A Coach's Diary

Can you imagine what you could learn in a year if you committed to reading 1 book a week? For me, committing to reading just 1 book a week has become a futile goal.   I just haven’t been able to do it.   But, thanks to this article by Sam Davies , I have renewed purpose and a plan. Cut the Fat Cutting out just one hour of television a day creates an extra 365 hours per year to accomplish whatever is most important to you. That’s over nine additional 40-hour workweeks – 2 months of additional time!

People Do What People See The Law of the Picture is based on the idea that people do, not what you tell them, but what they see you do.  You can talk a great talk, but people follow your walk.  To follow the Law of the Picture, you must identify how you want to live your life, what you want to be remembered for, and what virtues and what example you want to set for your followers in the area of character.   Its starts with leading from the front.  Your followers must realize that you are always willing and able to do everything that you are asking of them.  Military Legen Dick Winters, known for being "the best combat leader in World War II," had a philosophy of "officers go first."  Whenever his troops needed to assault an enemy position, Winters was in front leading the charge.  He once summed up his approach to leadership saying,  "I may not have been the best combat commander, but I always strove to be.  My men depended on me to ca...

Only Secure Leaders Give Power To Others If leaders want to be successful, they have to be willing to empower others. The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt To lead others well, we must help them to reach their potential.  Scarcity mindset is one in which we feel a need to fight others to make it to the top.  In reality, if you give some of your power away to others, there is still plenty to go around. Leading well is not only about enriching yourself - its about empowering others.  We have to shift leadership models away from 'position power' to 'people power' which is giving people leadership roles so that can contribute to their fullest capacity.  When you don't empower others, you are creating a barrier that, if it remains long enough, the people will give up and stop trying, or they will lea...

A Leader's Potential Is Determined By Those Closest To Him Nobody does anything great alone.    No leader can do everything great, so its important to have great people around you who can compliment you.  Mother Theresa once said, "You can do what I cannot do.  I can do what you cannot do.  Together we can do great things." The leader finds greatness in the group, and he or she helps the members find it in themselves. Warren Bennis 1 - Do they have influence with others? 2 - Do they bring a complimentary gift to the table? 3 - Do they hold a strategic position in the organization? 4 - Do they add value to me and to the organization 5 - Do they positively impact other inner circle members? There are three kinds of people in an organization when it comes to leadership: 1 - those who get it almost immediately and they're off and running with it; 2 - those who are skeptical and not sure what to do with it; and 3 - another third who start...

Leaders Touch A Heart Before They Ask For A Hand When it comes to working with people, you have to engage them on a human level - to make a connection with them.  The heart comes before the head.  You can't move people to action unless you first move them with emotion.   Great leaders work at connecting with others all of the time, whether they are communicating to an entire organization or working with a single individual.  The stronger the relationship you form with followers, the greater the connection you forge - the more likely those followers will be to want to help you. "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Even in a group, you have to relate to people as individuals.   "I have seen competent leaders who stood in front of a platoon and all they saw was a platoon. But great leaders stand in front of a platoon and see it as forty-four individuals, each of whom has aspirations, each of whom wants to live, each o...

Who You Are Is Who You Attract Who you attract is not determined by what you want.   It's determined by who you are.   You draw people to you who posses the same qualities you do.   Its important to identify important qualities that you would like in the people on your team. My People Would Have These Qualities: -  Energy and enthusiasm -  Passion -  Competitive -  Visionary -  Appreciate 'The Law of Process' -  Desire to grow Then, identify which of these qualities that you possess.  If you possess theses qualities, then you will continue to attract these kinds of people.  If there is a disparity between these qualities and who you are, you know where you need to begin to work to improve the type of people you are attracting. Attitude is one of the most contagious qualities a human being possesses.  People with great attitudes tend to make people around them feel more positive, while people with negative attitu...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 8 - The Law of Intuition Leaders Evaluate Everything With a  Leadership Bias Leaders know have to read their instincts and follow their intuition in making decisions.  Sure, they pull together facts and do their research, but at the end of the day, they always trust their instincts in their areas of strength.  Leaders look at things differently than others do - they look at everything through a leadership bias.   People are intuitive in their area of strength. Leaders make decision based on their instincts and intuition.  They make decisions based on facts plus instinct plus other intangible factors, such as employee morale, organizational momentum, and relational dynamics.   Colin Powell says that his practice is to make a leadership decision after gathering only 40 to 60 percent of the information has been obtained, and then he uses his experience to m...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 7 -  The Law of Respect People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than Themsleves Followers are more attracted to leaders who are better leaders than themselves.  Leaders think in terms of the direction they desire to go and who they want to take with them.  Followers can sense a strong sense of conviction from a leader and are attracted to that.   To become a leader of leaders, you must gain respect. Ways You Can Gain Respect 1 - Natural leadership ability 2 - Respect for others 3 - Courage 4 - Have success 5 - Loyalty 6 - Add value An easy way to measure your level of respect is to look at who you attract. "One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you." - Dennis A. Peer -   You should also see how your people respond when you ask for commitment or change. When people respect you as a person, they admire  you. When they r...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 6 - The Law of Solid Ground Trust Is The Foundation of Leadership Trust is the most important aspect of leadership.  You cannot lose trust and continue to have influence over others - they won't trust you! Be sure that you are honest, trustworthy, and act with integrity in everything that you do.  Even in your mistakes, be as honesty and upfront as possible.  Your people know when you make mistakes, the real question is whether you're going to fess up. When it comes to leadership, you can't just take shortcuts, no matter how long you've been leading your people. A leader builds trust by consistently exemplifying competence, connection, and character. People will forgive you for your occassional mistakes and they will give you time to connect, but they will not trust someone who has slips in character.   Character makes trust possible.  And trust makes leadership possible.  That...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 5 - The Law of Serving  Others Leaders Add Value By Serving Others A true leader is always looking for ways to grow the people he influences by serving them and making things better and easier for them.  The best leaders are more focused on adding value to people by serving them than on serving themselves or making themselves richer or more powerful.  When you add value and grow those around you, you will reap the benefits of that growth individually as well.  You going through the process of growing others will help you grow exponentially as well. To consistently add value to those you influence, you must go out of your way to find  and think about ways in which you can add value.   "Seek always to do some good, somewhere.  Every man has to seek in his own to way to realize his true worth.  You must give some time to your fellow man.  For remember, you don't live in ...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 4 - The Law of Navigation Anyone Can Steer The Ship, But It Takes A Leader To Chart the Course Every leader has to have a vision for himself and the people he is leading.  In the Bible, it states that 'without a vision, the people will perish.'  A vision and an end goal is important to make sure that you are always on the right path toward success and so that you don't wake up one day and realize that your foundation is crumbling from underneath you and see that your world is falling apart. As a leader, you have to realize that there are people relying on your ability to steer them in the right direction.  Other people are depending on you and your ability to chart a good course.  We all have the opportunity to control our lives and our direction.  When we have a good plan and stick diligently to it, we control our direction.  You having control over your direction is better than you bein...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 3 - The Law of Process Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day Becoming a leader is a process, much like finding real wealth in the stock market.  You are not going to find wealth or success in one day - this is a life long learning process.  Success comes from what you do day by day over a long period of time. The secret of our success is found in our daily agenda." - Tag Short When you look at someone's daily agenda, you see what they value and prioritize, whether its money, sports, family, TV, etc.  See what a person does every day, and you'll know who that person is and what he is becoming. Leadership is not always born when a person is born, it is born out of the process of learning and improving on a collection of skills.  Many of the skills and factors that effective leadership requires are intangible, and because of that, leaders require a lot of seasoning to be effective. "It's t...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 2 - The Law of Influence T he true measure of leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less Leadership is about influence.    Leadership is having enough influence to where people are willing to follow you.  There are factors that impact your level of influence on others, but at the core of leadership is your level of influence. 'He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk. ' If you can't influence people, then they won't follow you.  And if people won't follow you, you are not a leader. Leadership and influence is something that must be earned.   You can't gain true influence simply through your position.  Leadership through your title is management; anybody can have influence when they are in a position of power and have leverage.  A true leader can influence others to act without having any leverage to hold over their heads.  The...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 1 - The Law of The Lid  Leadership Ability Determines A Person's Level of Effectiveness Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness.  You can be individually great at what you do and provide a lot of value to your team, school, business, or organization, but without leadership ability, your level of effectiveness will always be limited to the immediate impact that you can make as opposed to the impact you can make as a result of the domino effect that occurs when you can positively influence and grow others around you.   "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The Law of the Lid is kind of like the old proverb about teaching somebody how to fish.  When you perform for somebody or for your team or organization, you will have a major impact, but that impact will be limited.  When you hav...

"The more our creator trusts us, the more He can trust us with." The more people you help become successful, the more successful you become.  When you share your blessings with someone else, you are fulfilling your purpose in this world as a human being.  We are all here to help one another.  When you receive a measure of success, on whatever level it is, it's your obligation to teach that or share that with someone else.  With almost every successful person, the more money they give, the more God puts them in position to give more.  This is a principle that escapes far too many people.  It is not enough to have a big house on a hill and not show anyone else how to get a big house on a hill.  They you're up there by yourself - and that's no fun. To whom much is given, much will be required.  If you don't adhere to the requirement part, then the giving part stops.   Success is not just your ability to achieve, but also your ability t...

HOME + HEALTH + FINANCES = SUCCESS Gaining life's riches is about more than just earning a paycheck - success is about truly being in the moment when you are with your family and having the energy and right frame of mind to continue to do the work that you love. You have to have your priorities set and a strong foundation to stand on.  When you don't have all of your chips stacked properly, you might get good at hiding the truth from the public.  You have to have a life system that brings balance to all aspects of your world.

Become the positive energy that will be a light not just for yourself, but for those around you.  Your gift and your vision are relying on it. The Bible says: Life and death are in the power of the tongue. You are going to face opposition in your journey, and that opposition can take form in one of a few ways: 1) Situational  2) Other people  3) Internal The only cure for enemies and opposition is success.  You can never take your foot off a ladder to kick at someone who is kicking at you.  When you do that, you will no longer be climbing.  While they are kicking, you should keep stepping.  They can kick only one time.  If you continue to climb, they would be left behind.  In trying to hurt you, to impede your progress, they would get left behind because they allowed themselves to get sidetracked from their agenda. Real people of power, decision makers, power brokers, shakers and movers don't know that they don't even...

In boxing, boxers know, going into the fight, all of the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents.  In life, you should always know and be fully aware of all of your strengths and weaknesses as well.  You need to know all of your skills and you need to know what all of your potential advantages and disadvantages are.   You want to always be able to perform at your best, and having an inventory of your strengths and weaknesses will allow you to play to your strengths while masking your weaknesses.  Throughout the process, you should also be working to grow and maximize your strengths while improving upon your witnesses. Stepping Up Your Strengths -  Be confident, not cocky -  Stay fight ready -  Develop or Die Working On Your Weaknesses -  Protect your weaknesses -  Choose your weaknesses -  Develop or Die Identify you strength and weaknesses.  Know how to communicate and maximize your strengths and start...

Yea, you can try to 'be your own man' and take on life by yourself, but you will have to work twice as hard to get half as much.  There are people who can and are willing to help you - they are like treasure chests waiting at strategic moments in your journey to provide you with what you need.   Asking for what you want is the only key you need to open the chest and enjoy the treasure. Everything we do in life that's worthy of note requires gifts that are beyond our own.  How we utilize the blessings of our relationships is the key to making it big.  You have to keep your eyes open for like-minded people, because those partnerships give you another person to bounce around ideas with, and they can help you see things from an angle that you didn't even consider. Once you identify other like-minded people and you begin to connect with dreamers, you need to be bold enough to ask for assistance, guidance, or advice.  You have no idea of the number of successf...

Every man [person] has a mountain to climb.  At the top of the mountain is the dream life that the man envisions early on in his journey.  All he has to do is know which mountain he wants to climb and to decide to start climbing. However, that man does not travel alone; he has to carry a big, old wagon up that mountain with him. The wagon itself is heavy and hard to carry - it has the old wooden wheels that aren't the perfect circles that would be ideal for rolling up a steep mountain and the man has to drag this wagon by a big, thick, old rope that rips at his hands and tears at his shoulders as pushes and pulls along. What makes the journey even more difficult is that every man has people who are along for the ride as well.  There are 3 types of people the man as to deal with while trudging up this mountain: 1)  Those who are there to assist him up the mountain 2)  Those who are there to make his journey tougher up the mountain 3)  Those who are...