How many of us REALLY understand and appreciate the true power of the team? We may function under the belief that we are the individual reason why the team is successful...but if we did so, we would be completely wrong. A team is about complementary parts....and supplementary parts. A team is about the skilled....and it is about the workers. A team is about those with relentless effort...and those with a tireless positive perspective. A team is about energy....and also

The Champion's pursuit of achievement is an eternal process..... We may WANT to stop. We may NEED to rest. We may WISH for it to be easier. Yet the reality ALWAYS comes back that the quest for greatness demands that we attend to it every moment of every day. The truth in that statement allows us to understand that the gift we receive is not found in the final prize, but in the refinement of our hands, head, and heart that the drive for Excellence reveals in us.

Handling the "Curve" The path followed to personal or team achievement is never a smooth, straight line. It has numerous curves, stops, re-starts, and double-backs. We know for a fact that a Champion never takes the short-cut....and we also know that a Champion is going to have to handle the "curve-ball" they never saw coming. And really, it isn't about responding to the unexpected with physical brilliance, but rather it is about keeping an attitudinal balance when th

Championship organizations and teams are populated with individuals who fully grasp the concept of "Interdependence". This is the principle that believes while we are asked to be a person fully capable of existing and succeeding of our own volition, we are also to realize that we NEED our teammates to assist us in our quest for greatness. After all, we don't achieve in a vacuum. We succeed due to our own strength - bolstered, emboldened, and inspired by the power of tho

The Myth of Drudgery We all would like the pathway to achievement to be easy, and the process to be relentlessly energizing. The truth of it all will be that the pathway is often a tangled thicket and the process endlessly challenging - physically and mentally. But for us to view this process as mere drudgery is incredibly short-sighted on our part - for drudgery is simply perception...... If we believe it is painful and tedious, then it shall be so. It is the "gift"

We Have Seen The "Enemy"..... As I have gotten older, it is amazing to me how keenly I have become aware of just how much of an “enemy” we can be to ourselves. It is so incredibly easy for all of us to look at our situations of crisis and chaos, and find the ability to blame others for being where we are. I understand fully that sometimes we are delayed, detoured and even destroyed by forces beyond our own influence…but that is only a small part of our story. We know, alm

The pathway of a Champion is paved with a set of principles that serve to guide them through all challenges and obstacles that they face. Failure to embrace or utilize these principles results in…failure. Principle #1 – Having a Purpose and a Plan You cannot….let me repeat myself in case you missed it….you cannot get to “the promised land” if you don’t have a purpose and a plan. Clarity is a gift that you give yourself when you take the time to assess who you are, what y

The Power in a Humble Man When I first started as a coach, I believed in my "brilliance" - that I could change, influence, teach, and move all people to greatness. It was my sense of invincibility combined with an incredibly over-inflated sense of personal value that drove my ego to embrace the reality that I could motivate all that heard my words. Time and truth can be cruel taskmasters. I learned that I did not have the premium on brilliance nor did I have the patent on

Any team, company, or organization can work 24/7 on acquiring talented and skilled people who have the ability to do all of the necessary machinations required to get the job done. What is more challenging is identifying those individuals with talent who ALSO have the desire to achieve, and the willingness to offer the team a relentless effort to attain the goals that are put out before them. Never be satisfied with the physical skills someone possesses.... Take stock of t

Execution vs. Preparation It is a timeless intellectual exercise - to try and understand which is more important: the development of a sound game plan, or the execution of that plan. To construct a strategy without the fundamental execution is nothing more than a "monument" to intelligence. To simply rely on execution without a purpose is a feckless exercise in physical or intellectual capabilities. But to combine process with a push for "perfection".....That is optima

Definitions of Achievement Winners, success stories, and champions are three distinct words in my vocabulary. “Winners” are those individuals and teams who have figured out the systems and the processes to such a degree that victory can be a relatively consistent event. It can be a bit of a hit-or-miss proposition because luck, misfortune, and timing can be significant factors on determining whether or not you come out on the positive side. “Success stories” are even fur

Championship organizations are blessed with "Extended" Vision. It is impossible to be a successful team and simply exist in the here and now. Teams, comprised of varied people with differing skill sets, are forever striving to acquire the knowledge and the ability to perform not only with personal brilliance, but also with group excellence. That formula of a Champion begins when all team members can look into the future and see the opportunities and the possibilities tha

Almost any organized activity is going to be defined by a set of rules. Some activities have a fairly simple set of rules, while others have a profound and detailed structure. Regardless of the length of the "rule-book", we must follow it. We may not like it... We may not agree with it... We may struggle to adhere to it. But whatever personal opinion we may have of it, it is our obligation to function within the structure placed before us - and realize that failure to do

Remember, there are only two things you can control: Attitude and effort. Strive to be consistent in both. You will not always have the physical or intellectual effort to succeed. There will be days when we are diminished physically and that will affect our capacity to perform. But it is essential that every day we step onto the field of competition or are in the act of "doing our job", that we still: Believe in ourselves.... Believe in our teammates.... Give it our

No matter how much time moves me forward, I will always remember those teams and individuals with whom we found the "Championship Formula". I walk into arenas and I see the trophies and I look at our pictures and it hits me with great and profound meaning: I was part of this I contributed to this They can never erase what we did I am but one element of this "Legacy" We may come to competition for different reasons, but whatever the calling for us personally, the cause o

We can spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about the losses, defeats, and challenges we have. What we really need to do once in a while is to consider the losses, defeats, and challenges other people have to face. That "vision" doesn't necessarily solve our issues....but it does allow us some perspective that difficulties don't begin and end on OUR doorstep.

I would like to believe that success can be found simply by convincing one's self that they are truly capable of doing all that they put their mind to. But the fact of the matter is that greatness is just as often attained by us shutting down the intellectual mechanism that constantly reminds us of all we CAN'T do.

If I could ask for one thing to make my pursuit of achievement less challenging, it would not be for more talent - that's too easy of an "out". I would instead ask for more patience. For it is often in "peace" that we find the key that opens the proper and correct door.

Outside forces, circumstances or other individuals can really only IMPEDE your progress and growth. The only one who can truly STOP your pursuit of Achievement is YOU . Understand and embrace that perspective as thoroughly as is possible.

The choices we often must make to begin and maintain the pursuit of Excellence are going to be difficult. The right path is more times than not the "hard" path. But it is considered "hard" because it is forcing us to significantly alter the life we now exist within. Hanging on to those things that provide us little, if any, platform for Achievement to occur - just because they are "comfortable" - is a pointless undertaking. The pain of today is fleeting when compared to