A Coach's Diary

In his book Uncommon Leadership, Ben Newman says, "Leadership is not for everybody." He also says, "Leadership, uncommon or otherwise, is not easy. It requires honesty, accepting reality, telling the truth to others as well as yourself, and setting your ego aside. Some people can do this, and some people cannot." In leadership, like in most things, the right mindset is everything, and it is rooted in mental toughness. We all experience adversity and having the right mindset and mental toughness will help us power through adversity and learn from our experiences. Ben continued to write, "Adversity can lead to introspection, and introspection can lead to action if you exercise the POWER of PERSPECTIVE. We can put things into the proper perspective by finding the good in the bad. There will always be things that we can't control, and there will be times when frustration and anger will make you want to quit. Adversity visits everyone, and some people are not wi...

In his book Uncommon Leadership , Ben Newman wrote, "Positive energy is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. The stronger it gets, the more powerful you become. Repetition is the key, and the more you focus on positive energy, the more it becomes your natural state." Leadership can be a tricky thing. He writes that Jon Gordon's definition of leadership is that leadership is a transferred belief that combines passion and energy to transform the people around you. The tricky part about leadership is that you can be in a leadership position, but you must always remember that people choose to let you lead them, and they are always free to walk away. The higher we move up in our leadership roles, and the more people we lead, the more you must serve the people below you. You have to give them a reason to want to follow you. You must help them get better, enjoy what they do, and see how following you can help them learn and grow into the person and life that...

A Prizefighter is a fighter who trains extensively to compete for a prize - like a large amount of money. When I think of Prizefighters, I think of Floyd Mayweather. Floyd has his share of critics, just like anybody who does anything great, but his work ethic and dedication to being the best he can be for his fights should be studied and admired. His mantra is "Hard Work, Dedication!" He is committed to outworking his opponents. While many fighters train about 20-30 hours per week, Mayweather tries to double and triple that. He trains after speaking events, press tours, and even goes for runs in the middle of the night. For the last 20 years of his career, he trained all of those hours for only 1 or 2 Prizefights a year. He stayed ready so he never had to get ready. He knew that the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. That is a mantra used by legendary Alabam coach Nick Saban. If you want to be successful, if you want to be a leader, hold yourself accountable f...

I once asked an athlete, "Why do you play so hard for this coach, but not for other coaches?" Her response was, "I don't know; he just makes me feel like I can do anything." In his book Uncommon Leadership, Ben Newman writes: One of the foundation keys to effective leadership is motivating your people. If you can't inspire others, the only other way is to lead by force. Is leading by motivating and inspiring more effective than leading by force, and how do we do this? Today, I had the pleasure of listening to Mike Moses, a former commissioner of the Texas Education Agency and former superintendent of Dallas ISD speak to a group of educators about leadership and the type of leaders he hires. He says that we are in the 'people improvement business,' and when hiring leaders, he looks for the 3 E's: 1 - Energy 2 - Enthusiasm 3 - Excitement When we have energy, enthusiasm, and excitement, and when we help our students and athletes find a direct connec...

Will Compton is a football player who went to the University of Nebraska and who originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Washington Football Team. In his book, Uncommon Leadership , Ben Newman talks about how Will used his underdog mentality to fulfill his dream of becoming an NFL player. Will was Mentally Tough - you have to be Mentally Tough if you want to achieve something great. Mental Toughness is  critical if you want to be successful.  Mental Toughness is when you set a STANDARD for how you want to work and live and never settling for less than that standard - no matter how you feel. Mentally tough people live by STANDARDS and not feelings. Setbacks are a major part of every person's journey, and they were a part of Will's journey. When most people get passed over for something - like going undrafted - they quit. But Will didn't quit.  He was able to lean on his Mental Toughness in those hard times. I am sure that there were moments when he felt sorry f...