it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great!"

At the time in the movie - he was talking about the game of baseball. So was she - but it also took on the hint of being too hard as it related to her life too. Her sister Kit just got traded to another team who they would be facing in the World Series soon. Her husband Bob got wounded and got discharged from the army a little after a teammate of hers lost her husband in the war. As the movie went on, Dottie left but she came back later in the series to play for her team.

Many lessons here - we all need to work harder in life to find the passions that we have to help make it easier to do things in life. Things that are worth it and mean a lot to us, are usually things that will take great effort and lot's of time on our part in order to make them happen. Life does indeed get hard..we can make it easier on ourselves when we are chasing after dreams and goals that mean so much to us and means a lot to those that we love and care about too.

Sports are great connecting pieces to life's puzzle... so many teachable moments... in fact anything that has to be learned along with the fact that everyone isn't able to do it.. .(music, art, singing, dancing, etc.) That's why this and many lessons are found in so many types of performances. Remember to focus on a few things that you connect with and realize that it won't be easy, and that's why not everyone does it. Also, remember it's worth it - that's one of the things that makes it great.

Quote of the Week - February 10, 2014

2/11/2014

"Don't give me easy. Give me is it worth it." - Sam Crowley

The further we get in life, the more we look for our passions in life. Or at least that is the way I see it. It really becomes so important to see how fast time is passing and to look around a little bit to figure out what your passion is - a key to life for sure. Sam Crowley is someone who has a fantastic book and a great podcast along with other things for years, who's main message is to follow your life's passion and not to settle for mediocrity. It's a great message and I encourage you to check him out, along with others who's message is to inspire and to get you going in finding what your passion is in life.

Another key that I try and get my students to realize that it can be really cool to figure out what that passion (or passions) is early in life. The sooner the better. That means that we can't be clueless... we need to have a clue in life. We need to be on the lookout for what motivates us, what drives us, what gets us fired up, what is it that gets you out of bed (many times before your alarm goes off), what is that you just have to do more of since it's always on your mind???

When I say the sooner the better - that really hit home last week as one of my son's friends was sadly killed in a snowmobile accident. A couple of weeks away from his 19th birthday. This kid connected with so many people, of all age groups, including me. Eric was someone who had tons of passion in life about people and other things that was a fantastic lesson for me and I think others, judging as to how many people I saw at the funeral home and at his funeral mass the next day. It brought the sad reminder about we don't know how much time we have. It drives home the point that we can't waste time in our lives. The time is NOW to start going after things that you have passion for. We have all had an "Eric" to give us those lessons my friends. But the cost is entirely up to us. Do we want to wait and watch more time fly by? I have figured out.. no... not me any more. With my 48th birthday coming up this month - no thanks, I can't wait anymore. Do I wish I started earlier? You better believe it. Could I have started earlier... I guess looking back, I did start earlier. It just took me awhile to continue it on and start to do more things to make these things happen for me. I have a kid who loved the color yellow, who loved life and the people in his life, and loved Dr. Pepper pop (which I do too... always as a kid and I've reminded myself of that lately) that gave me another lesson in my life. God Bless him!

So the things that seem to be hard in life - don't wish that things were easier. Ask yourself is it worth it? Then look for ways to make to make it happen. The great things in life - the ones that touch our hearts and our soul - are usually not easy. As Tom Hanks said in the movie "A League of Their Own" about baseball - "The hard is what makes it great." Look to see what drives you, find that passion and then ask yourself - is it worth it? I think you might know that answer is. I know I do. Any thoughts or ideas to share? Let me know!!

Quote of the Week, September 30, 2013

10/1/2013

"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - JOHN WAYNE

In the midst of our Spirit Week for Homecoming here at school and Monday was Wild Western day. What better symbol of the old West - John Wayne. Growing up and still today, I love watching his movies. His grit, courage, work ethic, not putting up with any crap, trying to do what was right, etc., all all things that we need today in this country. Now I know his characters that he played were the ones showing all of those traits, and he like everyone else, had problems in real life. We all do. I still admire him as an actor and a man. Always have. Always will.

When I saw his quote about our tomorrow's hope that we learned something from yesterday.... wow, that is truth right there. Think about it. When we get to our tomorrow, doesn't it make sense that we learned from our yesterday? It makes total sense to learn about the things that we struggled with and the things that went well for us too. That's the great thing about having a tomorrow, we get to start over again. Get better at those things that we didn't do to well and those things that we did do well, keep doing them and get even better at them. However, make sure you work hard at not taking your tomorrow's for granted. There will come a day when you won't have them, with those people that we care about and for ourselves too. It always comes back to the time factor. John Wayne always had a saying about getting up and getting going - he would always say "Let's go, we're burning daylight." So in order to have better tomorrows, I know I have to make my today's better, which will help make my yesterdays and tomorrows good too. What can you do with this statement from the Duke? Always enjoy hearing your thoughts and ideas. By the way - go watch "Rio Bravo" - one of John Wayne's best movies!

Quote of the Week - April 8, 2013

4/7/2013

"The harder I work, the luckier I get" - Gary Player

With the greatest sporting event in the world coming up this week, The Masters, this quote fits in just right this week. Not only is this quote have something to do with golf, but it also (and more importantly) has something to do with life. Gary Player, the South African golfer who won 3 Masters titles along with 165 total tournaments from around the world, hit this quote just right with golf's connection to life. Actually this holds true for any sport, but the key is we don't have to be any kind of athlete at all to have this work for us in our regular lives.

From what I heard and read about Gary Player, he was a tireless worker in everything he did. To make it all work even better, he was a true gentlemen in all that he did as well. The sooner that we realize that life is all about hard work, and then when we put in that extra effort into the right things in our lives, it's then that we will see a few more opportunities come our way. It's time to figure out how to not only work harder at some things that we got going on in our lives, but also look to work smarter too. As always, it helps to be passionate about what you are doing in your life too. That's another thing to figure out - what fires you up? What do you wake up thinking about every morning that you can't wait to get started on? If you don't have that yet - find it! It makes Gary's quote that much more important to get going on too. What's going on in your life now where you can start working harder and making your own luck? Even if you are at a place where you may not be happy doing what you are doing, figure out some things that you would rather be doing with your life and then work hard to get there. As always, share any thoughts you might have, for it will not only help me, but yourself and others too.