Lessons Learned This Week 10-29-10

Lesson Learned This Week 10-29-10

Reviewing my notes for the week here are ten things that stood out to me:
1. Difference between Energy level and Intensity level
2. Can’t let a fear of knowledge hold you back.
3. Evidence based training and teaching vs. Fad training and teaching
4. It’s not always about the grade, it’s the learning process.
5. A quiet head sees opportunity.
6. Let go of my right to never be offended.
7. Can never own success, you can only rent it and the rent is due daily.
8. Teach self, family and team how to deal with adversity.
9. Success is earned 1 step, 1 day, 1 decision.
10. It’s not what I know, it’s what I do with what I know.

Objectives For Guard Play

Objectives For Guard Play

1. Create space on offense
2. North and South (no bellying out)
3. Body on body
4. Must be smart to be a guard
5. Focus on fundamentals, you’re not going to be great without them
6. Develop a “go to” move—have a hot spot
7. Between the legs is better than the crossover because the ball isn’t exposed to the defense.

Bear Bryant On Dealing With Adversity

Bear Bryant On Dealing With Adversity

1. “You know what I think? I think we should blow it up and start over. The wrong people have been runnin’ the joint for too long. Let’s just torch the barn and kill the rats.”

2. I don’t think it’s so much that you coach football as you coach people. You just have to have a way with folks.

3. In a crisis, don’t hide behind anything or anybody. They’re going to find you anyway.

4. In life, you’ll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it.

5. You never know how a horse will plow until you hook him to a heavy load.

6. Sacrifice. Work. Self-Discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don’t forget them when they leave.

7. The first time you quit, it’s hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you don’t even have to think about it.

8. When you make a mistake, admit it, learn from it and don’t repeat it.

20 Characteristics of Good Point Guards

20 Characteristics Of Good Point Guards:

1. Outwork everybody.
2. Believe in themselves
3. No weak skill levels
4. Think pass, see the play and can score
5. First step is to defensive basket
6. Be a pest
7. Dribble north and south, not east and west
8. Get feet in the lane under control
9. Accept the challenge personally when pressed
10. Give teammates confidence
11. Makes those around them better
12. Always knows time and situation
13. Extension of the coach
14. Best communicator
15. Good FT shooter
16. Poised
17. Wants the ball at the end of games
18. Physically strong
19. Mentally strong
20. Skillfully strong

Leadership Lessons From Hannibal Crossing The Alps

Leadership Lessons From, “Hannibal Crossing The Alps” by John Prevas

1. Anyone who accomplishes something great, something unique, whether in business or in politics, often does so by defying the conventional thinking of his time.

2. Even though more than two thousand years have passed since Hannibal crossed those Alps, the elements of what it takes to be a successful leader have not changed. They are simple and obvious:

a. Motivating those who follow you to share your vision;
b. Inspiring through example;
c. A sense of duty and responsibility to those who trust and depend on you
d. The capacity to see a problem and the skill to fix it;
e. Developing and maintaining a proper perspective on yourself in the face of success or adversity;
f. Setting and achieving goals
g. Understanding people’s limits and knowing when to drive hard and when to ease up on both subordinates and competitors.

Defensive Checklist

DEFENSIVE CHECKLIST

Are we giving up easy shots? If so, how?
1. Poor blockout
2. Poor weakside help
3. Poor on ball defense (giving up the drive)
4. Fouling

Are we pressuring ball movement?
1. Where is the point of pickup?
a. How far out can our guards get theirs?
2. How well do we pressure the ball?
a. Do we have the quickness?
3. Are we contesting the pass?
a. Hand in the passing lane?
4. Are we distorting the offense?
5. Post defense
6. Ball position
a. Force ball to sideline or baseline
b. Don’t let the ball penetrate
c. Keep ball on a side
7. Help
8. Percentage opponents are shooting
9. How many second shots are we giving up?

Keys To Defending The Dribble

Keys To Defending Dribble:

1. Nose in chest
2. Stay in stance
3. Short steps, don’t cross feet
4. Level off dribble, no direct penetration

Reasons You Come Out Of The Game

Reasons You Are Taken Out Of The Game

How many times have you had players ask, "Why did I come out?" or say, "I was afraid you would take me out?" Or my favorite, "The coach took me out for one mistake."
The list goes on and on. We are up front about why and when we substitute. Here are our guidelines:

1. Multiple Mistakes

2. Loaf/ Lack of effort

3. Poor Attitude

4. Sulk, Pout, Pity Party

5. Normal Rotation (rest)

6. Match-Up

Thoughts on Taking Action From Starbucks

I don't drink coffee but I picked up some great thoughts on taking action and leading from the book, "It's Not About The Coffee" by Howard Behar, the President of Starbucks International.

Take Action—Think Like a Person of Action and Act Like a Person of Action

• Create a culture of big goals, independent thinking and passionate caring for one another and the people you serve.
• Everything that works takes persistence.
• Things that get done are performed by people who possess that level of commitment.
• “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”—William James
• On Performance—“…an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises—but only performance is reality…Only performance is reality…only performance will give you the freedom to grow yourself”—Harold Geneen
• Passion, Purpose and Persistence are necessary to succeed
• Get the one person—one believer, doer, early adopter—who is willing to take on the challenge and stick with it and over time, perhaps sooner rather than later, others will come on board to join the cause.
• Keep going, keep taking action.
• Balance action with patience.
• Taking actions isn’t blind pursuit.
• Wise action means, we’re guided by all our principles. We need to test and question ourselves. We can be sure that we’re on the right track when our actions are guided by our principles. Wise action requires that we listen to the truth as we pursue our passion.
• Paradox: nothing happens unless you do something, yet whatever you do needs to be thoughtfully considered.
• Enter the struggle, thoughtfully.
• Motto: “Think like a person of action, and act like a person of thought.”
• Principles of Personal Leadership—caring, listening for the truth, being accountable—all require consistent action balanced with thought and feeling.
• Without action there is no life.
• You can’t get results, you can’t experience your potential, if you don’t take action.

The Power of a Leader

The Power of a Leader

True leaders are not those who strive to be first, but those who are first to strive and who give their all for the success of the team.

True leaders are first to see then need, envision the plan and empower the team for action.

By the strength of the leader’s commitment, the power of the team is unleashed.

Importance of Practice and Game Carryover

De La Salle Football—on practice preparation

“It’s a game of technique, repetition and getting it right in practice before you run it in a game. Discipline. The game is played aggressively, it’s hard and it’s tough.”

“You’re going to play just how you practice. You’re not some comic book hero who’s going to put on a cape on game day and go out there and star. It doesn’t work that way. You watch way too much TV if you believe that."

Lessons Learned 10/22/10

1. Structure drives function.
2. Talent + Culture= Performance
3. Best predictor of future is the past
4. Team has to be great at practicing the right things
5. Teach the HOW more than the WHAT
6. Engage & Communicate. Engage—occupy the attention or efforts of; to attract & hold fast Communicate—to impart knowledge of; to give or interchange thoughts
7. It’s not sacrificing, it’s investing.
8. Human nature is to simply survive. Takes more to be above average. Perseverance.
9. Intangibles=who you are and how you go about what you do.
10. Each of us has to understand who we are and what’s important to us.

On The Ball Defense Teaching Progression

On Ball Teaching Progression:

• First thing to practice is no middle.
• Then, contesting shots
• Then, defend shotfake.
• Then, blockout

6 Musts For Championship Defense

SIX MUST HAVES FOR CHAMPIONSHIP DEFENSE:

1. Communication—6 reasons why
a. Talk intimidates.
b. Gives defense a head start.
c. Gives the man on the ball more confidence.
d. You can make up for a disengaged defender.
e. Catches the mistake before it happens.
f. Energize your team—Productive loud.
2. Trust—Teams that don’t trust foul more.
3. Positioning
4. Awareness
5. Alertness
6. Multiple effort mind-set.

Analyzing Our Defense

ANALYZING OUR DEFENSE
1. One on One Defense
a. Focus on our player’s ability to fight through
i. An off ball screen
ii. An on ball screen
iii. Closeouts
iv. Shot pressure
v. Ball pressure
vi. Coverdowns
vii. Blockouts
2. Post Defense
3. Vision
4. Opponents Scoring Sequence
a. How are they scoring on us?
i. Transition
ii. Put backs
iii. Vs a set defense
iv. Out of Bounds
v. FT’s
5. Penetration
a. Where does penetration occur?
b. How did they generate the penetration?

How Great Teams Are Built

How Great Teams Are Built

• First, it’s about all members trusting one another to do their fair share of the lifting, but in their own unique ways.
• They asked for input and assistance from co-workers.
• They have help as requested, even when a job was outside their duties.
• They compromised when necessary.
• They took ownership of their mistakes.
• They took thoughtful risks.
• They refrained from talking about absent team members.
• They responded promptly to team member requests for more information.
• They proactively shared information that might be valuable to tam members.
From “The Orange Revolution” by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton

Lance Armstrong Innermost Strength

There's a point in every game (practice) where a player encounters his real opponent and understands it's himself.

In my most painful moments, I am my most curious and wonder each time how I will respond.

Will I discover my innermost weakness, or will I seek out my innermost strength?

7 Step Action Plan To Achievement

Achievement—Goal Setting

Obsessional, burning desire necessary for achievement is found in combining as many as possible of the following:

1. Know what you want
2. Know what you need to get what you want
3. Know what the best thing is to use to get what you want
4. Know what your purpose is
5. Know what your motive is
6. Know what motives will be satisfied
7. Know what benefits will be received when you get it

5 Actions To Take Responsibility

5 Actions To Take Responsibility

1. Do the next right thing right
2. NBA—Next Best Action
3. WIN—What’s Important Now?
4. Not Why Me? Instead, What Now?
5. See A Need & Fill A Need

10 Lessons Learned This Week #2

1. Life will jar us when we aren't growing.

2. People like labels for problems.

3. Start with a vision, then goals to reach that vision.

4. There's a difference between selfish and self-absorbed.

5. Become teammates and learn about each other.

6. Be solid, sound and simple.

7. The more emphatic you are talking, the more confident you are in making a play.

8. You always have a chance when you have a system of play.

9. Know what you have to do to be effective and help the people around you.

10. Wherever you are, you were put there by God. Location, location, location. That's your sphere of influence.

The Leader In You--Building A Team

The Art of Building Successful Teams

There is an art to building successful teams and even a great coach can mold a winner overnight. But anyone who expects to be a leader in the years to come had better master a few basic coaching techniques. They are as necessary in the business world as the as they are on the basketball court.

1. Create a shared sense of purpose.
2. Make the goals, team goals.
3. Treat people like the individuals they are.
4. Make each member responsible for the team product.
5. Share the glory, accept the blame.
6. Take every opportunity to build confidence on the team.
7. Be involved, stay involved.
8. Be a mentor.

--From the book, “The Leader In You” by Dale Carnegie

Bill Parcells On Building & Turning A Program Around

Bill Parcells On Building A Championship Program

“The first thing you have to do to turn around a team is to envision the process. Envision the process and do it as fast as you can because patience isn’t a virtue in this business. You’ve got to know what you want your team to look like. I’ve had championship teams. I know what they look like, act like, behave like. I know the price they pay and I know how they conduct themselves and go about trying to accomplish these tasks.”

3 Fights That Team Has To Fight Daily

Three Fights That A Team Has To Fight Every Day

1. Division from within (team chemistry, unhappiness regarding roles).
2. Competition (your opponents).
3. Outside influences (parents, press, peers).
--Bill Parcells

Curt Schilling--Learning From The Best- Adapt vs Adopt

Curt Schilling—Learning From The Best—Adapt vs Adopt

To get the most from his pitching ability, former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling took the best of what he saw from other pitchers and tried to incorporate those elements that made sense for his game:

“I didn’t throw any harder than anyone else who played in the league. Id didn’t have a better curve ball or slider. What I did was go around and examine the best from current and past stars from Gibson to Maddox from Palmer to Sutton. I found how the best in the world did it. I took bits and pieces of each one and assembled that into my game plan. It was unique to me, but I didn’t try to reinvent the wheel.”

Brad Stevens 6 Principles That Make Up Their Defensive DNA

Brad Stevens 6 Defensive Principles That Make Up Butler’s Defensive DNA
1. Commitment
2. Positioning
3. Prioritization
4. Awareness
5. Execution/ Technique
6. Completion

Goal Setting From The Orange Revolution

I'm currently reading "The Orange Revolution". I was fortunate enough to receive the book from Michael Hyatt, the publisher of Thomas Nelson Books.

The writers researched high performing teams and why they were able to perform at the high level. Below are a few thoughts from the book on goal setting:

Top performing teams begin the process of identifying mutually beneficial goals by asking themselves, “What can I be world class at?” Having defined a place where they can add the most value, they compare each goal against team and company objectives by asking questions like these:

1. Does this goal play to our team strengths? (And can we realistically accomplish it?)
2. Does it benefit our team, customers, or company? (Does it support what matters most around here?)
3. Are we accountable for a result? (Do we have a deadline?)
4. Is it in line with our team or company values? (Would we be proud if our goal was written up on the front page of the company newsletter?)
The writers of the book observed that after undergoing this process, individuals and teams often discover that the activities which have the most impact and are most fulfilling are not part of their defined daily tasks.

The ancient Greeks understood the importance of aligning your personal competencies with team goals. They called the ability to give your best in the area where you have the best to give eudaimonia.
Each person needs to know, understand and focus on these goals.
However, when individual goals and team goals don’t align, demise is swift. When clear goals aren’t understood by all team members, dysfunction ensues.

Bill Parcells On What Sets The Disciplined Apart

1. The capacity to get past distractions.
2. The willingness to condition mind and body for the task at hand.
3. The ability to keep your poise when those around you are losing theirs.

The Inverted Triangle of Leadership

Paul J. Meyer uses the above illustration to discuss the two views of leadership. The "traditional view" and "Servant Leadership". We work to teach and demonstrate servant leadership with our staff and team.

Some leaders step forward, rise to the occasion and make things happen. They take responsibility and finds answers, but what is their role?
In most environments, the organization is shaped like a pyramid, with upper-level executives at the top and everyone else at the bottom.
The boss who refuses to listen to anyone’s advice is a perfect bad example. Sadly, this is what often happens when leaders mentally put themselves at the top of the pyramid. This breeds nothing but trouble.
Since the real role of a leader is that of a servant, this means that the pyramid should be “inverted”.
People should be put on top and leaders should be put at the bottom. From this position, leaders are able to push their knowledge and expertise up the organization rather than letting it trickle down. They make things happen, they take responsibility and they do everything that seasoned leaders do…all with the understanding that their role is that of a servant.
When you turn it upside down, each element of the inverted pyramid is free to lead itself. Rather than having the head coach provide leadership from the top of the pyramid, the team provides leadership from all levels.
Questions for leaders:
1. Will I rise to the occasion and lead?
2. Will I take responsibility?
3. Will I do what it takes to accomplish a give task?
4. Will I serve others?

How To Increase Your Value

How To Increase Your Value

The quality of your work, in the long run, is the deciding factor on how much your services are valued by the world.

When you finish a thing you ought to be able to say to yourself: “There, I am willing to stand for that piece of work. It is not pretty well done; it is done as well as I can do it; done to a complete finish. I will stand for that. I am willing to be judged by it.”

Never be satisfied with “fairly good,” “pretty good,” “good enough,. Accept nothing short of your best. Your reputation is at stake in everything you do and your reputation is your capital. Every bit of your work, no matter how unimportant or trivial it may seem, should bear your trademark of excellence.

There is nothing like being enamored of accuracy, being grounded in thoroughness as a life-principle, of always striving for excellence.

John D. Rockefeller said,” the secret of success is to do the common duty uncommonly well.” The majority of people do not see that the steps which lead to the position above them are constructed, little by little, by the faithful performance of the common, humble, everyday duties of the position they are no filling. The thing which you are now doing will unlock or bar the door to promotion.

--Orison Swett Marden, Founder of Success Magazine
Taken from Og Mandino’s University of Success

Lessons Learned This Week

Looking back on my notes from the week, I came up with 10 Lessons That I Learned and wanted to share:

Lessons Learned From This Week:

1. Preparation is both mental and physical.
2. Never take generosity for granted.
3. Appreciate hard work and effort.
4. Be someone that makes everyone around them better.
5. Ownership—you can’t sell what you don’t own.
6. Stamina=long periods of concentration.
7. Human nature is to want the easy way out.
8. Always work with a purpose in mind.
9. No excuses. We need results.
10. “Prove it everyday.”

The Law Of Attraction

• It’s called the “Law Of Attraction”
o It says that the more we focus on something, the more we think about something, the more it shows up in our lives.
 For instance, every time you buy a new car you start seeing it everywhere on the road.
o Thoughts are magnetic. What we think about, we attract. What we think about expands and grows. What we put our energy and attention on starts to show up more in our life. And the energy we project through our thoughts is the energy we receive.
o It’s important that you spend your time thinking about what you do want rather than what you don’t want. You’ve got to focus.
 Do you know people who all they do is complain? They focus on what they don’t’ want, don’t like and don’t have.
 If you’re complaining you cant be thinking about or creating what you do want.

Ray Lewis--Match My Intensity

Thoughts From Butler Head Coach Brad Stevens

Thoughts From Brad Stevens:

1. Understand and believe in greater good.
2. Thad Matta told him to think like a head coach every day, even when he was the director of operations.
3. Learn, Watch, Listen
4. Take lots of time planning practice
5. Doesn’t talk about goals, instead talks about the process.
6. As a head coach, just be yourself.
7. Be authentic.
8. “Soar with your strengths.”
9. Believes in short precise workouts. “Deep practice philosophy”
10. Teach them specific things that are applicable for success on the floor.
11. Come up with new challenges daily, get them to try to achieve something.
12. Every player, every practice has to get up 100 shots in practice, this doesn’t include pre or post practice.

Jim Larranaga's Seven Basics To Zone Attack

Jim Larranaga’s Seven Basics To Zone Attack

1. Beat it down the floor
2. Good ball/ man movement
3. Screening
4. Create Penetration/ passing, driving, cutting
5. Attack Inside, then Outside
6. Get to FT line
7. Get to Offensive Boards

Goal Setting--Being Specific

Thoughts from H.A. Dorfman on goal setting:

Setting goals is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving them, and then staying with that plan.
--Tom Landry, Hall of Fame Football Coach

The value of goal setting has been established by research and by elite athletes’ anecdotal reports. Studies and athletes reveal that specific goals direct their attention and provoke them to physically act on this focus.

In addition, goals help to sustain their efforts and enable them to evaluate themselves on a regular basis.

Players who tend to use “I’ll just do my best” as a goal fail to commit themselves to a real challenge. The goal is too high in subjectivity and too low in responsibility. If is often stated in an off-handed manner.

Self-pronounced team players have said their only goal is to help their team win. It is a pleasing lyric perhaps, but the tune cannot be carried. An athlete must first know how to help himself. Being a winning player requires specific individual achievement. An athlete should set individual goals that will address his needs, as he strives to accomplish what will benefit him, thereby helping the team win.

Simplicity & Execution

SIMPLICITY & EXECUTION

Pete Newell described two groups of coaches: those who believe in simplicity and execution and those who believe in surprise and change. Obviously, he and I are part of the simplicity and execution group.
--Bob Knight

Simplicity and execution: the one strikes at the heart of how something is most effectively done, the other at the repetition required to get it done.

Simplicity says , “Less is more.” It allow athletes to have a sense that there are specific techniques and strategies that are basic for their success—the success of the team. They gain confidence because of their familiarity and consistency of purpose.

Simplicity demands execution.

The coach who uses complex strategies and trickery cannot expect his athletes to execute them with any consistency, because, by nature of definition, they are not easy or familiar. The opponents may be initially fooled by the deception but relieved to see that the surprise was wrapped in poor execution.

Simplicity says, “I will eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary can be perfectly expressed.”

The greatest truths are the simplest.

The desire to be clever sometimes overwhelms the understanding of how to be effective. Ralph Waldo Emerson had it right. “To be simple, is to be great.”

Booksneeze

Excited about the opportunity to work with Booksneeze.

How To Give Your Dreams A Chance To Come True

“How To Give Your Dreams A Chance To Come True”
1. Your only limitations are those you set up in your own mind, or permit others to set up for you.
2. “I can”
3. The gap between what a man thinks he can achieve and what is actually possible to him is very, very small. But first he must believe.
4. There are no areas of life which are immune to the combination of faith and effort.
5. You never know what you can accomplish until you try.
6. Give things a chance to happen.
7. It’s always the person who has never made $10,000/ year who knows all the reasons why you can’t make $50,000 per year.

--Rich Devos, Amway President, Owner of Orlando Magic