Dr. Jim Loehr: X's & O's of Building Character

Below are my notes from a speech by Dr. Jim Loehr on the X’s and O’s of Building Character.  You can see the video in its entirety below.

Our first responsibility is to use sports to build character.    There is a huge link between building character and performance outcome.

Character is a Muscle To Grow
Building character is just like building your muscles.  
- You place demands on the muscle by investing energy in it
- Consistent energy investment spawns growth
That is exactly how you build the muscles of character.

Organize Your Life
You have to organize your life and make the investments that allow those muscles of character to actually shine and you eliminate the blaming, excuses, and selfishness.

Character in action is why we are all here, and when it happens, highlight it.

Ways To Build Character
- Have a theme for the day/week
- Have each player identify a character muscle, such as accountability or patience or focus and focus on it during the day
- Leverage injury
- Share articles and quotes
- Encourage your players to bring examples
- Experience from former athletes
- Be a role model – Be the strength that you want your players to embody, and most importantly do it at times of adversity. 

They are always watching.  Your character as a coach is always on display.  

When you build your own character and your own character muscles, they will feel it and you will be in a better position to move forward and reach and teach others.

You don’t need a PhD in character to teach it; you just need a commitment.