Category: Mindset

Having An Open Minded Mindset, Sure Does Help

10/19/2021

Listened to a great podcast recently where Ann Hiatt was a guest on John Lee Dumas' podcast, "Fire Nation". She had so many powerful things to say that it got me going in some great thinking directions, not only for myself, but also my students too. I had them listen to this podcast to help them see the connection to the week's Positivity Project connection to Open-Mindedness.

Check out the podcast HERE.

A few things that I connected from this podcast & I know will help me with what I want to do in my profession as an educator and a coach - First, there are so many "behind the scenes" things or "under the radar" things that I can do to build myself & my profession, stronger & having more of an impact. The little everyday things that go unnoticed by most - I can focus on them everyday, knowing they bring value to what I want to do. Waking up early, reading more, getting to work early & getting prepared. Making time for others to help solve issues & questions before they become problems. So many things that we all can do, that might not get other people to notice - but we know are the right things to do.

Second thing that stood out to me was the idea of staying ahead of myself as I learn new things, pick up new skills, be open to new opportunities, etc. There is this mindset of "reinventing" ourselves every so often. I certainly do not want to stay where I'm at as far as abilities & knowledge. It's become apparent to me recently that I want to keep learning new things, meeting new people, coming up with new ideas, etc., until my final day on earth. That's just me.

Finally - there are so many different paths towards success & that one way does not work for everyone. Success is such a broad definition for so people. One thing for sure that I'm seeing more and more (especially with my new position as an ESL Coach at school) is that my positive attitude / outlook / mindset, etc., is a difference maker. I see many people that are of the opposite mindset and I see the struggles they are having compared to others. Remember, having a positive attitude / outlook / mindset, does not mean you don't have problems. It means that you can solve them A TON better with a positive mindset than with a negative one. THAT IS FACT!

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No Reserves. No Retreat. No Regrets

6/21/2020

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Here is another lesson that I recently got from John O'Leary's book, "In Awe" and he brought up this thought of No Reserves. No retreat. No regrets. He mentions this mindset from a story of William Borden (click on his name for his amazing story.)

No Reserves

This was a reminder to Borden to make sure he was taking everything he had, all of his gifts, all of his thoughts & insights of things, all of his kindness & compassion; and to put it all out there for being a difference maker to others. To really be a light for someone else's darkness. I take this as Sam Crowley always says, to use up all the toothpaste in our tube of what our lives are. Not to be on our deathbed with things still left undone, unsaid to others and things not tried. It's something that has been on my mind more and more in my own life. (that's why this post hit close to home for me.)

No Retreat

Borden wrote of this as to not go back home to an easier life, one with money, priviledge, etc. He found strength in that to help keep him focused on what his mission in life was. This reminds me to not retreat back to an easy life. Remember, looking to make things easy now, in our early life - it will make things much more difficult later in life. We need to reverse this. Work hard now in our lives, things will be difficult and challenging, but later in life, it will get better. Everything I now do are grounded in the fact that I'm proud of being a teacher and a coach and I know that I have made a difference with so many people and look to continue to do so. No retreat from being an educator.

No Regrets

This one ties it all in. John O'Leary wrote "don't get to the end of your journey and realize the life you lived was not yours. Don't forget that you are free to choose. Right now." We all have THE CHOICE for how we live our lives. If we don't like where we are going or where we are at, we can change things in our own life. We can think differently, we can make different choices, we can choose to get better. This also brings in the fact of (at least to me) how we can't continue to blame others or blame the circumstances that happen to us.

Unfortunately in today's times, I see this happening way too much and to tell you that I don't want to be a part of that way of thinking. I think the blame game that so many people are playing is a direct recipe to have plenty of regrets in life, to retreat from things that will help us in the long run, and to have tons of reserves in our tank when we die. Not taking responsibility for our own lives will lead to the opposite of all three of these. Bottom line, I'm looking to take control of my life in these 3 areas. For example (as so many people are getting worked up about this) I'm not going to let any elected official be the difference maker in my life. Doesn't matter who is in any elected position in any form of our government as to how I choose to live my life and that I need to make sure that I follow this formula: No reserves. No retreat. No regret. How about you?

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It's All About FOCUS!

6/12/2017

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“Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.” —Dan Sullivan

This past basketball season I shared a thought that I read about with our team. In a conversation with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, I read that the one word that was most important for success of any kind was FOCUS.

It has always been a problem area for me (heck, as I write this I was doing 3 other things as this came to my head that I had to get it done.) LOL… I figured I would focus on getting these thoughts out there and then go back to finish up the other things. I’ve jumped to other things in the middle of these thoughts – it’s obvious that I need to work on this for sure.

Our coaching staff would constantly bring this fact up about our team – most teams – tends to lose their focus during a game. This article, this idea I brought up to our team part way during the season. It helped a little it, but I know that I need to develop some things that our girls can start working on this and other “mind drills” during the off-season for us to be using them all year long.   The great thing about this is that I get to use it too and I know I need it probably more than my team does. ;-)

I went to Cincinnati this past couple of days for an event put on by Sam Crowley. It was FANTASTIC! I heard this thought from the presenters – the importance of our mindset being a main piece of whatever success we want to have in our lives. I listened to a podcast – twice and I’ll listen again a couple of times too – all from Brian Buffini on the importance of a made-up mind!   It’s obvious that this is something that not only I need to work on but we all do. The examples and evidence are out there – with so many of them available for us to learn from.

What we focus on, what we spend our time thinking about, what we put into our minds – all of it affects every single thing we do in our lives.   One of the many problems is that there is so much information out there coming at us through our eyes and into our ears, that our brains are overloaded for sure. That’s where when we realize that we have a say as to what information goes into our heads – we can start choosing what we let into our brains.

Since we don’t have all the time in the world – or at least as much as we think we do, working on this skill of focusing on what we let into our heads is something we all need to work on as soon as we can. For me, that time is now.    I’ve said that so many times during my life, now it’s again time for me to do something about it.    I have figured out a long time ago that things like this that I share with my students and basketball players – I need to follow them too. What about you?

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Having An Open Minded Mindset, Sure Does Help

No Reserves. No Retreat. No Regrets

It's All About FOCUS!

Coach John Daly

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