"The majority of people are ready to throw their aims and purposes overboard and give up at the first signs of opposition or misfortune. A few carry on despite all opposition until they attain their goal. Weak desires produce weak results."Napoleon Hill Author: Think and Grow Rich
At some time or another, all of us will have our resolve tested to keep going or quit. The moment of reckoning comes when your persistence and commitment to the cause are met with equal or even greater opposition.
Persistence means to go stubbornly on or resolutely, in spite of difficulties.
Almost without exception, most high achievements are the result of persistence. If showing up and waiting for success is all it took, we would all be experiencing the sweet taste of victory. We know that’s not true.
The biographies of great individuals show a common theme: how those individuals overcame adversity to realize victory and success. Think about some outstanding stories and the men and women who lived them. Now remove the hardships from their stories. How do you feel about those individuals now? Not as impressed or perhaps not even interested?
As a society, the stronger the adversity a person has seen, the higher our acknowledgment and respect for that individual. We say Wow and get encouraged, motivated, and inspired by his or her tale of persistence.
It seems there is some correlation between the level of persistence, the price paid, and the achievement. For example, Nelson Mandela spent decades in a South African prison but kept his dream of freedom alive. Walt Disney went bankrupt more than once. The best-selling Chicken Soup books were thought to be a losing idea; they were rejected by publishers more than 26 times!
So where is your persistence being tested?
I grew up on a dairy farm and later operated my own herd. In this type of operation, persistence is commonplace. During a record-cold February morning, I arrived in the barn at my usual 5:30 am to find everything frozen solid. Until pipes were thawed, no milking could be done. If you know a bit about dairy cattle, milking twice a day is not an option; it’s a necessity. I did not have time to wait till evening or the next day or until things thawed. The situation had to be dealt with then and now. I had no hot water to thaw out the pipes. None of the vehicles would start, either.
What to do?
I walked to the neighbors’ farm and carried two five-gallon buckets of hot water the few hundred yards back home. Several trips, complete exhaustion, and two hours later?success. Now I could start my three hours of morning chores. It was never a question of if, only when.
Life is constantly presenting us with obstacles and challenges to test whether we are serious about our legitimate goals, desires, dreams, or objectives. Ask anyone who has realized a significant level of success in any field and you will almost always hear a story of persistence in spite of circumstances.
For those in sales, research bears this out. On average it takes 4 to 7 contacts to make a sale. Quit after three visits and you miss over 80% of the opportunities. That’s why 20% of sales representatives earn 80% of the revenue—they are the ones willing to make calls 4, 5, 6 and 7.
This applies to everything in our life: health, relationships, investments, business ventures, and so on.
We are all familiar with the quote: "Quitters never win and winners never quit." The question is . . . where do you feel you lie on the persistence continuum? Not-at-all persistent? Fully and 100% persistent?
Apply your answer to all areas of you life. The energy you need to be persistent can come from the strategies listed in the Action Steps that follow but, in essence, your level of persistence will be equal to or less than your level of desire to achieve your objective. If you have little desire to be successful and you are not successful?whatever you define as success?why be surprised?
Think about new-born children and their learning-to-walk stage. After the first few falls, do we say, "It looks like this walking thing is not working so maybe you should crawl for the rest of your life." We would never accept that attitude from children, but every day we accept it from ourselves or others. Failure such as falling down while learning to walk is part of the human condition, but we have the power to decide whether we stay down or get back up and try again.
Persistence is a choice. At every given moment, we can either give in to the challenges or figure out a way to overcome them.
I encourage each of you to embrace the quality and character of persistence and help others do the same.
Building Persistence Action Steps
1. Determine your level of persistence on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being 100% persistent) in the following areas of your life.
a. Health and Wellness
b. Investments and Wealth Management
c. Job/Career Achievement
d. Realizing Fulfilled Relationships
e. Business Opportunities
f. Other
2. Based on your responses to question 1, what level of persistence do you have in each area of your life? What in your makeup and background has caused you to respond at those levels? Are you happy with your responses?
3. Persistence is fueled by being on purpose and having a burning desire to accomplish something. Is this true for each primary area of your life? If not, why not?
4. To be persistent, focus most on the outcome or final objective. This will encourage you to move forward and not be deterred by the current circumstances.
5. Seek encouragement—in person, on the phone, or from a book or tape—from others who have demonstrated the character of persistence.
6. Seek the additional knowledge required to realize your goals or objectives.
7. Understand that being foolish and ignorant in the quest of a goal is different than being persistent.
8. To build up your persistence habit, start with the minor and move to the major.
9. Avoid shortcuts, ignore negative people, and do not fear criticism.
10. When you fail—and you will, regroup, revisit, and revise your approach. Never, never quit when you are on purpose.
11. In the end you are responsible for your choices. After all, you will have to live with them for the rest of your life.
taken from http://www.articlesbase.com/goal-setting-articles/the-power-of-persistence-doing-whatever-it-takes-824632.html
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Change
PLAYERS AND COACHES, EVERYONE IN YOUR PROGRAM MUST BE WILLING TO CHANGE WHEN IT IS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT AND THE BETTERMENT OF THE TEAM.
This is the thing that always concerns us in our recruiting of players. We are not for every player. The solid programs will have attrition because there is a standard, a level of excellence, a desire for learning and improvement on and off the court that is demanding and is therefore character building in nature rather than a look the other way. That is probably why we have not have many transfers in our program from four year schools or junior colleges in our 30 years of head coaching. The few that we have had were outstanding kids and developed into great team players. As a coach you are constantly studying to find a new and better way to teach the game and YOU USUALLY FIND THAT THE OLD SCHOOL WAYS ARE STILL THE BEST.
The TEST OF TIME is the master teacher and is a cruel but the fairest of all teachers. You will never have a team if the the best athlete on your team is not someone willing to be molded and taught to play the game and conduct themself in the proper manner. If your leader is of suspect character, the fabric of your team will be torn apart when the first negative winds attack from outside the program. If your best athlete is a great leader, no amount of negativity will rip the team apart.
taken from http://www.coachmeyer.com/
This is the thing that always concerns us in our recruiting of players. We are not for every player. The solid programs will have attrition because there is a standard, a level of excellence, a desire for learning and improvement on and off the court that is demanding and is therefore character building in nature rather than a look the other way. That is probably why we have not have many transfers in our program from four year schools or junior colleges in our 30 years of head coaching. The few that we have had were outstanding kids and developed into great team players. As a coach you are constantly studying to find a new and better way to teach the game and YOU USUALLY FIND THAT THE OLD SCHOOL WAYS ARE STILL THE BEST.
The TEST OF TIME is the master teacher and is a cruel but the fairest of all teachers. You will never have a team if the the best athlete on your team is not someone willing to be molded and taught to play the game and conduct themself in the proper manner. If your leader is of suspect character, the fabric of your team will be torn apart when the first negative winds attack from outside the program. If your best athlete is a great leader, no amount of negativity will rip the team apart.
taken from http://www.coachmeyer.com/
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tough Enough?
YOUR TEAM IS NEVER AS TOUGH AS THEY CAN BE AND YOU CAN NEVER ASSUME
THEY ARE TOUGH ENOUGH
When looking in the dictionary you see descriptions for toughness such as: hard to break but not necessarily hard to bend, difficult to get the better of, apt to be aggressive, able to resist, etc.
When we think of toughness we immediately think of mental toughness and then physical toughness. LET ME SAY AT THE OUTSET THAT A TEAM WILL NEVER BE TOUGH WHEN THEY ARE COACHED BY A STAFF OF COACHES WHO ARE NOT. The hardest thing we have to do each day as coaches is saddle up and face the day with the attitude we want our players and team to adopt. WE CANNOT SELL THEM SOMETHING THAT WE DO NOT OWN. My most difficult task as coach is to be tougher on myself and more demanding than
I was the day before. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT WHEN YOUR PROGRAM IS WINNING GAMES. For every 100 who can handle failure, there is but one who can handle success. Winning can weaken the resolve of those who worship winning and do not plan, practice, play and coach to a higher standard. THE BEHAVIOR OF YOUR PLAYERS IN THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF FATIGUE, BAD CALLS, TURNOVERS, MISSED SHOTS, BEING OPEN AND NOT GETTING THE BALL, HARRASSMENT FROM THE OPPOSING FANS, TRASH TALK FROM OPPONENTS, AND THEIR AND THEIR TEAMMATES FAILURES AND SUCCESSES will tell you all you need to know about how well you are teaching the life long lessons of toughness.
Taken from http://www.coachmeyer.com/
THEY ARE TOUGH ENOUGH
When looking in the dictionary you see descriptions for toughness such as: hard to break but not necessarily hard to bend, difficult to get the better of, apt to be aggressive, able to resist, etc.
When we think of toughness we immediately think of mental toughness and then physical toughness. LET ME SAY AT THE OUTSET THAT A TEAM WILL NEVER BE TOUGH WHEN THEY ARE COACHED BY A STAFF OF COACHES WHO ARE NOT. The hardest thing we have to do each day as coaches is saddle up and face the day with the attitude we want our players and team to adopt. WE CANNOT SELL THEM SOMETHING THAT WE DO NOT OWN. My most difficult task as coach is to be tougher on myself and more demanding than
I was the day before. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT WHEN YOUR PROGRAM IS WINNING GAMES. For every 100 who can handle failure, there is but one who can handle success. Winning can weaken the resolve of those who worship winning and do not plan, practice, play and coach to a higher standard. THE BEHAVIOR OF YOUR PLAYERS IN THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF FATIGUE, BAD CALLS, TURNOVERS, MISSED SHOTS, BEING OPEN AND NOT GETTING THE BALL, HARRASSMENT FROM THE OPPOSING FANS, TRASH TALK FROM OPPONENTS, AND THEIR AND THEIR TEAMMATES FAILURES AND SUCCESSES will tell you all you need to know about how well you are teaching the life long lessons of toughness.
Taken from http://www.coachmeyer.com/
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
10 Important Questions
I found these 10 Important Questions on www.coachmeyer.com, NSU basketball coach Don Meyer's website. In my perspective, they not only relate to basketball, but any profession and/or leadership opportunity you wish to pursue!
10 Important Questions For Coaches
1. Why do you want to coach? Explain the driving force for wanting to be in the coaching profession.
2. Are you willing to dedicate yourself 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if necessary for your players and fellow coaches?
3. Is your family willing and able to bear the sacrifices?
4. Are you willing to lead by example in everything that you do? This will require you to live your life in a “fishbowl” with your professional and personal life always open to view.
5. Do you have the personal courage to live by your core values and make tough decisions regardless of the consequences?
6. Are you passionate about teaching and dedicated to helping others improve their lives?
7. Do you possess the knowledge, energy, and tenacity to lead your program to excellence?
8. Are you willing to take full responsibility for everything that happens, or doesn’t happen, in your program?
9. Do you understand that loyalty is a two-way street?
10. Are you entering the profession fully understanding the risks in coaching and knowing that you may be relieved of your job at any time?
-Taken from Coaching Team Basketball by Tom Crean and Ralph Pim
10 Important Questions For Coaches
1. Why do you want to coach? Explain the driving force for wanting to be in the coaching profession.
2. Are you willing to dedicate yourself 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if necessary for your players and fellow coaches?
3. Is your family willing and able to bear the sacrifices?
4. Are you willing to lead by example in everything that you do? This will require you to live your life in a “fishbowl” with your professional and personal life always open to view.
5. Do you have the personal courage to live by your core values and make tough decisions regardless of the consequences?
6. Are you passionate about teaching and dedicated to helping others improve their lives?
7. Do you possess the knowledge, energy, and tenacity to lead your program to excellence?
8. Are you willing to take full responsibility for everything that happens, or doesn’t happen, in your program?
9. Do you understand that loyalty is a two-way street?
10. Are you entering the profession fully understanding the risks in coaching and knowing that you may be relieved of your job at any time?
-Taken from Coaching Team Basketball by Tom Crean and Ralph Pim
Monday, July 20, 2009
Can Leadership Training Make Great Leaders?
Dominic Donaldson
We've all heard the old adage 'leaders are born not made', and looking at some examples of great leaders it is understandable why that train of thought is one that is still prevalent today, but how true is it? How many of the qualities that are displayed by great leaders from history are inherent and how many of them are learned through experience and leadership training?
If you examine the lives of the great leaders from history the one thing that links them all and is a key indicator to why they all were such a success is hard work. With this in mind then it could be argued that leaders aren't in fact born but they are made. Through serious hard work and understanding of whatever field they may be in they have achieved great thing. Whether this leadership training was done in a classroom or in the school of life it is clear that without it certain people in history would not have gone on to be great leaders.
Today in the world of business people are waking up to the fact that the 'leaders are born not made' way of looking at the world and the people in it is something of a myth. Yes, there will always be the ones that have what could be termed the ' factor', something that makes them stand out from the crowd but even those people, on closer inspection, have not just appeared from nowhere, they will have gone through a learning process of some description.
So today we have a greater understanding of what constitutes a great leader and how people we give this title to have achieved their goals. With this knowledge then we can study what qualities are needed to become a great leader and turn the results into something that can be studied or taught. In this respect leaders can be made. This type of leadership training acknowledges that even people who do not or have never considered themselves to be leaders can, through a change in behavior, acquire skills that enable them to go on to be leaders with some degree of success or even greatness. After all, even the greatest names from history had to learn from the people who went before them.
Presidential leadership - The American president John F Kennedy displayed all the characteristics that make up a great leader. It could be said that much of it seemed effortless, which was part of his charm, but he was a well educated person, spending some time at the London School of Economics, and also underwent a different type of leadership training during his military service in World War II. It was during this time that he would have had to learn to work in a team and hone his decision making skills, two traits that he would later become famous for.
In the face of adversity - Edmund Shakleton is regarded by many as the first classic example of great leadership. His is a strange story in that he failed in his original aim to cross the Antarctic but out of that failure he displayed great character and leadership skills to bring his entire crew home alive, something that still amazes people today.
Shakleton's leadership training was all done during his time in the Navy, but many of the things he did to bring his team home were completely new and displayed a way of thinking that would later become textbook training in schools and colleges across the world and be applied to fields ranging from the military to the world of business.
Both Kennedy and Shakleton displayed vision, passion and character, perhaps three characteristics that many people regard as things you either have or don't have. What leadership training helps to develop is a type of behavior that brings these things out in people and builds on them. This understanding of behavior can help people acquire leadership skills who may not have had them before.
taken from http://leadership.bestmanagementarticles.com
We've all heard the old adage 'leaders are born not made', and looking at some examples of great leaders it is understandable why that train of thought is one that is still prevalent today, but how true is it? How many of the qualities that are displayed by great leaders from history are inherent and how many of them are learned through experience and leadership training?
If you examine the lives of the great leaders from history the one thing that links them all and is a key indicator to why they all were such a success is hard work. With this in mind then it could be argued that leaders aren't in fact born but they are made. Through serious hard work and understanding of whatever field they may be in they have achieved great thing. Whether this leadership training was done in a classroom or in the school of life it is clear that without it certain people in history would not have gone on to be great leaders.
Today in the world of business people are waking up to the fact that the 'leaders are born not made' way of looking at the world and the people in it is something of a myth. Yes, there will always be the ones that have what could be termed the ' factor', something that makes them stand out from the crowd but even those people, on closer inspection, have not just appeared from nowhere, they will have gone through a learning process of some description.
So today we have a greater understanding of what constitutes a great leader and how people we give this title to have achieved their goals. With this knowledge then we can study what qualities are needed to become a great leader and turn the results into something that can be studied or taught. In this respect leaders can be made. This type of leadership training acknowledges that even people who do not or have never considered themselves to be leaders can, through a change in behavior, acquire skills that enable them to go on to be leaders with some degree of success or even greatness. After all, even the greatest names from history had to learn from the people who went before them.
Presidential leadership - The American president John F Kennedy displayed all the characteristics that make up a great leader. It could be said that much of it seemed effortless, which was part of his charm, but he was a well educated person, spending some time at the London School of Economics, and also underwent a different type of leadership training during his military service in World War II. It was during this time that he would have had to learn to work in a team and hone his decision making skills, two traits that he would later become famous for.
In the face of adversity - Edmund Shakleton is regarded by many as the first classic example of great leadership. His is a strange story in that he failed in his original aim to cross the Antarctic but out of that failure he displayed great character and leadership skills to bring his entire crew home alive, something that still amazes people today.
Shakleton's leadership training was all done during his time in the Navy, but many of the things he did to bring his team home were completely new and displayed a way of thinking that would later become textbook training in schools and colleges across the world and be applied to fields ranging from the military to the world of business.
Both Kennedy and Shakleton displayed vision, passion and character, perhaps three characteristics that many people regard as things you either have or don't have. What leadership training helps to develop is a type of behavior that brings these things out in people and builds on them. This understanding of behavior can help people acquire leadership skills who may not have had them before.
taken from http://leadership.bestmanagementarticles.com
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