Arete--Skill & Competence & 10 Keys To Excellence

If you have ever been around Coach Meyer or a Lipscomb basketball camp, you have seen and heard the word "Arete".

As we continually work to define our culture (What's Us/ What's Not Us) we used the following today as our Team Devotional.

The devotional comes from John Maxwell's Leadership Bible.

The text is from Psalm 78:72--"...and David guided them with the integrity of heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands."

As a verse, the message jumped out at me both personally and as a coach.  Skill and the Heart must go together.  Without both, there is no way to pursue of commit to excellence in our "mind, body and soul" as the Greeks used the word Arete.

Maxwell says that David's leadership succeeded through a two sided coin: his hands and his heart.  We must all have that combination.  To have one without the other, Maxwell asserts leads to failure.

Maxwell discusses Skill and Competence and the 10 Keys To Excellence
1.  First value excellence
2.  Do not settle for average
3.  Pay attention to detail
4.  Remain committed to what really matters
5.  Show genuine respect for others
6.  Go the second mile
7.  Demonstrate consistency
8.  Never stop improving
9.  Always give 100%
10.  Make excellence a lifestyle

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.

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.

The Mirror Principle--Leading Yourself

Learning to lead yourself is one of the most important things you will ever do as a leader.
Leading yourself means that you hold yourself to a higher standard of accountability than others do.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR
The "Mirror Principle"--The first person we must examine ourselves. If we don't look at ourselves realistically, you will never understand where your personal difficulties are coming from.

Most people use two different sets of criteria for judging themselves and judging others. We tend to judge others according to their actions. It's very cut-and-dried. However, we judge ourselves by our intentions. Even if we do the wrong thing, we let ourselves off the hook if we believe our intentions are good. That's part of the reason we allow ourselves to make the same mistakes over and over again before we are willing to make real changes.

KEYS TO LEADING YOURSELF
1. Learn Followership--learn to obey. Only a leader who has followed well knows how to lead others.
2. Develop Self-Discipline--It's said one day, thta Frederick the Great of Prussia was walking on the outskirts of Berlin when he encountered an old man walking down the street in the opposite direction.
"Who are you?" Frederick asked the old man.
"I am a king", replied the old man.
"A king!" laughed Frederick. "Over what kingdom do you reign?"
"Over myself," was the proud man's reply.

Each of us is a monarch over our own lives. We are responsible for ruling out actions and decisions.

3. Practice Patience
Leadership isn't to cross the finish the finish line first; it's to take people across the finish line with you.

TAKE ACTION:
In which of the 3 preceding areas--followership, self-discipline, or patience--do you most need to grow? What new taks or practice could yo take on to develop in that area? Give yourself a conrete goal and a deadline.

4. SEEK ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability isn't just the willingness to explain your actions to others. It begins ling before we act. It starts with seeking and acccepting advice from others.

A HIGHER STANDARD
Leading yourself means that you hold yourself to a higher standard of accountability than others do.
Leadership is a trust, not a right. For that reason, you must "fix" yourself earlier than others may be required to.

Thomas Watson--"Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself."

What leaders do day-to-day always pays off in the long run. Success or failure isn't an event, but a process.

Leadership & Discernment

"Smart leaders believe only half of what they hear. Discerning leaders know which half to believe."

Discernment=The ability to find the root of the matter, it relies on intuition as well as rational thought.

"Nothing in life is to be feared, only to be understood."

Discernment enables a leader to see a partial picture, fill in the missing pieces intuitively, and find the real heart of the matter.

The closer a leader is to his area of gifting, the stronger his intuition and ability to see root causes. If you want to tap into your discernment potential, work in your areas of strength.

"Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that it's enough."

Dependability

DEPENDABLE
Being a Team’s Go-To player
You know it when you have people on your team whom you cannot depend. Everyone on the team knows it. Likewise, you know the ones you can depend on.

The Essence of Dependability:
1. Pure Motives
2. Responsibility
3. Sound Thinking
4. Consistent Contribution

If you can’t depend on teammates all the time, then you can’t really depend on them any of the time. Consistency takes more than talent. It takes a depth of character that enables people to follow through—no matter how tired, distracted or overwhelmed they are.

“It’s not enough to do our best; sometimes we have to do what is required.”—Winston Churchill

Taken from John Maxwell's, "The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player"

What Gives The Person The Right To Lead

WHAT GIVES A MAN OR WOMAN THE RIGHT TO LEAD?

It certainly isn't gained by election or appointment. Having position, title, rank, or degrees doesn't qualify anyone to lead other people. And the ability doesn't come automatically from age or experience either. No, it would be accurate to say that no one can be given the right to lead. The right to lead can only be earned. And that takes time.
You can pick captains but you can’t pick leaders.
Leadership emerges.

John Maxwell's Formula For Planning

Formula For Planning

1. Predetermine A Course of Action--just as we use roadsigns and markers--VISION
2. Lay Out Your Goals--
3. Adjust Your Priorities--well defined goals quickly expose activities that are hindering progress toward certain objectives
4. Head Into Action--don't wait, get going
5. Expect Problems--no plan eliminates all problems, expect adversity.
6. Daily Review Your Planning--quick review helps us plan ahead.

People Who Make Things Happen

People Who Make Things Happen:

1. Are driven for a cause
2. Do not have an easy path
3. Think outside the box
4. Do more than is required
5. Give directions and cast vision
6. Make Things Happen!!

Thinking Precedes Achievement

Thinking precedes achievement. People don't repeatedly stumble into achievement and then figure it out afterward.

The greater your thinking, the greater your potential. The people with the greatest value in an organization are the people with ideas. Ideas are the foundation of everything we build.

People who do not develop and practice good thinking often find themselves at the mercy of their circumstances. Good thinkers always overcome difficulties.

James Allen said, "All that a man achieves or fails to achieve is the direct result of his thoughts."
Therefore, we should think on things that add value to ourselves and others.

We are making an effort to work with our team to become not just quicker physically, but quicker mentally. We want them to think and understand they why and how we are doing things.

The Five Enemies of Perseverance

From John Maxwell’s Talent Is Never Enough

The Five Enemies of Perseverance

1. A Lifestyle of Giving Up
a. If you desire to be successful and to maximize your talent, you need to be consistent and persistent.
b. Talent without perseverance never comes to full fruition.
2. A Wrong Belief That Life Should Be Easy
3. A Wrong Belief That Success Is A Destination
a. Pat Riley—“Complacency is the last hurdle any winner, any team must overcome before attaining potential greatness. Complacency is the success disease: it takes root when you’re feeling good about who you are and what you’ve achieved.”
4. A Lack of Resiliency
a. Jerry West—“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days you feel good.”
5. A Lack of Vision

John Maxwell On Choices and Talent

From John Maxwell’s Talent Is Never Enough

People who neglect to make the right choices to release and maximize their talents continually underperform. Their talent allows them to stand out, but their wrong choices make them sit down.
Anyone can make choices that adds to talent.

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork
By John C. Maxwell

THE PRICE OF TEAMWORK

SACRIFICE
There can be no success without sacrifice. James Allen observed. “He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much.”

TIME COMMITMENT
Teamwork does not come cheaply. It costs you time—that means you pay for it with your life. Teamwork can’t be developed in microwave time. Teams grow in a Crock-Pot environment

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Your team will reach its potential only if you reach your potential. That means today’s ability is not enough. Or to put it the way leadership expert Max DePree did: “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” That is why UCLA’s John Wooden, the greatest college basketball coach of all time, said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

UNSELFISHNESS
If a team is to reach its potential, its players must put the team’s agenda ahead of their own. And if you give your best to the team, it will return more to you than you give, and together you will achieve more than you can on our own.

A Leader's Greatest Things

A LEADER’S GREATEST THINGS
John Maxwell

John Maxwell put together a subjective list of a leader’s “greatest things.” These are a great way to do a self-assessment as a leader.

1. A Leader’s Greatest Liability: INSECURITY
Wayne Schmidt said, “no amount of personal competency compensates for personal insecurity. In other words, no matter how confident you are, your competence can never outweigh and overcome your insecurity.
Maxwell feels that the greatest lid on a leader’s ability is insecurity. Insecure leaders are always positioning themselves to look good in the eyes of others.

2. A Leader’s Greatest Motivation: A CHALLENGE
Maxwell was recently asked how he spots a leader. He said, once you understand what to look for, it’s not very complicated. Leaders love challenges. Leaders want uncertainty. They love being on the edge where they don’t know if they are going to make or break it. They love not knowing how these things are going to end up, but one thing is for sure: Good leaders bet on themselves. They will take the potential reward even though it could end up being a potential loss.

3. A Leader’s Greatest Return: DEVELOPING PEOPLE
What does developing people mean? That you value them. That you commit time to them. That you mentor them. That you equip them and that you empower them.

4. A Leader’s Greatest Prayer: WISDOM
Maxwell said he prays for wisdom more than anything else. Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Skill is knowing how to do it. Virtue is doing it. Dr. William Mayo said, “When knowledge is translated into proper action, we speak of it as wisdom.”

5. A Leader’s Greatest Recognition: RESPECT
The highest level of leadership results in respect. Respect is not a personal right. “Everyone has the right to speak, but you have to earn the right to be heard.” Respect is usually gained on difficult ground.

Good Thinking--Ideas From John Maxwell

GOOD THINKING—Ideas from John Maxwell

1. Flip Darr, a former collegiate swimming coach who played a part in training eight Olympic medalists said that he felt if he would work on their heads, their bodies would come along. A lot of coaches work on their bodies and then at the last moment try to do their heads. The thing is, if they are working with their heads all the time, and working with their head over the body, mind over matter, they will have more confidence.

2. Mental is to Physical as 4 is to 1.

3. Must be an overall commitment to thinking.

4. Everything begins with a thought—every great invention, technique, conversation, and every bit of growth starts in someone’s head.

5. What we think determines who we are and who we are determines what we do. What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to accomplish in your life and career? Are your thoughts paving the way for you to achieve those goals or are they getting in the way?

6. Our thoughts determine our destiny, and our destiny determines our legacy. You are today where your thoughts have brought you, and you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

7. People who go to the top think differently than others. Nothing limits achievement like small thinking, and nothing expands possibilities like unleashed thinking.

8. We can change the way we think. The ability to think well isn’t just an asset, it’s a necessity.

Four Truths About Discipline

Four Truths About Discipline:

1. Discipline Comes With A Price Tag

Discipline is costly. It demands a continual investment of time, energy and commitment at the expense of momentary pleasure and ease. It meas giving up short term benefits for the hope of future gain. It means pressing on to excellence long after everyone else has settled for average.

2. Discipline Turns Talent To Greatness

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow shared insight when he wrote:

The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night.

3. Discipline Focuses On Choices, Not Conditions

In general, people approach daily discipline in one of two ways. They focus on the external or the internal. Those who focus externally allow conditions to dictate whether or not they remain disciplined. Because conditions are transitory, their discipline level changes like the wind.

In contrast, people with internal discipline focus on choices. You cannot control circumstances, nor can you control others. By focusing on your choices, and making the right ones regularly, you stay disciplined.

4. Discipline Does Not Bow Down To Feelings

As Arthur Gordon said, "Nothing is easier than saying words. Nothing is harder than living them, day after day. What you promise today must be renewed and redecided tomorrow and each day that stretches out before you."

If you do what you should only when you really feel like it, then you won't build disciplined habits. At times, you have to act contrary to emotions. If you refuse to give into your lesser impulses, no matter how great they will make you feel in the moment, then you'll go far.