Blog Posts - Coach to Expect Success

Lessons From Coach John Wooden on a TED Talk.

1/1/2019

Coach John Wooden will always be a teacher to me. A fantastic educator who's messages and methods are needed today in our world more than ever. In this video that Coach did for a TED Talk, he brings up so many valuable lessons. One of which is his definition of success and how it is more about us doing our best instead of comparing ourselves to others. That is something that all of us can remember and take with us wherever we go. His dad was one of the biggest difference makers in his life and the lessons that he took with him througout his whole life - and his life lasted just about 100 years!! Now we can take those lessons from his entire life and get them from a video or read them in one of his many books.

The other part to this is from Coach Wooden's "Pyramid of Success"! Again, so many valuable lessons from this document - for 2019 I am looking to gain CONFIDENCE in myself and apply that to things that I need to do - things that I have had to do for years!! I know it's inside of me and I've had glimpes of it before, but there is no time like the present to get this going in my life. SELF-CONTROL is something that I also need to work on. I need to develope better habits, those things that will take me closer to my dreams and goals and not further away. On the flip side there are bad habits that I need to replace. It's been said that the quickest way to success is to replace a bad habit with a good one. That needs to be something I look to do every day! Again - so many valuable reminders from a timeless document that Coach Wooden gave to us.

Failure Lessons

1/1/2019

For my first blog of the Winter term I found this great quote: "Confidence comes from not always being right - but from not fearing to be wrong." - Peter T. Mcintyre

This is something that I think is a HUGE deal in life, finding confidence in many different areas of our lives and minimizing the fear of being wrong or failing. I have always seemed to have issues growing up - some still today - with not having a lot of confidence in myself. So many examples of me giving up and not sticking with things just because they got too difficult or it was going to take too much time. Wow.. wish I had knows about how important this skill was back when I was younger.

This other thing that I found was this following picture below - I can attest to this for sure! My lack of confidence in myself has cost me far more than any little stumble or failure that I've had. Here is one reason why - my lack of confidence at times kept me from trying again and figuring out the initial issue in the first place. My problem could have been solved with just the simple act of pulling myself back up and trying again, maybe in a smarter way than I did it before. Now with age, comes wisdom and I know now that I need to stick with things and not give up so much. Good stuff for all of us to learn. ;-)

To Forgive & Forget

11/12/2018

What an amazing article I found on the importance of forgiveness - click HERE to check out the article from Success magazine. It has some great reminders for myself on the skill of forgiveness and the importance that it has on our overall health and well being. Remember, there are studies after studies on this topic that proves in so many different ways the benefits of forgiving.

Not only is it in our own best interest to forgive others but the same goes with ourselves too. It's not about making others feel better about what they did or didn't do - the key is that it lightens our own burden of anger & resentment that actually does more damage to ourselves than the other person. I guess this is another example of how we learn with age some important lessons in life.

I was listening to a great podcast with Brian Buffini and his guest, Dr. Daniel Amen (listen to it HERE), and he had this 18-40-60 rule. When we are 18 we care what everyone thinks about us. When we are 40 we don't care at all what others think or say about us and when we are 60 we realize they weren't really thinking about us at all as they were too busy thinking about themselves. When I heard this, I thought about how true it is first of all, but then I also thought about the importance to forgive others too on this journey of age. One thing that many people do is to hold onto that stubbornness throughout life and then it's too late, as either the other person dies or we die without saying we are sorry. That age progression is a good marker system as to the different stages.

The combination of these ideas really got my week off to a great start and I hope it helps you whenever you read it. Remember, I'm always interested in getting a discussion going on this. Let me know anytime if you have any thoughts and ideas as to this topic.

Do You Have Adaptability?

11/6/2018

Being more adaptable is something that I think comes with age for some people, and for others it means we become less adaptable. I found another great article and it brought up this point about being adaptable, one that seems we don't talk about nearly enough. Find the artcle HERE.

One of the main points that the article hit me with right off the bat is the important fact about how crucial relationships are in life. With people of course comes the opportunity to show how flexible we are, how we are adaptable or not. Our flexibilty is described as our willingess to adapt and that it really comes down to our attitude. Staying with the idea about people, we know how difficult it can be to be adaptable. We also have to remember that since this is one of the most important skills (of many) that we can have in our lives, that automatically means that it won't be easy. Remember - things that are worthwhile, things that mean anything, usually will not come easy. There will be work involved. There will be setback. There is a need for effort to be put into these things.

Some of the pieces of being adaptable is confidence, tolerance, empathy, being positive and having a respect for others. Funny thing is, as I'm typing these words out I'm thinking about how I do these sometimes in my life, and other times I need some major help with them. Another point that comes to mind is that having the willingness to grow in these areas is also something that is needed in order to become more flexible. The world needs more of this, not less. Look at the list of those pieces - do you realize how much more power they represent if you implement them into your life? I know that I need to live more of those in my life everyday.

That empathy idea is a BIGGIE for me, heck, for anyone. It's all aout seeing things from other people's points of view. We have to walk in their shoes and that reminds me that we have to get out of our own shoes first to do that. If you could work on one thing today - try that. Try having more empathy for those that are "differrent" than we are. If we get out of our own shoes first and then step into their shoes, maybe we can not only understand them better, but we also might find that we have more adaptability in our lives. Like the picture says, either we can do the changing or the change will be done for us. :-) It's up to us.

As always - reach out to me if you want to have a discussion. These are always great topics to talk about and get more perspectives on.

6 Reasons To Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

10/29/2018

Came across an interesting article that I gave to my students for one of their weekly blog assignments. This article titled "6 Reasons To Step Outside Your Comfort Zone" - by Carolyn Gregoire had some great points to it. Find the article HERE.

Now this subject about getting out of my comfort zone has been one that I've been hearing a lot of lately. It has been a major part of my conversations with some friends of mine along with hearing the message over and over again in different podcasts too.

When we step out of our comfort zone there can be tremendous risk involved which can lead to more worries & stress. But to me, there seems to be enough of these things in our world right now and I have tried to look upon it as opportunity rather than just sitting back and letting things happen to me and I don't do anything about it. To me, taking risk to grow and get better is a good trade off compared to the misery and worry about reacting to all the stuff going on in the world.

There are new doors that open up for us when we get out of our comfort zone along with meeting new people too. We learn new things about ourselves along with picking up some new skills at times too. A little anxiety or stress can help us achieve more in our lives. The article also brings up the fact (and I agree) that we can't be getting out of our comfort zone 24 / 7. There are times where it is totally ok for us to be in our comfort zone and relaxing and unplugging for sure. That's exactly what I did this weekend and I got to say, I liked it. ;-)s No

Inspiration - We Need It More Often Than We Think

10/22/2018

It's been a long time coming... but I needed to get back to my blog page. It got me thinking about how long since I've done a post and that I need to be more active in doing more. This is from an article that I gave my students to complete their Blog #7 assignment in my classes - "21 of The Most Inspirational Quotes. Find the article HERE.

This thought - "It is always the simple that produces the marvelous", is one that I connected with this past weekend. So many simple things that I try and do with my wife, our kids and even our dog. We went out to dinner Friday night, the 4 of us - me and my wife and our two adult children. We normally don't do that too often any more due to so many different schedules, but for this time it sure was a nice treat being out with them. My wife and I also took our dog out for a walk Sunday - actually more of a run at our local middle school track. It was cold and windy, but watching him sprint back and forth across the football field a couple of times was a lot of fun. The simple things like that ALWAYS bring me a lot of peace, joy and a reminder as to what's really important.

The second one that I connected with is about making our future now! I'm working on this so that some ideas and dreams that I have can become my reality sometime soon. Amazing to think about how much time I've let go by without going after these dreams and goals. But, instead of letting this thought get me down (which I've done for so many years), I'm working on starting to make them happen now. I don't care that I'm 52 years old, I still can make things happen in my life today. Doesn't matter my age. What matters is that I start and things will change for the better soon. The key for my students is to realize just because they are young and seem to have all the time in the world - which we all know isn't really true... we don't know how much time we have. The younger we are when we start going after dreams and goals - the more time we will have with living them into reality! :-)

"Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do." - Oprah Winfrey

10/18/2018

I've pointed at this quote many times this week to my students and to remind myself too on how important it really is to put the work in now and make things easier later. It's funny that the lessons I share with students, many times I need those same lessons - and even more than my students do sometimes. Take today for example - Friday, Oct. 19, 2018 - as I write these thoughts down, I'm tired!! I know I need to stop at the gym today after work and I also know I won't feel like it at all! But I know I have to do it, for my health, for feeling better today, and even for sleeping better tonight.

I was listening to a podcast this morning from my buddy Sam Crowley - he was talking about making decisions which lead to action. Listen to his podcast episode HERE. He brought up so many great points of information that I needed to hear. One of the biggest was that inaction, not doing something is also a decision. That type of decision doesn't lead to much else other than regret, pain, the fact that the thing you didn't do is still there to be done, it causes worry and more stress too. So as I was listening to that this morning, I knew that one of my big battles today was going to be this decision that I know I need to do. You will find out about if I'm successful at this, later today when I will do a Facebook Live - catch it on my FB page HERE. If you read this after today - look for the video from 10-19-18.

What decision or choice should you make today?

It's All About The Effort

9/14/2018

"Try Your Hardest. Make The Effort. Do Your Best!" - John Wooden

I must tell you - after reading so many blog posts from my students about this quote from Coach John Wooden, I just had to get this post out. So many of their posts have been uplifting and it continues to amaze me that there are times I really need to hear (or read) a message and this has been a week that I've need them for sure. I learn more and more from my students year after year after year.

They reminded me that all of life takes effort. Things that are worthwhile, that mean a lot, are not supposed to be easy. There is supposed to be struggle - everything is not always easy. Today for example - I took my eye off the ball a little bit. Meaning, I let distractions get in the way of me getting some things done here at school and now there has to be a price paid as I will spend more of my weekend doing it. Doing my best is not easy and it's something that I know for many parts of my life, I have not done well at. But, I can do better right now. I can do better today, which will lead to a better tomorrow. I am blessed to be able to have students remind me what life is all about! :-)

Commit & Figure It Out

8/26/2018

Amazing the thoughts and ideas that come to you when you choosing to put good stuff into your head. That's a key in life I've been finding lately. I get to choose what goes into my mind, thereby choosing the items I know that will have an influence on me. John O'Leary's podcasts help me in so many ways. I first connected to his book "On Fire" and now I'm hooked on his podcasts. His latest one got me fired up about a few things - find it HERE and listen to it - It got me going and I hope it at least gets you thinking too. There are so many things I need to commit to - It's about time I do those things. How about you?

One thing that I have really seen a difference in my life is the simple fact that I'm reading more. It is amazing to hear that so many people mention that throughout their lives on the importance of reading. I am finding how much of a key it is. Try it. You might like it. It's helping me to stay focused (which I need a lot of help with) and with that I'm able to commit and focus more on the things that I need to do. Thanks for listening and checking out my podcast too - find this episode HERE. 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

Coach Rich Popp - A Difference Maker To Learn From

8/26/2018

Life is about find difference makers and learning from them. It's also and maybe more importantly a key to become one too. Coach Rich Popp was my special guest in a recent podcast - which you can check out HERE. When I sat down and spent some time with Coach, he showed me and every listener why he defines what a difference maker is all about. He is one that not only shows it in everything he does, but he helps others to learn about doing it too. He is one of the many reasons why I am looking forward to going back this school year. Sit back and pick up the clues of success that Coach shares from his long career in education and coaching. Remember, success leaves clues and it's up to us to gather those clues and use them in our lives.

One of the BIGGIES for me is the points he made on relationships - so valuable, so needed in today's world. I see this need more so every day - there will be more of my podcasts and blogs focused in on this fact. You can contact Coach Popp at: Theshorefb@gmail.com Thanks for listening. Please take a few moments to subscribe & share my shows 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