A Coach's Diary

  "People should be your greatest commodity, your greatest resource in a high-performance environment, people are the center of everything when it comes to high performance." - Greg Carvel Most coaches have favorites. Their favorites are the ones who show up, do their job, and add value to the team. UMass hockey coach Greg Carvel says one selfish mindset can destroy a culture, and they rank their players either a 1, 2, or 3. 1s = The low-maintenance favorites who do what they are supposed to do. 2s = Teammates in the middle that are either squeezed into being 1s or squeezed into being 3s and kicked off the team. 3s = High maintenance and need to be removed from the team. When you do the right thing the right way, you help yourself and the people around you, and you are likely to both get more opportunities and take advantage of those opportunities. A Biblical example of someone who was given one of the most important opportunities in the history of the world is Noah. By the t...

"If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” - Michael Jordan When Michael Jordan was a sophomore in high school, he tried out for the varsity basketball team but was cut. Jordan said he went home demoralized, felt like the coach didn’t like him, and didn’t want to play sports anymore. His mom said they cried together, but instead of complaining to the coach or principal or allowing him to make excuses, she told him, “If you really want it, you work hard over the summer,” and he did.  That summer, he focused and practiced all day. His mom said the basketball never left his hand, and the next year, he not only made the team but eventually became the best player in the state and one of the best in the country. Jordan’s father said, “If you want to bring out the best in Michael, tell him he can’t do something, or he can’t do it as good as somebody else.” He said Jordan would take it as a personal challenge ...

“Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.” - Angela Duckworth Championship football coach Nick Saban says every great team has three things: a vision, a plan, and discipline. Discipline is both doing what you are supposed to do when you don’t want to and not doing what you want to do when you know you aren’t supposed to do it. How do we have the discipline to do the right thing all the time? Grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is sticking with your plan and having discipline no matter what tries to get in your way. Psychologist Angela Duckworth says the number one indicator of success is grit. Grit can be the one characteristic that can help you overcome any obstacle you will have to face. How do you build grit? It starts with having a growth mindset: the belief that you have the ability to get better at whatever you work at. Nick Saban was from a small coal town in West Virginia where many people didn’t even think about going t...

"Don't wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenge; wish for more wisdom.” - Jim Rohn What do you do when it gets hard? Do you put your head down, pout, make excuses, feel sorry for yourself, and run from the challenge? Or do you put your head down and work, embrace the challenge, figure it out, and make yourself better? Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, ‘Don't wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenge; wish for more wisdom.” Easy keeps you stuck where you are; hard is how you elevate to new levels. Everything you really want is on the other side of hard. When Jim was first learning about success, he said he had no money and blamed everybody for his failures. One of his mentors told him you receive what you attract. If you qualify for more, you will receive more.  Pursuing your goals or grea...

“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” - Moliere I once heard someone say life is all about battles and blessings. When we are in the middle of a battle, it can be hard to believe it will ever come to an end, and when we are in a season of blessings, we sometimes expect it will go forever. But nothing lasts forever, and that is the message behind The Hero’s Journey, the stages of ups and downs we all go through. The 5 stages of the hero’s journey: The Honeymoon Stage:  When you begin and everything is great. The Pit Stage:  When obstacles and battles knock you down. The Climb Stage:  When you are climbing out of The Pit. The Flow Stage:  When you are in the zone. The Impact Stage:  When you become a hero and help others through The Pit. When you find yourself in the middle of battles and stuck in the pit, you have three options: Become a hero, a villain, or a victim. Victims make excuses and stay stuck in The Pit, while heroes and villains ...

“Are you hungry, or are you just trying to find something to eat?” - Bryan Bartley Coach Bryan Bartley says there are two types of athletes: Athletes who are hungry, and athletes who just want to eat. A hungry athlete will hunt and find food, cook it, devour it, and if they have high character, they will clean the kitchen after they are finished. A hungry athlete will find a place to work out and play, they will find a way on the team, and they’ll find a way to make an impact no matter what gets in their way. A person who just wants to eat will have a cabinet or refrigerator full of food but will sit at home and wait for someone to cook it for them, and if it isn’t cooked the way they want it to be cooked, they won’t eat it. An athlete who just wants to eat will work out when you make them, but only if you make them because they aren’t hungry enough to make themselves. You have to figure out if you are hungry enough to hunt and cook, or if you just want to eat. Too many people hav...

“The greatest tragedy is not that some children fail, but that so many children never know their true potential.” - Dr. Yvette Jackson Do you focus more on your strengths or weaknesses? Do you worry more about what you can’t do, or get excited about what you can do? Your mindset, attitude, and life can change when you change what you focus on. Negativity bias is our tendency to focus on negative thoughts, emotions, or events more often than we focus on positive ones, so we have to work harder to see the glass half full rather than half empty. This is why educator Dr. Yvette Jackson says we should spend time identifying and focusing on our strengths. She says The Pedagogy of Confidence is an approach to learning and teaching that is based on the fearless expectation that all students are capable of doing wonderful, amazing things. Everyone is gifted at something, and it’s our job to figure out what something is and to grow those gifts while finding more opportunities to do what we ...