The 10/50 Rule For Improvement

We spoke to our team today about what we call the 10/50 Rule For Improvement.  The message we want them to understand and apply now and throughout their lives is that they must control the controllables.  We want them to play to their strengths and work daily to minimize their weaknesses.  Thus, the 10/50 Rule
10--Improve the things I do well by 10%.
50--Decrease the negatives by 50%.

First, they must dig deep and self analyze. Then we left them with the following thoughts:
•There are certain things within my control.
•Everyone has the ability to reduce what they do negatively towards an outcome
•No one has to do anything incredible
•Everyone knows what they can get better at, and what they need to do less of.
•Do what we are asked to do 10% better.
•Don't let the things that keep you from doing what you need to do occupy your mind.
•Make it happen before it happens.
•It takes work, not luck.

Lessons From The Movie "The Miracle"

On Friday, we brought our team back after practice for some "film".  As they filed into the film room with their notebooks, we showed the movie, "The Miracle".  Many of our players had not seen the movie.  Listed below are some notes I made from the movie:

1. It's your time...so go take it
2. Great moments are born from great opportunity
3. The average age of the 1980 team was 21
4. "The legs feed the wolf"
5. Be prepared to go through pain
6. You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone
7. It's a family.
8. The important thing is that the 20 players know in 20 years that they left everything on the ice.
9. Don't defend them, attack them.
10. Can't be a team of common men, the common go nowhere.
11. Represent yourself and your teammates
12. It's one thing to be young and promising; it's another thing to be good.

Satchel Paige on Facing Adversity

"Never let your head hang down.

Never give up and sit down and grieve.

And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray

when the sun shines."

Brian Tracy's Thoughts On Using Lists To Plan

Plan Every Day in Advance


Your mind, your ability to think, plan and decide, is your most powerful tool for overcoming procrastination and increasing your productivity. Your ability to set your goals, plan and take action on them determines the course of your life. The very act of thinking and planning unlocks your mental powers, triggers your creativity and increases your mental and physical energies.


Your ability to plan well, in advance of beginning, is a measure of your overall competence. The better the plan you have, the easier it is for you to overcome procrastination, to get started , and then to keep going.


One of your top goals at work should be for you to get the highest possible return on your investment of mental, emotional and physical energy. The good news is that every minute spent in planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution. It only takes about ten or twelve minutes for you to plan out your day, but this small investment of time will save you at least two hours (100-120 minutes) in wasted time and diffused effort throughout the day.


When you consider how helpful planning can be in increasing your productivity and performance, it is amazing how few people practice it every single day. And planning is really quite simple to do. All you need is a piece of paper and a pen. The most sophisticated Palm Pilot, computer program or time planner is based on the same principle. It is based on you sitting down andmaking a to do list of everything you have to do before you begin.


Make Your Lists a Habit


Always work from a list. When something new comes up, add it to the list before you do it. You can increase your productivity and output by 25% or more from the first day that you begin working consistently from a list.


Make out your list the night before, at the end of the workday. Move everything that you have not yet accomplished onto your list for the coming day and then add everything that you have to do the next day. When you make out your list the evening or the night before, your subconscious mind works on your list all night long while you sleep. Often you will wake up with great ideas and insights that you can use to get your job done faster and better than you had initially thought.


The more time you take to make written lists of everything you have to do, in advance, the more effective and efficient you will be.


Types of Lists


There are different lists that you need for different purposes. First, you should create a master list on which you write down everything you can think of that you want to do some time in the future. This is the place where you capture every idea that comes to or every new task or responsibility that comes up. You can then sort out the items later.


Second, you should have a monthly list that you make up at the end of the month for the month ahead. This may contain items transferred from your master list.


Third, you should have a weekly list where you plan your entire week in advance. This is a list that is under construction as you go through the current week.


Finally, you transfer items from your monthly and weekly lists onto your daily list. These are the specific activities that you are going to accomplish that day.


As you work through the day, tick off the items on your list as you complete them. This activity gives you a visual picture of accomplishment. It generates a feeling of success and forward motion. Seeing yourself working progressively through your list motivates and energizes you. It raises your self-esteem and self-respect. Steady, visible progress propels you forward and helps you to overcome procrastination.

Passing and Receiving

Passing and Receiving Thoughts:

•If you can't pass and catch, you can't play
•Every pass is a shot, every shot is a pass
•Make a bad pass and you've taken away a shot
•Good pass= Right person, Right place, Right time

Coach Meyer Thoughts on Internal Leadership

Internal Leadership Thoughts And Components:

•Understand the importance
•You can be the greatest leader but if you don't have players who can lead internally, you will have problems.
•Warren Buffett ◦ Gave away $41 billion to Bill Gates charities because he thought Gates could do a better job.
     ◦He told Tom Osborne 3 things that he looks for when hiring:
          ■Work ethic
          ■Intelligence
          ■Character
     ◦The first two, without the last will kill you.

•Leadership emerges. You can pick captains, but you can't pick leaders.
•Nurture the kid that emerges as a leader.
•Wooden's Essentials on Internal Leadership ◦Less self, makes you selfless
     ◦Good leader praises team after a win as if he hadn't been involved with their sucess.
•Don't draw attention to yourself. Don't be like the guy who coughs just before he puts the coin in the collection plate at church.
•Can't be like the coach at the athletic banquet that said, "These boys did a nice job too."
•Do not measure youself in comparisoin to others, but rather on the quality of your efforts to improve--Wooden

Discipline & Passion Precede The Process

We spend a great deal of time teaching our team to be process vs result oriented.  However, as John Maxwell notes in his "Maxwell's Minute" that no process is strong enough to give us discipline and passion.

Discipline and Passion do not come from the process, they come from the soul.  We must go inside of ourselves to find those two words--Am I a person that wants to make a difference? In my life? In my family's life? In the lives of others?

Go inside find the answers and make the words active in our lives...Then the process will work for you.

Courage

"Courage is no more than Stubbornness

and I've got plenty of that.  It

means getting up each day and doing what

you have to, going on when

circumstances get you down,

pushing ahead when others

hold you back."

--Lamar Dodd



The Desire To Win

From the book Wooden:

"Players fifty years ago wanted to win just as much as players today. Foot soldiers a thousand years ago wanted to win the battle as much as combat troops today. Athletes today have no greater desire to win than athletes at the first Olympic games. The desire then and now is the same.

The difference is that everybody worries about it more today because of the media and the attention they give to the question of who's winning and who's losing.

Did I win? Did I lose? Those are the wrong questions. The correct question is: DID I MAKE MY BEST EFFORT? That's what matters. The rest of it just gets in the way.

In classical times, the courageous struggle for a noble
cause was considered success in itself. Sadly, that ideal has been forgotten. But it is well worth remembering.

The Desire To Win

	From the book Wooden: "Players fifty years ago wanted to win just as much as players today.  Foot soldiers a thousand years ago wanted to win the battle as much as combat troops today.  Athletes today have no greater desire to win than athletes at the first Olympic games.  The desire then and now is the same. The difference is that everybody worries about it more today because of the media and the attention they give to the question of who's winning and who's losing. Did I win?  Did I lose?  Those are the wrong questions.  The correct question is:  DID I MAKE MY BEST EFFORT?  That's what matters.  The rest of it just gets in the way. In classical times, the courageous struggle for a noble cause was considered success in itself.  Sadly, that ideal has been forgotten.  But it is well worth remembering.

Is there really VISION without COMMUNICATION??

"If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around......

Similarly, if a leader has a "Vision" but doesn't (can't) communicate, is there really a vision?



Coaching is such a great job because of all the variety that the job brings. As a coach you have the opportunity to meet and talk with so many people and learn from such different sources. I'm fortunate to talk daily with business leaders, coaches, career coaches, ministers, managers and the list goes on. It's always interesting the topics tend to be very similar in all aspects of leadership. The following are some thoughts and questions from conversations with different people at different times but you can see how they likely apply to us daily.

While discussing these thoughts and questions, there were very few answers. And each question generally leads to another.

• I believe that without communication, there is no vision.
• Nothing is gained when a leader focuses and prepares their vision, if the vision isn't communicated to the people/ team/ staff that must carry out the vision.
• A vision is only as good as its execution.
• Leaders depend on their "team" to claim and seize the vision.
• There can be no sustained effort or intentionality if the team/ players, etc are unsure or unaware of critical elements of a leader's vision.
• A vision, a dominant aspiration can't be a "secret". But we often see a lack of communication and the process needed to execute is missing because the team/ staff, etc. is unaware of details, events, etc. that are part of the vision.
• The question becomes, "Why?"
  • Why isn't essential information about "vision" not communicated?
    • Lack of preparation?
    • Lack of clarity in the process?
    • Lack of trust?
    • Lack of competence?
• Is there Vision with poor communication?
  • Does the manner of the communication of a vision affect the vision of an organiztion?
  • Does the manner/ mode of communication affect the trust, loyalty and passion of a team's process of the vision?
• When staff, players, etc. are aware of a lack of communication what should be the process of correcting the issue? Who's responsibility does communication rest with?
• Is silence acceptance?
• A vision is more than a simple statement written for a policy and procedures manual. It must have an emotional attachment to drive a team, company, etc.
• Proper communication about a Vision generates enthusiasm and brings energy.  And poor communication will drain energy.
• Without proper communication about vision--a team, staff, etc. will tend to fill in the "gaps" with what they thought...As opposed to what really "is".  Which leads to a lack of clarity and another vicious cycle begins.
• We talk with our team about "clutter".  We define clutter as anything that we think about or deal with that doesn't take us closer to our vision.  If the vision isn't communicated clearly and intentionally--then everything we do can essentially become clutter.  Because it's not taking us to our "vision".
• General MaCarthur said, "Don't give orders that can be understood, give orders that can't be misunderstood."
• Without clear communication, we are certainly in jeopardy of giving orders that can be misunderstood.
• I don't believe that, "less is more" when it involves the clarity and intentionality of a vision of a team.
• It's the trust, faith, clarity and intentionality of a vision that drives teams to greatness.

Mental Toughness Thoughts

This afternoon I was going through a notebook I have on mental toughness and came across the following.  I'm not sure where the notes stem from, just a collection of thoughts:

1. Mistake Management--you will never outperform your own self-belief system.
2. The great ones are great because of how they react to mistakes
3. Players need a mental toughness routine
4. Self-Talk is either your best friend or your worst enemy
5. What would show up if your self-talk was projected onto a big screen for all to see?
6. Law of Dominant Thought--brain/ body doesn't distinguish between do/ don't

"You Can't Fake Leadership"

Sally Jenkins wrote a fascinating article on Leaderhsip (Followership) (click on the highlighted text to read the article).  I encourage you to read the entire article.  Below are some key points I took away from her observations:

1. Leadership isn't about domination, it's about persuasion.
2. Leadership only works when people find you credible and grant you their cooperation.
3. Leadership is more than charisma and talent.
4. The study of Leadership should be on the followers, not the leader.  Therefore, the study is on "Followership".
5. Followership--Followers want four things:  (a) Integrity  (b) Confidence  (c) Decision-Making  (d) Clarity
6. What Followers Do Not Want:  (a) Irritability  (b) Moodiness  (c) Untrustworthiness  (d) Indecisiveness  (e) Needless Micromanagement  (f) Excessive Authority--Followers see these things as incompetent.
7. Leadership study of the number of flight errors of a crew correlated to the personality of the captain.
8. Crews led by captains perceived as agreeable, self-confident and emotionally reliable made the fewest errors.
9. Crews with captains considered arrogant, hostile, passive-aggressive or dictatorial made the most errors.
10. Leaders lose their teams when the followers withdraw their consent to be led.
11. Red Auerbach--"You don't motivate teams, you motivate players, one by one, by building relationships."
12. A leader is worth nothing without voluntary commitment, because the followers are actually more in charge of the outcome.
13. Ever aspiring leader should ask, "Would people choose to follow me?"

Organizational Secrets of the New England Patriots

•Respect opponents. Do not undermine your competition.
•It's leadership..not luck.
•Humble ownership. Top management sets the right direction.
•Consummate leadership is the key.
•Coachable players and staff.
•Look for overlooked talent.
•Focus on value; performance.
•Expectations. Past performance is no guarantee for future results.
•Everyone is a coach. Every member of an organization needs to take a lead.
•Being competitive is not a bad thing.
•The best marketing is a good product.


--Taken from James Lavin's book Management Secrets of the New England Patriots

Jeff Goins On 5 Ways To Connect

Jeff Goins on connecting and networking...Here's how to begin:

1. Quit hiding behind your work. Schedule some time in your day, week, or month for socializing. This is an investment.
2. Use social media as the means to an end, not the end itself. Reach out to people on Twitter and Facebook and ask to meet tem in person.
3. Take a stranger out to lunch or coffee... and pick up the bill.
4. Sign up for meetups, mixers, and conferences.
5. Start doing favors for people without expecting anything in return.

Strongholds That Keep Us From What We Want

Strongholds are the things that keep us from what we want.  Dr. Kevin Elko lists three Strongholds that hold us back in our lives.

3 Strongholds In Our Lives:

1. COMFORT--we always want to be comfortable.  Can't get what I want because there's discomfort out there.
2. APPROVAL--want everyone to like me.
3. NEED TO BE RIGHT--This will keep you from Peace & Happiness.  It's fighting because they're "right".  We must let go of the need to be right.  Pick your battles--big enough to fight and small enough to win.  If there's nothing to be gained, then there's no reason to fight.  Don't get sucked into another's need to simply be right.  If I win the argument, what did I win?  We all know people that challenge you to go nowhere.  Keep your focus to being a blessing to others instead of simply trying to be right.

Key To Coaching

Coaching is an art not a science. The key is finding a different way to reach every kid on our roster.

We are teaching kids how to play basketball and how to live their life. We're not coaching basketball, we're coaching kids.

Great Advice From Coach Gene Stallings

I have been fortunate to hear Coach Stallings speak several times.  While at one of his events he signed his book and said that this was the best advice he could offer to any coach.

John Maxwell's Thoughts On Results

In our Game Day Team Meeting we shared John Maxwell's, "Minute with Maxwell" and his thoughts on results.  We talked about Results from the perspective of our Process.

"Amazing that some people are surprised that

they aren't getting some positive return

out of their laziness..."

A few thoughts that we shared from Maxwell to the team:

1. Work Hard & Work Smart
2. Make a list of the things you want to see accomplished at the end of the game, the results you would like to experience.
3. What will you INTENTIONALLY do tonight that will give the results you desire to the at the end of the game.