Someone once said, “To do the impossible, you must first see the invisible.” Comedy star Jim Carrey used this idea to reach wealth and fame that seemed impossible for a young man who grew up in poverty. He once wrote himself a check for $10 million, envisioning a day when he would earn that amount […]
No pain, no gain. You’ve heard it many times. But do you apply it to your own life? Katie Ledecky, 17-year-old swimming champion who looks very much like the next Olympic superstar, does. After smashing her own world record in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle over the weekend, Ledecky referred to what it takes to compete […]
Golf legend Bobby Jones once said, “Golf is played on a six-inch course, namely, the space between your ears.” If that’s true — and it is — then the rest of the golf world better watch out. Rory McIlroy has built a mental game to go with his physical game, and that makes him scary […]
Do you think superstars are destined to be superstars? Or do you think they themselves decided to be? Destined . . . Determined . . . . Devoted Misty Copeland and Michael Strahan were determined and that made all the difference in the world. That’s why they’ve been in the news recently. Copeland, rejected at […]
Frank Lane, a long-ago baseball exec who loved to make trades, is said to have even swapped a player for a box of cigars. “But,” Lane was careful to point out, “They were very good cigars.” Lane comes to mind because the end of July marks baseball’s annual trading deadline. Teams make last-minute deals to […]
Years ago, in my sports writing days, a softball coach told me something that changed my life. “If someone is lazy on the field, they’ll be lazy in the office, too,” he said. “If someone is a team player on the field, they’ll be a team player in the office as well.” Those words came […]
Years ago, Aesop warned about the dangers of getting complacent. He told the story of the hare and the tortoise, in which the hare raced out to a big lead over the plodding tortoise, decided to take a nap, and woke up just in time to see the tortoise cross the finish line first. Aesop […]
Only two people can win the Boston Marathon, and that leaves out most of us. But anyone can win a much more important event, namely, the one we call life. To do anything worthwhile, you must do three things, and they’re exactly the three things marathon winners do. First, you must start. This involves a […]
What do Thomas Edison, Lil Wayne and J.K. Rowling have in common? Note-taking! Writing down their thoughts helped make them all successful, and it can do the same thing for you. Take school for example. My friend and co-author Rob Gilbert says the quality of a student’s notes will correlate strongly with the student’s grade. […]
T.J. Oshie impressed more than than the man in the street with his shootout performance that lifted the U.S. over Russia in a hockey game at the Winter Olympics. He even drew a rave from a big-league baseball player at spring training. “It was awesome,” St. Louis outfielder Matt Holliday said at the Cardinals’ camp […]